Dr.Hawa Abdi Honored by the City of Irving, TX USA

December 16, 2010 (Dallas, Texas)- Dr. Hawa Abdi of Somalia was honored by the City of Irving, Texas with a proclamation declaring December 16 Dr. Hawa Abdi Day in honor of her humanitarian work. At a reception held in her honor at the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, December 16, 2010, Mayor Herbert Gears of Irving presented her the proclamation certificate. Mayor Gears commended Dr. Hawa for her humanitarian work in her homeland of Somalia. The reception was sponsored by Amoud Foundation of Irving, Texas, and was attended by Somali Americans from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, City of Irving council members, members and leaders from the Muslim community, and other dignitaries.

In her brief remarks, Dr. Hawa thanked the City of Irving for the honor. She thanked the City of Irving and its people for the hospitality they extended to the Somali immigrants who settled in their city. She urged the Somali residents to appreciate the peace and its benefits they enjoy here, and to always remember the brothers and sisters left behind in their homeland, and to do everything in their power to contribute to the search for peace for their homeland.

Dr. Hawa Abdi was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. She studied medicine in Kiev, Ukraine, in the 1960s and became one of the first female Somali gynecologists. In 1983, she opened her own private clinic at Afgoi near Mogadishu.

In 1991, when Somalia's government collapsed, and the country descended into a brutal civil war, she opened the doors to her hospital to Internally Displaced People (IDPs) fleeing the violence in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital. By 1993, tens of thousands of IDPs were living at her hospital and the surrounding grounds.

Dr. Hawa continues to care for tens of thousands of Somali IDPs at her clinic camp grounds to this day through her Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation, www.drhawaabdifoundation.org

Dr. Hawa and her two daughters, Dr. Amina and Dr. Deqo, were the winners of the 2010 Glamour Magazine "Women of the Year" award. Dr. Hawa was the winner of the Amoud Foundation of Irving's 2008 Awdal Achievement Award