British Long-distance runner Mohammed Farah says that he was a victim of human trafficking at the tender age of nine.
In an interview with the BBC, Farah stated that he was trafficked to the United Kingdom from Djibouti by an unknown woman.
He was then forced to change his name from Hussein Abdi Kahin to Mohammed Farah.
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The athlete also revealed that his parents have never been to the UK, and that his mother and two brothers live on their family farm in Djibouti.
Mo noted that during that time, the woman assured him that he would live with her relatives in Europe.
She thus instructed him to adopt the alias Mohamed Farah as she had faked documents with his photo and the new name.
The athlete had to do some house chores and babysit in order to eat or see his family again.
Farah was also denied a chance to enrol in school in his first few years in the UK. It was at the age of 12 that he joined Feltham Community College where the staff were informed that he was a refugee from Somalia.
At first, he struggled with integration but felt at home when he joined the athletics team.
Mo's PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, noticed a huge transformation in his classwork when the athlete started participating in sports.
According to the star himself, athletics aided him to focus on his growth rather than his troubled living conditions.
Through Watkinson, Mo Farah was able to find a confidant with whom he share his thoughts, true identity, background, and the family he was being forced to work for.
Farah’s PE teacher contacted social services which helped the athlete to be fostered by a Somali family.
At the age of, 14 Moh received an invitation to compete in English schools at a race in Latvia. However, he was hampered by the lack of requisite travel documents.
His PE teacher intervened and helped him to apply for British citizenship under the name Mohamed Farah, which was approved in July 2000.
The four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah is expected to make his comeback in a first full marathon in the 2022 London Marathon in October.
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