SOMFEST 2015

Sawiya
May 26, 2015
2 min read

I finally went to the SomFest over weekend, an event that I couldn't go to last year. I thought it was great! A very entertaining night and it was also a surprise that I wore heels and lipstick... Now that is some news.

My highlight of the night was watching Jamal Osman's documentary on how he became an award winning Journalist for Channel 4. We then listened to a short Q&A session he had with the host, Baar Hersi. Jamal Osman is an alumni for Kingston University, the same university I attended.

This man is someone I look up to, as a person and as a journalist. You can only imagine how hard he worked and how challenging it was to study journalism with English being your second language. He is a great role model for Somalis, especially with a career like Journalism. It's really not that common in our community. It took a while to convince my mum that I wanted to study it.

I managed to have a catch up with him and get a picture while he was still there! I couldn't talk to him for long as he looked quite busy but I had to mention that we attended the same University and studied the same course. Lovely fella.

The rest of the acts were incredible. We had soulful and amazing singing by Autumn Shariif, who was on this year's The Voice UK. Aar Maanta and his band rocked the stage and got everyone on their feet and Amal Said, poet and photographer, gave everyone goosebumps with her heartfelt poetry.

It was a great night, although my feet were aching from wearing very tiny heels. Luckily, I had my sandals in the car. All in all, it was a decent event.

Here are some pictures from the night: (Credit: Elmi Mag)