This TED Talk features supermodel and activist Halima Aden, recorded live at TEDx Kakuma Camp 2018.

This is me at age 7.

And this is also me.

To be standing here in Kakuma refugee camp feels so surreal and I'm overcome with so much emotion these very grounds are where I was born and spent the first seven years of my life

I think many people are surprised to hear that I had a great upbringing here at Kakuma.

But I was happy, I was smart, I had friends, and above all, I had hope for a brighter future.

That's not to say that we didn't have our obstacles. I mean, boy, were their struggles.

I would sometimes get sick with malaria and didn't always know where our next meal would come from.

But the sense of community that is here in Kakuma and the pride that everyone here possesses is simply unparalleled.

When I was younger, I remember conflicts breaking out. That tends to happen when people come from

different backgrounds and don't speak the same language. Eventually, Swahili, the main language here,

became our common ground. I made friends with the kids at the camp and even started embracing

some of their cultures, celebrating holidays like Christmas, even though I was

raised Muslim. The other kids would embrace my culture as well, sometimes even praying right alongside

me. It was easy as children to come together, blend all of our beliefs to form our own unique

multicultural environment.

My name is Halima Avan and I'm a black Muslim Somali American from Kenya.

Some have called me a trailblazer.

I was the first Muslim homecoming queen at my high school, the first Somali

student senator at my college, and the first hijab wearing woman in many places like the Miss

Minnesota USA beauty pageant, the runways of Milan and New York Fashion Weeks, and even on the

historic cover of British Vogue. As you can see, I'm not afraid to be the first,

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