CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Epigraph

Foreword

Map

Prologue

Part One: Burning My Ships

  1.  My Somali Uncle

  2.  Somaliland Roots

  3.  From Hedge Fund Manager to Headmaster

  4.  Modern-Day Nomad

  5.  Results Day

  6.  The Exam

  7.  The Blank Sheet of Paper

Part Two: Building a School

  8.  First Trip to Somaliland

  9.  Clans

10.  Teachers

11.  The Abaarso Condition

Part Three: School Culture

12.  Mohamed: A Day in the Life

13.  Straight Talk and Motivation

14.  Fahima’s Rocks

15.  Critical Thinking

16.  Fundamentals

17.  Integrity

18.  Suzanne’s Orphanage

19.  Selection Day

Part Four: The Great Miscalculation

20.  The White Man Speaks Somali

21.  A Complex World

22.  The Village

23.  Like Water Through a Sieve

24.  Doing Something Right

25.  Money Disguised as Religion

26.  Trouble with the Boys

27.  Khadar’s Rage

28.  Nothing Is Easy

29.  Harry’s Mad Dash

30.  The Higher Education Commission

Part Five: Tenacity

31.  Selling Success

32.  No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

33.  A Somali Among the Elite

34.  Twenty-Seven Schools in Twenty-Five Days

35.  SAT Trip

36.  Deportation

37.  The Full Arsenal

Part Six: Winning the Society

38.  Miss Marple

39.  Religious Council

40.  Vindication

41.  The Cherry on Top

Part Seven: When Arms Are Open

42.  Show Me the Money

43.  Our Best Ambassadors

44.  The Future

45.  In Harvard Yard

Epilogue

About the Author

Copyright