Farah trafficked to UK to look after children and work as domestic slave

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Team GB legend Sir Mo Farah has revealed that he was trafficked to the UK as a child to work as a domestic slave in a stranger's house.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist is the most successful British track athlete in modern Games history. But he has now revealed the shocking part of his childhood that led to him being brought to England from Somalia.

Farah has spoken about how he was taken from his family by a woman, who had two other children. He had been born Hussein Abdi Kahin, but was given the identity of 'Mohamed Farah' – the identity of another child – when he was brought to the UK. When they arrived, Farah was used as a slave to look after the children and do other housework.

  • Mo Farah holds back tears as he meets the 'real' Mohamed Farah – who calls him 'brother'

"I remember getting on a plane with this lady, she's got two kids, I'm excited because I've never been on a plane before. got off the plane with the woman, we go through passport check," he said in BBC documentary The Real Mo Farah.

"The lady going 'don't forget Mohamed' because that was the name on the document. Stamped, go through. We get in the car, I had all the contact details for my relative and once we got to the house, the lady takes it off me.

"Right in front of me, ripped it up and put it in the bin and at that moment, I knew I was in trouble. When the man was around, I was treated very different, but he was never there, we wouldn't see him for weeks.

"From day one, the lady, what she did wasn't right. I wasn't treated as part of the family, I was that kid who did everything. If I wanted food in my mouth, my job was to look after those kids, shower them, cook for them, clean for them.

"She said 'if you ever want to see your family again, don't say anything, you say anything, they will take you away'. Often I would just lock myself in the bathroom to cry, nobody's there to help. After a while I just learnt to not have that emotion."

Farah was eventually allowed to go to school, entering at Year 7, though he was still being used by the woman. Eventually, he disclosed what had been happening at his home to his PE teacher Alan Watkinson.

"Mo told me he wasn't the son of the person he was living with. He'd been brought over to do all the jobs, look after the smaller children. He also then explained that actually his name wasn't Mohamed Farah," Watkinson told the documentary.

"He was removed from his family, given a new identity and brought over here to do jobs and chores. That was quite a shocking revelation to hear. The next day I took what he said to the senior leadership at the school."

The matter was passed onto social services, with Farah going on to be removed from his house to live with a foster family. The aunt of the other Mohamed Farah – whose identity Team GB icon Mo used – also gave her account to the documentary and slammed the woman for not treating him as a human being.

"She told us he had no-one else, that's why we bring him here. Then I saw you always not happy, you crying. Then I tried to find out what's going on with you. The lady she always make you do the housework, to have the kids, to give them milk, to change their nappies. What I know, she didn't bring you as a human being to help you, no," Kinsi Farah said.

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