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.

Very sad indeed, and I hope he is OK. Not fond of the title of the thread though @SnottyLottie It suggests the situation is his fault. 'Mo Farah isn't who he says he is' should be changed really, maybe to 'to feel for Mo Farah' or something.

Wow, Im shocked. I love Mo Fara and had no idea he had such a terrible start in life.
It makes me quite humble, to think how much he has achieved.

Somaliland is not recognised as a country by the UN and people from there have passports from Somalia.

The title is based on how Sir Mo himself describes it and the title of his documentary is "The real Mo".

I agree. Unbearable to think of children being bought and sold as slaves. Bad enough anywhere in the world, but when it’s discovered over here, there’s no excuse for not prosecuting the traders and buyers.

@WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps title taken from his own words, which were “the truth is I'm not who you think I am" which came from the article I linked.

Very sad story. I always felt sorry for his twin, assuming Mo had had preferential treatment at some point, but this was obviously not the case at all.

Yes spring the one thing I always wondered is why he came to the U.K. with his parents and not his twin.

I often thought I wondered what his relationship with his brother was like as he seemed to have chosen.

Just goes to show how you should never judge a book.

What I glean is that his mother sent him and his twin to be safe with an uncle and it was from there that he came over. He then lived with the family where he had to work but I don't know how long that lasted. I hope that will be revealed in the programme unless it's already known, or on here and I've missed it. He later lived with a lady where he was happy and his athletics career was underway by then and an ID was needed for him to compete. I hope I've got that bit clear so far.

Thanks for highlighting this story OP. I'll watch the documentary tomorrow night. Such a difficult start in life - from reading the article it seems that his Dad was killed in the civil war, he was separated from his mother (maybe siblings?) and brought to the UK under the pretext of being placed with his relatives, then found himself trapped with an abusive, exploitative 'family'. He's a brave man to speak out and tell the difficult and painful story of his childhood. I hope he feels free now - he no longer has to fear some unscrupulous journalist exposing him.

If anyone is interested in the subject of trafficking, I'd recommend a book called 'Slave' by Mende Nazer. The author was abducted as a 12/13 year old child in Sudan and sold into slavery. She worked as a domestic servant and was later sent to London, to work for a Sudanese diplomat.

He was age NINE 😭😭😭😭😭

It’s so horrible to know that this is happening right now to other children in our country and we can’t help.

Honestly death penalty for the people who enalave children would be fine with me. Bet that’d reduce human trafficking.

I am not a Mo Farah fan in any way, I don't think he comes across well in interviews at all.

However, this is truly shocking and I applaud him for finally speaking out about what happened to him when he was just a wee boy.

poor mo how brave to make it public

i hope the first family are arrested

dont know where you get he doesnt come across well i thinkhes lovely was great on im a celebrity really nice man

I know what you mean. I've never been able to put my finger on what it is about him that makes my defenses go up but I think it was his story didn't ring true somehow. I remember saying it to someone at work when he won in the 2012 Olympics, everyone was saying how great he was and I said there was something not right somewhere. I got an angry response but looks like I was right.

I feel like I've gone "Aah" and it all makes sense now. No judgement of him, he did what he had to do and it was obviously horrible but if you have that feeling that someone isn't being honest with you it does put up a barrier.

Maybe we have very sensitive bullshit detectors.

Edna Adan Ismail is a very inspirational politician/midwife/FGM activist from Somaliland. Her story is truly amazing.

Well done that teacher.
Sadly it’s common to pass children around in Africa and anyone saying the child is coming to Europe are trusted as it’s seen as the land of milk and honey. I spent 4 months in a small African country, no war, no famine. I was offered several children and told I could send the child to school but they could also act as a housemaid. I was considered a bit ungrateful when I refused. At least 2 women asked me to get them into Britain and employ them illegally. And 4 men asked me to marry them, as in “ hello, Madame, how are you today, where is your husband today? ( no husband) Will you marry me, or I think we should marry”
Family life is very fluid, grandchildren live with grandparents as company and to relieve the burden of food, school etc on the parents. Parents go off “ travelling” which is looking for work and children are left with various relatives.
Mo Farrah’s mum would have believed he was going to be educated, cared for and be able in time to financially support the family back in Africa.

He will have legally changed his name to Mohamed Farah by now, surely?

I am not a Mo Farah fan in any way, I don't think he comes across well in interviews at all.

I've always assumed he's just not "natural" or comfortable at public speaking... (Everyone made fun of David Beckham's speaking in his early years of playing - being incredibly gifted and doing well at sports doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with being confident, gregarious, outgoing etc) ...and no wonder you would hate being interviewed and speaking about anything away from sport when you're essentially having to remember your cover story if someone asks about your personal life/history

I'm sure his name is legallly Mo Farah now but it must be strange for him. It isn't like he just he decided to change his name because he didn't like it or he'd fallen out with his family. It was forced on him and perhaps he doesn't feel like he really is Mo Farah.

Indeed. I've always found it hard to understand his separation from his twin brother (privileged, I know) so in a way this makes more sense to me. I am sad to read it - what a lot he went through at such a young age. I can't imagine how frightening it must have been.

I love this quote from Edna Adan Ismail from when she was Foreign Minister. “I am a midwife first and foremost. One day when I was meeting with a European delegation, I knew that there was a woman in the hospital who was going to have triplets. When the hospital called I had to say, ‘I’m sorry, I know we have got important things to discuss but I really have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’”

Really putting women first.

Yet your use of the word bullshit in this context is so insensitive.

I wonder what would happen to someone who wasn't a celebrity or other success if they made such a disclosure now? Would they be stripped of their citizenship?

I really admire him for making this film. People traffickers are beyond contempt.