Nora G. HertelSt. Cloud Times MINNEAPOLIS — Suud Olat has been the target of online abuse and anti-Muslim posts since he announced his candidacy for Minneapolis City Council earlier this year. Olat, a 29-year-old Somali refugee, is one of 12 candidates running in a special election for City Council in Minneapolis’ Ward 6. He’s not the only East...
By Suud Olat For years, I have lived a life that most will only ever read about in a newspaper. Faced with violence in my hometown of Luuq in southwestern Somalia, I was forced to flee my home and leave behind all that I had ever known. I sought refuge at the infamous Dadaab camp...
By JAPHETH MUTINDA As the world marked World Refugee Day on Saturday, the story of a 29-year-old man who grew up in Dadaab stood out as one of the most inspiring stories of scaling the heights from the ruts of hopelessness. Suud Olat was only six-months-old when his family moved to Dadaab Refugee Camp due...
EABW Editor Suud Olat was barely a few months old when his family sought refuge at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya after fleeing from a civil war in Somalia in 1991. For 20 years, he lived in squalid conditions at the camp, surviving on food rations from the United Nations until 2011 when he...
Riham Feshir St. Paul Suud Olat was trying to do a good deed when he started a GoFundMe fundraiser for a Somali woman suffering from a rare tumor. The 27-year-old St. Cloud State University student has connections in the community and thought that with the site’s social media reach, he could help the woman raise...
Diane M. Duncan Springfield, Ohio I would like to show my support for Suud Olat for Minneapolis City Council for Ward 6, and ask for your consideration as well. (“St. Cloud State grad faces anti-Muslim backlash in bid for Minneapolis seat,” July 17 SC Times.) You may ask yourself why a Midwestern farm girl from...
By Hussein “Suud” Mohamud Life in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya was characterized by uncertainty. We had no access to free movement out of the camp and into other parts of the country. Access to education was a privilege. Not every child goes to school because some parents do not know the importance of education....
MINNEAPOLIS — As a child in Somalia, Ali Yusuf dreamed of joining the United States Air Force. That dream, nourished by Hollywood movies like “Top Gun,” featuring indomitable American heroes representing freedom and justice, motivated him to flee his home in a tattered, war-torn failed state where violence and abuses of power were part of...
DESCRIPTION Suud Olat (no age given) talks with his friend, Jay Perske (no age given), about his experiences as a Somali refugee, how he came to the United States, and why he dedicates himself to refugee advocacy. SUBJECT LOG / TIME CODE 1:45 Suud talks about being born in Somalia and being a refugee in...
