Mo Farah isn’t who he says he is

[SnottyLottie]

news.sky.com/story/sir-mo-farah-reveals-the-truth-about-how-he-came-to-the-uk-12650126

My mind is actual blown after reading that. Poor man to have to go through such an ordeal. I wonder what ever happened to the real Mohammad Farah? ☹️

Hope this doesn’t effect his citizenship or anything.

@JTK50

It is not mentioned in the article that he was related to the woman. This is from the BBC report

He was flown over from the East African country aged nine by a woman he had never met, and then made to look after another family's children, he says.

I've only read the BBC article this morning, and not seen anything since, so there may be more out there now that I've not seen. But in the whole awful tale the bit that's been popping into my head all day is the bit where it's reported he had the details of the relatives he was being sent to and it was taken off him and destroyed by the woman.

That moment must have been terrifying for him, suddenly discovering the person he was trusting to take him to family was betraying him.

And if he had details of relatives in the UK they must have been expecting him. So his Mum packs him off to relations, and then he just... never arrives. They must all have been absolutely frantic. And couldn't turn anywhere for help. He just disappeared and they couldn't do a thing to find him.

Firstly, Mo Farah says he was trafficked. I think he will know better than you whether he was or not.

Secondly, what part of this was not trafficking? His relatives gave him to a stranger he was not related to, who then changed his name, ripped up the contact details he had for his relatives, threatened him and made him a domestic slave.

Sir Mo says he was about eight or nine years old when he was taken from home to stay with family in Djibouti. He was then flown over to the UK by a woman he had never met and wasn't related to.
She told him he was being taken to Europe to live with relatives there - something he says he was "excited" about. "I'd never been on a plane before," he says.
The woman told him to say his name was Mohamed. He says she had fake travel documents with her that showed his photo next to the name "Mohamed Farah".
When they arrived in the UK, the woman took him to her flat in Hounslow, west London, and took a piece of paper off him that had his relatives' contact details on.
"Right in front of me, she ripped it up and put it in the bin. At that moment, I knew I was in trouble," he says.
Sir Mo says he had to do housework and childcare "if I wanted food in my mouth". He says the woman told him: "If you ever want to see your family again, don't say anything."

@dailymailwillrotyoursoul
That’s what he says, but it doesn’t mean it’s true. I come from the same culture and I know that relatives bring kids as their own in favour for the mother who is struggling. Some men bring their sister and her kids as their wife and kids, back then there was no DNA requirement and those kids take a fake name or the surname of the family member who got them here, Farah might will be a family relative’s name. So he was here with relatives with the blessing of his own mum and other relatives, that’s why I say it’s not trafficking.
And for your comment “ he was made to work” that sells papers here , in reality my culture only uses little girls as servants NEVER boys.

@ClaudineClare

If you are Somali like me then you know full well that kids are given to relatives NEVER to strangers. This is very common and it’s how people bring their relatives into the country.

So why would he lie about it all @JTK50. What benefit would it possibly bring now?

It made me cry. When he spoke about hiding in the bathroom to cry at the place he was forced to work at.

My nephew is the age he was when trafficked and I just cannot imagine the way he felt and what went through his little mind.

Absolutely heartbreaking.

@ClaudineClare
He has nothing to lose now, he is a celebrity so he won’t lose his citizenship, unlike your average Somali with fake name and age. Not to mention that celebrities like to stay in the limelight, because I doubt that someone was going to expose his real name because that’s known knowledge in the Somali community.

Well, I choose to believe Mo Farah @JTK50.

Stop minimising and denying.

Me too. It's going low to come on here and accuse Sir Mo of lying, basically, because it is beyond their own experience and they know better.

Yeah the gist of that is his own Mother or family sold him.

Stop minimising. Just because it's 'culture' doesn't mean it isn't fucked up and totally wrong, oh and fraud. And yes - trafficking.

You should be ashamed of this aspect of your culture, not proud of it or trying to explain it away.

Vile.

Sir Mo Farah reveals he was trafficked to the UK as a child
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62123886
His old form tutor Sarah Rennie tells the BBC he came to school "unkempt and uncared for", that he spoke very little English and was an "emotionally and culturally alienated" child. She says the people who said they were his parents didn't attend any parents' evenings.
He eventually confided in his PE teacher about his true identity, his background, and the family he was being forced to work for. The PE teacher contacted social services and helped Sir Mo to be fostered by another Somali family.

@MiniPiccolo
Never said it’s wasn’t fraud, I don’t condone it at all, I’m simply stating that it happens in my culture and it’s it’s nothing new, now that people are required to provide DNA it’ll no longer happen.

The reason I don’t call it trafficking is that usually the relatives take good care of the kids they pass as their own, and yes I don’t buy that he was a domestic servant to the family, that never happens to boys from my culture, only to girls. I don’t have to believe everything that comes out of his mouth just because he says so.

Sir Mo Farah praised for discussing childhood trafficking trauma
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62136257

@JTK50

Why do you think he is lying?

Sir Mo Farah 'relieved' Home Office won't take action over citizenship
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62137599

"It makes me relieved," he said in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"This is my country. If it wasn't for [my PE teacher] Alan and the people who supported me throughout my childhood then maybe I wouldn't even have the courage to do this.
"There's a lot of people that I owe my life to - particularly my wife, who has been very supportive throughout my career, and who gave me the strength to come and talk about it, telling me it's okay to do this."
Sir Mo told the documentary that he wanted to tell his story to challenge public perceptions of trafficking and slavery.
"I had no idea there was so many people who are going through exactly the same thing that I did.'

...it is heart-wrenching to hear Mo's story, and sadly human trafficking (in various forms) is still very common today. See the work of The A21 campaign ( www.a21.org/ ). I hope that Sir Mo is able to completely heal from his past.

@Namechangerxxx , I also want to address some misconceptions. As we know, most African countries do not have the "NHS" and "Social care" system that we enjoy here in the UK. Therefore, the support system is close family members or children sent to stay with elderly ones. When a child is "given" to you or asked to stay with you in an African context, it is a huge responsibility. You take care of that child as your own. In other words, you become the adopted parent(s) for as long as the child stays with you. You clothe the child, feed the child, send the child to school, and also send money to the child's parents or relatives for their upkeep and as savings/trust for the child's future. It is also common that when the child becomes an adult (or say turns 18), you set up a business venture for the child e.g. buy them a sewing machine, motorbike, etc. as a "leaving" present. Sadly, not everyone has a good heart so some of these children are maltreated and taken advantage of.

To put this in context, every child in the household is expected to help out to ensure things run smoothly in the house. Everyone (including the home-grown children) will have their share of chores. When I was about nine years old, my youngest sibling was a baby and it was my absolute pleasure to help my mum to wash the baby's cloth nappies, dry the clothes, and iron them. (Note there were no washing machines or vacuum cleaners so it's a lot of work around the house that both parents cannot do on their own without relying on their "grown" children for help.) I didn't see this as slavery in any form; rather it taught me to become a responsible adult. At Uni here in the UK, I know some of my mates that were so messy, that they could not even wash their bathrooms or keep their rooms clean.

...all I am saying is that we need to look at and understand the African context before coming to a conclusion. Not every child staying with a relative, or working on a farm, or cloth shop is a child slave. Without going into much detail, sometimes, it might be the only way for that child to survive, to eat, to live a good life, and avoid the bad things lurking around to harm that child. Bear in mind that some of the children are sent to relatives that live in the city so that they can end up, hopefully, living a better life. And like I mentioned earlier, sadly in our world today, not every one has good intentions to responsibly care for the child staying with them, but nonetheless there are still some genuine kind-hearted people that take very good care of the child/children staying with them as we can clearly see in Mo's story.

What s pissing me off is how this is a story!why are we poor mo. How brave.what a inspiration.harrowing blah blah.yet you interview the poor folk off the sea trip in a rubber dingy having had the same happen and people are hurting,shaming,go home,stop taking our jobs,resources,don't deserve homes care mgs free ride. But mo gets an interview and is so brave.
This is Whats happening every day.to people fleeing far worse( no suffering is measurable by "worse" i no that but for just writing it here im saying worse) and thwy arent found.are murdered.are treated horribly.arent given safe passages.are raped.hurt.mistreated.
They get no voice but are what on and hated by our people,by our government.
Why isn't pretty Patel on interview umming and arring over how we sjpuls have stopped him getting here in the first place.or he should be one of those in Rwanda now.
I'm all for thinking mo IS brave and IS amazing to both go onwards and share.
But from others in regards to him and over refugees it makes me boil

Your reactions are very strange.

Here is a human telling a really profound human story, and you're doing everything you can not to hear it. You're focused on the wrong aspects!

Hear hear, @kateandme

💛

🙄

His story has been extensively investigated. You don't know anything, just have your own agenda to push.