You have to let the world speak to you and then you speak, you know, so I'm in that moment now where I'm finding the world's voice.

The people of Somalia just do not have a voice. They are to me the most forgotten people in the world.

It's not really that I'm interested in filmmaking. I'm interested in the instrument of it, you know.

I am one of those people that's never been really cynical about life, you know.

You want to reach people, but you also want to reach them in the most authentic way. You now have a mass market and an audience that's listening, but they're in love with a song that means absolutely nothing to you.

The only way I see the world now is through coming out of and growing up and living in Somalia. In the time of war, everyone was basically trying to live and manage the best they could. But you also had another period which was not a hard time at all - it was just a beautiful time. I lived in both eras.