Somali community gathers to pray for Abdi

On 31 October members of the Somali community in Bristol gathered together in memory of Abdirisak Mohamoud, an 18-year-old student, who died last July succumbing to a single stab wound when rival boy gangs broke into a fearful fight in Stapleton Road.

Organised by Amana and local Somali mosques, the meeting was hugely successful in drawing attention towards the Somali youth’s perspective in dealing with street violence and knife crimes.

About 300 people—mostly young members studying in college and schools— attended the meeting to pay homage to Abdirasak. The victim's junior in Fairfield High School and also the chair of Somali Youth Forum (SYF), Abdi Salaam, presided over the meeting and discussed the many challenges faced by the dynamic Somali youth in Bristol today.

Local community experts, including imams and experienced youth worker such as Ibrahim Messiah, stated how knife crime and street violence is increasing at an alarming rate in Bristol.

At Amana, the SYF is dedicated to tackle the problem through constant dialogue with teenagers. Abdulqani, one of our SYF leaders, thinks the best way to prevent the Somali youth from making the wrong choice is to engage them in sports. He is a full time student pursuing an aeronautical engineering course in Cardiff. But every Friday he drives all the way back to Bristol to teach football to young members of the community.

“If we can manage to keep them occupied in their free time, they would never consider going the wrong way and in future we will not loose any Abdirasak,” says Abdul.

Abdirasak, popular among his friends as Abdi, was a sociable boy who had never hurt anyone. He was a bright young boy with an ambition of doing well in life.Following his tragic death, several measures were introduced by the Avon and Somerset Constabulary and local Somali community.

No one has been arrested for Abdi’s murder yet.