Anisa Ibrahim: Somali refugee rewriting history in America

It's not a wish for anybody to flee his or her motherland but at times, circumstances can force someone to, ostensibly for safety and improved social-economic status.

For Dr. Anisa Ibrahim, 32, being a refugee made her reevaluate herself rather than losing self-esteem, a common ripple effect among dozens of people who run away from their countries.

After a brief stay in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, Ibrahim and her family were granted asylum in the US like many Somalis who were running away from the Horn of Africa during the civil war in 1992.

"There were so many people in small quarters, all of us were fleeing the downstream effects of violence and political unrest," Ibrahim told CNN.

"Our family was luckier, but there was a lot of poverty, malnutrition, and infectious diseases and outbreaks."

In the Washington state of the US, Ibrahim developed an interest in medicine, a course she went on to excel years later from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Recently, she was appointed Director of Harborview Medical Center, effectively becoming the first refugee to lead such an accomplished clinic in the United States of America.

It's the same center that Ibrahim, more than two decades later, now runs, at a time when the nation's refugee resettlement efforts have eroded under White House pressure.

President Donald Trump is pushing to have immigration rules reviewed, proposing tough regulations which critics argue that 'they will erode America's virtues'.

Still, she looks upon refugee children who come to the facility with the same hope she once felt as a young patient.