Asha Mohamud Guled

1942 - 2020

Guled

Asha Mohamud Guled

7/15/1942 - 6/28/2020

Asha Mohamud Guled, 77, devoted wife, mother, grandmother, friend, author, hostess, and advocate for women's entrepreneurship and advancement, passed away June 28, 2020, in Washington, DC. The cause of death was complications from colon cancer and normal pressure hydrocephalus.

Ms. Guled was born in 1942 in Hobyo, Somalia, the daughter of Mohamud Guled, a sea captain and a merchant, and his wife, Ruqiya Abu-Bakar. Ms. Guled was the youngest of five children. As the family's fortunes took a turn for the better after her birth, she was nicknamed "cuud Barwaaqo," which translates to "fragrant prosperity." The family frequently moved, finally settling in Mogadishu on Somalia's east coast.

As a teenager, Asha met Abdullahi Addou, a promising young student. They married in 1957, and the couple's first child was born in 1959. Many months of their early marriage were spent apart while Mr. Addou studied for a doctorate at La Sapienza University in Rome.

Throughout the 1960s, Ms. Guled observed and participated in the Somali independence movement. As with many Somalis of her generation, witnessing the country's liberation from Britain and Italy shaped her sense of self and homeland. Like many Somalis, she was fluent in Somali, Arabic, and Italian, though her formal education ended before she graduated high school; at the time, that was not an unusual situation for women.

In 1970, with three daughters and three sons accompanying, the growing family moved to Washington, DC when Mr. Addou was appointed Somali ambassador to the US. Ms. Guled learned English from speaking with other diplomatic wives and quickly became aware of the then-growing civil rights and women's liberation movements. In DC, after giving birth to two additional daughters, she determined that education and hard work were the keys to success and made up her mind that all eight of her children would attend top schools.

Ms. Guled had a gift for hospitality and a generous spirit that derived from her Muslim faith as well as her African identity: From 1976 to 1978, Ms. Guled led the Muslim Women's Association of Washington DC, and the tenet of Islam that most resonated with her was "zakat," the giving of charity. Using her sharp, inquisitive mind, she parlayed a vast knowledge of the Somali language, culture, and history in the service of building bridges to the international community. Known by some as "the Julia Child of Somalia," she authored the first Somali cookbook, "Habka Cunto-Karinta Soomaaliyeed: A Cookery of Somali Style." Proceeds from the book went to support refugees of the Ogaden War, a conflict that predated the country's later civil conflict.

In 1980, the couple returned to Somalia when Mr. Addou was appointed Somalia's Minister of Finance. Having spent ten years in the US, Ms. Guled recognized the need for housing appropriate to the diplomatic and ex-pat communities: better amenities and more security. Thus began her second act as a real estate developer. After returning to the US in 1986, when her husband was again assigned to the diplomatic corps, Ms. Guled continued her development venture. In the 1990s, during the Somali Civil War, she wrote poems known as "buraanbur" that communicated the hardships of the period. Some of these were recited on Somali radio, where she admonished her countrymen to stand up to atrocities against women. She also collected Somali artifacts, including weavings, tools, leatherwork, musical instruments, and portraiture. Many of these articles have since been donated to museums and institutions, including the Smithsonian.

Ms. Guled played critical, if quiet, roles during Mr. Addou's diplomatic and political career, including two unsuccessful Somali presidential campaigns, in 2000 and 2004. According to many, Ms. Guled was the "strong woman behind the successful man." The couple lived in Dubai for part of the 1990s, gained permanent US residency in 2001, and became American citizens in 2008.

As the mother of five daughters, Ms. Guled was a vocal advocate for women's rights, encouraging all her children, as well as those of her siblings and extended family, to advance as high as possible: proceeds from her real estate venture financed many a college tuition, and her offspring, nieces and nephews, now hold leadership positions across the country and globe.

No stranger to the higher levels of diplomacy, Ms. Guled was the guest of presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. Still, she never lost her belief that hard work, higher education, and charitable deeds are the keys to successful lives. Hers was a life of both hardship and privilege, spirituality and entrepreneurship, a close-knit home, and a wide world traveled.

In addition to her husband, Ms. Guled is survived by her children Marian, Hodan, Hanad, Habon, Mahad, Mussa, Ayan, and Ebyan, as well as 12 grandchildren and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and other family members.



Services private.