The Only Way Out Is In

“I came [to the United States] at the age of five. When I was a baby, me and my cousin, we all had to go as a family. Running away from war, coming out here trying to make a living. Struggle people don’t see. They see what you doing, but they don’t really feel it. They don’t feel what you going through,” says Ahmed Mohamed, 17, known by his friends as Wooh the Kid.

Flock and Wooh the Kid are two Somali-American cousins striving to find their place in Lewiston, Maine through the small but determined hip-hop scene. Known by their families as Farhani and Ahmed, the two boys came to the United States with their families after the civil war in Somalia forced them to flee the country.

“That was the dream I had. But if these years have taught me anything it is this: you can never run away. Not ever. The only way out is in.” – Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

About G. Ligaiya Romero

G. Ligaiya Romero is a photographer and filmmaker with a passion for documentary and socially-conscious media. Originally from New York, she graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with dual degrees in Film Production and International Development. As a Director of Photography, she has worked on several feature-length documentary films, exploring life in the shantytowns of Brazil, the presidential elections in El Salvador, and the art of translating poetry in Mexico.