Any group of people living in a same place has something to do with the birth rate and death rate as these have tremendous effect on their growth and decline.
Increase in birth rate (the number of live births per thousand of population per year) is a good indicator of the growth of the population while the increase in death rate (the number of deaths per thousand of population per year) shows declining number of the population. The number does matter, as human resource is the most valuable thing a nation possesses if itโs directed wisely and used properly. India, China and other most populous countries in the world are very good examples of the importance of the human resource; it is their human power that facilitated them to reach where they are now. On the other hand, the prophet Mohamed (PBUH) said in Hadith โmarry the one who is fertile and affectionate, for verily I will be proud of your great number in front of (other) nations on the day of judgmentโ
In early of this month of Ramadan the fire fighter army got credit and honor for the story of saving a new born baby from deep into a toilet where she was thrownโฆthey really did it!
Such cruel and murder cases usually happen in Somali population in every region and town, and unfortunately we do not learn from them. As Dr. Abdi Kareem Awale, head of the neonate care unit has declared it was the second event within this month.
This reminded me an event I witnessed around two years ago. It was august 26, 2017 in the evening time when I suddenly heard from the side of the road inside Hargeisa group hospital. I suddenly stopped, to confirm the sound coming from that dark place, in doubt that it could be new born baby as it was too close to the delivery roomโฆI looked all the directions attentively, a man I do not know until now became the first person reached the place. I called him and asked whether he could hear what I heard. He suddenly uttered, โit could be a child inside the labour hallโฆnoโฆnoโฆit is cat not humanโ he seemed frightened and was contradicting in a minute; but there is no marvel in his contradiction as there was a cat on the shouting, crawling and crying new born girlโฆshe was naked and crying loudly, as like she was saying โplease do not leave me alone mum, I am totally innocentโ. We both shocked and stared wordless for a moment. Fortunately it was inside the hospital, thus we took few steps and called the hospital midwiferies for help as we could not use our naked hands for our safety and the safety of the innocent left out child.
If we try to narrate this issue it will take pages and ages; therefore, it is better to think of the ways out than narrating. By saying this, we should keep in mind that the murders are not from somewhere in the sky, they are our youth and for sure there are many things in our traditions that are contributing for such events to happen.
coming to the point, we usually do not put the blame on the right people or at least we do not accuse both men and women equallyโฆ the only way a woman can run from that stigma is to do bigger sin ย than the previous one(illegal pregnancy). On the other hand, contraceptive methods are allowed only to the married couples in our countryโwhich is right in senseโmarriage is expensive, joblessness is widespread and the youth have their strong sexual drive! Are not these circumstances compelling bad things to happen? Can we say our culture and behavior have great role in killing many new born babies?
In my point of view, looking back these issues and changing we can solve or prevent many disasters; we can save many new born lives and our population would increase in number. In order to achieve these goals, a lot should be done in the awareness of the general population and facilitating or simplifying marriage. I would say to the youthโamong whom I am a memberโlet us be patient, better days will come.
By: Abdifatah Dahir Ali
Email: ninalle451@gmail.com