\u201cWhenever I had fights with other students in school, or even when we joked with each other, they never missed the opportunity to bring up Somalia in a negative way,\u201d poet Zahra Abdihagi recalls the stereotypes she lived with growing up in Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were constant jokes about pirates and poverty which made me feel embarrassed so I decided to take an interest in Somali culture and history and I discovered that we have a rich culture and that poetry is a huge part of the Somali culture, which made me connect with my roots even more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zahra was born in Canada and had never seen the country of her parents until six years ago when she took \u201cthe big decision to return\u201d. Her journey to Somalia was inspired by a mission to explore and experience the \u201cSomalia the media never shows you\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first came to Mogadishu, I was expecting violence and chaos, but I found stories of hope and inspiration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And so she decided to change the narrative and share positive stories using poetry. \u201cI always had a passion for poetry but I never shared my poems publicly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But her friends and colleagues at work noticed her poetic talent and encouraged her to go public.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cIt was my first poetry performance in front of people,\u201d she said. \u201cThey liked my poem and I even had the opportunity to meet the Somali Ambassador to Geneva, who invited me to her office, as well as a government official from Canada. They were both happy for me to be representing Somalia and Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
These are the first few lines from that poem:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Silenced by one loud bang, she gazed through the desert with eyes full of sand. <\/em><\/p>\n Birds were flying and clouds were passing<\/em><\/p>\n But at that moment<\/em><\/p>\n She felt the earth\u2019s movement stopping<\/em><\/p>\n The sun was shining but just not in her direction<\/em><\/p>\n Her heart ran faster than her legs<\/em><\/p>\n Her body turned cold<\/em><\/p>\n She couldn\u2019t comprehend the sound she had just heard.<\/em><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n