Rotary Helping Refugees

Five years ago, at 15 years old, Mahdi left Somalia in the middle of the night after witnessing the al-Shabaab terrorist group kidnap his neighbor. He didn’t tell his family. The terrorist group is known for using children as weapons and harming families who resist their kidnapping. He feared for his own life, and his family’s.

His journey lasted more than a year and a half, and took him from Ethiopia to Libya, then to Italy, eventually ending in Zurich, Switzerland. Along the way, he was arrested, beaten and nearly drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. In Zurich, he was connected to Rotarians for the Vocational Integration of Young People (ROBIJ), a Rotary nonprofit helping young refugees. The program helped him find a two-year apprenticeship to become a painter.

Today, Mahdi is still in Zurich, building a new life. Refugee stories matter. Refugees matter.

Article from Rotary International