PORTLAND – A leader in Lewiston’s Somali community, Fowsia Musse, was honored Thursday with a Courage is Contagious Award at the Justice For Women Lecture sponsored by the University of Maine School of Law.

A joyful Fowsia Musse unwraps her Award for Courage on Thursday at a ceremony at the University of Southern Maine campus in Portland. The award was presented at the Justice For Women Lecture sponsored by the University of Maine School of Law. Steve Collins/Sun Journal

Leigh Saufley, Maine Law’s president and dean, hailed Musse for her many years working with “kindness and compassion” as “a cultural broker, medical interpreter and community health outreach worker.”

But Saufley singled out “an almost unimaginable horror” that occurred in 2023 when Musse was shot repeatedly during the assassination of her sister, a regional lawmaker, at a Kenyan airport.

Musse barely pulled through and lost a leg in the process.

“She has nonetheless returned to her community in Maine and, remarkably, has continued her work” as “a key figure in public health in Lewiston and Auburn,” Saufley said.

Musse, the executive director of Maine Community Integration, said she might be collecting an award for bravery, “but you can’t be courageous by yourself.”

“Being in Maine made me feel welcome,” Musse said, and the efforts of many people made her recovery possible.

Musse expressed her happiness that her children, family and co-workers could be present for the small ceremony before a guest lecture by two disability advocates from Kenya.

In addition to Musse, a courage award was also given to Kim Moody, the longtime executive director of Disability Rights Maine.

She has shepherded the organization’s growth for nearly three decades. The agency offers protection and advocacy for people with disabilities and oversees many programs that assist them.

Maria Omare, founder and executive director of The Action Foundation in Kenya, one of the featured speakers Justice For Women Lecture, said she was glad to get to know both Musse and Moody.

She said each of them is a role model because of their “resilience and power.”

Omare and Juliet Muema, a nearly blind athlete who works with Omare, spoke Wednesday at Tree Street Youth Center in Lewiston and at Bates College.