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PS Bitok to donate books to refugees after meeting UN award winner Abdullahi

State Department for Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok and award winner Abdullahi Mire. (X/Julius Bitok)

By Mercy Asamba | Thursday, January 25, 2024

Abdullahi won the prestigious award in Geneva last December for donating over 100,000 books to refugees.

State Department for Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok on Wednesday met award winner Abdullahi Mire and discussed how they would enhance his initiatives of donating books.

Abdullahi, a former child refugee born in Somalia, was named last year’s winner of the prestigious United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Nansen Refugee Award.

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He won the prestigious award in Geneva last December for generously donating over 100,000 books to fellow refugees.

The PS applauded Abdullahi for his initiatives and pledged to support him in his ambition to enhance learning in refugee camps.

“Received a courtesy call from Abdullahi Mire, the 2023 Nansen Refugees Award global Laureate Winner… To support his ongoing initiatives in Dadaab and other Kenyan camps, I commit to procuring additional books,” Bitok said.

Commissioner for Refugees Affairs John Burugu was also present at the meeting at the PS office.

Education champion

Abdullahi grew up in the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex in northeastern Kenya.

He spent 23 years living in the Dadaab complex, from the early 1990s and eventually went on to graduate with a diploma in journalism and public relations in 2013 from Kenyatta University.

After working for the UN migration agency IOM, in Somalia, specialising in the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants, Abdullahi realised that without being literate, many were being brainwashed and radicalised.

It is this realisation that led him to start the Refugee Youth Education Hub (RYEH) in 2018. It focuses on refugee education and youth development.

“I want to change the lives of refugee children and youth living in Daadab,” he told the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) in 2020.

He said the only way to do that is through education.

“If you give quality education for these children or youths, their lives will be improved for good… For societies to progress, especially the ones recovering from decades of conflict, education must be a priority. I think it’s the midwife of peace and stability, if not more,” he added.

Through his dedication to supporting students in the refugee camps, Abdullahi has opened three libraries in the camps. These libraries are stocked with donated books for the students residing in these camps.

The UN says this has expanded learning opportunities for tens of thousands of displaced children and youth.