Picture Credit: Twitter
Multiple Olympic and world champion Mo Farah has made shocking revelations about his childhood that he was a victim of child trafficking. Farah also revealed that he was forced to work as a servant in a household in the UK in exchange for food. Notably, Farah has previously said that he came to the UK from Somalia as a refugee with his parents.
Speaking in a documentary, Farah revealed how he was illegally brought to the UK under someone else’s name by a woman. The 39-year-old Briton, who was born in Somalia, added his name had been changed to Mohamed Farah from Hussein Abdi Kahin in the fake travel documents used to fly him to Britain.
"For years I just kept blocking it out, but you can only block it out for so long," he said in the BBC documentary, which will be broadcast this week. "Often I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry. The only thing I could do to get away from this (living situation) was to get out and run."
The long-distance runner further revealed that he was not allowed to attend school until he was 12. However, he enrolled in Year 7 at Feltham Community College. Farah met Alan Watkinson the PE teacher there and confided his true identity, his background, and the family he was being forced to work for.
"I felt like a lot of stuff was lifted off my shoulders, and I felt like me. That's when Mo came out - the real Mo," Farah said. "I had no idea there was so many people who are going through exactly the same thing that I did. It just shows how lucky I was. "What really saved me, what made me different, was that I could run."
He then revealed that it was Mr. Watkinson who helped him apply for British citizenship under the name Mohamed Farah, which was granted in July 2000.