Kintsugi Heroes
Abdi Aden · 47 min
A 13-year-old who fled Somalia's civil war alone — one of only five survivors from 318 — rebuilt his life in Australia and now teaches others to turn difference into strength.
Support services
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
At 13, Abdi Aden was playing soccer in Mogadishu when a missile hit his friend's house. That moment fractured his world. Over the next four months, he walked across Africa with a stranger's family, survived a firing squad at point-blank range, carried a starving woman's youngest child across the Kenyan border, and watched her die from starvation before they made it. Out of 318 people who started that journey, only five survived. He returned to his destroyed city, disguised his tribe identity to move through checkpoints without being killed, and stowed away in a cargo hold to escape on a plane to Romania.
At 14, Abdi landed in Melbourne with no family, no money, and almost no English. A man left him on a street corner in Brunswick on a Sunday morning. He went to a community centre that night. Within months he was asking the right questions, getting hours at a youth centre, and eventually working full-time. He learned that when you have nothing left to lose, shame loses its power. He stopped pretending to be someone else and started showing up as himself, speaking his language, looking different, and letting that difference be the thing that set him apart.
Now Abdi works as a youth worker, public speaker, and author. He discovered that young people are drawn to people who don't judge them, who listen to what they say, and who never mention the things they're already conscious about. His programs attract far more young people than others because he treats them like friends. He teaches people that being different is not a barrier to success in Australia, it's the best way forward. For anyone who feels they don't fit in, Abdi has a single message: that's where your power lives.
Every story here belongs to the person who lived it. They said yes to sharing it, and we sat with it carefully before it went up. Nothing here is exaggerated and nothing is used without permission. Read how we handle these stories ↗
Kintsugi Heroes · Registered Australian not-for-profit · kintsugiheroes.com.au ↗