Farah Abdullahi Abdi | |
|---|---|
 Farah Abdullahi Abdi at Europride Malta | |
| Born | July 21, 1995 Beledweyne, Somalia |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2015–present |
Farah Abdullahi Abdi (born 21. July 1995 in Beledweyne) is a human rights activist. She is a refugee from Somalia [1] and a Policy Officer for Asylum and Migration at the organisation Transgender Europe.[2]
Farah fled from the war in Somalia with her parents and her brother at the age of three.[3] Her family first stayed in a refugee camp but then moved to the capitol.[4] She then grew up in Nairobi, Kenia. Her father was a practicing Muslim. The family regularly prayed and read the Quran. Farah describes her parents as conservative and hard working. She grew up middle class. She describes her mother and grandmother, who lived with the family in Nairobi as fostering a strong sense of self- worth in her from an early age. Her parents gave her and her brother a good education. Farah grew up trilingual speaking English and Swahili, as well as speaking Somali with her family at home. She had to hide her interest in music, American culture, fashion and acting from her family and later also her sexuality and gender identity.[4] Due to not being accepted for being gay and transgender, she fled again at the age of 16 through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan and Libya to Malta. During the flight she was imprisoned five times, tortured and abused and was forced to work on construction sides in Libya for free. The cost of fleeing from Kenia to Malta was 12.000 US Dollars in total for her family.[5] Farah arrived at Malta in 2012. She fled from Somalia via Libya and came to Malta by boat.[1] After her arrival, Farah worked as an interpreter for local NGOs and also worked at a restaurant in Senglea.[3]
After her arrival in Malta, Farah was first detained even though she was a minor at the time and after a while opened up about being persecuted for her sexual and gender identity in her home country to a therapist. She was released again shortly after being detained. Farah began working as a columnist for the Maltese newspaper "Malta Today".[3] She wrote about the mistreatment and plights of migrants in Malta and became known particularly among the migrant population of the island nation. Farah proclaimed that they were there "to work and contribute to society".[5] She was criticized for her outspokenness by people who were against immigration.[6] In 2014 Farah spoke in front of the European parliament with the support of the organization terre des hommes during the event "My destination is unknown" and advocated for the protection of minor and child refugees. European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström stated that it should be legally possible for child and minor refugees to migrate to the European Union.[7] She published an autobiography called "Never arrive" in 2015.[8]
Farah Abdi moved to Berlin from Malta, where she currently resides and works asylum and communications officer at the organization Transgender Europe. She is a fellow of the Alfred Landecker foundation for democracy, a fellow of the Torschreiber foundation for writers in exile and also received a "Digital Europe fellowship" for promoting democracy online.[9]