A Mogadishu Rape Victim Finds Hope in Minnesota

[Somaliman%]

Rochester, MN (HOL)- Just six months ago, Murayo Nur Ali was told that she has no hope to be treated from a severe injury she sustained during a gang-rape at age seven.



That was in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. But on Monday, she was full of hope as she stepped out of a private jet that flew her to Rochester for treatment at Mayo Clinic.



Though Ali is 11, she looks more like half of that. Gaunt yet playful, she has the signs of languish in her wide eyes. Yet she manages to smile as she strides through dozens of people who waved encouraging signs and flowers at the Rochester International Airport.



One sign read “the bad part is over.”



It’s exactly the message that the couple who sponsored Ali wanted to send her. The Rochester pair, Abdi and Zahra, who wouldn’t give their last names because they didn’t want to be overwhelmed with all those in need, didn’t know Ali until they read her story on a Somali website.



“We couldn’t sleep the night we saw [Ali] on the internet,” said Abdi, who began to mobilize a network of people and organizations to help Ali. “She’s just like my three-year-old daughter.”



Severe Injury




Ali was only seven when thugs kidnapped her near her family’s home in Mogadishu. She was going to a nearby grocery shop to buy cooking oil.



“Before you reach the shop, you will have to pass some old buildings which were ruined in the civil war,” read a statement from her father, recounting the events of that fateful March morning in 2002. “After [she was] away for 30 minutes…., I heard screaming…I stood up and went outside to see the situation. Immediately, I found some people carrying up my daughter bleeding…”



The Somali doctor who examined Ali said in a statement that “her genital organ and rectum was extraordinarily opened up beyond recognition.” She uses diapers until now.



With meager resources and lack of equipment, the doctor offered limited treatment, but made it clear to her family that Ali must be treated outside Somalia.



Ali’s 64-year-old unemployed father was devastated. He’s so poor that he couldn’t even afford a taxi ride to the hospital.



Then, a local nonprofit organization, known as COGWO, published Ali’s ordeal on Somali websites. It was the right step at the right time for the right person. Thousands of miles away in Rochester, Minn., a young Somali couple was moved, so much that the two cried for days after they saw Ali’s tormented face. They sent more than 600 frantic emails to their friends. The response was massive, but disorganized. Thus they began narrowing down their options.



Laborious process



The arrangement to bring Ali to the United States was laborious and elaborate. From August of last year until now, Abdi and his wife Zahra spent at least 20 hours a week calling hospitals, foundations, attorneys, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. Their cell phone bill was skyrocketing to about $400 a month for making so many international calls.



“I just wanted to show [Ali] that there is a hope somewhere,” said Abdi.



At times, the couple, who have three of their own children, hit snags. Some friends told them that they were attempting the impossible. But they were determined to bring Ali to Mayo Clinic at any cost.



“I never hesitated to help her,” said Abdi, who referred Ali as “my daughter.”



A collective effort



Though he and his wife took the initiative, Abdi has gotten a lot of help. A staff person with COGWO accompanied Ali and her father to Ethiopia and translated for them at the U.S. embassy. U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) pushed the Homeland Security Department to issue the visa precipitously. The city of Rochester offered a house and a Somali charter school has already admitted Ali, even though her education is “probably below the level,” according to Abdi.



By November, the humanitarian visa was approved, the Mayo Clinic agreed to treat Ali for free, and Wings of Hope, a nonprofit organization paid the ticket from Somalia to Washington, D.C., and flew Ali and her father on a private jet to Rochester.



The corrective procedure on Ali is expected to last for at least a year.



Meanwhile, Abdi and Zahra are already planning to help another child in Somalia.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Great to see Somali expats banding together to help this kid.

[Gladiator=]

She will find a better place to live even though it is hard for her to forget such ordeal.

[e!]

I smell BULLSHIT

Gang raped at the age of 7

She probably had FGM and went wrong.

The lies these ppl will tell, are we jareers now? raping 7yr olds

[Gladiator=]

How many nicks have mushroomed in this site made only for the sake of clannish interests.

Nacalad baa idinku taalee, do your time with something better for the clan you love so much instead of making alieses 24 hours and bashing a Somal clan doing best for his country.

[Bagamundo]

This is the same reason why the hawiye were destroyed. Their lack of anshax. Raping a seven year old that looks half her age must be the lowest form of sin a human can commit.

[DawladSade]

[quote]“her genital organ and RECTUM was extraordinarily opened up beyond recognition.”[/quote]


nacalaa idinku yaal, waa xoolo wallahi

[#1baller]

[quote="e!"]I smell BULLSHIT

Gang raped at the age of 7

She probably had FGM and went wrong.

The lies these ppl will tell, are we jareers now? raping 7yr olds [/quote]


Do you really have to go there? Why does everything that comes out of your mouth about blacks always have to be negative?

Thank God you're not within two feet of me..cuz I'd slap tha fock out of you.

[#1baller]

[quote="Bagamundo"]This is the same reason why the hawiye were destroyed. Their lack of anshax. Raping a seven year old that looks half her age must be the lowest form of sin a human can commit.[/quote]


Very sad indeed. The people who did this to this young girl should be sentenced to 100 years in prison and should be made to feel pain the way this innocent girl has. Very touching story..my heart goes out to her and her family.

[Sadaam_Mariixmaan]

[quote="DawladSade"][quote]“her genital organ and RECTUM was extraordinarily opened up beyond recognition.”[/quote]


nacalaa idinku yaal, waa xoolo wallahi [/quote]

[e!]

PURRRRRRRRRE BS BS BS BS BS BS BSBS SBSB SB SBS

DONT FALL IN TO THESE TRAPS

She did not get raped, some handicap did FGM on her.

BTW 1Baller if i ever saw u and u even dared smack me i would throw the chains on u and drag ur ass back somalia to work on a juba farm

[Gladiator=]

Allah is making Hawiye pay the price for what they have done all these years.

[Sadaam_Mariixmaan]

[quote="Gladiator="]Allah is making Hawiye pay the price for what they have done all these years.[/quote]

[DawladSade]

[quote="Gladiator="]Allah is making Hawiye pay the price for what they have done all these years.[/quote]


by having a 7 raped in the back and front???????????????? acowdi bilaahi minal shaytaani rajiim, walle dad badan baan diin haysan

[#1baller]

[quote="e!"]PURRRRRRRRRE BS BS BS BS BS BS BSBS SBSB SB SBS

DONT FALL IN TO THESE TRAPS

She did not get raped, some handicap did FGM on her.

BTW 1Baller if i ever saw u and u even dared smack me i would throw the chains on u and drag ur ass back somalia to work on a juba farm [/quote]


hahaha....try doing it to a 6'5' muscular built person person like myself. This ain't the 1800's boo...I'd slap tha shite out of your a$$. You'd be on the floor so fast you'd wanna know what hit ya