This week we have the privilege of delving deeper into the remarkable life story of Mohamed Emmanuel Nabieu. In his captivating memoir, My Long Journey Back Home, Nabs shares his resilient spirit and unwavering determination to overcome the challenges that marked his childhood and youth. In his second appearance on Think Orphan, Nabs shares more powerful insights. Discover how he is harnessing the strength of his past to forge a path of empowerment, not only for himself but for countless others who have experienced similar adversity.

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Resources and Links from the show

My Long Journey Back Home

Watch Nabs on TedxUSW

Helping Children Worldwide

Show Notes

• What prompted the writing of My Long Journey Back Home (11:20)
• A loss of family, community, culture, language, identity (12:00)
• Cultivating resilience and being transformed (13:30)
• Spreading the message about care reform and importance of families (14:00)
• Reflecting on diverse childhood experiences (16:50)
• Growing up with family (17:00)
• Navigating life on the streets (20:00)
• Family cannot be replaced (23:00)
• It is better to grow up in a poor family than a rich orphanage (26:00)
• The abuse in institutions is higher than in families (28:10)
• It’s more expensive to run an institution to family-care (29:00)
• Being taken away to the orphanage (29:30)
• Care without losing identity, connection, belonging (31:00)
• Creating bigger problems by removing children from families (32:00)
• Ways that missionaries have undermined connections with local communities (33:00)
• Changing development to ask communities, what do you need? (35:00)
• Undermining cultural ethics of countries (36:00)
• Understanding the cultural differences and how it can create challenges (38:00)
• Transitioning to family care (40:00)
• Providing hands up not hand outs (44:00)
• When families get stronger, so do communities (47:00)
• Years of cultivating a relationship with the government (51:00)
• Nab’s recommendations (56:00)