Join ACER Foundation for an afternoon with author of Shining: The story of a lucky man Abdi Aden and hear his remarkable tale of a journey from heartbreak to home.
Abdi’s world fell apart when he was only 15 and Somalia’s vicious civil war hit Mogadishu. Unable to find his family and effectively an orphan, he fled with some 60 others, heading to Kenya. On the way, death squads hunted them and they daily faced violence, danger and starvation. After almost four months, they arrived in at refugee camps 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 Romania, then to Germany, completely dependent on the kindness of strangers. He was just 17 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 became a youth worker, was acknowledged with the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award and was featured in the SBS series, Go Back to Where You Came From.
$40.00 includes a copy of Abdi’s book Shining: The story of a lucky man.
All proceeds will go to help ACER Foundation develop projects to address the needs of educationally disadvantaged groups in the community.
