Yahya Samatar reaches out to frozen friend

Prepare to be inspired.

Yahya Samatar, the Somali man who grabbed international headlines a year and a half ago when he swam across the Red River to come to Canada, is reaching out to a fellow refugee with a remarkably similar story.

Seidu Mohammed is a Ghanaian man who trekked across the same North Dakota fields as Samatar to enter Manitoba. The difference is that he did it in very different weather conditions. Mohammed crossed over just last month, on Christmas Eve, in waist-high snow and freezing temperatures.

Fortunately, like Samatar, a friendly truck driver picked Mohammed up on the Canadian side and called authorities.

Now, Samatar has offered to help Mohammed with his complicated refugee application process in the hopes that Mohammed, too, will be allowed to remain in Canada.