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Every day I have many choices to make about who I want to be.
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I would like to especially acknowledge my home community of Calgary, and the people of central Alberta who made my dream of freedom a reality.
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Somalia is very dangerous, and no one knows that better than I.
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It was a slow understanding that the lack of education in a country like Somalia creates these huge social problems.
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Getting on a plane is hard for me, but I do it, because travel is vital to me.
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I have a general sense of excitement about the future, and I don't know what that looks like yet. But it will be whatever I make it.
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My confidence came from the way I grew up, and I'm grateful for it.
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Contemplating Christmas when you are isolated and far from home brings its own unique pain.
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The countries with the greatest problems have the kindest people.
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I have watched lives change. I have seen women gain confidence.
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Hamdi Ulukaya and Chobani have made the decision to feed 250,000 victims of the Somali famine. Their compassion speaks for itself, and is a shining example of how the business community can have an enormous positive impact on the world.
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Going into Somalia, I didn't anticipate how many people's lives would be affected by it. In hindsight, I certainly wish I had taken more time to think about that, but I can't change it.
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Women in Somalia face almost unimaginable oppression.
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Being in the dark, there's a real weight to it. It's heavy.
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Sometimes it's nice for people not to know anything about me.
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After being in captivity for so long, I can't begin to describe how wonderful it feels to be home in Canada.
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Sometimes, you have to make the choice to forgive 10 times a day when you have these pockets of anger come up. That's a lot of work, but to me it's worthwhile.
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Hillary Clinton has a strong and powerful voice regarding ending violence against women and girls.
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I went through an extremely trying ordeal, but I never forgot the world outside was a beautiful place.
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I don't think I'm unusual in that, in my 20s, like many people, I felt invincible.
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I think that I find a lot of my healing out in the world.
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After spending 460 days as a hostage, I did emerge a fundamentally changed person. But I think, like everyone does as they grow older and probably wiser, I can look back at my earlier life - my history, my mistakes, the joy I felt as a young woman traveling the world - with some objectivity and even some humor.
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Many, including the Canadian and U.S. governments, try to provide family support while also maintaining a hard line about further fuelling terrorism and hostage-taking through ransom payments ... Still, try telling that to a mother, or a father, or a husband or wife caught in the powerless agony of standing by.
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I'm not afraid of IED's, bullets, mortars.