When Ayan Hersi's mother fled the war-torn nation of Somalia with her two young children, she had one piece of advice that became the family's motto: "Don't ever be scared." It was a tall order under the circumstances, but is a message that first-year U of T law student Hersi continues to live by today.
It is her fearlessness that helped Hersi overcome challenges that included her father's deportation back to Somalia after their arrival to Canada, survival on social assistance and adjustment to a new country and language. "When we came to Canada, we settled in Ottawa and didn't know any English at all," recalls Hersi. "We took ESL courses, and supported each other as we started to make our way in Canada. I was always hungry to try new things. I wanted the best that Canada had to offer, and knew I wanted to give back to the country that embraced us."
Hersi was selected in the fall as one of the six recipients of FLARE magazine's 2008 Volunteer of the Year awards, recognizing Canadian women who contribute a substantial portion of their personal time to others and their communities. As a volunteer with the Toronto-based Horn of Africa Relief Society (HARS), an active HIV/Aids educator through her work at UNICEF and volunteer host of campus radio station CKLN 88.1FM, Hersi estimates she volunteered 1650 hours in 2007, in addition to two months in Africa helping to design a HIV/Aids educational production. She is the founder of Youth in Touch, a non-profit, youth-led organization that is dedicated to the empowerment of youth by providing young people with the necessary tools and information they need to make healthy lifestyle decisions.
Hersi was also recently honoured by the Canadian Human Rights Watch for her work in Africa, and received the 2008 YMCA Women of Distinction award for improving the lives of women and girls.
It is an outstanding testimony to the determination of a young woman who arrived in Toronto for her university studies with just 60 cents in her pocket. In 2007, she graduated with a bachelor's from U of T's Equity Studies program, with a minor in political science and African studies, and was awarded the Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award.
Hersi was able to pursue her studies at U of T thanks to the support of her professors and the generous scholarship that was provided for her residence stay. Hersi says that from her first day at U of T, she tried to figure out how she could make the most of her time at U of T. She immediately got involved with residence governance and provided mentoring to at-risk youth. She also started seeking opportunities for research and study abroad programs that led to her work in Africa.
"My first trip abroad was to Hong Kong and China to take a course on the development of China," she says. "After I came back, I decided that I wanted to go somewhere in the developing world and focus on an HIV/AIDS prevention project. I went to Namibia in 2006, and started asking youth what they really wanted to see in terms of a grassroots program."
While visiting an impoverished suburban town called Katutura in Namibia, Ayan spontaneously struck up a conversation with a local student, who, by sheer coincidence, was also a youth group leader. He told her he worked with a group of about 60 local kids, ranging in age from 14 to 25, and asked if she would like to work with them.
As a result of her first meeting with the group, the students mounted a theatrical production, entitled Silence Breakers, that addressed the main causes of HIV/AIDS transmission issues in their country.
The play was an immediate hit -- bringing previously taboo subjects out in the open and also enabling children to educate their own parents about high-risk behaviours. Word of the show even reached the office of the country's Deputy Minister of Health, who attended a performance, and later invited the local kids to visit her in parliament and helped take the show on tour.
After finishing her undergraduate degree, Ayan said that it was really 'a dream come true' to get a call from Admissions Director Jiffin Arboleda, offering her a spot at the Faculty of Law for Fall 2008.
"Getting into the Faculty of Law here at U of T is just further proof that a dream can be achieved - that's what I always tell young people," she says proudly.
