Crisscrossing Continents
Alumnus Hamse Warfa named to San Diego Metropolitan Magazine's
When Hamse Warfa was named one of San Diego Metropolitan Magazine’s “40 under 40,” he got phone calls and e-mails from as far away as Africa, Australia and the Middle East. Not surprising given Warfa’s large extended family and his roots in Somalia on the Horn of Africa.
Warfa was only 15 when his family fled Somalia’s civil war to settle in Denver. Finding the city and its weather inhospitable, they relocated to San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood, already a center for Somali immigrants.
After graduating from Crawford High School, Warfa enrolled at San Diego State University as a political science major. But he retained close ties to the Somali community with his volunteer work at Horn of Africa, a community-based organization that helps East African refugees and immigrants assimilate to their new life in America.
Warfa’s siblings, mostly older, became community organizers, college professors and healthcare professionals. He pursued a master’s degree in organizational management and leadership at Springfield College’s San Diego campus while his volunteer work at Horn of Africa turned into a permanent position as associate executive director.
Warfa also found time to complete advanced graduate-level certificate programs in conflict analysis and conflict prevention at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.
In 2008, Warfa trumped scores of applicants to become program officer at Alliance Healthcare Foundation, the only local, nonprofit and independent healthcare foundation in San Diego County. The foundation has funded development of One-e-App software to streamline enrollment and retention in a range of health and social services program. It is expected to serve 40,000 clients in 2010 alone.
Warfa continues to volunteer for his community as founding president of the Institute for Horn of Africa Studies and Affairs (IHASA), educating Americans about the origins of conflicts in the Horn of Africa and providing training and workshops about peace, conflict analysis and how to prevent deadly conflicts.
At 31, Warfa is an ardent lobbyist for human rights. During frequent trips to the nation’s capital, he urges government officials and congressional leaders to bring American influence to bear toward a peaceful solution to the conflicts in the Horn of Africa.
