Khaalid is from Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland. He will be the first person in his family to go to university and the first to study abroad. As a child, Khaalid and his family lived in a village called Borome, where his family had a small farm and cultivated cash crops and raised chickens. Khaalid later earned a scholarship to attend the Abaarso School of Science and Technology, where he heard about the University through a visiting EARTH representative. He recalls, “I decided years ago that I wanted to study here. EARTH stood out for me, it is different from any other place.”
Khaalid explains, “Many people in my community told me to study medicine or engineering so that I could be rich one day, but life is not just about money. I want to change the perspective of food and agriculture in my country. I want to be a leader of change and find ways to use our natural resources so that no one goes hungry and the environment doesn’t suffer.”
