This commentary is by John R. Killacky of South Burlington, author of “because art: commentary, critique, & conversation.”
Brad Kessler’s novel “North” (2021) was a beautifully wrought depiction of disparate lives: a Somali woman seeking asylum in Canada is unexpectedly sheltered at a Vermont monastery, sparking a crisis of faith, and is ultimately aided by an Afghan war veteran.
In doing background research for his fictional tale, Kessler met with Somalis who had resettled in Vermont over the last 20 years. Out of these conversations, the author worked with community members on a storytelling project to preserve their histories for the next generation and to educate the public. He continued to help them craft first-person narratives of survival and resilience into a new memoir.
“Deep North” (Onion River Press) tells the harrowing journeys of a farmer, a camel-herder, and a single mother of seven after the 1991 civil war shattered their lives. As Kessler writes in the afterword: “Stories and memories: the two things they were able to carry with them when everything else was stripped from them.”
Shadir Mohamed grew up along the lower Juba River in a farming community but fled when attacked because they were Somali Bantu, an ethnic minority. Escaping to Kenya, he spent 15 years shuttling between squalid refugee resettlements. In the camps, he married and started a family. In 1999, the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi accepted their application for a visa, which was finally approved in 2004. They landed in Burlington with one bag between them and four children.
Abdihamid A. Muhumed was a nomadic camel-herder, constantly moving with his family between Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya with their animals, sharing stories, songs and food with people along their way. As the civil war escalated, gunmen killed one of his brothers and father and stole their animals. He walked for weeks, off road in the forests toward Kenya, and lived in desolate fenced-in camps with one brother and his family until they resettled to Winooski in 2008.
Fardusa A. Abdo and her family fled southern Somalia and relocated to Yemen. As was the tradition, Fadusa did not attend school and stayed home doing household chores. At 19, a marriage was arranged, and eventually they had seven children, two with disabilities. Her husband illegally crossed into Saudi Arabia to find work and was deported back to Somalia. She singlehandedly raised the children. Her application to immigrate to America was approved in 2014, when they settled in Winooski.
“Deep North” details the grim, dystopian nightmares of the authors’ dislocation as well as illuminates the complexities and hardships of rebuilding their lives. Celebrating successes and joy are as compellingly told, providing the reader with wonderful insights into these remarkable lives.
The authors will be in conversation with community leader Abdirashid Hussein and editor Brad Kessler at the O.N.E. Community Center, 20 Allen St. in Burlington, on Oct. 8 at 4 p.m.
