Call Me American: A Memoir

The inspirational tale of a boy in war-torn Africa who fell in love with America through movies and escaped his country's turmoil to move here—a story of remarkable courage, determination, and triumph.

Born in Somalia shortly before the country descended into years of brutal civil war, Abdi Nor Iftin learned to speak English by watching Schwarzenegger movies and listening to American pop songs. His first direct experience with an American was when he cheered the arrival of the Marines to take on the warlords in Mogadishu. When Somalia emerged from war only to succumb to the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab, Abdi used his language skills to post secret dispatches to National Public Radio and the Internet. Astoundingly, several Western listeners were able to get desperately needed cash to Abdi until the untenable situation in Somalia forced him to flee to Kenya as a refugee. In a near miraculous stroke of luck, he won entrance to the U.S. in the annual visa lottery—though his route to America would take him through a harrowing sequence of events that nearly stranded him in Kenya. Abdi is now a proud resident of Portland, Maine, on the path to citizenship in two years. His dramatic, deeply stirring story offers a vivid reminder of why America still beckons to those looking to make a better life.