Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah Somali-born Polish social activist and historian, Died at 56

Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah was born in 1955, in Somalia and died on September 21, 2015.

He was a Somali-born Polish social activist and historian.

He attended the Omdurman University, now called Omdurman Islamic University, in Sudan.

Farah spoke fluent Arabic, English, Polish, Somali and Swahili.

Farah was the co-founder and President of the Foundation for Somalia, based in Poland.

He had recently announced his intention to run for President of Somalia in the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for 2016.

In 1989, he immigrated from Somalia to Poland in the 1990s, becoming the first African immigrant to receive refugee status in Poland since the collapse of the Communist government.

At the time he knew no one in Poland and the country was engulfed in the chaos of the Somali Civil War during the 1990s.

Farah co-founded the Foundation for Somalia (Fundację dla Somalii), headquartered in Poland, with Jolantę Opalińską in 2007.

He then became the President of the Foundation on October 2010.

The Foundation’s initial goal was to raise funds for the renovation of a hospital in Adado, located in the Galguduud region of central Somalia, as well as to provide funding for a children’s home in Godenlabe.

He started expanding the Foundation’s mission to include programs and services not just for Somalis and other African immigrants, but for all migrant communities in Poland, regardless of country of origin.

The foundation he built offers computer classes, Polish language training and other professional courses to help integrate immigrants with the larger society, as well as improve relations with ethnic Poles.

The Foundation undertook humanitarian projects in Somalia and Poland.

He also taught as a lecturer at the Institute for Social Studies, a college in Yemen.

Farah obtained Polish citizenship in 2014.

Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah passed away at 56 yrs old due to a terrorist attack in Mogadishu on September 21, 2015, while he was preparing for his presidential campaign.