Sahra Osman

Study hard, listen to your teachers and parents.

Sahra Osman

Hello my name is Sahra Osman. Sahra Osman, that’s how pronounce. My name is Sahra Osman.

I was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. I finish high school in my country. And I was born in 1975. When I came here in 2000 and after that I get married. My first baby’s Sinad. I have two other boys. Finally I finish my GED three days ago and I have ceremony at Excel Energy. High school diploma, that’s GED.

Then I started school when I was four years old until 16 years. Until high school, I finish high school in my country. And I go to college, two years in my country. When I came here I was 22, almost 22 years old. I told you already, I was born in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1975.

I live with my father and my mother, my brothers and sisters. I have 7 brothers and 3 sisters. Same mother same father. My father was a policeman. My mother was a doctor-midwife. I start in school until high school.

When I get to college, my country have a civil war. And we move, we move to Kenya. In Kenya and since 1991 until 1999, we are in Kenya. After that, first my father come here, this country. We come after him here.

I was middle the children. But when we came here and I was already 20 years old. My youngest brothers and sisters, they have chance to study school. Everything they were two year younger, seven, eight, ten, something like that. But everyone in my family, right now, they finish college in Mankato, Minnesota.

Then, I came here, my age was too old, I can’t do anything. But my husband and me, we are same school, same class in our country. But he come here when he was 12 years old. Then, when he finished college, everything was in Canada. His family move in here.

And we meet here. We are same class, but my mother, my mother she was hard work woman. We have a small shop to buy everything in our country. Every morning, she wake up the morning. She had only three girls, the rest was the boys. Nine boys and three girls. But girls is biggest, boys is youngest.

Then my mother, she wake up in the morning and she would cook something for us. But our country, we don’t have busing to school and we was walking until three mile the way our school from where we live.

But my father, he was policeman and he has small car. He went in morning to work. My mother went in morning to work, the kids we went to every same time, but when I come back, I’m oldest the girl and my mother, and I come back after 11:00. We have a break, our school, 1:00—one hour break. So that’s when I went to market and buy shopping meat like um, tomatoes and I go back my school. But when I come for again and I cook. I was, I started to cook like 8 years, 7 years. You know, my mother teach me everything.

We have a small house. My mother and father have their own house. We have a small chaff. The we grow up. I like my mother and my father. Always was happy. Then after my father took, he was policeman. He went to morning at work and he come back around 2:00. And he give all the food at that time we cook.

But we don’t have like dishwasher. We don’t have laundry. We don’t have like stuff to cook something, you know. Then when we come here, is different.

Then after all that, my big sister live right now, my youngest sister live in Sweden. She have four kids. My other brother live in London has four. My other brother live in Denmark, have three. My other brother live Australia, have two. My sister live in Asia right now, she have three children. Rest of the kids, they get to marry-age, two or three, I think. They have one kid or he’s has three boys, I think, in this country. They were marriage here. And one have two boys, one have one girl, one have three boys and they live here in Burnsville, Minneapolis, & Minnetonka.

My school and I don’t like the math. In Arabic, we have subject Arabic, but always I’m late, you know. Always I’m late because the reason I late was when we wake up in the morning, our school was Monday to Friday, Saturday—no! Our school…we start on Thursday. We start our school on Monday. No, Saturday and Sunday, we have school. We start Sunday until Friday, Sunday to Friday. That’s why I’m confused. We start Sunday to Friday.

No... Saturday Sunday, we have school, but Friday and Thursday, we don’t have school. We have seven days of school. Every Thursday and Friday, my country, we don’t have school.

Then, when I wake up, my mom makes injera. Our country, every morning when we wake up we make some... some they call like molowah. Molowah with tea. Some people they make injera. Injera we put in the butter with sugar. And she give us, our mom, that injera with brown sugar.

We went to school, but always I’m late. The reason I was late was I’m helping my mom. I help her to get ready the rest of the children. To dressing, sometime, to put their clothes—everything. Then I would get to school, like 15 days, I was late. But the teacher, she knew that was... yeah.

That’s our town, our town like Minnetonka, big as Minnetonka.
Then I help my mom. The last one go to school is me. School is start 7:30. We have 10:30 break, one hour. But we go back again 11:00…11:30, I think, 11:30. Until 2:00. Right after two, everybody come back home.

But, I have problem with the math. I have prob. So when I was young, like middle school, I have problem, Arabic, don’t like. But then I grew, I get high school. I get chemistry, physics, biology. It’s still, I don’t know how to work physics. And I remember how to work history and biology a little bit.

Math, and we have algebra. Everything is the math. Same is same. And I came this country and I get my GED and still I have the problem with the math. I finish and still I have the problem for the math.

Then anyway, we are happy to stay this country. Still we have home back home, but it’s still my country, it’s not safe to go back. But anyway.

I was too young, like 12 years old (to remember the start of the war). So, the civil war started like a Saturday or Sunday, one of them that day. But maybe Saturday, it started like this Saturday after eight days, we move where they call Kismaayu, a city next to Mogadishu.

But my mom and her kids, our father left at home, but all the kids and my mom, we went to another town. But when we went to after, maybe it started Sunday, but after that Sunday, everyone have a gun, but no food, no water sometimes. But still, when we left that home, there is food, there is water, but fighting is going on. Everyone fight. We move another place, its name is Kismaayu, then after that, we take the boat…,my mom made money and we get the boat…we take the boat until Kenya. The sea, the boat.

Then, after that, we live in Kenya. I was young, too, the year it start. Young, about 13 or 14. I remember about, and I remember the gun, no water, everybody worries, something like that. But we come to Kenya. After we come Kenya, my sister leave for Sweden that time, my younger sister with my auntie. My auntie, she send have the money to live in Kenya.

After that we came here and I don’t remember anything else my country. But it is civil war, bad civil war.

Why did it start? I have no idea. One day we went to school, when we come back, that was the night. The gun everywhere—bum-bum-bum-bum. Then it started. We have a government at that time. And president, everything. But seven days, everybody went out, no one came back. Until now, same-o-same.

But I don’t remember anything else. Kenya, that’s nice place. Our relatives sent the money and we rented the house. And they give us the food. My father came first to this country and he sent to this country. After that, in 1998, we come to Virginia, Virginia state. And then move here to Mankato, Minnesota.

Every night, every night I make the first meal. Like at dinner or something like that. When I make we are group kids it’s like this. But our…so we talk to each other and say nine o’clock come out.

And we play outside. No, once, you know, if we went to outside kid it’s like this. No one can take you, no one…there is no fear. We can stay outside until nine hours, but we not afraid. If we went outside our bounds, no one afraid to take our kids.

That’s sad for the kids that come to here, you know. This country, if she went to my door, you know, outside and I afraid if I turn like five minutes... “Where’s Anna, where’s Anna?” I say Bob, we kids like this like this group. We want the out and we play and we play until midnight, 12 o’clock. And we run everywhere and we sound like a lot.