We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mina Abdi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mina below.
Hi Mina, so happy to have you on the platform with us today and excited to chat about your lessons and insights. Our ability to make good decisions can massively impact our lives, careers and relationships and so it would be very helpful to hear about how you built your decision-making skills.
I consider all my options and then decide to do what seems to be the best choice at the time. I think if the decision turns out not be the best or not successful it’s ok because next time I will start with experience.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I moved to the United States at the age of 22 with my husband and my one year old baby. I had just graduated college with a master’s degree in linguistic. My first job in the United States was teaching in Berlitz School of Languages. After two years my husband and I started our own small business, an engineering and plastic manufacturing company. We started working very hard and eventually developed our own products that made our company grow and become a very successful and innovative international company that hires about one thousand employees now and operates three different states.
When I decided to retire I knew I could not just sit home, so after some time I attended two years of culinary school. With my experience in cooking and my training I decided to write a cookbook after some time. My heredity is Persian and I went to French culinary schools so my book is a collection of delectable Persian and French cuisines. The name is “Shiraz and Syrah” and it became an amazon number one best seller. Another activity I enjoyed at times with my culinary experience was cooking for homeless shelters.
What I’m most proud of is my philanthropy work. Some years ago I went to Uganda, Africa with a church missionary group.
That was a life changing experience for me. The poverty was heart breaking and one thing that got my attention was that most African children did not have shoes and many of them could not go to school because most schools did not allow them to attend without shoes. Also because of walking barefoot sand fleas or jiggers jump on their feet and infest their feet and multiply astronomically. The flea infestation causes infections and it spread to other parts of their body. It is very painful and often spreads to the rest of the family. The jigger infestation eventually makes them crippled and confined to home and often takes their life. This is an epidemic in Uganda. Children are specially vulnerable and it prevents them from going to school and getting an education. One third of Ugandan children don’t go to school.
Upon my return I started a nonprofit organization to provide school shoes for children in Uganda. We distributed thousands of school shoes to children especially in small cities and villages where families could not afford shoes for their children.
In Uganda all schools, even government or public schools require tuition. Because of severe poverty so many families cannot afford to send their children to school to get an education. Sadly there are also a very high number of orphan children in Uganda who don’t go to school.
I decided to build a school where it is greatly needed. In 2018 I started building a school in Mukono. The school has capacity of over 1000 students. I also started a sponsorship program so people have the opportunity to sponsor a child from a impoverished family to go to school, or they can sponsor orphans who are homeless or live with a relative and their needs are not met and they are even often hungry. Through our sponsorship program children from impoverished families are able to attend school and our orphan or homeless children attend school and also live in the dormitory.
All the children are provided food, uniforms, school supplies, medical attention, school tuition, field trips, help with homework, and sport activities. The school is called “Hopeland Junior School” and has nursery to 8th grade.
From all I have done in my life, building this school has been the most rewarding work I have done. Besides being active in finding sponsors and growing the nonprofit I travel to Uganda once a year to see the progress of the school and be involved with running the school the best that is possible. The school now is the second largest school in Mukono district in Uganda.
I am also proud of raising three successful and wonderful daughters and am proud grandmother of two beautiful children.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I believe education is very important. I also think working hard and persevering in achieving your goals and dreams can take us to good places. There should also be something bigger than ourselves that will give us purpose and allow us to live a meaningful life. It can be as small as fostering a dog or feeding a homeless or anything else you can do to help others. The reward and joy of helping others gives meaning to our lives.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
The people who helped me and prepared me for life were my parents. They strongly believed in education and provided what I needed to successfully finish college. My mother was always helping anybody who needed help in so many different ways. Watching her doing so much good for others who needed help gave me also the passion and desire to do something for needy children. She always told me we have to take care of the people who can’t take care of themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://twosoles.com
- Instagram: Mina Abdi
- Facebook: Mina Abdi and twosoles
Image Credits
Mina Abdi
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