Running in Somaliland

LEO DONLEA ’21, ’23 spent the last year and a half teaching English at the Abaarso School of Science and Technology in Somaliland. He was also the director of a small running program that he helped grow into one of the success stories of Abaarso. But it isn’t something he’s done alone—throughout the process, runners for the Portland Pilots cross country programs have helped support Donlea by sending shoes and other gear to the club. It’s created an unlikely connection between The Bluff and Somaliland. 

Donlea ran for the Pilots in both cross country and track from 2019 to 2023. After finishing his MBA in 2023, he was trying to figure out what his next steps might be. “I was in the semi-final rounds for an internship at Brooks and had set my mind on it and didn’t get to final round,” Donlea said. “I was pretty heartbroken.” 

Then an old acquaintance came to him with the teaching and coaching opportunity. “I had never even heard of Somaliland,” Donlea said. “I definitely thought that would be a one-year thing and that there’s this great opportunity to go do something wildly different and out of my comfort zone.” 

Somaliland is a nation located in northwest Somalia. It’s not officially recognized by the United Nations as a sovereign nation but has proclaimed independence since 1991. They have a democratically elected government and several representative offices in countries like Ethiopia and Taiwan. It is officially a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, an advocacy group of Indigenous peoples, minorities, and other nations that are either unrecognized or in occupied territories.

Abaarso itself is located just outside Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, in the eponymous village. The school was founded in 2009 by American financier Jonathan Starr, and several graduates have gone on to prestigious universities—examples include Brown University, Harvard University, and others. The successes from the school have brought in plenty of media attention, from CNN to The New York Times. It is also the only school in the Horn of Africa to hold accreditation status from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). “The overall goal of the school is to educate the future leaders of Somaliland,” said Donlea. “That’s the guiding mission that determines what we do in any given situation.” 

The running club has existed for as long as the school itself has been around, though its formality has changed over the years. What started as a small club is…well, still a small club, but the program has evolved from a simple pastime to something where the kids can measure how they’re progressing. 

“There was no infrastructure,” Donlea said. “It’s all just kind of being created.” 

There are no organized courses or tracks that Abaarso can use for running—just long stretches of rocky, desert terrain. That makes it difficult to figure out how much better kids are getting at running, but there are rough conversions. 

One thing that Donlea underscores is that the running program is not supposed to be a path to college. In his eyes, perpetuating this idea that running is the thing that gets one “out” of Somaliland isn’t valuable. Donlea said that a lot of the kids are looking for that path out, so for him, it was about resetting expectations as to what running actually gets you. 

“Yes, we want to give these students opportunities to run, but really they’re here for school,” Donlea said. “You have to prioritize, and if this is something you want to do, you have to figure out how to do it on top of excelling in school.” 

Abdisalan Abdi, a runner from Somaliland who recently graduated from a private boarding school in Virginia, likes that the sport has a low barrier to entry. “There are so many things that made me fall in love with running because this is a sport that doesn’t require a lot of skill,” he said. “You don’t have to be really good in order to do it at first.” 

Donations are where Pilot track and cross country fit in beyond Donlea. In order to run, the kids need shoes, so Donlea has arranged for shoes—and Pilots gear—to be sent across. 

Donlea is now back in the US, and Abdi has returned to Somaliland to coach at Abaarso. Abdi said he hopes to emulate what someone like Donlea has done to coach the kids at Abaarso. And whether it’s just a material exchange every year or meetings with the Pilots team over Zoom or any other number of things, one thing is certain—a connection has been formed.

KYLE GARCIA ’20 is University of Portland’s Assistant Athletic Director, Communications.