Muna Abdulahi is a Spoken Word Poet based in Minneapolis MN.
In her work, she explores many themes of belonging and identity, particularly in the context of migration and nationality.
As a writer/poet, Muna pushes herself to tell the stories that are erased, silenced, devalued, or buried, the stories that are difficult, the stories that bring together communities, youth, and discussions.
In her poem Explaining Depression to a Refugee she delivers a powerful important message of the refugee experience, covering diaspora, depression and doctors, that gives voice to the voiceless.
Abdulahi expresses the confusion her mother, a former Somalian refugee, displays as she is unable to fathom her daughter being diagnosed with depression.
She explains the stigmatisation the Somali culture places on mental health as her “native tongue doesn’t speak of it to its existence.”
After a brutal war, one that caused many to see their loved ones murdered before their eyes for simply belonging to the wrong clan.
Fearing for their lives, people fled on foot and paid smugglers for entry to foreign lands.
Somali refugees are forced to grapple with the cultural and economic battles common to many who are forced to abandon their lives and seek refuge thousands of miles away from home.
But in spite of that shared pain, in the Somali community, goes largely unaddressed
Here is a link to a musical version of the poem.
https://home-street-home-records.bandcamp.com/track/a-poem-by-muna-abdulahi
Find more from Muna Abdulahi here.
