Contemporary Authors

• Call Me American: A Memoir Alfred A. Knopf (New York), 2018

1. Call me American : a memoir LCCN 2017043213 Type of material Book Personal name Iftin, Abdi Nor, author. Main title Call me American : a memoir / by Abdi Nor Iftin with Max Alexander. Edition First edition. Published/Produced New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2018. Projected pub date 1808 Description pages cm ISBN 9781524732196 (hardcover) 9780525433026 (pbk.)

• NPR - https://www.npr.org/2018/06/10/618263088/somali-refugee-abdi-nor-iftin-i-am-here-to-make-america-great

  AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
  Somali Refugee Abdi Nor Iftin: 'I Am Here To Make America Great'
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  June 10, 20187:47 AM ET
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  LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO

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  Call Me American
  Call Me American
  A Memoir

  by Abdi Nor Iftin

  Hardcover, 304 pages purchase

  What does it take to become an American? In 2015, This American Life told the story of a Somali refugee who was finally issued a visa to come and live in the United States. "This big smile was on my face. I've never had such a big smile," Abdi Nor Iftin said at the time.

  Iftin's long road to the US began when he was only a child in Mogadishu, watching American movies and teaching himself English, while brutality and war raged around him. In his new memoir, Call Me American, he tells his story from the beginning: with his nomadic parents and their now-unimaginably peaceful, pastoral life.

  "She had no idea that the country she was living in was called Somalia," Iftin says of his mother. "She had always told me, 'You know, Abdi, there's only two days: The day that you're born and the day that you die. Everything else is just grazing and hanging out with the animals.'" Life was so easy, he says, before drought and famine wiped everything out.

  Interview Highlights
  On his first memories of Somalia's long-running civil war

  I was six years old when the civil war started, militias started pouring into the city, and death and killings and torture, and I just cried. The smell of Mogadishu, it was just the smell of gunpowder. And that had been sticking with me forever ... I think this is the most touching memory that I can remember, to have our youngest sister die, and we said, "Good. That is so easy for her," and then I was jealous. I was jealous because that was the time when our feet were swollen, our bellies were empty. It was a feeling that you could die any time ... and I looked at my other sister, and she was just eating sand. And I think that's the stories that people don't hear about.

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  On his encounters with Marines in Mogadishu

  I still say they stole my heart, because it was the very first time that I saw people with guns, and the guns were pointed up in the air, not in my face. Then they were coming and giving us sweets — I wanted these people to stick around, I wanted these people to be part of my life.

  On being targeted by Islamists because of his nickname, "Abdi the American"

  Unfortunately, I still believe that Islamists were born out of the American involvement somewhere in the Middle East, and the phrases that they had used to attract young men of my age was just "America." They said, "They are the enemies of Islam" ... surprisingly, I was out on the streets, defending President Bush, I don't even know why I did that. But I was defending him, and blaming Osama bin Laden for all the problems. But I thought, to me it was just expressing myself, but then it got me into trouble, and I received a phone call saying, "You got to stop and drop that nickname, or we're going to kill you."

  On whether Americans know how hard it is to get a visa to come here

  When I wake up in the morning, I say, oh, I'm so lucky — I have arrived here before America had turned its back against the rest of the world.

  Abdi Nor Iftin

  I don't think they do! You know, Americans take so many things for granted. For example, I came to the U.S. through the diversity immigrant visa lottery, which [President Trump] would like to cancel. But if it was not the diversity lottery, I would have never come to America, never. I had been an American since I saw those Marines, and my nickname is going to be my nationality, very soon ... When I wake up in the morning, I say, oh, I'm so lucky — I have arrived here before America had turned its back against the rest of the world. If this had happened when I was hiding myself from Islamic terrorists, just trying to come to America and become an American and all that, it would be a disappointment, it would be a betrayal by the United States. Because the way I understand is that America is open to the rest of the world. And I am here to make America great. I did not come here to take anything. I came here to contribute, and to offer and to give.

• BookBrowse - https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/3079/abdi-nor-iftin

  Abdi Nor Iftin
  Abdi Nor Iftin Biography
  An interview with Abdi Nor Iftin
  Abdi Nor Iftin, author of the memoir Call Me American talks about his life growing up in war-torn Somalia, what coming to America means to him and his fears for American under President Trump.

  How old were you when the civil war started in Somalia, and how did it change your life?

  I was six when the civil war erupted; it felt like a doomsday. It spread all over the city very fast and destroyed everything. It was excruciating to see how much damage the guns could do to an entire city. My dad's years of building a beautiful life for our family were destroyed within a day. His basketball trophies and earnings were looted at gunpoint. The house where I was born was reduced to ashes. The war split my family apart; our father ran for his life and disappeared. My siblings, my mother and I wandered in the wilderness, barefoot, without knowing where we were going, and later stayed on the streets with dogs while dodging bullets. We lived everyday like it was our last. It was almost impossible to survive as a child because the war had also brought malnutrition and disease. Every day that passed felt like a year of hell fire. We all prayed for death, but death refused to come to me.

  You write about your teacher at the madrassa, Macalin Basbaas, and the "education" offered through his school. What did he and his school represent to you?

  Koran is the highest education that one can attain in Somalia. During the civil war Madrassas sprang up on every corner, and to our parents the Madrassa was a place where we learned the most important words in the whole world, those of God, and where we learned good from bad. Macalin Basbaas could do anything our parents could do, and could beat, torture or even kill us. But his goal was to produce a generation of great Koran reciters and to do that he used brutal tactics such as constant beating. The seven years that I attended the Madrassa felt as brutal as living in a war. I desperately needed an escape but there was none. The Koran I learned from Macalin Basbaas saved my life when al-Shabab came to power in 2006. I was quizzed in Koran and asked to recite verses and I was able to answer correctly. If I had not been able to do that, they would have killed me. That was the only time I ever thanked Macalin Basbaas.

  Western movies were your entertainment and escape. What did movies like Rambo and Commando mean to you, and what did you learn from them?

  Rambo and Commando introduced me to America—the patriotism, the freedom, the strength—and were my motivation to achieve. After watching these movies relentlessly night after night and mouthing the words along with Arnold and Sylvester, I became more ambitious, energetic and persistent, like them. They gave me dreams and hopes for the future. I found an identity through them in the depth of the Somali civil war. I called myself a new nickname, Abdi American. I would walk down the streets of Mogadishu listening to music and dancing. I found a girlfriend and dared to take taboo-breaking trips to the beach. I would imagine myself in sandy and sexy Hollywood movies, holding hands with my girlfriend, standing up to gangs at the beach with my fist high like Arnold, shouting "Get the hell out of here!"

  As al-Shabaab and the Islamists rose to power, how did things change? How did you escape recruitment into the Islamic forces there?

  When the Islamists rose to power in Somalia in 2006, they imposed strict moral codes. Everything I adored became a crime, including speaking English and loving America. My personal freedoms diminished, and my adopted and beloved nickname Abdi American almost cost me my life. Sharia law became the law of the land. They pressured me and other young men into submission to join them. Recruitment became mandatory, and I trimmed my hair, stopped speaking English, and stayed hidden, constantly praying for escape.

  You filed a series of stories for NPR from Mogadishu and Nairobi – how did that come about, and what did you report? How did you record and file your stories, and was the work dangerous?

  Under the constant shelling of al-Shabaab, sitting in the cave I dug under my bed while praying for escape, I recorded my stories on a cellphone device. Excruciating and painful personal stories of my survival in Mogadishu. I talked about the brutal new moral codes in the city and fears of a forceful recruitment. I turned 22 and that was a dangerous age because al-Shabaab preferred that age for recruitment. The stories I dispatched would kill me if al-Shabaab found out. But I knew what I was doing could be one way to escape. My stories aired on radios across the America and doctors, journalists, professionals and citizens from across the United States came to my rescue. They raised funds to get me out of Somalia.

  There has been a lot of discussion of the Diversity Visa Lottery program here in the US recently. Since you have been through it, can you briefly explain what it involves? How long did it take for you to be accepted, and how much longer to actually receive a visa?

  The Diversity Visa lottery is one of few ways to immigrate to the U.S permanently. This lottery system allows people from under represented countries to immigrate to the U.S. every year. I was lucky to be one of over 120,000 people that were selected for the fiscal year of 2014 by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. But after tough screening and Consular Processing, the United States State Department had to disqualify seventy thousand people as they could only issue fifty thousand visas. It took me two years to put together everything I could for the visa eligibility. Two major requirements for getting a visa were high school diploma or work experience. I did not have either. I had been a refugee my entire life and was living in Kenya with a refugee status. I had been disappointed many times before, but I never gave up. The chance of approving my visa was low, especially coming from a country the U.S considers to harbor terrorism. I collected everything I could: medical and police records, a college transcript, letters from the offices of senators from Maine, Vermont and Chicago, letters from my supporters in the U.S. I was put on Administrative Processing by the State Department, which meant they were checking my name for terrorism-related issues, which took two weeks. Finally, after some calls, my visa was finally issued.

  What are some things that surprised you about life in America?

  America is more than a country. It feels like a continent. People from all over the world come and live here. My first surprise in America was that all Americans don't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. Some people are not even fit and strong. Some people don't even speak English. My greatest freedom ever was driving from Maine, with large white communities and small farm towns, to Boston and New York's skyscrapers and the most diverse communities I have ever seen. I am surprised how huge the country is. I find it a surprise that everyone, despite their color, faith or country of origin, all respect the law of this nation. With the freedom America gave me I rose above the circumstances of being a refugee to become an author, go to school, and work. The hospitality and the mentoring Americans have given me is remarkable. America is the best place to become what we dream to be.

  Has living in America affected your worldview/principles/faith/etc? If so, how?

  America gave me a space to worship and practice my faith when I need without being forced to do so. I wake up every morning without worrying about being recruited or shot. The only thing I worry about is paying the bills, and keeping my schedule and appointments that I have with people. Unfortunately, I have learned of the existence of racism, hate and xenophobia that some Americans express towards newcomers and immigrants like myself. I was shocked to see that some Americans, including the president of the United States Donald Trump, saw me as less worthy and a threat on American soil. Besides all the goodness and kindness America showed me, there is also bad, and people who don't want me to be here. But whatever the case is, I call America home. I am not here to take anyone's life, money or happiness. I am here to be part of the people, to salute the flag and most importantly to become the American that I have dreamed of being since childhood.

  Where is your family today, and how are they doing? Do any of them want to come to the United States? Can they?

  My mother and my sister are both living in a two-room house made of corrugated metal walls and roof in Mogadishu. They just repaired the roof after a massive bombing tore it off in March 2018. This bombing also killed a Somali-American, a guy who fled Somalia and built a life in Minnesota but went back to see his city, only to be murdered by the radical Islamists. Gunshots, explosions and targeted assassinations are happening every day in Mogadishu, so mom tells me I am lucky to be in the U.S. and away from that fear.

  My sister's kids are following in my footsteps. They are all going to Madrassa where they spend the entire day reciting Koran and come home at night to sleep. When I call them, I tell them my story about when I was their age.

  Thanks to ex-Team Abdi, now Team Hassan, my brother, his wife and kids had been approved to immigrate to Canada on Monday, May 7th, 2018. He had been denied immigration to the U.S shortly after President Trump announced the Immigration Ban in early 2017. We wrote letters to Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in Toronto to sponsor Hassan, and we raised all the funds needed for the process. The Canadian embassy had a one-on-one interview with Hassan, and they had approved his visa immediately. I am lucky to have Hassan become my next-door neighbor. I can't wait to welcome them in Canada when they arrive in early Fall 2018.

  What is your response to Trump's immigration ban? What does this mean for you, personally?

  The travel ban is a rejection of everything America stands for—a country that was founded by immigrants and believed in offering the oppressed refuge from violence and persecution from its very start. America is where people want to come and feel safe from terrorists attacking their countries. Before Trump became president, I listened to speeches of previous U.S president to improve my English, but I also smiled listening to them. As a teenager I went to the movies to learn American English, and earned the nickname Abdi American because I could not stop talking about America as a great country. I dared a taboo-breaking trip to the warm ocean of Mogadishu holding my girlfriend's hands, singing in English, and when radical Islamists arrived in Somalia they almost killed me for my American actions, my nickname and I was told not to speak English. I almost got recruited when I fled to Kenya, fearing for my life.

  Coming to America saved me. I was happy to come to Maine and call this state home until Trump came to complain and tell his supporters that we immigrants, Somalis and Muslims should not be here. And when he became president he banned Somalis and wants to stop the diversity lottery. It's a disappointment to hear a president of the United States say that. I never thought I would be marching on the streets of America against a U.S president, but because of Trump I found myself being part of the resistance, angry, and frustrated but also fearful of his actions.

  What do you want people to know about refugees? Why is it important that America continue to accept people who, like you, are seeking a better life?

  No one chooses to be a refugee; we are forced out of our houses and our countries by conflicts and wars but we all deserve safety and an environment to thrive in. America is a place of hope. A place where every one of every faith, color and belief can thrive. Some of America's biggest minds are immigrants or children of immigrants such as Steve Jobs and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I did not come here to change America and the Americans. I came here to contribute, to make, and to experience.

  Unless otherwise stated, this interview was conducted at the time the book was first published, and is reproduced with permission of the publisher. This interview may not be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

• NPR - https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=618263088

  AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
  < Somali Refugee Abdi Nor Iftin: 'I Am Here To Make America Great' June 10, 20187:47 AM ET 6:58 DOWNLOAD LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: What does it take to become an American? In 2015, This American Life told the story of a Somali refugee who was finally issued a visa to come and live in the United States. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST) ABDI NOR IFTIN: This big smile was on my face. I've never, ever had such a big smile. Never, ever, ever, ever. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Abdi Nor Iftin's long road to the United States began when he was only a child in Mogadishu, watching American movies and teaching himself English while unimaginable brutality and war raged around him. In his new memoir "Call Me American," he tells his story from the beginning. And he joins us now from Portland, Maine, where he now lives. Welcome to the program. IFTIN: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'd like to take you back to the beginning where this book begins and your family's story, your parents, who were nomads. And they describe a sort of Somali life that I've really never heard about, of lush fields and a peaceful pastoral life. IFTIN: It is. It is. My mother had - you know, her entire world was just her nomadic life - you know? - the animals, her family. And she had no idea that the country that she was living in was called Somalia. She had always told me, you know, Abdi, there's only two days - the day that you're born and then the day that you die. Everything else in the middle is just grazing and hanging out with the animals. And, you know, how easy life had been to my parents before the disaster had hit and wiped out all their animals. GARCIA-NAVARRO: And that disaster, of course, was the famine and the drought. And your life was marked very early on by war. What was your earliest memory of the conflict? IFTIN: I was 6 years old when the civil war started, militias started, you know, pouring into the city and death and killings and torture. And I described the smell of Mogadishu. It was just, you know, the smell of gunpowder. And that had been sticking with me forever. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. I mean, there's just these scenes where people are being dragged out of the back of trucks and shot on the streets and chaos, essentially. Everything that you'd known sort of suddenly wiped away. IFTIN: I think this is the most, you know, touching memory that I can remember, to have our youngest sister die. And we said, good. That is so easy for her. And then I was jealous. I was jealous because that was the time when our feet were swollen, our bellies were empty. There was a feeling that you could die anytime. GARCIA-NAVARRO: You were starving. IFTIN: I was - yeah. We were all starving. And I looked at my other sister, and she was just eating sand. And I think that's the stories that people don't hear about. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Your first contact with America and that American dream was with U.S. Marines who came to Somalia. There was a lot of opposition to them being there - and Americans, of course, are familiar with this story because of "Black Hawk Down," when a helicopter was downed by insurgents, and Americans were killed. But that was the first time that you sort of saw a different America. IFTIN: Yes. I still say they stole my heart because it was the very first time that I saw people with guns. And the guns were pointed up in the air, not in my face, you know? Then they were coming and giving us, you know, sweets. And I wanted these people to stick around. I wanted these people to be part of my life. GARCIA-NAVARRO: And you've become obsessed with America. And you get a nickname, right? IFTIN: Yes. Abdi the American. Yes, that was my nickname... GARCIA-NAVARRO: Because you were watching American movies, and you learned English from watching American movies. IFTIN: Yes. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Then come the Islamists. And you were a target because you were called Abdi the American. And you were whipped on the beach for being with a girl in public. And the fighting groups were trying to recruit young men to be suicide bombers and fighters. And you didn't want anything to do with it, and you became a refugee. IFTIN: I did. Unfortunately, I still believe that Islamists are - were born out of the American involvement somewhere in the Middle East. And the phrases that they had used to attract young men of my age to be recruited was just America. They said they are the enemies of Islam. They are attacking everywhere and - all of then. And, surprisingly, I was out on the streets, defending President Bush. I don't even know why I did that, you know? But I was defending him and blaming Osama bin Laden for all the - but I thought - to me, it was just expressing myself. But then it got me into trouble. And I received a phone call saying, you've got to stop and drop that nickname, or we're going to kill you. GARCIA-NAVARRO: This American Life then tells the story of the whole next part of the saga, how you got that visa. And what struck me from your account in the book is not only how much luck you needed, how much help, how much perseverance - I mean, it literally took a village to get your American dream. Do you think Americans know how hard it is? IFTIN: I don't think they do. You know, Americans take so many things for granted. For example, I came to the U.S. through the diversity immigrant, you know, visa lottery... GARCIA-NAVARRO: The visa lottery, which President Trump would like to cancel. IFTIN: Which he would like to cancel. But if it was not the diversity lottery, I would have never come to America. Never. I had been an American, you know, since I saw those Marines. And my nickname is going to be my nationality very soon. It's going to be my passport. GARCIA-NAVARRO: When are you going to become an American? IFTIN: A year from now. GARCIA-NAVARRO: So what do you think now - if the visa lottery ends, what do you think about that door closing? IFTIN: Well, first of all, I - you know, when I wake up in the morning, I say, oh, I'm so lucky. I've arrived here before America had turned its back against the rest of the world. If this had happened when I was hiding myself from the Islamic terrorists, just trying to get to America and become an American and all that, it would be a disappointment. It would a betrayal, you know, by the United States because the way I understand is that America is open to the rest of the world. It's a hope. It's a dream. It's an idea that everyone has out there. And I'm here to make America great. I did not come here to take anything. I came here to contribute and to offer and to give. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Abdi Nor Iftin's memoir is "Call Me American." Thank you very much. IFTIN: Thank you. (SOUNDBITE OF KHRUANGBIN'S "THE MAN WHO TOOK MY SUNGLASSES") Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdi-iftin-51117635/

  Abdi Iftin
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  a mentor and a multi lingual translator at CCM. An author of Call Me American and a blogger
  Portland, Maine Area
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  Field Of StudyMass Communication/Media Studies
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  practiced journalism for over three years.

  University of Southern Maine
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6/23/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Print Marked Items
Iftin, Abdi Nor: CALL ME AMERICAN
Kirkus Reviews.
(Apr. 1, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Iftin, Abdi Nor CALL ME AMERICAN Knopf (Adult Nonfiction) $26.95 6, 19 ISBN: 978-1-5247-3219-6
Born to extreme poverty in 1985 in war-torn Somalia, Iftin chronicles the extraordinary obstacles he
overcame to obtain residency in the United States.
The author's parents--and almost everybody of their generation in a lower-caste Somalian tribe--lived
outdoors as nomads, raising camels and goats. They had never heard of the U.S. and only had a vague idea
of Somalia as a diverse nation that had been colonized by Italy. Six years after Iftin's birth and shortly after
a devastating war with Ethiopia, Somalia descended into a tribal civil war that left millions dead, starving to
death, or homeless. Amid a seemingly hopeless life filled with daily study of the Quran and corporal
punishment from teachers if the memorization was less than perfect, a preteen Iftin became a combination
of dreamer for a better life and street hustler to supply his family with scraps of food. He found a way into a
ramshackle video store, where he violated Muslim tenets to view American movies, painstakingly repeating
phrases to himself to learn English. "The things I saw in the movies seemed unreachable," he writes, "but at
least I could learn the language they spoke." Eventually, the narrative shifts from his life of quiet
desperation on the streets to his then-unrealistic plan to leave Somalia. The author reached a fetid refugee
camp in Kenya and was able to obtain a visa to enter the U.S., where he knew nobody. Explaining how Iftin
reached the U.S. would involve a series of spoilers, but suffice it to say that he did achieve entry four years
ago, after which he found lodging, paid work, and formal education in Maine, where he plans to attend
college. The author felt secure and optimistic there until the election of Donald Trump.
A searing memoir filled with horrors that impressively remains upbeat, highly inspiring, and always
educational.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Iftin, Abdi Nor: CALL ME AMERICAN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532700354/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e838ed00.
Accessed 23 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A532700354
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Call Me American: A Memoir
Publishers Weekly.
265.9 (Feb. 26, 2018): p76.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Call Me American: A Memoir
Abdi Nor Iftin. Knopf, $26.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-5247-3219-6
War-torn Somalia is the unlikely incubator for an immigrant success story in this wrenching yet hopeful
autobiography. Iftin was five years old in 1991 when a decadeslong civil war engulfed the Somali capital of
Mogadishu; his family witnessed massacres by militias, survived death marches, and endured years of
starvation. His one escape from grim reality was a movie theater where he learned English watching
American action movies, and his enthusiasm for the wealth, freedom, and rough justice depicted in them
earned him the nickname "Abdi American." That spelled trouble, however, when the rise of Islamic
extremism brought harsh religious strictures--he was flogged for going to the beach with a girl--and attacks
on anyone associated with America. A chance 2009 encounter with an American reporter got him a gig
doing radio dispatches for NPR, and more Islamist threats; after his house was bombed, he fled to the
enclave for persecuted Somalis in Kenya, and finally, after navigating the labyrinth of U.S. immigration
rules, moved to rural Maine, where he now works as a translator. Written in limpid prose, Iftin's
extraordinary saga is not just a journey of self-advancement but a quest to break free from ethnic and
sectarian hatreds. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Call Me American: A Memoir." Publishers Weekly, 26 Feb. 2018, p. 76. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530637465/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a0e543dc.
Accessed 23 June 2018.
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Call Me American
Michael Cart
Booklist.
114.16 (Apr. 15, 2018): p4.
COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
* Call Me American.
By Abdi Nor Iftin.
June 2018. 320p. Knopf, $26.95 (9781524732196). 305.893.
The author was born a Muslim under a neem tree in Somalia, probably in 1985 (he's not sure of the date,
since birthdays are not celebrated or even recorded in Somalia). He grew up in privation and peril--the
former, thanks to terrible droughts, and the latter because of a seemingly endless civil war, which meant his
life and those of his family were in constant danger. ("I am six years old and learning that nowhere in the
world is safe.") As a boy, he fell in love with America, teaching himself English by watching American
movies and listening to American music, earning, in the process, the nickname Abdi American. When life
in Somalia became untenable, he fled to Kenya, but life as a refugee was not much better until something
miraculous happened: he won a place in the American Green Card Lottery, officially titled the Diversity
Visa Program (which President Trump is now attempting to discontinue). How this ultimately led him to
America is a story in itself, as suspenseful as the larger survival story that is his life, one distinguished by
strength, wits, perseverance, and, it must be acknowledged, great good luck. His story is absolutely
remarkable and always as compelling as a novel or, perhaps, one of the Hollywood movies that he says
saved his life. Consider his an essential ur-immigrant story, one that is enlightening and immediate. Abdi is
an inspiration.--Michael Cart
YA: Essential reading for all teens, who will be fascinated by Abdi's extraordinary, empathy-inspiring story.
MC.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Cart, Michael. "Call Me American." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2018, p. 4. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A537267973/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5de71ba6.
Accessed 23 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A537267973

"Iftin, Abdi Nor: CALL ME AMERICAN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532700354/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF. Accessed 23 June 2018. "Call Me American: A Memoir." Publishers Weekly, 26 Feb. 2018, p. 76. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530637465/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF. Accessed 23 June 2018. Cart, Michael. "Call Me American." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2018, p. 4. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A537267973/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF. Accessed 23 June 2018.

• New York Journal of Books
  https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/me-american
  Word count: 973

  Call Me American: A Memoir
  Image of Call Me American: A Memoir
  Author(s):
  Abdi Nor Iftin
  Release Date:
  June 19, 2018
  Publisher/Imprint:
  Knopf
  Pages:
  320
  Buy on Amazon

  Reviewed by:
  Jane Constantineau
  “Told simply and well, Iftin’s story explains the incredible bravery and hope necessary to live in the crosshairs of war and to find a way out.”

  As a boy in war-torn Somalia, Abdi Nor Iftin idolized Arnold Schwarzenegger and danced to Michael Jackson. His love of American language and culture served as an escape from the violent chaos around him. Eventually, this passion triggered a remarkable series of events that led to his actual escape to America. Iftin’s blunt, humble voice tells an original story that reflects the universal struggles of those trapped in conflict zones who dream of a different life.

  Iftin’s nomadic parents moved to Mogadishu after a drought devastated their herd, his father finding work as a basketball player. Somalia’s unpopular, costly war with Ethiopia in 1977 caused unrest among tribal factions and fighting broke out in Mogadishu the following year. Iftin’s family fled by hitching rides and narrowly escaped execution at numerous checkpoints.

  Anti-government militias targeted men and their families, so Iftin’s father left his family in the bush, hoping his wife and children would be spared. Iftin writes of this time, “I am six years old and learning that nowhere in the world is safe.”

  His mother’s experience as a nomad served the family well as she fended off vultures and hyenas. Pregnant, with three small children in tow, she soothed their bloody feet with the chewed leaves of a native plant. Dehydrated and close to starvation, the family trudged passed dogs feasting on human bodies.

  Out of options, they returned to the city still under siege. “Mogadishu had become a city of women and children, a city of graves,” Iftin writes. Life settled into a desperate routine of making a long daily trek to the water pump, lugging a jerry can while dodging bullets from rooftop snipers. Food had to be scavenged and the family often went without. Iftin’s mother delivered her baby, who died of malnutrition.

  It fell to Iftin and his older brother, Hassan, to provide. They devised clever ways to make money, like collecting dropped scraps of qat, the leaf chewed by Somali men, and selling it back to them. Despite the chaos in the city, Iftin and his brother attended a local makeshift madrassa. Already debilitated from malnutrition and the chronic stress of survival, they were subjected to daily beatings from their teacher.

  When a neighbor began screening American movies on her small TV, Iftin was captivated. He watched Terminator and Die Hard, enjoying the shooting scenes that felt so familiar to him, but also enjoying the glimpse into another culture. He found he had a knack for language and began to pick up English from the movies’ dialogue. Iftin’s connection to American language and culture was his only joy.

  Iftin came of age in war-ravaged Mogadishu, attending the brutal madrassa, scrounging for food, dodging gunmen and taking care of his family. A new wrinkle in the Somalian conflict was the rise of al-Shabbaab, a radical Islamist group. Adulthood offered him grim choices: become a madrassa teacher or join the militia.

  After one unsuccessful attempt to leave the country, Iftin had a chance meeting with an American journalist. His English language skills made him a great contact and led to a series of stories in the British and American media. Relationships with Good Samaritans followed, and eventually Iftin’s overseas supporters funded his escape to Nairobi, Kenya, where he was reunited with his brother, who had left years earlier.

  Life in “Little Mogadishu,” the Somali area of Nairobi, had its own perils. Somali immigrants couldn’t work legally in Kenya, so they hawked goods on the street and endured constant police harassment. An al-Shabbaab attack in the city would trigger a roundup of Somalis, and Iftin and his brother would hide in their tiny apartment sometimes for days with no food.

  Despite his team of supporters in the U.S., Iftin as a single man had little hope of gaining refugee status in America. On a whim, he spent 20 cents to enter an American green card lottery. Incredibly, he won. Another long process of hurdles, close calls and narrow escapes followed, culminating in Iftin’s legal arrival at Boston’s Logan Airport in 2014.

  Iftin’s new life in Portland, Maine, is not without struggles. He works as a Somali interpreter and sends the majority of his paycheck home to his family. His brother still lives in Nairobi, the rest of his family in Somalia. He faces criticism from his fellow Somali immigrants in the U.S. when he embraces American culture, and he still deals with pressure to conform to the demands of Islam.

  Iftin’s account of his journey does not mince words or attempt to soften the worst atrocities he and his family experienced. Loyal and grateful to his mother, he shows particular sensitivity to the injustices suffered by women in Somalia. Told simply and well, Iftin’s story explains the incredible bravery and hope necessary to live in the crosshairs of war and to find a way out.

  Jane Constantineau is co-author of the memoir, Kill the Gringo: The Life of Jack Vaughn―American Diplomat, Director of the Peace Corps, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia and Panama, and Conservationist. She has lived in Tehran and Guatemala City and holds a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

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