Stowaway’s Mom Wants To Reunite With Son In An Ethiopian Refugee Camp

The stowaway’s mom, Ubah Mohamed Abdullahi, is saying she wants to reunite with her son in an Ethiopian refugee camp after the boy named Yahya Abdi risked his life by stowing away in the wheel well of a five-hour flight to Hawaii.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, the 16-year-old jet stowaway managed to sneak into the landing gear and survived the flight despite freezing temperatures and oxygen deprivation. It’s said he was knocked unconscious by these conditions only to emerge from the jet an hour after it landed. He is now recovering in a hospital in Hawaii and is officially under the charge of Hawaii child welfare service workers. Reports also say the stowaway’s mom says her son only learned of her being alive shortly before boarding the jet.

Although authorities have not confirmed anything, the father of Yahya Abdi, Abdilahi Yusuf Abdi, has said the stowaway is his son. The father says the stowaway’s mom was a frequent topic of conversation before the boy tried running away. Yahya says he argued with his father before leaving home and the father says the boy had talked about moving back to Africa.

The stowaway’s mom and dad are divorced, with the latter living in California, and the former currently residing in an Ethiopian refugee camp. She says she feels “bad that [her son] risked his life” because of the family circumstances. The mother is now saying that the father and stepmother abused Yahya and even told him she had died in a rocket attack in Magadishu:

“She treats my children badly. She has her own children and she doesn’t care about mine…. They killed me in my children’s minds. If I could give a message to my son I would say I am still alive and I will come one day. Please stay calm and do not do anything stupid.”

The cousin of the stowaway’s mom, Mukhtar Guled, says her story about mistreatment is true:

“He felt he didn’t belong in the house. The younger siblings were treated like kings and queens and his siblings were treated like trash. The only option he had was to run away from both of them.”

Unfortunately, it appears there will be a struggle between father and mother over who gets to reclaim their son. The father has hired a lawyer and wants to reunite with his son right away but cannot leave until Hawaiian authorities are ready to release him. He also cannot afford to leave early or he’d risk losing his job as a cab driver. The stowaway’s mom has lived in a refugee camp in Sheed Dheer since 2008 and has not been allowed to communicate with her children in America. She wants to reunite with Yahya, but that decision would probably largely be made by Hawaii’s child welfare service since the boy is a minor.