Abdikadir and Sahra have lived in their current rental home for the past 10 years. They have a constant fear of being asked to leave if the owner sells, and being faced with San Diego’s shortage of affordable, adequately sized homes for their family. They are looking forward to purchasing their four-bedroom home.
Abdikadir has worked at Sharp Medical Center as a respiratory care practitioner for 12 years, and Sahra has worked as a food market as a clerk for 11 years.
Thirty years ago, Abdikadir was in his first semester of medical school when civil war broke out in Somalia. In 1991, he left his destroyed home behind and started a new life in America. He took advantage of everything his new life had to offer — he went to school while helping to raise the family and became a respiratory therapist. He believes anything is possible, and wants to go back to school again to study computer coding, or to start his own business when he is more financially stable.
The couple has been married for 27 years, and have five beautiful children — Zakaria (22), Ayub (16), Nawal (12), Ibrahim (6), and Nafisa (5). Zakaria attends classes at SDSU and works as a security guard to help support the family. The children are all straight A students, which makes mom and dad so proud. Ayub is in the 11th grade and loves biology. Sixth-grader Nawal enjoys science, and the little ones enjoy playing with one another — especially sports. All of the children play basketball at the local YMCA. The family is very active, but they make time for family night at least once a week, where they enjoy dinner and a movie or games.
Owning their own home will help them feel like they are finally a part of their community. They will have achieved the ultimate American Dream, and will continue to teach their children to work hard to achieve greatness and never to accept failure.
