When I stood at Toronto Pearson International Airport waiting for my friend Tahlil Olad Hassan, I wasn’t just welcoming a visitor.
asserted
I → stand → visitor
I was welcoming a piece of my past.
asserted
I → welcome → past
We hadn’t seen each other in more than 15 years.
asserted
We → see → years
Tahlil and I first met as high school students in Mogadishu in the mid-2000s.
asserted
Tahlil → meet → mid-2000s
Even then, he stood out.
asserted
he → stand → ?
While many of us were simply trying to pass our classes, he was already writing for local newspapers, reporting on issues affecting ordinary Somalis.
asserted
he → try → Somalis
It wasn’t long before we both chose journalism, believing that telling the truth mattered, even in a country where truth often came at a terrible price.
asserted
truth → choose → price
One memory from those school days has never left me.
asserted
memory → leave → me
As we sat our final high school examinations, Ethiopian troops had entered Somalia and heavy shelling echoed across Mogadishu.
asserted
shelling → sit → Mogadishu
Every explosion made us look up from our papers.
asserted
us → make → papers
We didn’t know whether to continue writing or run for safety.
asserted
We → know → safety
Outside, people were being killed and injured.
asserted
people → kill → ?
Inside, we were trying to finish an exam that suddenly seemed insignificant.
asserted
that → try → exam
Somehow, we stayed.
asserted
we → stay → ?
Somehow, we finished.
asserted
we → finish → ?
Looking back, it feels like an early lesson in what it meant to be a Somali journalist: doing your job while chaos unfolded around you.
asserted
chaos → look → you
Journalism gave us purpose, but it also exposed us to danger.
asserted
it → give → danger
Many of our colleagues paid the ultimate price.
asserted
Many → pay → price
Our mutual friends, journalists Abdisatar Hassan and Mohamed Bunneste, were killed.
asserted
friends → kill → ?
Others, including Mohamed Sharifka and Abdulkadir Abdulle, survived horrific attacks with life-changing injuries.
asserted
Others → include → injuries
Their stories are reminders that, in Somalia, carrying a notebook or microphone could be as dangerous as carrying a weapon.
uncertain
carrying → carry → weapon
Like many Somali journalists, we eventually fled.
asserted
we → flee → journalists
We reunited in Nairobi, Kenya, where we continued reporting while living in exile, never knowing where life would take us next.
asserted
life → reunite → us
Then our paths separated again.
asserted
paths → separate → ?
Tahlil rebuilt his life in Germany as a refugee.
asserted
Tahlil → rebuild → refugee
I eventually sought asylum in Canada.
asserted
I → seek → Canada
His brother, Mohamed Olad, also a journalist, settled in the United States.
asserted
brother → settle → States
When I look at our journeys today, I don’t just see three brothers in journalism living in three different countries.
asserted
brothers → look → countries
I see the story of an entire generation of Somali journalists scattered across the world by conflict.
asserted
I → see → conflict
This summer, our paths crossed again.
asserted
paths → cross → ?
Tahlil came to Toronto to launch his new Somali-language book on mental strength and resilience.
asserted
Tahlil → come → strength
After years of covering conflict, he turned his attention to a subject that is rarely discussed in our profession: the mental health of journalists.
asserted
that → cover → journalists
Through his organization, Daryeelsan, and in partnership with International Media Support (IMS), he conducted research into the mental health challenges and support needs of journalists in Somalia.
asserted
he → conduct → Somalia
His research documented the emotional toll of reporting on bombings, assassinations and displacement, often without counselling or institutional support.
asserted
research → document → counselling
It also offered practical recommendations, including greater access to psychological services, peer-support networks and trauma-informed newsroom practices.
asserted
It → offer → services
His assessment, encouraging readers to build resilience and prioritize their well-being.
asserted
assessment → encourage → being
Watching him speak in Toronto, I thought about the teenager I first met in a classroom in Mogadishu.
asserted
I → watch → Mogadishu
Neither of us could have imagined that one day we would reunite here — not as frightened young journalists trying to survive a war, but as two friends reflecting on lives that had taken us across three continents.
uncertain
that → imagine → continents
Conflict scattered us across the world.
asserted
Conflict → scatter → world
But standing beside an old friend in Toronto, I was reminded that while war can separate people for years, it cannot erase shared memories — or the friendships that survive them.
asserted
that → stand → them
The Aporia
