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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2014
PAGE 3
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NATIONAL
Teen stowaway desperate to see mother
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JOSE, Calif. — He was young, displaced and frustrated, and he wanted nothing more than to reunite with his mother in their native Africa.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A 15-year-old boy, seen sitting on a stretcher center, who stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from San Jose, Calif., to Maui is loaded into an ambulance at Kahului Airport in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii on April 20.
The 15-year-old Somali boy had been arguing at home, and in the kind of impulsive move that teenagers make, he hopped a fence at San Jose International Airport last Sunday and clambered into a wheel well of a Hawaiibound jetliner.
He survived the trip, and he has not spoken publicly about the ordeal.
But his desperation and frustration — borne from a life in a new country and new culture, all of it without his mother — is becoming apparent through interviews with friends, family and law enforcement agents.
His father, Abdulahi Yusuf, said in a statement issued through a family spokesman Sunday that his son is "struggling adjusting to life in this country."
Our situation was aggravated by our displacement in Africa for many years after
fleeing our home country of Somalia because of war conditions. As a result, my son was not able to receive any formal education before we immigrated to the United States," the statement said.
The father said he plans to fly to Hawaii soon to reunite with his son and is "excited to bring him back home to his family in California." He said the family was "deeply concerned" when the boy went missing and was relieved to hear he was safe.
The struggles faced by immigrant children were echoed by Talha Nooh from the Muslim Community Association, where the family were members.
"What people need to understand is that these young teens are coming from a country torn by a civil war with no basic education and suddenly put in these high schools or elementary schools where they have a cultural shock," Nooh said.
"This whole thing should be looked at in the context of a teen who is emotionally attached to his mom and grandparents," Nooh said. "The father is working 24 hours a day to take care of family here and other family members in the horn of Africa."
For decades, Somalia, where the family is from, has been plagued with internal conflict, drought and violence. Today more than 1 million Somali refugees are living in neighboring Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen.
A United Nations official told The Associated Press that the boy's mother, 33, lives at the Sheder Refugee Camp in
Ethiopia, which houses about 10.200 displaced Somalis.
Speaking with Voice of America radio from a refugee camp in eastern Ethiopia, the teen's mother, Ubah Mohamed Abdullahi, said her son had recently learned that she was alive after being told by his father she had died.
"I know he was looking for me, and I am requesting the U.S. government to help me reunite with my kids," she told VOA. She said her ex-husband took their three children to
California without her knowledge, and that she hadn't heard from them since 2006.
But community members said the parents had gone through a difficult divorce and that there are differing versions of what their children were told. The family is working with the Council on American-Islamic Relations to help communicate with medical providers, law enforcement, social workers and the media.
Potter Lake was built in 1911 in order to combat major fires on campus. Swimming and diving contests were held there until it was deemed unfit for swimming in 1924
POLITICS
Democrat Aiken goes for GOP-heavy House district
RALEIGH, N.C. — Singer-songwriter Clay Aiken doesn't have a problem with name recognition. But that doesn't mean voters in North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District will send the "American Idol" star to Washington to represent them in Congress.
Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers has represented the district for two terms and would like to make it three. The tea party favorite has a good shot at doing so.
The GOP-controlled state
registirement gave Republicans the advantage when they redrew congressional districts in 2011. A veteran House Democrat who barely survived in 2012 opted to retire at the end of his term, while others in President Barack Obama's party face an uphill battle — even a well-known personality like Alken.
welcome personality that North Carolina offers clues as to why Democrats have little chance to retake control of the House from Republicans in the 2014 elections. An unpopular president in his sixth year in office combined with a divisive health care law are a drag on Democrats and energize
core Republican voters in what are traditionally low-turnout midterm elections.
eilmers, a 50-year-old nurse first elected in the tea party wave of 2010, captured 56 percent of the 2012 GOP primary and the general election vote in her district. That year, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney won nearly 6 in 10 votes in the district and narrowly defeated Obama statewide.
Associated Press
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former "American Idol" runner up Clay Aiken poses for a campaign photo. Aiken is a candidate in the Democratic Party primary in North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District.