Call Me American

In June 2006, Abdi is 21. Faisa visits him, risking violence to see Abdi for the first time in months. They visit the beach, where Faisa is the only woman who dares to go near the water. She confesses that she appreciates the lower levels of crime in Mogadishu and praises the Islamic courts, which frustrates Abdi. When they enter the ocean together, a crowd forms to chastise them. Before they can leave, four Islamists arrive with guns. They flog Abdi and Faisa with whips before marching them to a court.

Abdi is immediately put on trial for breaking Sharia law. He is sentenced to 20 lashes and “counseling” (98). Abdi is whipped again while being quizzed on Islamic law. He is allowed to leave, but must return the next day; he watches as a man’s hand is cut off with a machete as a warning to others.

Many Somalis cross the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. From there, they move into refugee camps and, in some cases, resettle in Europe or America. Abdi knows that he might die trying to make the journey, but he believes that he has no other choice. To raise the money needed to make the trip, he works wherever he can. By July 2006, he has $50—enough to begin his journey. He travels to Bosaso, a port town. On the way, he meets Ahmed and Abaas. Both are from Mogadishu and both are making the same trip out of Somalia. They quickly become friends.

When Abdi arrives in Bosaso, he learns that he does not have enough money to pay the smugglers. Ahmed and Abaas do, so they board a crowded boat. The boats are so tightly packed, the smugglers so prone to violence, and the waters so infested with sharks that many do not survive the trip. Abdi watches his new friends leave on the boat. He tries to pay his meager funds to a smuggler to no avail. The next day, Abdi spots a familiar face from his neighborhood in Mogadishu: Abdullahi Madowe, who is in Bosaso with his whole family. They chat and Abdi watches as the family departs on a boat for Yemen. Later, he hears that Ahmed and Abaas both survived the trip, but Abdullahi Madowe and his family did not. Abdi trudges back to the bus depot, thinking about the fine line between life and death as he returns to Mogadishu. 

In July 2006, the Ethiopian army, backed by the United States, crosses the border into Somalia. By December, there is a full-scale war between the two countries. Many young men Abdi knew who had joined the Islamist army are among the first to die. By December 2007, the Islamists are expelled from Mogadishu. A combined Somali and Ethiopian military presence attempts to disarm the city, but foreign peacekeeping forces have trouble understanding the complexities of the Somali clan rivalries. Soon, the Islamists regroup and launch a new holy war against the occupying army.

A new group calling themselves al-Shabaab, or ‘The Youth,’ perpetrates a wave of suicide bombings and vicious killings. The increased violence brings worldwide media attention. One day, Abdi meets an American reporter named Paul Salopek. At first, Salopek’s bodyguards push him away, but Abdi’s English skills get him a meeting with the journalist. For three hours, they talk about life in Mogadishu, and Abdi bombards Salopek with questions about America. As Abdi is about to leave, Salopek gives him $50 and tells him to buy a cell phone so that they can keep in touch.

Abdi and Salopek become friends as Mogadishu becomes more dangerous. Once, Abdi and his mother, caught in a firefight, run away dodging explosions, bullets, and suicide bombers. They eventually arrive in a makeshift, tent village miles outside of the city and stay there for the night. The next day, they meet Nima and her child among the temporary huts. Omar is lost in the chaos; Nima seems malnourished. People are stuck in the tents, unable to return to the city for fear of death. Businesses and schools spring up in this new area, named Eelasha and run by al-Shabaab. In this tightly packed environment, Abdi cannot avoid Islamist recruiters, who press-gang him into the armed forces.

Training for new recruits focuses on whom to hate, how to shoot, and how to wear a suicide vest. After one day, Abdi knows he cannot stay, so he sneaks back into Mogadishu. Everything in the city has been looted, including Abdi’s home. Now trapped in the city, caught between the two warring sides, he digs a deep hole in his old bedroom and sleeps in it every night to avoid the shelling. Abdi manages to buy a phone to talk to Salopek. He makes some money teaching English so local people can interact with the international aid agencies in Mogadishu. A shell kills one of his students. One day, he receives a call from an unknown number. The person tells him to stop teaching English and to consider himself warned. 

By 2008, Somalia has seen 17 years of war. A million people are dead and a million and a half more displaced. Half a million people, including Madinah and Nima, live in Eelasha. Only a few people remain in Mogadishu, and Abdi is one of them. He enrolls in a business course and is soon put in charge of English classes on occasions when the teacher is late. Students and teachers are killed regularly. He stays in contact with Salopek, who is writing an article for The Atlantic magazine. He also talks to a journalist named Cori Princell, who works for the NPR program The Story. He tells Cori of his frustrations with life in Somalia and his dream of going to America.

Abdi worries whether speaking to journalists is a risk, but Hassan tells him to continue—it might help Abdi escape. Abdi’s weekly recordings air in America in a segment of The Story called “Messages from Mogadishu.” Americans send him supportive emails; one of them, a woman named Sharon McDonnell, offers to help. After connecting via email, Sharon sends Abdi money. With this new income stream, Abdi saves hundreds of dollars, which he uses to feed and house his mother, Nima, and his niece. Meanwhile, people around the world work on a way to get Abdi out of Somalia. Traveling to Kenya or hiring human traffickers is either too dangerous or not feasible. When Abdi’s house is bombed, the organization raises $500 for a plane ticket to get him out of the country.

Abdi gets a passport because the plan is for him to fly to Uganda on a one-day visa and then figure out a way to get into Kenya. Before he leaves, he has to say goodbye to his mother, traveling to Eelasha and back on the bus. It is a dangerous trip, but he is able to see Madinah one last time. She wishes him luck. The next day, as he is about to depart, his mother appears in Mogadishu and escorts him to the airport, saying goodbye properly, away from al-Shabaab. While Abdi boards his plane, the airport shakes from heavy shelling. As the plane takes off, he cries silently. Other passengers do the same.

After a brief layover in Kenya, the flight arrives in Uganda. The Somali passengers are separated from the rest and made to wait for hours. When eventually, someone calls Abdi’s name, everyone claims to be Abdi Iftin—but only Abdi has a passport with his name in it. Abdi is taken to a telephone where he talks to Ben Bellows, one of the Americans who helped to get him out of Somalia. Ben explains the arrangements they have made: Abdi will stay one night in Uganda and then take a bus to Kenya the next day. A Somali taxi driver called Aleey drives Abdi to his hotel, which seems like luxury after sleeping in a ruined house for years. A hotel worker has to show Abdi how to use a shower with running water. Abdi showers until all the hot water is gone.