Hussein Abdi Kahin (Mo Farah), UK‘s first track and field athlete to win four Olympic gold medals, has revealed how he was trafficked from Somalia when he was still a child.
According to Farah, he was flown into the UK from Somalia at the age of nine by a woman he had never met, and given the name Mohammed Farah.
“Most people know me as Mo Farah, but it’s not my name, or it’s not the reality. The real story is I was born in Somaliland, north of Somalia, as Hussein Abdi Kahin. Despite what I have said in the past, my parents never lived in the UK.
I have been keeping it for so long, it’s been difficult because you don’t want to face it and often my kids ask questions, dad, how come this? And you have always got an answer for everything, but you haven’t got an answer for that. That’s the main reason for telling my story because I want to feel normal and not to feel like you are holding on to something,” said Farah.
In addition, Farah said when he arrived in the country he thought he would be going to stay with relatives, but was forced to look after another family’s children.
“I had all the contact details for my relatives and once we got to her house, the lady took it off me and right in front of me ripped them up and put it in the bin and at that moment I knew I was in trouble.
If I wanted food in my mouth, my job was to look after those kids, shower them, cook for them, clean for them. Often I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry. The only thing I could do to get away from this (situation) was to get out and run,” said Farah.
Nevertheless, Farah has since compiled a BBC TV documentary, titled The Real Mo Farah which will be aired on Wednesday where he will be relating the full story of how he was trafficked into the UK from Somalia.
Farah, a distance runner, won two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, in the 5 000-meter and 10 000-meter races and in 2016, he became the first man in 40 years to win gold medals in the 5 000 and 10 000 meter races in two separate Olympic Games and was knighted a year later.
