Voice of a Girl Child

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This poem was written by 18yr old Kowsar Asad Warsame, a student of FilmAid's Youth Filmmaker Training Program in Dadaab refugee camp

Voice of a Girl Child

Ssshssh…! Listen
Do you hear that?
That is the voice of a girl child
A child who is a future teacher
A future doctor and a future pilot
If only my dreams are not shattered
I think of myself as a star
With my own passion of light
I can shine if given the opportunity
Opportunity to follow my brothers to school
Opportunity to grow up and learn more from the teachers
If only my dreams are not shattered
I think of myself as a giraffe
My sight set high
Big vision on big things
You don't have to marry me off to an old man
Just because you think school is not the right place for a girl
I need to go to school and pursue my goals
I think of myself as a live engine
Always going never slowing
Time is elapsing 
Let my education not be a hot spot
The old man is waiting for my hand in marriage
The old woman is waiting with a knife
I need to go to school and pursue my goals
I think of myself as a lion
To roar loud and be heard
You don't have to take me as your wife
Just because I am a beautiful girl
Instead teach me a mathematical formula
So that my dreams are not shattered
I think of myself as a star
I think of myself as a live engine
I think of myself as a giraffe
I think of myself as a lion
Dear teacher, parents and guardians
Give me the rights I am entitled to.

A chat with the author

Kowsar Asad Warsame, or honey as she is known to her friends, is an inspiration to those around her, using poetry and media as a tool for making change. Born in Dadaab refugee camp, from Somali origin, she began creative writing in 2010 after being given a writing assignment at school. ‘I never really thought much about writing poetry’, she says, ‘we used to recite poems in class, but I didn’t know that I could write them’.

For International Women’s Day in 2011, she was tasked again to write a piece. She came up with Voice of a Girl Child. ‘There was no specific inspiration’, she says, ‘the issues I talk about are real and happening for girls every day. Young girls are getting engaged and are not allowed to speak out. They do not know they have rights.’

Kowsar, one of 6 girls in the family, met FilmAid in 2011 and trained in the Youth Filmmaker Training program as well as in radio. She is also a regular contributor to The Refugee Newspaper that is produced by FilmAid and the refugee community in Dadaab.

Now, 18yrs old, Kowsar has left the camp following some challenges in her community. ‘I have made a few speeches to girls in the camp about the value of education and knowing your rights. Some people don’t like that I share these things.’ she says. Leaving her community however, has not stifled the spirit of this young woman.

Now finishing her class 8 final examinations, Kowsar wants to pursue a career in the arts or media. ‘These poems are for women and girls who need a voice, but also to help me express myself too’. Koswar is finishing her latest poem My girl child education is lost and hopes to share it with FilmAid once the final touches are in place.

Nansen Refugee Award winner brings knowledge and hope to displaced Somalis

This blog has been reposted from UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency

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GALKAYO, Somalia, September 18 (UNHCR) – When Hawa Aden Mohamed was a young girl, her father made a decision that would change her life – and through her, transform the lives of thousands of Somali girls. He sent her to school.

Hawa Aden Mohamed went on to earn two university degrees before launching an ambitious programme to educate and empower Somali women and girls, many of them displaced by conflict or famine. Today, UNHCR announced that she has won the 2012 Nansen Refugee Award, which honours extraordinary service to those who flee war or persecution.

"Without education, you are unaware of so many things," Hawa Aden Mohamed said in a recent interview in the town of Galkayo, some 600 kilometres north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. "Without education, you do not exist much – physically yes, but mentally and emotionally, you do not exist."

Once a refugee herself, Hawa Aden Mohamed returned to her homeland in 1995 and discovered her calling. As co-founder of the Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development (GECPD), she has helped restore hope and opportunity to local residents as well as those seeking refuge from the nation's long-running conflict and recurring droughts.

The centre offers free schooling to girls as well as literacy and awareness classes for women, tailoring courses, vocational training for boys, and food and other relief items to the displaced. Since it opened in 1999, the number of girls receiving education in the Mudug district has risen from 7 per cent to 40 per cent, the highest in the country, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

GECPD encourages women and girls to see themselves as full members of society who possess fundamental human rights. And it openly addresses the complex issues of female genital mutilation, puberty, early marriage, rape and HIV/AIDS.

Local residents were initially wary of Hawa Aden Mohamed's aims. "The mosques spoke of us, said we were devils … but we just kept quiet," she said. "It calmed down, when they saw how many, almost 250 women, were taking classes in adult education. We had built around 12 schools."

Won over by the centre's success, the people of Galkayo now call her Eedo (aunt) or Mama Hawa. "We always say there is hope, we should not lose our hope, our torch of life," she said. "We say this, but in reality it's very difficult, especially for women and children."

Born in the town of Baidoa in 1949, Mama Hawa lost a sister, Fatouma, who was circumcised around age seven and died soon afterwards from an infection. Their aunt, who organized the circumcision, did not know any better, she said. "The word 'why' was not there."

Mama Hawa continued her schooling in Mogadishu and then spent eight years in India, earning degrees in nutrition and child development. She returned home to work for Somalia's Ministry of Education, where she headed the department of women's education, and later opened a clothing business with one of her sisters.

When the military dictator Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, she fled to Kismayo, Somalia's southern port city, and then to Kenya. She moved to Canada through a family reunification programme, but her heart was in Somalia.

Returning to her homeland in 1995, she set up a women's education centre in Kismayo. She fled a few years later when rival militia turned the town into a battleground. "I even came without my glasses," she recalled. "I left them behind, everything left behind."

She came back from exile a second time in 1999 and settled in Galkayo, as her husband was working at a nearby research institute.

In recent years GECPD has begun working with boys, too. It offers carpentry and welding classes as well as a recreational space to help keep young boys off the streets and prevent them from falling into the clutches of pirates or armed groups.

Amid a slight improvement in the political situation, Mama Hawa and her team are teaching girls about the new constitution, so that they will know their rights.

"Education never finishes," she said. "Every day you will see something new. Myself, I am not well educated. I cannot say everything. Education is always a continuous learning process. Education is everything."

By Clar Ni Chonghaile in Galkayo, Somalia

Refugee Filmmakers Shine at Film Festival

When people talk about refugees and life in the camps, the image that comes to mind is what the news channels have been feeding us over the years. Malnourished children, endless fights, hunger, tents not worth living in and general harsh environmental conditions. As much as this could be true, what we never realize is that within this camp, ordinary lives are going on! Children are born and go to schools, talents are nurtured, businesses are thriving, and boys are hitting on girls… You know, the usual stuff that happens in any other modern society.

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“We always forget that these people have talents and are just human beings like any others” Says Duc Mallard, a 19 year old Burundian refugee filmmaker now living in Kakuma. Duc was speaking at the closing ceremony of the recently concluded FilmAid Film Festival at Alliance Française in Nairobi where his film “Kakuma can Dance” received the award for best documentary film.

A passionate dancer, musician and filmmaker, Duc Mallard was able to bring these three elements together in his short documentary Kakuma Can Dance. This video portrays the life of young refugees who are not only obsessed by hip hop dancing but use the dance for recreation and as a way of interacting among themselves. All they want is a chance to be able to showcase their skills against those of Kenyans at the national level.

Speaking during a discussion panel in Nairobi, Duc together with renowned Kenyan film and TV producers; Judy Kibinge and Mburugu Gikunda, talked about how they hope the films would portray various aspects of life in the camps and break down some of the stigma attached to refugee life.  The panelists were drawn from the media, human rights groups, UN refugee agency (UNHCR), academia, film industry and the refugee community. The audiences engaged in lively discussions and Q&A sessions on topics such as: media and human rights, displaced persons, xenophobia, racism and tribalism

Mohammed Sheikh Bashir is a budding journalist, blogger and Filmmaker who has been living in Dadaab since 1991 when he was the age of 4. His documentary film “Pesa” saw him bag the prestigious award for best director from Dadaab. His film is about a character called Pesa who has lived in a rural village all his life. He understands bartering to be the way of life, as no other form of currency exists in the village. When he decides to move to an urban town, Pesa must come face-to-face and understand the true value of money.

Also screening from Dadaab were: “Ibramina” and “Towards the Light” by Hassan Jimale; “Shattered and Restored” by Fu’ad Abdi Affey and “Lacag (Pesa)” by award-winner, Mohamed Bashir Shiek, for best director.

The line-up from Kakuma included: “Love Worthy Suicide” by Akolom Fredrick; “Larme (Tears)” directed by John Thomas; “Ayang (Hero)” by Majok Mabil; “The Edge” by Ebenyo William Eloto  and “Bitter Tears” directed by Lowot John Peter.

The FilmAid Film Festival is an annual event that provides a platform to the young and talented filmmakers living in and around Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya to be able to showcase their work in the community as well as national and global level. These youth undertake a one-year film-training program where they are taught basic skills in filmmaking after which they produce their own films. The FilmAid Filmmaker Training Program is a youth and media arts program that targets young refugees from the surrounding host communities with media training that equips them to use media for social good.

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This year, the seventh run of the FilmAid Film Festival was held over one week  (12-16 August) in Kakuma and Dadaab, and three days (21-23 August) in Nairobi’s informal settlements of Mathare and Kibera, and at Alliance Française. The festival showcased 16 refugee films and 6 foreign entry submissions under the theme “The Right to Tell Our Stories”.

Speaking to local journalists in Dadaab, John Kilungu, (Programs Manager, FilmAid Dadaab) said, this years` theme provides the youth with an opportunity to tell their stories in their own voices to the rest of the world. “Unfortunately most of the content shown in Dadaab is predominantly from local and international media that is mostly shaped to fit a particular audience and therefore we hope that the event will help increase local content for people leaving in Dadaab” he added.

The featured international entries were an award-winning collection from the USA, Rwanda, Sweden, India and the UK. These films were “Finding Hillywood” by Leah Warshawski & Chris Towey; “The Last Day” by Siddartha Gigoo, “A Testimony” by Marta Lefler, “Rain is Beautiful” by Marc Silver & Nick Francis, “Nickel City Smiler” directed by Scott Murchie & Brett Williams and “Beasts of the Southern Wild” directed by Benh Zeitlin.

Fresh from its success at Cannes and Sundance film festivals, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” took the premier spot in the screenings in Dadaab, Kakuma and Nairobi. This daring, atmospheric and richly textured film, is shot through with raw emotion in a forgotten but defiant bayou community that has been cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee. The ten-year-old protagonist, Hushpuppy, exists on the brink of orphan hood, buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination; she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm transforms her reality. Desperate to bring order back to her world by saving her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions. Check out the trailer here.

In the camps, the festival consisted of much more than mere screenings, students from the Filmmaker Training Program, together with FilmAid staff held several filmmaking clinics where eager youth were introduced to the basic skills of handling a camera, shooting and given tips in video editing. This helped to encourage more people to sign up to be a part of the next generation of young FilmAid filmmakers.

In addition, a team from My Start Project from the UK, held a two-week workshop in Kakuma to teach young students skills in filmmaking, painting, drawing and photography to help them express their stories in more creative ways.

Ismail Shallis, a member of My Start says, the complete art works are taken back and exhibited in schools in Europe and America, so that the kids in those countries can learn about the life of a refugee in the camps and hopefully to remove some of the stigma in the West about what is it like to be a refugee.

“Young people in the camps have limited opportunity for creative expression, which is crucial for young people who have lived through distressing experiences and face uncertain futures” said Tania and Amy Campbell Golding, Co-founders of My Start.

At the closing gala, residents of Kakuma were treated to an electric performance by one of Kenya’s rising hip-hop stars, Octopizzo. Among others singles Octopizzo sang, Ivo Ivo, Swag, BilaMic, and Mama, his favorite hit. During his three-day visit in Kakuma, Octopizzo met with the music artists living in the camps where he encouraged them to work hard, continue their art, and overcome the challenges their environment presents.  Meanwhile, Octopizzo is planning to produce a music video in Kakuma, which will include some of the talented music artists living in the camp.

We would like to thank our wonderful audiences during our mass out-door evening screenings in Kibera and Mathare Informal settlements. Special thanks to the filmmakers, panelists, Chris Cooper our projectionist!, Charles Otieno for braving the heat in the discussion panels!! And OCTOPIZZO for his electric performances and great hits .We are most grateful to U.S. Department of State: Bureau of Population, Refugees (BPRM), and Movies that Matter, My Start and UNHCR for supporting us!

Looking forward to a bigger and better FilmAid Film Festival 2014!