A group of Somali refugees living in Fargo, in the US state of North Dakota, prepared and delivered traditional Somali food to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents working without pay at the local airport last Friday.

Abdiweli Sharif, executive director of Somali Community Development in North Dakota, was one of the organisers. He told the BBC the reasons behind their act of kindness:

I arrived in the US 10 years ago at this very same airport, it was a cold February day but people were warm and welcoming. We are all people, we live in the same country."

The US government shutdown has left hundreds of thousands of public workers unpaid and government offices closed. The shutdown is in its 31st day.

Mr Sharif added:

When we saw that the US government isn't paying them, we decided to do something to show our appreciation so we prepared traditional Somali food for the agents."

Mr Sharif said the gesture was appreciated by the TSA agents:

We took the food to the airport. They loved the food, some of the agents had never seen a sambusa [Somali version of samosa]. They also loved the traditional Somali tea - people still ask about the tea. It wasn't just food, we also took our culture and hearts to them."