Hussein Mohamud Hussein came to the UK in 1999, aged nine. His parents had sent him to live with his uncle, to escape the conflict in Somalia. But away from his parents, Hussein struggled to adjust to life in Lambeth, south London. Sometimes he’d argue with his uncle and sleep on night buses or on the street. “I was a nuisance in school,” he says. “Causing trouble. Not concentrating. A lot of teachers wanted to get rid of me.”
One day, the deputy head, Mr Wilbourn, pulled him into his office. “He said,” Hussein remembers, “‘What’s the matter, buddy?’ I told him: ‘Imagine being in a place where you don’t have your mum and dad and no one understands you’.” Wilbourn knew Hussein’s ambition was to be a professional footballer, and would sometimes give the boy his season ticket to Tottenham Hotspur. “He kept me going along with my dream,” says Hussein. “I hope wherever he is now, he’s blessed and safe.”
