Norine Michael Mariano, Nuura, the
beloved daughter of Michael Mariano and Indhadeeq Farah Siad, was born in
Burao on 27 August 1940. Norine's early childhood was spent Burao,
Hargeisa and Aden until her departure for England where she completed her
studies.
Norine's life in the bosom of a loving family and nurturing she had
received for her role as eldest of the family prepared her for her later
role as the pivotal point of the family later in her life. Norine's love
for Somalia grew with her maintained closed ties with her renowned father
and with the hopes and vision she shared as did many young educated
Somalis studying in England at the time.
Norine's return to an independent and partially united Somalia in the
early 60s coincided with a time of hope where difficulties had to
be surmounted, where emotions and courage had to be maintained. It
was a great and buoyant time and where peers and leaders equally
influenced the society's focus and maintained a lid on individualistic and
clannish interests.
Naturally tending towards shyness, Norine felt most comfortable in
small] groups where her natural talent for fostering harmony and
maintaining group dynamics surfaced and matured. Pushed to the forefront
by the role expected of the family, and by the role expected of her as the
eldest of the family, Norine overcame her shyness and abandoned the small
niches she naturally gravitated towards to lead a more public life.
Together with her mother, Norine was among the founding members of the
Somali Red Cross and Red Crescent Society and increased her involvement in
a number of charitable activities, building on her aptitude for teaching
and social service earlier identified by teachers her high school.
Norine's new found love for advocacy and networking for common good and
interests found a deserving cause in UNICEF's mandate and Norine's found
the interaction with communities and the mobilization of partners in their
development a challenge well-worth the endless hours and the emotional
roller-coaster.
Best of all, Norine's love for information sharing discovered the
richness of community knowledge and the inventiveness of their coping
mechanisms enriched her and repaid her faith in the fabric of the Somali
society in full
The prevailing environment of the 1980s drew Norine into becoming
involved in advocating for increased transparency and reduced corruption
within government circles. Norine also became involved in the mobilization
of internal and external support against increasing human right abuses --
dangerous causes in the latter years of the Siad Barre regime -- however,
though outspoken and irritating, Norine remained untouchable due to her
background and her growing stature.
At the end of the Siad era, Somalia was no more. Norine thrown into an
emotional and physical exile. Working for UNICEF Somalia offices in
Nairobi and Djibouti, Norine's hope of a rapid settlement of the crisis
faded. As the prospects of a united Somalia thinned and faded with the
atrocities committed in the wake of Siad Barre's exit Norine accepted a
wedge had been driven in the Somali society.
In a typical response, Norine faced the reality of her separation from
past memories in Mogadishu and focused on the enormity of the need for
healing and for a taste of normalcy among returnees and refugees in
Somaliland. Opting for an agreed termination after 19 years of service
with UNICEF, Norine became a founding member of the Committee of Concerned
Somalis -- a non-profit, non-partisan and non-clan based organization that
advocates for the needs of the most vulnerable in the society.
With the belief that advocacy and compassion need to avoid creating
dependence, CCS also embarked in programmes to provide skills development,
advisory services and mobilize resources for income generating activities
for female headed household of refugees and returnees. Their intense
involvement in the creation and establishment of CCS did not stop Norine
and her partners from getting involved in other ambitious and demanding
projects.
A notable example being their creation and involvement in the
Coordinating Committee for the Hargeisa Hospital -- a rehabilitation that
involved a range of activities that included negotiation and resettlement
of squatters, resource mobilization for de- mining, reconstruction and
rehabilitation of the now functioning hospital. Among her personal papers
the following note was found -- "Why get involved? To reestablish a
symbol of Hargeisa's pride, to reestablish an essential service, to
disprove the disbelief and doubts of would-be partners, to show that
Somalis are resilient and can do it".
A life hard to summarize, Nura died on 27 May 2000. Norine will always
remain alive in friend's memories as a life rich with tales of love and
compassion, vision and determination all laced with laughter and mirth.
Norine shaped and was shaped by Somalia's history.
