From University of Minnesota: Welcome to Somaliland

by Bria Schurke

A quick introduction to myself. My name is Bria Schurke and I am from Ely, Minnesota where grew up paddling in the beautiful Boundary Waters. I graduated from St. Olaf college with a degree in International Public Health and Sustainable Development. The last five years I’ve been leading mountaineering, climbing, canoeing and hiking courses for various outdoor adventure/therapy and education programs, including the National Outdoor Leadership School and Wilderness Inquiry. 

I am excited to start graduate school this fall at the University of Minnesota where I will be studying Maternal and Child Health with a Global Health Concentration.

I have spent the last month volunteering at the Edna Adan hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland. ednahospital.org  Somaliland, for those of you who may have never heard of it,is a small independent country in northern Somalia.  As defined by wikipedia, Somaliland is ”an unrecognized self-declared de facto sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somaliland Somaliland recently celebrated it’s 22nd year of independence on May 18th.

I hope to use this blog to introduce Somaliland to those who have never heard of it, share stories and photos of the homeland of many Somali immigrants in Minnesota and highlight national health issues that I have been exposed to during my time here.
Please feel free to send me questions and comments!