Ali Yassin Warsame is from a city called Buroa in Somali. He was 18 when civil war broke out. He has a gentle and warm manner. Ali, like all children in Somali, started school when he was 7 (all children learn to read the Koran from age 5 to 7). Ali was still in secondary school when the war broke out. Ali’s father used to work in England, so he had a British passport. He was able to get Ali and his five brothers out of the war-torn country. Ali spent a year at Shorefield’s School in Dingle, then went on to do an apprentice plumbing scheme. | "On the first day I arrived, I couldn't recognise my house! I had to ask for directions as so much had changed!" | | Ali Warsame |
Coming to England was a real culture shock to Ali and his brothers as they had come from a Muslim country in Africa. Something as simple as snow would blow their minds. Ali used to say to his brothers: “What are these stones?" Other alien lifestyles includedÌý people eating pork and going out clubbing and dancing. Peace was eventually declared in Somali. Ali went back and lived there for 4 years and it was at this time he meet his wife. However, the country was still in need of major repair - schools and hospitals had not been rebuilt.Ìý He says: “When I went back home, all the streets were so small and narrow. They used to be very big streets and now they are so small. On the first day I arrived, I couldn't recognise my house! I had to ask for directions as so much had changed!â€
 | | Ali now helps other Somali refugees. |
Ali now works for Liverpool Youth Service helping young Somali men.ÌýHe has four children: two sons and two daughters. “I am saving up so I can take my children back home one day" he says, "but I like the fact that they are being brought up in England - education and health wise. I would like them to socialise in Somali, but you can’t have both worlds.†| 
