Naciima Abwaan Qorane, a peace activist and poet, has become one of the top supporters of UNDP’s campaign against the spread of COVID-19 in Somalia.
Her latest poem looks at the impact of the coronavirus and explains how it can be prevented.
"It is an honor for me to work with UNDP in producing this poem," Naciima said. "I am always ready to take part in anything that can help my people."
The poem describes how the virus has disrupted countries all over the world, and describes clearly how the disease is even more dangerous for Somalia, which has limited capacity to handle it.
The poem and its accompanying video, shot by one of Somalia’s leading filmmakers, demonstrates by example how to wear facemasks and gloves as well as proper techniques for hand washing.
Poetry is immensely popular in Somalia, which has a rich and powerful verse tradition, so this kind of awareness raising has the potential to reach far and wide. Nearly 0.5m people have already seen Naciima’s posts just on UNDP’s Facebook account.
“I have prepared this poem in a manner that both adults and young people can understand easily. So it is my hope that this comprehensive awareness message will benefit the wider Somali community,” Naciima says.