Somali Podcast II Ep.10 II Fatuma Khaireh - Somali playwright creates own platform

Описание: Meet Fatuma Khaireh, a London based playwright, poet and writer. Fatuma’s short play, Baddiya, explores the effects of displacement, migration and family separation through the lives of two Somali siblings living in London. “I’m interested in diasporic stories and learning more about my community and how to understand myself through storytelling.' she says. 'I always enjoy seeing my work performed, because the actors and directors allow for me to see characters in different ways, you can't always predict how a play will turn out. I feel like once the script is in the hands of the director it becomes their project and I move from being the writer into a member of the audience.'

Fatuma spoke to the Somali Podcast about her work and the importance of authoring our own stories as a means to strengthen identity and create communities around shared ideas. 'It’s a way of empowering us to be able to organise ourselves and discuss our own internal conflicts and issues. Once we are able to develop and formulate ideas, we can go out and express them to everyone else and before you even do that it’s important to talk to yourself and know what you think and feel instead of constantly respond to what’s in front of you, whether it’s a newspaper article or a local event in your community that you might not necessarily be directly related to, but by virtue of being Somali, being Muslim, by being a minority, you’re forced to be part of that discussion. But if you’re creating stuff, you’re creating the terms of the discussion; therefore you can frame your argument better.'