Zahra Abdihagi

Biography

Zahra was born in Canada and had never seen the country of her parents until 2015 when she took a big decision to return.

Her journey to Somalia was inspired by a mission to explore and experience the “Somalia the media never shows you”.

She decided to change the narrative of “violence and chaos” surrounding Somalia by sharing positive stories using poetry. It was then that her friends and colleagues at work noticed her poetic talent and encouraged her to go public.

In 2019, she wrote a special poem to celebrate women in mine action, which she performed at an international summit on mine action in Geneva.

Currently, Zahra leads a team of 20 young Somali storytellers who were trained by UNDP on digital skills to generate powerful stories about development initiatives in their local communities.

Zahra was born in Canada and had never seen the country of her parents until 2015 when she took a big decision to return.

Her journey to Somalia was inspired by a mission to explore and experience the “Somalia the media never shows you”.

She decided to change the narrative of “violence and chaos” surrounding Somalia by sharing positive stories using poetry. It was then that her friends and colleagues at work noticed her poetic talent and encouraged her to go public.

In 2019, she wrote a special poem to celebrate women in mine action, which she performed at an international summit on mine action in Geneva.

Currently, Zahra leads a team of 20 young Somali storytellers who were trained by UNDP on digital skills to generate powerful stories about development initiatives in their local communities.

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