Guerrila fighter (Ahmen Egal) turns teacher.

When you meet Ahmed Hussen Egal, a mild mannered accountant from Somalia, now living in Stockholm, it comes as a surprise to lean that he was once a guerrilla fighter. Today he is active in the education of the 20,000 Somalis who live in Sweden. But 15 years ago, believing that `guns change the world', he was involved in the bitter clan wars that were tearing Somalia apart.

Egal spent eight years as a guerrilla fighter until his leader imprisoned him for a year. In 1986 Egal arrived in Stockholm as a refugee. In a Swedish language school he met a Polish refugee Wiesiek Kecik, former leader of Farmers Solidarity in Poland. They found common ground. Kecik told Egal of an experience of forgiving someone who had wronged him, linking it with a new approach to answering his country's needs.

A friend of Kecik took Egal to MRA's international conference centre in Caux, Switzerland. Upon his return to Sweden, Egal began a long personal journey of change. A year later he travelled with an aid agency to Somalia, sought out his former leader and apologized for his bitterness about being imprisoned. He then proposed that they should both forgive their main rival, the leader of a different clan. Fighting between these clans had already killed 900. A few weeks later the two leaders were reconciled, leading to a zone of peace.

The clan is the basis of the Somali social structure. There has been great hostility between them, with shifting alliances. Many of these rivalries persisted among the Somalis in Sweden. Egal started working with leaders from the different factions to build trust, urging them to cooperate for the good of all the Somalis in Sweden.

It was clear to Egal that, to be productive members of their new country, the Somali community needed education and training in job skills. And those who wanted to return to Somalia, with its suffering and lack of infrastructure, would need training to help their fellow citizens rebuild.

Being tenacious by nature, Egal went from door to door, enlisting the support of Swedish community leaders. Five years ago he set up a school to help Somalis with language skills and vocational training. His staff consists of Swedish teachers with expertise in language, nursing, accounting, computers, and `low technology' like chip manufacturing.

Today, Egal's school is fully supported by both the Swedish and Somali communities and is funded by the EU and the city of Stockholm. His idea for vocational schools has spread to other communities. `It is our responsibility, not others', to rebuild,' says Egal. `How can you stay in Sweden if you're not part of the society?

`To live and work with the society of which you are now part whilst still respecting one's own culture and religion is the challenge,' says Egal.