Life
Warsame emigrated to Canada from Somalia in 1989. In 1995 he married American Fartun Farah in an arranged marriage. While she lived in Minneapolis, Warsame continued to live and work in Toronto; twice travelling to the United States for a three-month period to stay with his wife. In 1998, a daughter named Maryam was born to the couple.
From 2000-2001, Warsame said he was intrigued by the "utopian" society he had heard existed in Afghanistan, and travelled to the country where he attended two Afghan training camps using the kunya name Abu Maryam. He is accused of having sent $2000 to a militant he met at one of the camps and teaching English in the camps and at a nearby medical clinic. He is additionally said to have fought Northern Alliance troops twice to stabilise Taliban control of the country, and to have eaten meals with Osama bin Laden.
In early 2001, Warsame asked a militant leader if the organisation would pay to bring his wife and child over from the United States, but he was informed that he was being asked to leave, and they would pay his April airfare to return to Canada. He reported that he "grew disillusioned" with the militants, and returned home.
The following year he moved to the United States permanently with his wife and daughter, and enrolled at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, where he also tutored computer science students.
Read more about this topic: Mohammed Warsame
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“Here lies the body of William Jones
Who all his life collected bones,
Till Death, that grim and boney spectre,
That universal bone collector,
Boned old Jones, so neat and tidy,
And here he lies, all bona fide.”
—Anonymous. “Epitaph on William Jones,” from Eleanor Broughton’s Varia (1925)
“On wings of morning our prayers and devotions are soaring.
All of creation awakens, the Maker adoring.
Join in the song. Harmonies blending along,
Vigor and life now restoring.”
—Jane Parker Huber (b. 1926)
“Every writer hopes or boldly assumes that his life is in some sense exemplary, that the particular will turn out to be universal.”
—Martin Amis (b. 1949)