They lived in Hiran, a rough-and-tumble region in south-central Somalia amidst the rule of al Shabaab , a hard-line al-Qaeda-linked group, and chaotic fighting between local clans. There, militants forcibly recruit children to fight, take over and shutter schools, rape and marry off girls to fighters, and impose a warped, violent version of Islam. Nasra, the second eldest in a family of six kids, started selling snacks and farming when she was eight to help make ends meet.
Every day was a struggle. She found it in a place no other woman has in Somalia: a garage. It all began with a broken-down car. Nasra had hitched a ride east after leaving her family home with sights set on the capital, Mogadishu, some miles away. By road, the trip usually takes two days and two nights. But car trouble stalled her journey, stretching out an already dangerous trip to 10 days and leaving her waiting by the side of the road, hungry, for the car to be fixed.
Despite the very real threats of rape and robbery, Nasra said she was not afraid. Her mother cried tears of relief when Nasra called to tell her she was alive, in Mogadishu. They worried she had gone to risk the dangerous sea passage to Europe like thousands of others Somalis before her, some of whom drowned before ever making it to the other side.
In this nation in the Horn of Africa, youth unemployment is at almost 70 percent , and people are desperate for opportunity. She was Nasra might not have jumped on a dinghy to cross the Mediterranean, but she took a leap all the same. Somalia is a country with one of the highest rates of female genital mutilation , maternal mortality, and sexual violence.
Doing anything out of the ordinaryโfrom wearing makeup to running for president โcan set women up up for ridicule, abuse, or worse. When she arrived in Mogadishu after that dangerous day journey, Nasra surprised an uncle who lives in the city, crashing at his house and spending months looking for a job.
