Internships programme
Helping to create the next generation of Somali women journalists
Bilan's internship programme offers a chance for recent journalism graduates to work alongside Somalia’s only all-women media team.
Successful applicants join Bilan at their offices in Mogadishu, producing stories with Bilan's team of journalists and joining masterclasses and other training opportunities. They get to work on TV, radio and print stories in an environment that empowers women. It’s a foot in the door and a chance to gain the practical skills they will need to succeed in this male-dominated profession.
Meet Bilan’s current interns
Asma Mohamud Hassan
Asma didn’t intend to study journalism. Her plan was to become a doctor.
“I got into journalism by accident,” she says. “I didn’t get the grades I needed for medicine so I was put on my second choice course which was journalism.”
Now in her final year at Somali National University, Asma is relieved she isn’t going to become a doctor. “Journalism will allow me to meet lots of people in lots of different environments. If I had studied medicine, I would have been stuck inside a hospital.”
At first, Asma’s family didn’t want her to study journalism as it’s a risky profession. Now they support her in her dreams to become Somalia’s best-known and most respected journalist.
She believes her internship with Bilan will put her on the right path.
“Bilan is a completely new form of media in Somalia. No other media reports the way it does. It tells stories nobody else tells. Other media are obsessed with politics.”
Asma was born in the city of Hargeisa. She started off going to koranic school and started primary school when she was 10. In her spare time, she likes cooking and going out with friends, especially to the beach.
Sahra Ahmed Hassan
Sahra has wanted to be a TV presenter since early childhood. The nomadic community she comes from was opposed to the idea, saying journalism was dangerous and an unacceptable profession for women.
“The pressure continued until the end of the second year of my journalism course at Somali National University,” she says. “Members of my community kept asking why I was studying the news. They said it wasn’t education. I carried on regardless and now they accept my choice.”
She says she feels comfortable and safe working as an intern with Bilan. “I feel relaxed and free in an all-female environment,” she says. “It’s completely different from other Somali media houses.”
Sahra was born in a rural area in southwest Somalia’s El Barde region. Her family moved from place to place, tending camels, goats and cows. One day, when she was six years old, her brother threatened to beat her up. She ran into a forest looking for her father to protect her but she couldn’t find him. “I was there for four days and four nights,” she says. “I had nothing to eat or drink and was afraid I would be eaten by wild animals.”
She eventually spotted two girls herding goats in the forest and asked them for help. Almost as soon as she got home, her mother moved with her to live in El Barde town to keep her out of trouble.
She retains her sense of adventure and loves to swim in her spare time and to learn the oud, which is usually played by men.