GirlGI | Girl Gone International Issue 6 | Page 32

ThePowerof Words
Faced with death threats and family disapproval,
self-exiled journalist and activist Afrah Nasser tells
untold stories about life in Yemen

“When

I told a
college teacher I wanted to
become a writer, he smiled and
replied, ‘You will die poor and no
one will ever know who you were.’
Despite this less than enthusiastic
response, I became the social and
cultural editor at the Yemen Observer in my hometown, Sana’a. It
was there that I met people from
all walks of life in Yemen and saw
that journalists can be the voice of
the voiceless.
In 2010, I dove into social media
and into an increasingly digitized
world through my blog (afrahnasser.blogspot.se). Originally, one
topic was to remain off-limits.
‘No politics!’ my family repeatedly
warned.
Yemen has one of the worst records of violations against journalists. Fearing for my safety, I
steered clear of any political comment. But then the Arab Spring
swept through my country.