Asha Said Jama (, ) (born on November 15, 1960) is a Somali-
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
social activist, and former TV reporter and journalist.
Biography
Jama was born in
Merca
Merca (, ) is the capital city of the Lower Shebelle province of Somalia, a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal c ...
, situated in southern
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
. She grew up in the capital
Mogadishu
Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...
. There, she attended the
Somali National University
Somali National University (SNU) (, , ) is a national university in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Its campus grounds were located four kilometers from the Mogadishu International Airport (Aden Adde International Airport). It was establishe ...
's Lafoole Campus and obtained a degree in
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...
. Soon after graduation, Jama began working at the state-run ''Xidigta Oktobar'' newspaper. She later served as a news anchor on local television.
Due to civil unrest in Somalia, Jama decided to leave the country in the late 1980s. She moved to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, where she has been residing for the last twenty two years. Jama later became a community activist as President of the
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
-based Alberta Somali Community Center. In this capacity, she has led numerous social initiatives, working closely with the Canadian Somali Congress among other organizations."Help urged for worst famine in East Africa in 60 years" ''Calgary Herald'', September 12, 2011.
See also
*
Hanan Ibrahim
Hanan Ibrahim (, ) is a Somalis, Somali social activist. She is the Chairperson of the Barnet Muslim Women's Network, among other organizations.
Early years
Ibrahim grew up in Somalia. She is a mother of three children and a Muslim.Hawa Abdi
*
Fatima Jibrell
Fatima Jibrell (, ; born December 30, 1947) is a Somali-American environmental activist. She was the co-founder and executive director of the Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization (now Adeso), co-founder of Sun Fire Cooking, and wa ...