Somali Visionary Leads Food and Economic Sovereignty at Liberation Farms

By Ashia Aubourg, Cuisine Noir | September 9, 2024

Many children grow up being supported by their communities. But typically, the cycle is that when community members pass the torch, the same children who were taken care of assume community care responsibilities.

For Maine-based community leader Muhidin Libah, this role of taking care of the community came very early in his life. The focus of this story is not about the trauma and displacement Libah endured. On the contrary, it’s the powerful story of how Libah took his own values of self-determination and perseverance and bequeathed those values onto his community.

Early Life

Libah’s story begins in Bu’aale, Somalia, where he and his siblings were raised by their parents. “My parents were farmers, and they farmed every day. That was their full-time job. So, the first job I ever had was chasing the animals away from the farm,” shares Libah.