SHAQODOON

Q1. What is your name?

A1. Hassan Abdi.

Q2. How old are you?

A2. 23 years old.

Q3. Which Organisation do you currently work for?

A3. Hargeisa Hospital.

Q4. What is your job title?

A4. Lab Technician. My day to day duties include testing of blood, urine and other body fluids for possible defects. 

Q5. Why did you choose this line of work?

A5. Everyone has an interest and I always was interested in working in the medical field and I wanted to help my community.

Q6. How long have you been with your current employer?

A6. 1 year 6 months.

Q7. Are you currently enrolled into a course?

A7. In the afternoon I study Business Administration.  I chose this course as there was no Lab Technician in the university.  I have been studying this course for the past three years.

Q8. What were you doing before your current employment?

A8. I was a student at Edna Aden College. I was there for a year and studied Lab Technician.

Q9. How long were you looking for work before you were employed?

A9. I searched for over two months before finally being offered a position as Lab Technician at the Hargesia General Hospital.  Minister of Health advertised 16 jobs for the posts of Lab Technician, and I was one of the 16 that was examined and offered the job.

Q10. Where did you work before?

A10. This was my first job.

Q11. Do you enjoy your current work and why?

A11. I enjoy working here at the Hargeisa General Hospital, because I am gaining knowledge of this field every day.  I feel good in helping my community and I feel a better person at the end of the day.

Q12. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

A12. In the next five years I hope to have developed further skills in my field and become a Medical Doctor, may be heart or nerves specialist.  I hope to have gained more experience from different departments with Hargeisa General Hospital and beyond. To do this I will first have to enrol into a Medical School in Somaliland.

Q13. Do you enjoy working as a team?

A13. I enjoy team work and it makes my job easier. We have a lot of staff within our department and everyone is important as each person is assigned part of a bigger job. We all work together respectfully and keeping in mind the importance of our roles. 

Q14. What skills have you learnt from your current employer to date?

A14. I learnt a lot of skills from my current employer, including team work, communication, identifying illness, etc, which is very different from my school days. At school and college it was also theory, now we have very practical roles and put in practice what we have learnt at school and college. Learning doesn’t just stop at school or college you always need to progress and enhance your knowledge to keep up to the latest developments and technology. 

Q15. Hassan who is your role model?  

A15. Our Department Leader is my role model. He is a very hard working and dedicated man who has real high aims.  I always look up to him and hope to become like him one day.

Q16. What advice would you give to other youth about finding livelihood opportunities?

A16. I would advice youth to seek further knowledge of their future profession and stay in educational establishments. I would advice youth if they can’t find work to look for internships or voluntarily gain practical knowledge as this is what employers are looking for and never give up in looking for livelihood opportunities.

Q17. If you had one million dollars what would you do with it?

A17. I would build and donate a Medical Faculty to Hargeisa University and support local doctors by sponsoring course fees.