Who is Ali?

Ali was born in Qoryoley, Somalia, the eldest son of Sareedo and Abdi. He is the big brother of ten siblings, a good friend to many, and my foster son.

Ali is a hero with a tremendous lust for life, and the bravest and most sensitive boy I know. An idealist too, because he wants his story to be told for those who can no longer tell theirs. He wants as many people as possible to know that there are still children like him, who at this very moment are undertaking the same dangerous journey, who are going to walk for days across the desert, be at the mercy of smugglers, get trapped in the hell of Libya, before waiting to cross the Mediterranean on a rickety boat.

Ali had just turned 12 when his father was recruited by Al-Shabaab and then killed because he could not reconcile himself with their ideology and actions. When they came to tell his mother that her husband had died and that it was now up to the eldest son, Ali, to take his father’s place, she begged for a reprieve. Early the next morning, she woke him up and arranged for him to flee.
This is where Ali’s journey, as told in the opera, begins. First through Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia. To cross the border into Sudan, he and his four friends spent three nights walking through the desert. They slept during the day. Three days without food or drink, three days of survival. Then they journeyed further through the desert in jeeps.

After they reached Kufra in Libya, Ali was locked up in a kind of shed, along with other refugees. He and his friends were subjected daily to torture and violence by Walid, the people-smuggling ringleader. They were forced to take drugs and were only given a piece of bread and a glass of water a day to live on. They were told the torture would only stop if their families paid a ransom. Ali’s mother paid, but the abuse continued until the last day.