Hassan Haji

Hassan Haji

Hassan Haji is my grandfather, my father’s dad and he is in his 50s. He lived in a small village on the Somali, and Kenya borders and whent to school in Kenya in the 1970s.

He was very smart in school and was always number 1 in this class.

In the early 80s, he join the Somali Airforce and was sent to Northfolk Military Airbase in Texas, the United State of America to fly F15s fighter jets. Halfway through his training he could not cope with the excessive G-force and had to change to Military services. He was the youngest Colonel, in Somalia up until 1990 when the civil war broke out in Somalia.

My grandfather Come to New Zealand late 90s. He went to Massey Univerity for his degree and masters and the University of Canterbury for his PHD. he worked for the Ministry of Education for almost 18 years as coordinator South Island Refugee schools program. He helped the refugees and new migrants with education support and help with studying.

He moved to Australia in 2016 and worked for NGO, “ LIFE WITHOUT BARRIER”. In early 2018 He moved to Somalia to work as an election comissioner. There he helped the election process in 2022. He wrote a few books which you can buy online.

The reason why I chose him instead of others is that he is the only one in my family that was a Colonel, and has a Ph.D. in education and philosophy. He was always around to help people and he was there for them.