Somali Talk Show with Ifrah Ahmed: Stories from Tahriib

The talk shows give a sweeping overview of tahriib as seen by Somali refugees who have personal experience with the dangerous journey. Soft-spoken but vigorous, Ifrah Ahmed allows her participants to open up and reveal the real story behind the tragedies daily unfolding in news stories and on social media. She says she was deeply moved by what she heard from the participants:

“Although I am a Somali social activist and have been very much aware of tahriib, this show experience has had an incredible impact on me. It made me realise that tahriib deserves much more attention, both among Somali communities and internationally.”

The interviews touch upon all aspects of tahriib: the reasons that make young Somalis leave their country, the dangers of the journey at sea and in the desert, the unspeakable brutality of smugglers and traffickers, the agony of parents who have to pay ransom to release their kidnapped children, and the steps that should be taken to prevent more young people from falling into the hands of ruthless smugglers.

This is the first in a series of three Somali talk shows with Ifrah Ahmed. Among topics discussed in this video are the horrible conditions people are subjected to when going on tahriib and the duty of survivors to inform others of the dangers.

Nakhlan is a young Somali refugee currently living in Egypt. He was born a refugee in Yemen. He came to Egypt with his family and they had no means of support, so Nakhlan started to work in a storage unloading trucks. In his spare time, he studied photography and video editing. Today, he has become a social media personality with over a million followers who watch his videos on YouTube and other channels.

Aasiya was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. When she grew up, she wanted to study and become a journalist, but when her brother was attacked by al-Shabaab terrorists she had to stay at home because of security. She still wanted to achieve her ambitions and decided to flee Somalia and go to Europe via Egypt. She left for Kenya, telling her parents that she went there to pursue her studies. In Nairobi, she contacted a smuggler and was taken to Uganda hiding in a minibus and from there to Juba, South Sudan. There, together with another girl, Aasiya negotiated with a smuggler to take them to Khartoum.

This is the second in a series of three Somali talk shows with Ifrah Ahmed. Among topics discussed in this video are the horrible conditions people are subjected to when going on tahriib and the duty of survivors to inform others of the dangers.

Khadar grew up in a small town in Somalia. He was interested in fashion and was dreaming of going abroad to realise his ambitions. Some of his friends had gone to Europe and were posting nice stories on social media about their life there. Khadar decided to try to travel to Europe. He contacted a smuggler and travelled through Ethiopia to Sudan, where he and his fellow travellers were detained in a smugglers’ camp. They had to stay there for a month under terrible conditions.

Mohamed Abubakar grew up in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In school he started to play football and later joined one of the national league teams. Then he was arrested and accused of being a member of the terrorist al-Shabaab group. His family managed to get him out of jail, and he decided to leave Somalia because he did not feel safe there anymore.

This is the final part of the series of three Somali talk shows with Ifrah Ahmed. Among topics discussed in this video are the horrible conditions people are subjected to when going on tahriib and the duty of survivors to inform others of the dangers.

At home in Mogadishu, Somalia, Deeq was doing artistic work. He was a director of short movies and drama as well as a poet and songwriter. One day he got a threatening phone call warning him to stop this activity or be killed. He did not take the threat seriously but a month later he was shot at when sitting in a restaurant with a cousin. The bullet hit his cousin who was killed.