The room was packed and full of chatter as over 450 people crammed into St. Michael's Heritage Hall in Edmonton to hear United Conservative Party (UCP) leader Danielle Smith speak on Saturday evening.The stage was packed with supporters holding signs and shouting "Danielle, Danielle, Danielle" as Smith took the podium.."Wow you sure this is Edmonton, we have so many amazing candidates here," Smith said.. Danielle Smith in EdmontonDanielle Smith in Edmonton .She then introduced one of those candidates to the crowd..UCP candidate Sayid Ahmed for Edmonton-Decore could be seen smiling and mingling with the crowd before he took the stage. But Ahmed's life wasn't always smiling. As a kid, he was able to defy the odds and survive a civil war, drug gangs, murderous militias and desperate poverty, in the war-torn city of Mogadishu..From Somalia to Alberta's Captial City. A man who said he remembers it well.."When I was a little kid, the shelling started early one morning," Ahmed said.."There was a big blast that shook the whole house.".After the smoke cleared, Ahmed would crawl out through a window to find his uncle's body. The uncle had been looking after Ahmed that morning.."He died right there.".But this isn't the only violence Ahmed has witnessed in his life. While all the killing was happening in Mogadishu, his mom had several family members over to his house one morning.."Five guys from another tribe came and killed all of them," Ahmed said.."They were just teenagers, but they were targeting boys over the age of 14 or 15. Fortunately, my mom survived.".He would eventually leave the violence and his African homeland behind to move to Canada to earn a Master's degree in Economics and become a healthcare policy advisor with the Alberta government..He now has his sights set on becoming MLA for Edmonton-Decore. Ahmed says looking back, life was always a huge struggle for him, and his parents, but credits them for teaching him what is important in life which included hard work, sacrifice and devotion..His dad never got a chance to go to school and grew up in a rural community where camels were herded. When his dad arrived in Mogadishu as a young boy, he worked as a shoe polisher. He also worked in restaurants, this is where he learned to speak English, Italian and Arabic by reading the newspapers..Ahmed's father lost all four of his own brothers to violence. One was killed in the very restaurant where he read those papers in a terrorist attack. His father would survive and eventually got a job with SOS Children's Villages..SOS cares for orphans in Africa. This is where Ahmed would eventually go to school from kindergarten to Grade 12. Hard work, was part of his family's life. Every day was a struggle. At age 13, Ahmed would start tutoring math to help out the family for $2 a week. He eventually had 150 paying customers and with the money Ahmed purchased electricity and running water for his family..His mother once told him, "One day you will grow up to be a highly respected man with a good education and a good job.".That was his mother's dream for Ahmed. She gave him some life advice to always live by, "Look in the mirror every morning and ask yourself, am I doing what I am supposed to do?"."I am a proud Albertan and proud first-generation Canadian. I love this province," Ahmed said..He now lives in the province he loves with his wife and children. Ahmed defied the odds of brutal armed conflicts, from being born in a mud house in 1985 with sand floors and 11 siblings to Alberta's general election.."I'm in this race for the little guys," Ahmed said.
