I have one more wonderful lady to introduce you today. Her name is Asli Hassan Abade, the first Somali female pilot, now living in the United States. She is a Peace activist advocating for the restoration of peace and stability in the Motherland. The Somali flag is her desirable outfit as she wears it most of the time specially during reconciliation conferences to encourage Somalis to forge peace and rebuild their country. Somalis have coined her the name: ASli Calan Side, meaning Asli the Flag bearer. In an interview with a Somali TV, Asli said " I now fly once in six months in America to keep the validity of my license active,. I have a dream that one day I will fly a Somali aircraft in Somalia when the pieces of the nation have been brought back together" With all these insurgents and terror-linked islamist groups, with all these warlords and war-profiteers, with all the disintegration Somalia is facing today, there is a lady who has a dream. A dream to see Somalia standing on its own feet, peaceful and progressed, prospering with the sweat and blood of its citizens, not relying on outside world for economic aid, with mufo, maraq, milk and honey making up the best of our traditional cuisine, with schools and hospitals offering excellent services, with a sky roaring not only with the deafening sound of lightning but one rocked by the reverberation of the most sophisticated jet airlines of which one of them is piloted by herself. Asli has a dream of seeing factories functioning to their full potential, with excessively high turnover of goods for trade and domestic consumption. Not everybody can have such a hope in the midst of war but those like Asli who have a heart of mercy and love can go beyond the grain of misery and light up the dark with the beauty of their soul and mind. I dedicate this poem to Asli.

You are the heart of nation
You are the soul of a people
You are a symbol of peace
Through despair you see hope
You are Somalia in exile
May your dreams come true
May they unite us in love