UC Berkeley gave students a choice it never imagined it would have to offer last spring, when the fast-rising pandemic began upending lives in the Bay Area:
They could hunker down in campus dorms or look for someplace else to hide from a merciless virus.
Ahmad Mahmuod didn’t need to ponder the question. And he definitely was not going into hiding. He quickly returned to his home in southeast San Diego so he could help one of the county’s poorest regions go into “survival mode.”
Mahmuod was only 19. But he correctly sensed that people would soon need money, shelter, goodwill, and who-knew what else.
Ahmad Mahmuod kneels for his second of 5 daily prayers.
(Heloisa De Oliveira / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Working with the regions’s nonprofits, Mahmuod began helping people apply for unemployment benefits, rent relief, food assistance and mental health care. He also has been picking up and delivering groceries for the needy and arranging for people to get COVID-19 tests and, if necessary, find them medical care. More recently, he’s been urging African-Americans to get vaccinated.
“This is not a 9-to-5 job,” said Mahmuod, whose parents are Somali immigrants. “And I know what it means to live in a house where you have to ration money.”
Mahmuod, who is now 20, also has taken on the role of disciplinarian, gently delivering a message that people who are three and four times his age don’t particularly want to hear.
“I realized that, as immigrants, we have to change the way we interact,” Mahmuod said. “We need to explain to folks that they cannot go to weddings or coffee shops or restaurants or other people’s homes. Especially older people. Their bodies can’t take it.”
Mahmuod has pressed that message while mingling with people, which came at a cost. In January, he contracted COVID-19 and managed to recover a short time later.
It was stressful but didn’t compare to the series of events that arose last May after a White Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.
The incident was caught on video and went viral, sparking demonstrations throughout the country, including an ugly incident in La Mesa. A racial justice protest that began peacefully devolved into a riot. Mahmoud was there, and he got shot with a rubber bullet. He continued to attend protests well into the summer.
“Between the pandemic and the protests, 2020 was a very bad year,” said Mahmuod, who has continued to study remotely at Berkeley since arriving back in San Diego.
“But you cannot give up. You have to help people, and be the change you want to see.”
Ahmad Mahmuod helps the Huda Community Center apply for a Coronavirus Relief Loan.
(Heloisa De Oliveira / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Ahmad Mahmuod helps the Huda Community Center apply for a Coronavirus Relief Loan.
(Heloisa De Oliveira / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Ahmad Mahmuod’s mom helps him shop for elderly within the community.
(Heloisa De Oliveira / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
After shopping, Ahmad Mahmuod delivers groceries to an elderly person in his community.
(Heloisa De Oliveira / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
After shopping, Ahmad Mahmuod delivers groceries to an elderly person in his community.
(Heloisa De Oliveira / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Ahmad Mahmuod helps his aunt check in with the status of the Coronavirus Relief Grant for her small business.
(Heloisa De Oliveira / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
