America Here I Come: A Somali Refugee’s Quest For Hope brings the amazing story of Hamse Warfa. It is a heart rending narration of his escape from a civil war that ends up claiming the lives of close to two million people in Hamse's native country of Somalia in Africa, to his becoming a leading light here in the US. The author takes us back to his difficult life as a refugee at Daadab, one of the world's largest refugee camps located in the desert-like North Eastern part of Kenya, then to Utanga at the Kenyan coast. At Daadab scarcity and praying that you do not fall victim to crime was the order of the day, while at Utanga, death of loved ones due to Malaria and conflict with local communities had long ceased to be news. Hamse loses his father to high blood pressure at the age of 14, at a time when the teenager is seeking to understand the meaning of life. Finally, his family immigrates to the US as refugees, opening a new chapter in Hamse's life.
The book is candid about the kind of challenges that new immigrants face seeking education and integration here in the US. The cultural shocks that Hamse faces in the new land of opportunities are as hilarious as they are thought provoking to mainstream America. Here, Hamse deliberately opens the reader's understanding to what goes on at the back of an immigrant's mind - as well as the determination to make an honest and meaningful existence at the end of it all. There hardly is a better way for Americans to understand their neighbors (New Americans) and the intricate web of global affairs that often lead to people seeking refuge in this great land than the detailed accounts of Hamse's past life.