Somalia can be considered one of the most troublesome countries in the world, one frequently called a "failed state," ravaged by violence and instability.
But in such unfavorable place a valiant woman has quietly emerged as a presence of dignity and hope. Dr. Hawa Abdi Dhiblawe has, for years, been taking care of thousands of Somalis and is a voice of peace in the war-torn land.
A physician trained in Ukraine, the 63-year-old Abdi returned to Somalia in 1983 and opened her own one-room clinic in the outskirts of Mogadishu, a city lacking in government health facilities. Since then, that one room has grown into a huge 400-bed hospital surrounded by 526 hectares of farmland where 90,000 people now make their home.