“Narrative agency is most important when reminding people of their own ability to actually do what they’re capable of.”
— Ahmed Badr, co-founder of Narratio
The spotlightWhen Rayan Mohamed was 4 years old, her family left their home in Mogadishu amidst the Somali Civil War. For nine days, they traveled by bus throughout the country. “We moved to different cities that were a little bit safer, and it didn’t work out,” Mohamed recounted. “And my mom decided that it was time to move out of the country.” Eventually, they arrived at the Awbare Refugee Camp in neighboring Ethiopia, intending to spend just one night there. But, with the possibility of returning to their home country narrowing, Mohamed’s family decided to apply for asylum in the U.S. They would spend seven years in the camp before finally being granted the opportunity to move to Syracuse, New York, in 2014.
In recent years, Mohamed has created short films and poems about her time at the camp. “Anytime that I want to draw from an experience, it’s always going to be in Ethiopia, because that was... Read more
