Mohamed Farah's real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and he was only given the former name by those who flew him to the United Kingdom illegally from Djibouti as a child. He was flown over from the east African country aged nine by a woman he had never met, and then made to look after another family's children, he says. The runner says, however, that his parents have never been to the United Kingdom and that his mother and two brothers live on their family farm in the breakaway state of Somaliland. When Sir Mo was four years old, his father was killed by stray gunfire in civil violence in Somalia. Sir Mo says he was about eight or nine years old when he was taken from home to stay with family in Djibouti. He was then flown over to the UK by a woman he had never met and wasn't related to. 

The woman then told him to say that his name was Mohammed if asked as she had fake travel documents with her showing his photo next to "Mohamed Farah". When they arrived in the UK, the woman took him to her flat in Hounslow, west London, and took a piece of paper off him that had his relatives' contact details. This is what Farah had to say; "Right in front of me, she ripped it up and put it in the bin. At that moment, I knew I was in trouble. Mo then adds that he had to do housework and childcare if he wanted food. Farah said that he often locked himself in the bathroom to cry. For the first few years, the family didn't allow him to go to school, but when he was about 12 he enrolled in Year 7 at Feltham Community College. The staff at the school were told that Farah was a refugee from Somalia. 

Sir Mo's PE teacher, Allan Watkinson, noticed a transformation in the young boy when he hit the athletics track. The tutor said; "The only language he seemed to understand was the language of PE and sport. Sir Mo further added that sports was a lifetime for him as the only thing that he could do to salvage himself from his then tricky situation and often escaped reality by stepping out of the house for a run. He eventually confided in Mr Watkinson about his true identity, background, and the family he was forced to work for.  The PE teacher then contacted social services and helped Sir Mo to be fostered by another Somali family. Mo said that when that happened he felt like a lot of stuff had been lifted off his shoulders and even though he missed his family, from that moment everything got better. Mr. Watkinson helped him apply for British citizenship under the name Mohamed Farah, which was granted in July 2000.
 

Sir Mo says he wants to tell his story to challenge public perceptions of trafficking and slavery. This is what the star runner had to say; “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.”