FARHIYO IDIFLE’S REMARKABLE ODYSSEY: AN ACADEMIC JOURNEY LIKE NO OTHER

Graduation is a time of special achievement and of recognition. It marks the end of the beginning of an academic adventure. It is also the beginning of a new exciting journey of professional development and of self-discovery. St. Cloud State University holds its Spring commencement ceremony on May 6, 2016 and one remarkable woman walks down the hall of fame to receive a diploma in style.

Farhiyo Idifle’s journey to this moment of special hooding, procession, walking on red carpets, listening to pompous speeches and been conferred a Master of Social Work degree has been long in the making. From a humble beginning in Somalia’s lower juba region, Farhiyo has traversed the world in her own unique way after a brutal civil war disrupted her otherwise normal childhood, thrusting her to experience the turbulence of statelessness.

She once lived in a refugee camp in Kenya which would later house the world’s largest concentration of refugees before moving to the United States. It has been the new beginning in America that has propelled her to think big, work harder and achieve more. In essence, she did not let any opportunity pass without utilizing the resources available at her disposal. It is the reason she ended up in this column as well, documenting her remarkable odyssey, her great American journey.

Farhiyo has worked hard, juggled school, work, and an internship with the demands of a young family. She refused to be defined but by what is possible. She refused to listen to self-doubt and to the cynicism of those who thought she couldn’t accomplish the lofty aspirations she has set for herself.

Instead, she chose to believe in herself and has fixed her eyes on a prize much higher. Today is the remarkable answer, not just for Farhiyo but for all those moms who raise little kids and who, yet again, find magical ways to work every day to make things a little better than the 24 hours before. She refused to be constrained by any extraordinary circumstances or by society.

A few years ago, Farhiyo has enrolled at a Community College and has submitted a handwritten assignment for one of her classes. The professor has, in her uncharacteristic response, told her that “Farhiyo, no professor, in this college, will ever accept untyped paper” and Farhiyo had to seek her own help. Farhiyo was then a new African refugee in the middle of one of the whitest states in the United States, attempting to demistify the strange new world around her including culture, technology, educational system, employment, you name it.

At that moment, she did know how to write on a keyboard, much less own a personal computer. She felt frustrated but used the challenge to learn how use a computer. In the semester that followed, she took an intro course in computer science and put in much effort to gain the essential literacy skills she needed to bridge the technology gap.

At the time, she worked at a chicken processing plant before she got injured within thirty days of hire and was then fired. She has also struggled to find money for gas to get to college and back. Today, none of these is much of an issue. She directs an institution, has lined up a job in her field of study, owns all kinds of gadgets, drives a brand new car and receives offers of employment from some of the biggest and most respected organizations in Saint Cloud and beyond. She is only one of two Somali Americans to ever graduate with a Master’s degrees in Social Work from St. Cloud State, Minnesota’s second largest state university. It has been a huge sacrifice of time and resources but she feels that it has also been a worthwhile investment.

While receiving a diploma marks a moment of celebration and the completion of degree requirements, she believes that this is just the beginning of yet another new American journey whose end is both sacred and unknown. She asserts that she owes her achievements to the support of her family and the instruction by her professors. She now steps out as a husky into what awaits in the future.