A remarkably warm-hearted, uplifting and inspiring story of one boy's survival against the odds. Abdi's world fell apart when he was only fifteen and Somalia's vicious civil war hit Mogadishu. Unable to find his family and effectively an orphan, he fled with some sixty others,heading to Kenya. On the way, death squads hunted them and they daily faced violence, danger and starvation. After almost four months, they arrived in at refugee camps in Kenya - of the group he'd set out with, only five had survived. All alone in the world and desperate to find his family, Abdi couldn't stay in Kenya, so he turned around and undertook the dangerous journey back to Mogadishu. But the search was fruitless, and eventually Abdi made his way - alone, with no money in his pockets - to Romania, then to Germany, completely dependent on the kindess of strangers. He was just seventeen years old when he arrived in Melbourne. He had no English, no family or friends, no money, no home. Yet, against the odds, he not only survived, he thrived. Abdi went on to complete secondary education and later university. He became a youth worker, was acknowledged with the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award and was featured in the SBS second series of Go Back to Where You Came From. Despite what he has gone through, Abdi is a most inspiring man, who is constantly thankful for his life and what he has. Everything he has endured and achieved is testament to his quiet strength and courage, his resilience and most of all, his warm-hearted, shining and enduring optimism. 'Powerful and uplifting' Bookseller + Publisher 'Aden's odyssey belongs to our time ...Here is a man who counts his blessings and has an inspiring story to tell.' Sydney Morning Herald

This book interrogates the contemporary practice of Integrating Islamic and secular education among Muslim dominated areas in Kenya. Integration of Islamic and secular education is a popular phenomenon in Garissa sub-county as a response to demand for Islamic education to satisfy religious needs and demand. The high Muslim population in Garissa sub-county was an overarching driver of demand for integrated education. Muslim parents wanted their children to attain both secular and Islamic education. Parents sought integrated education to reduce the amount of time their children spent moving between three institutions: primary school, madrassa and Duksi from which they sought both secular and Islamic education. The school in this study adapted a bi-functional model of integration where both a madrassa providing Islamic education and a primary school providing secular education co-existed as one institution but operating independently. However, secular dominated Islamic education in this arrangement hence the need for a balanced curriculum that would give adequate attention to both religious and secular education so as to adequately cater for needs of both types education.