In their own words: Nimco Ahmed

Nimco Ahmed
Nimco Ahmed with Somali-American college students chosen to meet with Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed in October 2009.
MPR photo/Jeffrey Thompson

Nimco Ahmed talks about the struggles facing Somali families in Minnesota, and why she thinks young men's search for father figures may lead them to embrace the violent struggles of the country their parents fled.

"Some of our young folks especially our men are very hurting right now, due to not having a father figure in their house, someone that can tell them the do's and the don'ts. Due to the war we lost a lot of our fathers back home or they never made it to the States.

So what you see here is a lot of single mothers raising boys. So, they never actually get attached to their mothers, always searching for that loving father, and not having that figure is an issue because, if you don't get that loving and caring from your own father someone else might be sharing with you information that simply might lead you to actually go to Somalia and do a suicide bombing."

Related: Civil War Kids:Young Somalis in Minnesota

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