Awlia was about four then, standing in front of her thatched hut in the village of Goff Gadut.  She was starving, the last of her family.  Everyone else had perished.  The body of one of her brothers who had died just the night before was still inside the hut.  Her plight touched my heart and I was able to find a place for her at the SOS village in Mogadishu.

Since then, my wife and I have been back to Mogadishu several times to look in on her.  My older daughter, a rare book specialist, traveled there as well to set up a library for the village.  We still look after Awlia.  She is, in truth, part of our family. 

My wife and I are now full-time writers and authors of two books (about other wars).  We live in France. 

-Don Kladstrup