I’ve talked for years about writing this book, and the only reason it actually happened was because of huge contributions from others. First and foremost, my wife, Miriam Aframe, not only took on the vast majority of parenting for our infant, Orianna, she also found time to read the manuscript, give useful comments, and put up with my having an additional obsession.
I have a brilliant professor to thank for being the first to tell me that I actually had a publishable book to write. He thought of the title and then set me up with the excellent agent Susanna Lea, who skillfully brought this project to Henry Holt. Susanna and I loved Gillian Blake, the editor, from our first meeting. Our choice was confirmed when she bluntly told me that my first draft was god-awful. Gillian and another Henry Holt editor Michael Signorelli did a great job getting me back on track. Lisa Pulitzer collaborated on this book from shortly after I signed on with Henry Holt, in particular doing a superb job of properly telling everyone’s backstories. Without Lisa, I could not have done them justice.
Thank you to our students, Mubarik, Mohamed, Deqa, Fadumo, Nimo, Abdisamad, Amal, Fahima, Qadan, and others for sharing your stories with the world. Thank you to that same group for looking over the book to make sure we got it all right. Nadira, your comment that you are all “more than okay” helped pull my brain out of the depressing place writing periodically sent me. On the whole, the Abaarso students are without question the heroes of this story. Getting to brag about how great they are was a big inspiration to write it.
Thank you to all the teachers who gave up so much to join an unknown school in a tough place. Whether you know it or not, many of you provided me interesting thoughts for this book. Tom Loome reminded me that the early days were better than I remembered. Harry Lee had some particularly helpful perspectives from which to analyze the past. Ava was great in rapidly reading drafts and giving terrific feedback. She too would tell me when I was veering off.
Many Abaarso parents contributed to this book, spending hour after hour remembering the old times. Thank you for your support of Abaarso as well as this book. Amran Ali’s perspective that “No one had any idea how good the school would become” was critical in my rethinking whether I’d been too hard on folks.
A grateful thank-you to the Somalis in the United States, who have embraced our students.
My personal and professional friends in the United States, the Advisory Board members, and most especially Anand Desai, have been sources of funds, advice, and connections. If Anand hadn’t made Abaarso a key part of his life, we’d be nowhere near this point.
My uncle Billeh Osman was probably the only one who actually believed this dream could happen. Mom was a second editor from the beginning to the end. She and my uncle Eli Dunn also did great jobs laying out a couple of the chapters. Before I found Lisa, Eli was my collaborator. I’m sure my father would have loved to be part of it too, but sadly he died a few months before Abaarso began.
Finally, I want to thank all the people who’ve made Abaarso what it is. There are hundreds of you, if not thousands. It is impossible to mention everyone or even close to the number of people who deserve it, but I hope you all can enjoy this memorializing of your success. Abaarso is your school and this story is your story.