Abdi Muhumed

Abdi Muhumed

Program: Bachelor of Science
Major: Computer Studies

I was born and raised in a refugee camp in Kenya where I lived until I moved to Canada in 2017 under the Student Refugee sponsorship program.

I am now a second-year Computer Science student. I am grateful to have received the opportunity to continue my education because of the goodwill of others – as a result, giving back to society through humanitarian assistance has been ‘the order of the day’ for me.

After high school, I volunteered in one of the high schools in Dadaab refugee complex, named the Hagadera Secondary School. As you might imagine, life for a refugee student is not an easy one. I worked to mentor, motivate and tutor the students and by God’s grace, some of them excelled and made it to Canadian universities as I did myself.

During this time, I also worked for a humanitarian organization called Windle Trust International in its Kenya Equity in Education Project (KEEP) branch. I was a Community Mobilizer – promoting girl child education through awareness, collecting attendance and performance data on the girls, distributing sanitary pads and pants so that they didn’t have to stay home from school, engaging men and boys in the importance of educational equity, organizing community gatherings and meetings concerning matters of girl child education and discussing early marriages and F.G.M. (female genital mutilation) and the need for their eradication.

Similarly, I worked for Save the Children, as a teacher and mentor for children who were at risk of living on the unpromising streets of Dadaab. Throughout my tenure as a teacher, there was a noticeable decrease in the number of street children. They looked to me as an example of what hard work and determination can accomplish.

Today, I work with my peers at the World University Service of Canada (WUSC students). We formed a humanitarian charitable organization called Give Hope. We collect $20 per month and give it back as a gesture of appreciation to the community that gave us it’s all.

I am deeply grateful to The Angel Gabriel Foundation for allowing me the opportunity to return to Kenya and continue bringing humanitarian aid to the Dadaab refugee complex.