Emporia has has been a good place for Abdulakadir Dirie to live and work. But a part of the 23-year-old Somali is longing to go home to help his people.
Dirie and his family, including 12 brothers and sisters, were living in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1991, when the civil war came to their doorstep. Dirie’s father was a member of parliament, and the family lived together in pleasant surroundings. They were not nomadic, as some Somalis are, and their life was comfortable.
Dirie, who was then about 6 years old, said he does not remember much from that time. He knew the militia came to the family’s home and, in the ensuing fighting, one of his brothers was killed and another was badly injured but escaped.
“I was young,” he said. “They were shooting machine guns, whatever they were looking for.”
The family fled by boat to eastern Somalia, then on to Kenya, where they lived in the Kakuma and Utanga refugee camp for many years.
The boat that took them to eastern Somalia was the first boat Dirie had seen. It was crowded with refugees and many were screaming and frightened.
“So many people died there on the boat,” he said.
After four days, some times with the boat operating without one of its engines, they reached the Kenyan border and spent hours waiting to be able to enter and be taken to a refugee camp.
“Camp living was hard and difficult,” he said. “No shelter or health care. No clean water or school. I never had celebrated my birthday.”
Sometimes the local Kenyan nomads caused trouble in the camp, and sometimes the refugees, who came from different clans, fought among themselves. There were “failures of rain” and the refugees suffered from famines and the ever-present sweltering heat. Several times, when United Nations funding for the camp did not arrive, Kenyans set fire to the refugee camp. The UN sent investigators to try to find the arsonists, but were unsuccessful, and the threat of violence hung over the refugees.
“That’s why we are all the time fearing for the situation,” he said. “... No one died but the whole place was completely burned and (we) had to go live somewhere else.” Several people were injured in the fires.
Dirie said he felt he had “no connection to the world.”
He was encouraged when Kenya closed the refugee camp in 1998 and the residents were offered the option of going to other countries — the United States, Australia, Ethiopia, Djubouti, for example. Some of Dirie’s relatives had the necessary paperwork to go to Ethiopia, and one of his brothers went to the United States. (His father died in 1999 in Ethiopia.) Dirie and some others, however, had no paperwork or identification that would allow them to travel. Returning to Somalia was not an option.
“It was so horrible, things going on, so no one chose to go there,” he said.
He managed to get a ride to Nairobi, Kenya, where he could stay with an aunt.
“I came to the big city, looked for a better life, but I never found a job or school,” Dirie said. He still had no ID or passport, so was unable to get a full-time job. If police stopped him and asked for documents, he had none.
“Sometimes I walked the streets to look for work,” he said. “It never was easy for me. Kenyan government was not giving me any help, or citizen, whatever, ID.”
He managed to find temporary jobs, working as people needed him, but he saw no future for him in Kenya.
“What was important for me was basic life, ’cause I lost my country, or basic life,” Dirie said. “My life was shaken because hard situation.”
Despite the hardships, though, Dirie said that he had “never spent my life in bad habits.”
Through an older brother who had settled in the United States, Dirie managed to come to America. The brother, now a citizen, sponsored Dirie’s trip here. It’s a flight he remembers well.
“When I came here, I was so proud ... I fly to America Nov. 11, 2005. Also, I land Friday afternoon in New York,” he said. “I see out the window flying in, and I see the tower, Liberty, and I cried. That’s the first thing I saw.”
He spent time in Minnesota, working with other members of the family, and moved to Emporia in April 2006.
“It’s good for me to come here and get better life,” he said. “My basic life was busted and I needed to rebuild my life again. America has done for us very good things.”
Returning to Somalia was out of the question for him and his family, who are members of the Banaadiri clan. The Dahrots clan is in charge in Somalia now and their enemies, primarily the Hawiye, are doing their best to unseat the Dahrots.
“They are fighting each other,” Dirie said. “They keep us out of our country. These people ... they need for one tribe to survive. That is no kind of humanity and no kind of neighborhood. ...
“We are human and we want peace. We have to go back to the international community to get our government back.”
Until that ongoing war is over, Dirie will not go home, so he is working on building a life here. He now works at Tyson Fresh Meats and sends as much money as he can — often $500 a month — to his brothers and their families in Ethiopia.
He has purchased an inexpensive used car so that he will be able to go to classes and hopes to take a GED test within the next few weeks.
His family taught him since he was a child that education is key to everything.
“Education is the first thing a human can survive in basic life,” he said. “One of my brothers encouraged me all the time in education, all the time.”
He plans to get a GED book to study from the library for two to four weeks, in preparation for the test.
“When I came to U.S. I expected to get a good education. ...I think I can pass GED,” he said. “I know much English and mathematics.”
Dirie had studied reading and writing English in Nairobi at classes sponsored through a world church organization, and now said he feels prepared to go forward.
“When I pass, I want to continue for my line in education,” he said.
“I was lucky. God almighty helped me — 2005 brought to U.S.A. I am so glad to be here. I wish (to be) back to normal life. I want my future reborn. I want to study and (get) my life back to normal again.”
Dirie is doing what he can to accomplish that.
“Everybody has a plan. My plan is to help my community,” he said. “... I would like to be a nurse. I want to go back to help my people.”
hjcary (anonymous) says...
I pray that the residents of Emporia help you succeed in your goals Abdulakadir. Nursing is a great profession to be in to help. God has a purpose for you to have kept you safe during these last 16yrs of trials. May you go home one day and share with your family how the Lord blessed you.
February 7, 2007 at 10:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )