Abdullahi Abdullahi was born 14 years ago in a United Nations refugee camp in Kenya where his parents settled after fleeing civil war in their native Somalia.

Five years ago Abdullahi, his parents, and six brothers and sisters came to the United States with the help of Catholic Charities. They were placed in South Louisville, and the family’s oldest son began attending Stuart Middle School.

In the summertime, the boy — who, because he is the family’s first-born son, takes their surname as his given name, too — spent his days at the Arcadia Community Center. And it was there that fate intervened to change the course of his life and the lives of a lot of other young people, too.

For the past several years students at St. Francis of Assisi School have, in their eighth-grade term, taken part in the school’s Committee on Conscience program. They’ve created and raised money for various summer service projects as part of their preparations to study the Holocaust and its ramifications for all of humanity.

The Committee on Conscience spent part of its summers recently tutoring younger children at the Arcadia Community Center. That’s how they came to meet Abdullahi Abdullahi.

“You didn’t need an interpreter or anyone else to see what kind of person he was,” said Fred Whittaker, the St. Francis teacher who helps mentor the Committee on Conscience. “You could see that he was all about leadership, setting a good example and hard work. His personality drew people to him; his style was peaceful. We could see that he was already a leader.”

This past summer — the second year St. Francis of Assisi students had worked with Abdullahi — the bond between the young man with the remarkable story from Africa and the students from the school on Bardstown Road grew stronger. One day on the way home from the community center, Mattie Whitfield said out loud what a lot of the 29 eighth-grade students from her school were thinking.

“I wish Abdullahi could come to St. Francis with us,” she said. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

As serendipity would have it, Abdullahi had been thinking the same thing.

“I was thinking, ‘I wish I could be more like them,’ ” he said during an interview at the school last week. “They were students who could be left alone, and they would do the right thing. They didn’t need adults around all the time to tell them what to do, to keep them in order. They did it themselves, and they were really smart.”

The Committee on Conscience members brought their idea to Whittaker, who said he realized something special was happening. “This summer program of service transcended what it originally had been,” he said. “It became a family.”

It was one thing for the students to want Abdullahi to attend their school. It was another to come up with the $3,000 or so necessary to pay the tuition.

But they went to work, Whittaker said. They held bake sales; they sold lemonade in the summer, cocoa and coffee in cooler weather. They took part in the annual “Bardstown Road Aglow” holiday program. And four weeks after the start of the school year, their friend Abdullahi was able to begin classes at St. Francis.

Spend a few moments with the 14-year-old and it’s easy to see why his classmates wanted him in their school. Abdullahi has a reserved but engaging manner, a look-you-in-the-eye straightforwardness that makes it impossible not to notice his eyelashes, long and thin as bee’s wings, or his irrepressible grin.

Couple his gentle demeanor and quick smile with a soft voice and gentle countenance, and the result is a young man who is obviously aware that Providence has intervened on his behalf.

“It means a lot for me to be here; it makes my whole life better,” said Abdullahi, who lives in a small Iroquois Homes apartment with his family. “People here don’t judge by stereotypes. This class is like my brothers and sisters.”

There are times when the academic challenges he faces are formidable — and Whittaker notes that Abdullahi is only in his fourth year of organized schooling. But he’s adjusting to the rigors of learning at St. Francis of Assisi.

“Sometimes, I have to say, it’s a little hard,” he said, the ubiquitous grin accompanying the admission. “But I kind of needed to be challenged so if it’s hard, that’s okay. I’m starting the foundation my life will be built upon. I’m starting to learn what I can do.”

He’s been involved in a science fair competition for the first time, he said. “I’d never done such a project before, and now I think that perhaps with study and work I can be something like a doctor, or perhaps a good science teacher.”

Hanging on the wall of Fred Whittaker’s science classroom are papers produced by his students, and on one Abdullahi lists things he’s grateful for. That list includes “being able to eat more than once a day” and “having good clothes to wear.”

Many of his classmates say that his presence in their school — and as one of their friends — has given them a great appreciation for things they once took for granted.

“Knowing Abdullahi has definitely changed me for the better,” said Alex Jones. “I’ve learned about his life story, and he’s taught me to never take what I have for granted. He’s taught me to appreciate this life and the opportunities we have.”

Mattie Whitfield says Abdullahi has helped the class “think about many things differently.”

“He’s helped all of us see that there are so many things, so many blessings and luxuries, that we have in our lives, things we never think twice about,” she said. “Now we do. Now I realize that I’m so privileged to be at this school and to have a friend like him. He is so kind; he’s always there for you, and he never takes anything for granted.

“Abdullahi has been very inspirational to all of us,” she added, “and that inspiration is matched only by the depth of his giving to us.”

Betsy Welsh believes that the class and their new friend have a new appreciation for their common ground, their “connectedness to the rest of the world.”

“He’s from a totally different life, a totally different reality,” she said, “and yet we’ve learned that he’s connected to everyone. We’ve learned about ourselves as we’ve connected with Abdullahi.”

Joshua Borden agrees. His friendship with Abdullahi has given him a “real appreciation for the basic necessities I always took for granted before.”

“He’s helped me appreciate the ability to take a shower every day, to brush my teeth,” he added. “He’s one of my good friends, and he’s taught me to value every minute of every day.”