Sahra and Mustaf — A Mother’s Love for her Son and her Community

From the moment you meet Sahra and Mustaf, you immediately feel a sense of positivity, kindness, enthusiasm, leadership, and respect. These traits were instilled in Sahra from birth by her family growing up in Somalia, and Sahra has passed this on to her son Mustaf raising him here, in Minneapolis, as well as two older children. Sahra arrived in the United States, over twenty years ago, in 1997. Sahra was always taught by her family to never give up on anything you try, and to always treat everyone with respect. Everyone that Sahra and her family come across, quickly become friends, which also means they become family to her. Understanding this background about Sahra and Mustaf, is what helps to illustrate that their life story is truly an amazing example of perseverance, determination, and hope through a mother’s love for her son and her community.

When Sahra brought home Mustaf from the hospital in 2003, she didn’t have much information about Down syndrome – nor was there anyone she knew of that could answer her questions about Down syndrome in the Somali language. She would discuss Mustaf with doctors, but discussions were only in English – and she was able to only understand small portions of what doctors were describing to her about Down syndrome. Sahra quickly realized that Mustaf was not drinking milk the way her older children had immediately done at birth. This alerted her to the immediate concern for her son, as he needs to drink milk to survive. Sahra started doing her own research about Down syndrome, and then discovered that people with Down syndrome develop and learn in different ways compared to a typical person. She started to talk to other parents who also have children with Down syndrome at Mustaf’s school, and she ended up discovering GiGi’s Playhouse – Twin Cities.

When Sahra brought Mustaf to GiGi’s, she immediately enrolled him in literacy and math tutoring, social skills groups, and then on to Team G Basketball Special Olympics Team – as well as now Everyone Can Dance group. She noticed that Mustaf was thriving through gaining confidence through his work on educational and therapeutic skills. Sahra enjoyed the sense of community at GiGi’s being surrounded by other families with a person with Down syndrome – as well as Mustaf being empowered by being part of the Down syndrome community. Even though their family was the only Somali family at GiGi’s – that didn’t intimidate Sahra or stop her, because she wanted to constantly find what was best for Mustaf. Sahra saw that it’s also important for Mustaf to be involved with the larger community outside GiGi’s, as well, including Karate class and learning how to write in Arabic. All of these many activities that Mustaf has been involved with over the years have helped Mustaf to find success in many aspects of his life.

Not only is Mustaf finding success in his life, but he is now an example for the Somali community of what a person with Down syndrome can do, as well as Sahra being an example of what a mother with a child with Down syndrome can do too. Sahra mentioned that when she was growing up in Somalia, people with Down syndrome exist, but not out in public – from birth, people with Down syndrome are immediately sent off to a hospital for the rest of their lives, with no connection to their family. Many people in the Somali community believe that someone with Down syndrome is sick. Sahra to this day continues to face people in her community looking down on her and her decision to get Mustaf out and actively participating in the community – asking her the question, constantly, “Why?”. She consistently tells people, “I do all of this for Mustaf, because he is capable of doing so much with his life.” Now Sahra still gets people in her community asking her why she’s doing what she’s doing, and why she’s spending so much time with Mustaf – but she also now gets lots of feedback such as, “Wow – what Mustaf is able to do is amazing!”, and she encourages families to get their children with Down syndrome involved with activities soon in their young lives – so that their children can go even farther than Mustaf has already done in his young life. Sahra and Mustaf have received support and encouragement from their family over all these years. Sahra and Mustaf are breaking down misperceptions in their own community about what is possible to achieve for a person with Down syndrome, as well as what it can look like to be a proud mom of a child with Down syndrome.

A year ago, a parent invited Sahra to start a monthly Somali Mom’s group through support from the Down Syndrome Association of Minnesota, and taking place at GiGi’s, which gives Somali Mom’s a chance to network with each other and the community for their children with Down syndrome. Sahra leapt at the opportunity to lead this group. She finds families to join the group by simply meeting people who have a family member with Down syndrome, when she is walking around in her community, and then sharing her personal life story. She quickly invites the family to attend the next Somali Mom’s group. She currently has reached out to ten families from her community that have attended one or more of the monthly meetings at GiGi’s.

& now Sahra is also inspiring other Somali mothers to get their children involved with the free, progressive, and purposeful programming at GiGi’s too. Just this Sunday, we had a brand-new participant join Everyone Can Dance group – Zahur. Zahur enrolled in the class because her mom, Habibo, heard Sahra’s story about the impact of GiGi’s on her family – including the dance class, and knowing that Zahur loves to dance too, joined the class with Mustaf this week!

Thank you Sahra and Mustaf for being a great example of love for your family and your community! You both inspire all of us to continue to persevere, be determined, and most of all have hope for our families and our community.