Hani Ali
Somalia
Born 1982 — in a moving truck, on the road
Hani Ali was born into the Somali civil war, in the back of a truck while her family was already in flight. She came of age in a Ugandan displacement camp, walked miles to a school sometimes held under a tree, and now leads programs for newly arriving refugees in Rochester.
“My mom said that we were in the middle of nowhere just running to this next safest country.”
- 01
Born on the Run
Hani has never seen Somalia. Her family was already moving when she was born.
“I'm from Somalia. But I have never seen Somalia. I was born in the war in 1982 in, um, in a truck where my family were migrating and my mom was pregnant, so nobody even thought that I was going to be alive.”
“In the middle of nowhere just running. Just running and running and running. And they finally settled in Uganda. Trying to find the safest camp that would take them. We was in there for 10 years.”
- 02
Coming of Age in Camp
Ten years in Uganda. School happened when a teacher was available, sometimes under a tree, sometimes a long walk away.
“I was a soccer player. We was going to school whenever it was available; whenever they got a teacher. That school sometimes were, you know, under just under a tree where the shade is.”
“The school was walking distance. It was scary. It would get dark and, if you're a girl, obviously it was more scarier.”
“As a female growing in that camp itself, you know, what's going to happen to you.”
- 03
A Mother's Worry
Her mother sent her anyway. Years later, as a parent herself, Hani is no longer sure she would have made the same call.
“Sending your daughter to school that's like probably 10 miles and you have to walk. My Mom was concerned about my safety.”
“Now that I think back to it as a parent, I would never, if I had the choice, I would not send my daughter for school. I would just keep her home.”
- 04
Snow and Pepperoni
Arrival in upstate New York meant unfamiliar weather, unfamiliar food, and a new kind of vigilance for a Muslim woman reading every label.
“And the snow. The snow was just shocking. We're like what is this white stuff? And then we touch it, oh my God, it's something cold. And we were not cold. I think we just had that blood of African-ness still heated up in us.”
“The most difficult thing was, I think, just the food. What I ate back — did not look like what's here. I was kinda scared. And being a Muslim woman, you know how to read ingredients and not knowing that, you know, a pepperoni could come in the beef.”
- 05
What Home Means
She had wanted to be a surgeon. That isn't where this story ends — but the meaning of home shifted along the way.
“And, yes, it didn't come true. I'm not going for OBGYN surgeon anymore.”
“We have everything we want. Yes. The basic things. You know what I mean… just, you know… going back and just resting in your couch that's yours, and you know it's not going anywhere. So, that's home.”
Where Hani is now
Hani is a program director at Mary's Place Refugee Outreach in Rochester, NY — a neighborhood center that meets refugee families with food, case management, and programs for moms and children.
Support Mary's Place Refugee Outreach