18/01/2026
Who are we? We are Khayrhaye. A non-profit organization based in Ottawa. Also, we are the 1st Somali cultural museum here in Canada.
Our main objective is to is to preserve, promote, and celebrate the Somali heritage. We prioritize safeguarding Somali artifacts, art, and oral traditions for future generations.
Khayrhaye’s vision is to be the leading institution for the preservation, celebration, and education of Somali heritage, culture, and history.
Throughout the year of 2025 our volunteers have been teaching the Ottawa community about the Somali way of life through food, artifacts, and conversation.
A few memorable examples include Heritage Day. We were invited by the Capital heritage Connection, which we are a member of. The purpose of heritage day was to strengthen the Capital area’s heritage and history communities. This year’s theme highlighted the essential work of the heritage professionals.
Also, participating in Africa Day at Carleton University, which is an annual event often hosted by the Institute of African Studies, bringing together students, faculty, diaspora members, and the public for discussions, culture, and celebration of African unity and contributions.
And who can forget about FabFest 2025. We want to thank Incubator13 for hosting FabFest again at the Rideau Hub. The festival included exhibitions featuring local artists and innovators, interactive workshops and hands-on activities, family-friendly entertainment and live performances. We were very appreciative to showcase the Ottawa community about the Somali culture.
Another part this year was our collaborative efforts to support our partners with their events. It’s important for us to volunteer our time, finances, and help in anyway we can to make their events a success.
Over 2025 we have been a success because of the help our partners. We want to highlight them and the support they have provided us this year. They helped advertise us in their events, provide us space for our booth pop-ups, and support us financially in our community events. This includes Suradway, Samawada, Somali Hope Foundation, and of course the Somali Centre of Family Services.
We hosted some celebratory events around the Somali cultural. This includes our 2nd annual Eid Al-Adha celebration. We brought traditional Somali food, entertainment for the kids, and teaching sessions of our museum.
Our main objective throughout the year is the museum tours. We are proud to have accepted all of museum tour requests that have come in our inbox. A big thank you to our main knowledge keeper Kaltoun M***a. She is the back bone of the organization. The one organizing the tours and teaching the different groups about the Somali culture. This includes private tours from journalists or with other exhibition collaborators. Also, we hosted a seniors collaboration with JFS and the Somali Centre for Family Services.
Our biggest milestone that we are proud of this year would be completing the Pre-Feasibility Study. Partnering with Nordicity, which is a consulting firm based in Toronto. We worked together from February to the end of July providing a pre-feasibility study to the City of Ottawa. We were awarded with the Cultural Facilities Fund grant from the City. The purpose of the grant was to create a major capital initiative. We are one step closer to establishing a permanent facility for the Somali cultural museum and for the Somali community in Ottawa.
In summary, the year of 2025 has been a success of preserving the Somali artifacts, teaching the Somali way of life to the next generation, and getting closer to completing our major capital community project. We hope to have your continued support and watch our journey in the new year.
