Note: Edna Adan Ismail, the Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somaliland and current Founder of the Edna Adan University Hospital visited TeachPitch on Thursday 18th Feb 2016.

 Featured by the New York Times and the Huffington Post as “The Muslim Mother Teresa”, Edna Adan Ismail, the Former First Lady of Somalia, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somaliland and current Founder of the Edna Adan University Hospital visited TeachPitch at Edspace, Hackney Community College on Thursday 18th Feb.

 Edna shared her amazing experience in fighting for women’s rights, especially for violence against girls and women including female genital mutilation (FGM). Living in the country’s first maternity hospital which she founded herself, there is no doubt about Edna’s empathy and determination to realise her ambitions: training qualified health care professionals as well as training and dispatching midwives across the country.

 Also, Edna showed her interest in innovations and development in the field of education and EdTech, so Aldo de Pape, the founder of TeachPitch, had the honour to show her around EdSpace, which is a world leading community of EdTech innovators, entrepreneurs and specialists and also the home of TeachPitch.Edna exchanged ideas with some of the companies especially regarding how to put those inspiring ideas into practice in an international context.

Note: Edna talking to companies at EdSpace and exchanging ideas about education and edtech.

“I am trying to give people a way forward with education. Tell people there is one crazy lady in Somaliland trying to put a stop to terrorism with education,” Edna said.