Lean In 39: Survival. One brave man’s unbelievable story of survival with Abdi Aden

Welcome to Lean In, a podcast that explores ordinary people’s extraordinary lives through honest storytelling. My guests share with me their journey of discovery, laughter, personal experiences and healing.

If you are going through a change or challenging period in life, Lean In is the space where we can surrender to the cycle together.

Today I have the extreme pleasure of introducing you to someone who has experienced the unbelievable and conquered the impossible; Abdi Aden.

Abdi’s world completely changed when he was only a very young teenager and Somalia’s vicious civil war hit Mogadishu. Unable to find his family after a massive explosion happened, he fled quickly and soon joined another 318 people heading to Kenya to search for safety.

On the way, death squads hunted them and they daily faced violence, danger and starvation. After almost three months, they arrived at a refugee camp in Kenya – of the group he’d set out with, only five had survived.

All alone in the world and desperate to find his family, Abdi couldn’t stay in Kenya, so he turned around and undertook the dangerous journey back to Mogadishu. But the search was fruitless, and eventually Abdi made his way – alone, with no money in his pockets – to a refugee camp in Romania, then got to Germany, completely dependent on the kindness of strangers. He was just sixteen years old when he arrived in Melbourne. He had no English, no family or friends, no money, no home. Yet, against the odds, he not only survived, he thrived. Abdi went on to complete secondary education and later university.

He is now a husband, a father to 3 boys and constantly gives back to his community. He became a youth worker, was acknowledged with the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award and was featured in the SBS second series of Go Back to Where You Came From.

Despite what he has gone through, Abdi is a most inspiring man, who is constantly thankful for his life and what he has. Everything he has endured and achieved is testament to his quiet strength and courage, his resilience and most of all, his warm-hearted, shining and enduring optimism.

We dive into;

● The reality of Somalia in the civil war

● The Mother that took Abdi under her wing when he could not find his own family

● Facing a death squad…and surviving!

● The constant search for his parents and sister

● Arriving in Romania in the freezing cold with no where to go, no language and no money

● The reality of living in refugee camps

● His long journey to Australia and how he got there

● The racism refugee’s face in Australia

● The story of getting into school and eventually university

● How he miraculously found his Mother and sister

● Meeting his Australian wife and having children

● The importance of giving back and sharing his story

You can find out more about Abdi and his incredible work;

Website/blog

Books

Instagram

Facebook

And….

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