ABOUT ANITA
Anita S Adam (née Edwards) was born in Filey, Yorkshire on the 21 April 1939, the youngest of four children. Her early life was spent in Yorkshire where she was educated at Bridlington High School for Girls and later qualified as a teacher from Furzedown College of Education, London University. Anita earned a Masters in Education from Harvard University, and a PhD on the coastal culture of southern Somalia at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, London University).
Anita dedicated her life to Somalia, advocating for minorities, for women, girls and social rights, and gained extensive knowledge of the Somali culture, society, politics, customs and clans, from having lived and worked there for most of the period from 1964 to 1989, and through her later academic research work leading to her PhD dissertation titled ‘The Benaadiri People’. Her work in Somalia had involved journalism and print media, formal and non-formal education, and international development programmes with women’s groups.
Anita’s academic interests on Somalia were broad and her passion and curiosity in her latter years were the Benaadiri people. She was especially familiar with Mogadishu, the heart of the Benaadiri people, and had many personal contacts amongst them. She was also well acquainted with the other main areas of settlement of the Benaadiri minority groups. Anita had written widely on Somalia and her portfolio included education books and material, dozens of book chapters and scores of articles.
From 1959 to 1963, Anita was a Primary School Teacher in Leeds, England, where she met Suleiman Mohamud Adam who was studying at the University of Leeds. They married in 1963, and in the summer of 1964 they moved to Mogadishu Somalia.
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From 1964 to 1969 she was the senior foreign news editor for the Somali national news agency, SONNA, and assistant editor and women's page editor for the national English-language weekly newspaper Somali News.
In 1969, she joined the American International School in Mogadishu and was the Principal from 1975 to 1980. She was a Member of a Regional Committee to develop multi-cultural learning materials for American International Schools in the Africa region.
In 1980, Anita decided to advance international development work and from 1980 to1986 worked in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan. She carried our field work for various NGOs, including Oxfam (UK), the Overseas Education Fund (USA) and several UN agencies, funds and programmes. Among other areas, her work entailed: reforestation for Ethiopian refugees in northern Somalia; rehabilitation of refugee returnees from Sudan to Tigray, Ethiopia; and assistance to agricultural infrastructure in Eritrea; an integrated rural development programme for the Southern Sudan regional government and support to Community Development Officers. For the ILO (International Labour Organisation), she developed programmes to improve women's productivity and welfare as part of integrated multi-sectoral regional development in the Bay Region; and for UNESCO Somalia, worked with the Women's Education Department.
In 1982, in between assignments and given the deteriorating political situation in Somalia, Anita made the hard decision to relocate with the family to London.
In 1991, Anita founded and became the director of Haan Publishing, an independent UK publishing company specialising in educational and academic publications in the social sciences on Somalia and the Horn of Africa and was its chief editor during its lifetime.
Since May 2002, Anita worked with the United Kingdom Home Office and immigration solicitors providing expert advice on nationality and clan affiliation for Somali asylum seekers.
Anita was an active member of the Anglo-Somalia Society and cherished the relationships she established with other members of the Society given their common interest and affection for Somalia.
Throughout her life, Anita engaged in the defense of human rights, decolonization, in favor of people’s self determination and against injustice and fought at the grassroots as well as party lines level.
Anita was socially engaged, genuinely loved life, young at heart and always supportive of others.
Anita passed away suddenly on 20 April 2019, at the age of 79. She is survived by daughters Zeinab and Sara, son Ali, and six grand children.