"Every summer, dozens of Somali guests visit Wilson's farm as part of a wonderfully wholesome project set up to celebrate their nation's culture, and to honour his father's second world war service with a Somali comrade-in-arms. Inadvertently, however, the project has revealed something else: a deep unfairness in today's global financial system that not only threatens to ruin the Somalis' holidays, but also excludes marginalised communities from global banking services on a huge scale."
"The origins of the story lie in 1940, when the then 27-year-old Capt Eric Wilson led a doomed stand against an Italian invasion of the British colony of Somaliland. Suffering from malaria, massively outnumbered and under heavy artillery fire, Wilson and a small band of Somali comrades like the Spartans at Thermopylae, but wearing khaki shorts rather than leather drawers held off the Italians for an astonishing five days."
"After their position was overrun, Eric won a posthumous Victoria Cross, which came as a nice surprise when he was liberated from a prisoner of war camp a few months later. It was an extraordinary honour, the highest a British soldier can receive, but he was always troubled by it. Why had he been recognised, while his sergeant an old friend called Omar Kujoog who had died in the battle received nothing?"
Hamish Wilson lives in a cosy farmhouse in mid Wales and hosts dozens of Somali guests each summer. The project celebrates Somali culture and honors his father's Second World War service with a Somali comrade-in-arms. The project revealed a deep unfairness in today's global financial system that threatens Somalis' holidays and excludes marginalized communities from global banking services. The origins lie in 1940 when 27-year-old Capt Eric Wilson led a doomed stand against an Italian invasion of British Somaliland. Suffering malaria and heavy artillery fire, Wilson and Somali comrades held off the Italians for five days. Eric won a posthumous Victoria Cross and was troubled that his sergeant Omar Kujoog received nothing. Before Eric's death in 2010 they sold the Victoria Cross and bought the farm to create a centre for Somalis to learn about their nation's culture.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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