Muscab Ismail attends 5th grade at Concord International Elementary School in South Park, and lives in the community, too. While the West Seattle Herald was covering the recent "Let's Move!" rally to fight childhood obesity recently at Concord, Ismail approached and requested an exclusive interview. We were grateful for his time, although he was a bit late for his next class.

"I am African," he began. "I was born in Somalia. Well, my parents were born in Somalia. I think maybe my mother was pregnant with me when they came here. I don't remember. My dad is Muslim. My mom is Muslim, too.

"My parents are lovable and always care about me. My dad is a taxi driver. My mom works in the airport and is a supervisor.

"I want to become a famous doctor. I'm thinking about curing cancer. I like math, writing, and reading. I like school. It's really important for life.

"Everybody in Africa is part of my family. I'll visit Somalia in December. It's a very beautiful country. Somali people care about each other. They don't like war. They're peaceful. They love each other. They're like a whole big giant family. They're misunderstood because (news) people want an exclusive, to make themselves more popular."

And the violence we see in and near his homeland?

"I don't know those people. They maybe have madness. This world should be about peace, love, and careness."