Frank Curran摄影
The realization hit 阿卜迪·诺·伊夫廷 just after he’d disembarked from the Green Line train and began walking up the hill toward the 太阳城网赌平台 campus, preparing to attend his first class at the 伍兹高等教育学院.
“就是这样，”他记得自己当时这么想. “我在这里. 我做到了.”
Except that this internal monologue took place in his native Somali language, Iftin points out.
“我不用英语做梦或思考，”他说. “还没有.”
去年秋天的那个晚上, Iftin joined the generations-long procession of men and women who have come to BC, 从波士顿或千里之外, 培养他们的智力和精神自我, looking inward while simultaneously reaching out to the world.
每个BC学生都有自己独特的故事, 当然, but Iftin’s is a particularly compelling one—and widely shared, thanks to his improbable stint as a foreign correspondent and his 2018 memoir, 叫我美国人.
Born and raised in war-torn Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, Iftin endured a dangerously violent and traumatic childhood that eventually saw him flee to Kenya, where—still facing danger—he won a lottery enabling him to apply for a green card to the U.S. Barely escaping Kenya’s crackdown on Somalians and struggling with government bureaucracy, 如果他能去美国的话.S. 在缅因州定居. In the past few years, through media interviews and speaking engagements as well as 叫我美国人, he has emerged as a voice for refugees and all who seek a new and better life; his website, callmeamerican.com, provides updates about his activities as well as details of his already eventful life story.
““能够上耶稣会学校, 一个曾为移民服务的人, 是我被造的目的吗. I am really so grateful BC has that opportunity for people like me . . . 我觉得我属于这里. 我不是陌生人. ”
But Iftin feels his story is in many ways just beginning—he just became a naturalized U.S. citizen—and that its direction will be shaped by his experience at 太阳城网赌平台. 他说，这已经产生了影响.
“能够上耶稣会学校, 一个曾为移民服务的人, 是我被造的目的吗,”她说。, who is majoring in political science as a part-time Woods College student. “I am really so grateful BC has that opportunity for people like me: someone who is 34 and never went to [a traditional] high school. 我觉得我属于这里. 我不是陌生人.”
Iftin has been only able to attend one class at Woods; he works as a professional interpreter for district courts and hospitals, not only to support himself but to provide for his family back in Somalia. 然而这个类, 近代史一、二, has been a revelation for him—and perhaps for his classmates as well.
“我总是问一些奇怪的问题，”他打趣道. “问题是, most of the other students in class are at least familiar with what is being taught, 无论是卡尔·马克思和他的作品, 第二次世界大战, 或者法国三十年战争. 作为一个索马里人和一个穆斯林, 我从来没听说过这段历史, 所以现在学习它是一种荣幸. I feel as if I’m on board, and it’s very thrilling to think: ‘I got this.’”
阿卜迪·诺·伊夫廷
“Abdi is a very committed, interested, and engaged student,” says Martin Menke Ph.D. 96年，兼职教授现代史. “He’s able to draw fascinating parallels and comparisons between the class content and his own experiences. 当你有像阿卜迪这样的人, 是谁忍受了我们大多数人无法想象的事情, 他的见解非常有价值. He helps others realize the value of what we are learning and discussing.
“And this is one of the joys of teaching at Woods College,门克补充道。, who’s been affiliated with the school for more than 20 years. “You have so many students who appreciate learning through sacrifice.”
Iftin heard about BC not long after he had settled in Maine and began attending a college there, 通过一个朋友，他是大学的校友. The more he heard, the more intrigued he was—BC seemed to be a place “where I would thrive.” He eventually moved to the Greater 波士顿 area and visited the campus frequently just to walk around and get a feel for the place. 最后, he enrolled in Woods and was able to transfer his credits, 这让他有望在2021年毕业.
对于Iftin, moving to 波士顿 and transferring to BC proved to be equally illuminating for his expanding world view, 更别提他的情感和精神健康了. 他将永远珍惜在缅因州的时光, 解释Iftin, 谁小时候通过看动作片学英语, but he also was keenly self-conscious of attracting scrutiny just by walking down the street or speaking his native tongue. 这些都不是小问题, he says: As a diagnosed PTSD sufferer—he recounts Al-Shabaab militants pointing an AK-47 in his face, 强迫他看着他们杀害平民, all as a child—feelings of insecurity can be debilitating and lead to panic attacks.
“在波士顿, 虽然, I feel I can speak and move freely—if someone threatens me, 我可以拨打911, 那个人就会被逮捕,他说. “People don’t pay attention to what language you’re speaking. It’s so different than what I knew in Somalia, which is homogenous in its language and faith. 美国.S. 我在波士顿看到的是一个小世界. 我从未见过来自墨西哥或巴西的人, 例如, 直到我来到这里, and I’ve also now met people from other parts of Africa—we all play soccer together.”
“ 当我还是个小男孩的时候，美国激励了我. 我热爱并尊重美国，我相信美国的理想. 我想让美国明白，有很多人, 在索马里和世界其他地区, who like me simply want to make a good life for themselves—not by lying around doing nothing, 而是为社区工作和贡献.”
对于Iftin, storytelling has been more a calling than a form of recreation or leisure: As a refugee in Kenya, he recorded audio diaries that were broadcast by BBC and NPR. “I wanted to tell the human side of the story, of ordinary people, not the warlords or fighters. 这些才是世界需要听到的故事.”
把这个故事带进生活 叫我美国人 was a burdensome task—it meant having to revisit many traumatic events from his earlier life—but one he felt compelled to perform.
“Storytelling is a great power, because it can make things happen,他说. “当我还是个小男孩的时候，美国激励了我. 我热爱并尊重美国，我相信美国的理想. 我想让美国明白，有很多人, 在索马里和世界其他地区, who like me simply want to make a good life for themselves—not by lying around doing nothing, 而是为社区工作和贡献.”
Where will Iftin’s story take him next, after he finishes his degree at BC? 他相信，总有一天，它会送他回家.
“I want to go back to Somalia and apply what I’ve learned. 99%的难民都没能来到这里, so I am needed to help reconstruct our country and society. 这是我能做的最好的事了.”
肖恩·史密斯|大学传播| 2020年2月