A Somali Mother and Her Film

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

 

Message of hope spread through Somali film

 

Edmonton — A Somali mom hopes her film about the hardships and life-and-death choices faced by her community helps end bloodshed that has seen five young Somalis shot in Edmonton since September.

 

Now, writer and actress Mayran Kalah is spreading her message throughout the city, where she’ll present Ray of Hope to local schools, optimistic the hour-long movie could influence positive decisions for youngsters at risk.

 

Kalah’s quest to escape violence began in 1991, when the then 16-year-old moved to Canada to flee the crime and poverty of her homeland.

 

As years passed she noticed Somali youngsters often joined gangs, getting themselves caught up in a lifestyle that left them with few legitimate skills, a criminal record or, at its worst, dead on the cold pavement.

 

Not one to stand by idly, the young mother of five, joined up with a handful of fellow Somali refugees in 2005 and created Ray of Hope, which she co-starred in, co-directed and co-wrote.

 

“The boy gets involved with a gang because it’s easy to get involved in a gang because they’re in school with you,” Kalah said of the youth in the movie, whose character was based on the creators’ real-life experiences. “You don’t even know. you’re new to the country, all you want to know is these people speak your language. You’ve got to know them so they can help you with school. Out of nowhere they become your friends, but you don’t know they have another agenda.”

 

Often, she said, boys who want to leave the gangs get beaten up repeatedly, until they cave and resume their illegal activities.

 

“People move or get killed,” she said of the options some youth face, recalling families who had to flee Winnipeg in order to leave gang life behind.

 

Making things harder is the lack of communication between children and parents, she said, bringing up an example where parents didn’t know that their son was in jail for six months, because he was too scared to tell them.

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“We’re encouraging conversation so the mom and the son get through (to) each other,” Kalah said of the movie’s goal.

 

Despite the sombre reality presented by the movie, which was shown last week to a standing-room only audience at the Africa Centre and back by popular demand last night, it has a positive message.

 

The main character gets out of the gang, gets a job and influences his friends to “become nice, get a job, go to school,” Kalah said.

 

“It’s called Ray of Hope because ... in my mind it’s a change. In my country when we see the ray, that means there’s going to be rain, so it’s a change of weather,” she added.

 

So far the movie, which was shown at festivals and in schools in Winnipeg in 2006, has gotten praise from members of the community and Kalah is already working on other projects to present the challenges immigrants face.

 

She hopes to take the movie to Edmonton schools and will keep up the free showings, if the demand continues.

 

“We’re not asking for money. We just wanted them to see and to kind of know what we’re all about. This is the problem we want to talk about,” she said, adding that the last time the movie was shown, about 30 people sat for hours after the showing to talk about the issues within the Somali community.

 

The usually quiet community has become the centre of attention in Edmonton, after five young Somali men were shot in the past four months.

 

Though police have made no arrests in any of the shootings, police believe gang ties may have played a role in some of them.

 

tamas.virag@sunmedia.ca

[fellow]

go mama go!!! Alaah is with you

[Aaliyyah]

mashallah we need more parents involved like this somali mom.As Somalis we need to come together before it is too late, to change the staggering fact that our youth are dropping out of school in high numbers and also killing one another.

 

Good job Mayran Kalah...May Allah swt bless you!

 

salaam