Translation to English: Amal Mahdi
We received the tragic news of Shohdi’s passing
in the 21th of Sep 2016, a terrible and sudden shock to Khartoum’s civil
society. This fine young man in his twenties was well known for his many
community activities focusing on youth development. He was considered one of
the most prominent young leaders in the Sudanese media community. He was a strongly
driven young man, an ardent supporter of others and a deep believer in people’s
capabilities and possibilities. Shohdi was a charitable man, a genuine jewel bright
with potential to be a spectacular leader for the future.
His life
A native of Omdurman, Shohdi Abdulgadir Mohammed
Elhag born in 1988, the eldest of three, in Kosti – a town in the White Nile
state of Sudan. He spent his early years with his family in Saudi Arabia, enrolled
in the Riyad International School, where he was among the top students in his
class. His family moved back to Sudan in 2006, and Shuhdi continued his studies
in Comboni College. Shohdi worked a wide range of jobs before joining the civil
society work 2013. Throughout these years, he devoted his life to using
creativity, art and technology to create valuable media designed to inspire the
achievement of developmental goals.
He invested his efforts into encouraging and building
youth capacities and directing talents through training and mentorship. He also
took part in distinctive media audio/visual productions, participated in new platforms,
created networks and cooperated with many international civil society
institutes.
Achievements
YES Academy Sudan
Shohdi worked as a director for the Sudanese
branch of YES Academy, a program dedicated to youth excellence onstage.
Implemented around the world by the American Voices enterprise around the world,
YES Academy is a youth training program aimed at enhancing understanding of
art, theatre, and at promoting cultural exchange with USA.
Since 2013 more than 60 talents practiced in Sudanese
Voices, in classical music, singing, dancing and various forms of theatrical
performances. The idea evolved in 2014 to involve the production of
audio/visual media and the performing arts for three consecutive cycles.
Yes We Can & Women Leadership SD
In April of 2014,
Shohdi joined Sarah Mohyeldin to create the "Yes We Can initiative",
aimed at encouraging and empowering new graduates and providing them with the skills
needed to successfully join the challenging job market. Shohdi was a cofounder,
speaker and participant in the organizing team of Yes We Can initiative.
Sudanese Voices:
In 2015, Shohdi announced "Sudanese Voices",
a non-governmental organization with the main objectives of capacity-building
for creative youth in such various media fields as cinematography, still
photography, picture production and audio engineering.
The group was committed to investing in talented
young individuals, boosting their confidence and cultivating their skills in positively
affecting their local and extended communities through media productions that create
valuable, artistic, constructive and highly-influencing projects that highlight
Sudanese identity. The project hoped to increase the visibility of discourse
relating to diversity, identity, women’s issues, social issues, education and
development, and peace building.
The program’s first activities were two
workshops on media and audio production in end of 2014 and the middle of 2015.
Forty applicants were enrolled and benefitted from training by specialists in
the business. A number of documentaries emerged from these workshops in
addition to public serves announcements, audio recordings, and high quality
song production.
A sister production company named "SV Art
Production" emerged from the collaboration of these talents experiences.
SuperZol
In the 2015 Social Good Summit held by the UNDP
branch in Sudan, the "SuperZol" game project created by Shohdi’s team
was awarded the first prize, beating out 40 other projects by 250 participants.
The six-member team developed an educational
game for social change aimed at children aged five to twelve. It was designed
to seed values of peace, social, cultural and national cohesion and to
cultivate the children’s awareness of their country’s historical characters and
national figures and to educate children the basics of safety and protection
inside and outside their households.
According to Moumen Mohamed, a "SuperZol"
team-member, Shohdi’s contribution “was very effective. He developed the game
strategy to promote sustainable development and he also took care of the financial
issues.”
The summit’s goal was to enhance youth skills and
talents in creativity, technology, new media platforms and business
entrepreneurship, helping them to innovate solutions for local sectors in need
of social development.
HOLLA
"HOLLA" is a Horn of Africa youth leadership
training programme for leadership, empowerment and community cohesion. The
program is sponsored by the British Council and the European Union, and saw Shohdi
as one of the most valuable youth leaders on the program, and saw that his work
“creates and
implements community projects that support young people to became engaged in
national and local development, using workshops, art and cultural events in
three pilot countries: Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Sudan”.
Mr. Shohdi was a man
with vision and soulful initiative. His critical thinking, logic and keen eye helped
in smoothly collecting and organizing the team’s ideas. Shohdi became the program
coordinator and he also stood out by being punctual for every meeting and
deadline.
Youth and Policy Engagement in the Horn of
Africa
London - Chatham house, March 2016
Shohdi represented his
country in a conference organized by the Royal Institute for International
affairs, the British Council and HOLLA, and sponsored by the European Union.
The conference
discussed the future role of youth in countries of the Horn of Africa and their
role in addressing the region’s most pressing issues, such as peace-building,
conflict resolution, education and employment.
In the late Shohdi’s
own words, he expressed his “views on opening new dialogues in policies and on making room for
youth to take part in the decision-making process in a committee composed of
ministers, commissioners, businessmen, professors and young leaders.”
Mandila Washington
fellowship
Shohdi’s final activities
were with the Indiana, where he was among 1000 young leader from Africa to take
part in the Mandela – Washington Fellowship, fifteen of whom were Sudanese.
This scholarship program is aiming at find solutions for the emerging
challenges facing today’s young African generation.
Shohdi: leader,
friend and supporter
Not only did Shohdi
care deeply for about his projects and dreams, but he also prioritized his
friends, offering whatever spare time he had to support the dreams and projects
of others. The following are some testimonials from his friends.
Filmmaking for
Children
The initiative was founded by Mosaab
Hassouna and is dedicated to teach children the essence and fundamentals of
filmmaking, beginning with writing, acting, cinematography and montage and
ending with production. Since its launch in 2015, the program has trained 37
children over two seasons and produced 27 films.
Mosaab recalls that Shohdi was “riveted
by the idea since day one. His endorsement of this initiative came in many
forms. He proposed that members of SV train the children to establish their own
YouTube channel. The suggestion came from his deep belief in the importance of
this step for the children, and how it would affect their filmmaking journey.
He also donated a room at SV headquarters for us and invited the children to
use SV’s studio and recorded one of the children’s film songs in the studio. Shohdi
believed in the kids and the change they can achieve. What I can never forget is
how he personally participated in organizing the first season’s opening
ceremony and how he followed up on every detail from the very beginning to the
very end.”
The following season, he was so
enthusiastic that he provided the kids with equipment for four months to learn
with them.
Cinema Shabab
Cinema Shabab is one of the biggest gatherings for cinema lovers in Sudan, and moves to promote Sudanese filmmaking and build its youth capacities. Shohdi personally supported Cinema Shabab and the Taharqa Award, helping to provide equipment for a series of documentaries in addition to being a volunteer member. He shared our passion and supported the Taharga award through his SV initiative. This year, the award is dedicated to the memory of his beautiful soul.
Obituary
This beautiful, brave and peaceful soul left us abruptly, still with so many dreams, passion, and projects. He quietly leaves the memory of his passion to forever live on in his friends, family and colleagues.
(From the Almighty we come and to him we return.)
My sincere gratitude to all of Shohdi’s friends, who kindly provided me
with accurate information about his biography and activities and contributed in
this work.
