This co-written memoir describes the grit and determination it took for one woman to find a place called home. Gobey’s happy childhood in rural Makalaangow, Somalia, is interrupted by the violence of rival warlords jockeying for power. She flees, with her family, to neighboring villages, always on the move, until she finds sanctuary in the UNHCR-run refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. After the loss of several loved ones, she begins her education at a UNHCR-run primary school, inside the camp. Excelling at English, she goes on to become a teacher at that school. When she learns of an opportunity to emigrate to the US, she applies, and her interviews go well. During the approval waiting period, lasting several years, she starts her own small business selling produce to other refugees. Eventually, she arrives in the American Midwest, with her family. She overcomes the humiliation of being forced to work in low-wage, labor intensive jobs, successfully adjusts to American culture, and starts a new life.

Gobey Haji grew up in rural Somalia and spent her formative years in a refugee camp in Kenya, where she learned to read and write. After attending Kakuma High School for about seven years, she became a teacher there. Later, she started her own small business in the camp and began to support herself and her family. She emigrated to the US in 2013 and has lived in St. Louis, Missouri, ever since.

Joya Uraizee is an English professor at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, where she teaches African literature and film. She is the author of three books, the latest of which is about African child soldier narratives. She has also written numerous articles on such topics as narratives about migrant African children