Thought For The Day – Tuesday October 18th 2022

Today is Anti-Slavery Day.

In Black History Month,  we reflect on the evil of racism, which includes slavery.  The film “12 Years A Slave”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02Ie8wKKRg  is about the real life story of Solomon Northup, documents the brutality, evil, horror, abuse and dehumanization of slavery.  As such, this film made to document an unimaginably evil reality and history, has an age rating.

Anti-Slavery Day raises awareness of the “modern slavery” of exploitation, abuse, forced labour and trafficking.  A very moving history recently told was that of Hussein Abdi Kahin.  You will all know Hussein Abdi Kahin . Hussein Abdi Kahin  is a very famous and brilliant sportsperson for Hussein Abdi Kahin is Sir Mo Farah.

Through a very moving and courageous BBC documentary in the summer of 2022  (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001977f),  where he is reunited with his mother, Sir Mo revealed that his actual name is  Hussein Abdi Kahin. Sir Mo  was brought to the UK illegally as a child, trafficked,  after civil war in Somalia killed his father, when Sir Mo was four,  and separated him from his mother. Hussein Abdi Kahin was given the name Mohamed Farah and forced to work as a domestic slave in the UK.  He was trapped, abused, isolated and ordered to work by the adult who brought him to the UK.  It was only when Sir Mo, accompanied by a friend,  told his Physical Education teacher, Mr. Alan Watkinson,  what was happening, despite being threatened by the adult he was living with never to tell anyone, that Sir Mo’s situation was known and he could supported and cared for.  After he shared his traumatic story, and gained support. Sir Mo never looked back and won race after race after race after race.  Sir Mo Farah, Hussein Abdi Kahin, would go on to win four Olympic gold medals, including on that memorable night, Super Saturday, in London 2012.

But Sir Mo’s greatest race, Hussein Abdi Kahin’s greatest race, was the inspirational resilience and positivity of his life journey.