Name: A young poet tells the story of Darfur
Uploaded: 2017-03-31T15:12:16Z
Duration: 10 min 42 s
Description: Emtithal "Emi" Mahmoud writes poetry of resilience, confronting her experience of escaping the genocide in Darfur in verse. She shares two stirring original poems about refugees, family, joy and sorrow, asking, "Will you witness me?"

Emtithal "Emi" Mahmoud writes poetry of resilience, confronting her experience of escaping the genocide in Darfur in verse. She shares two stirring original poems about refugees, family, joy and sorrow, asking, "Will you witness me?"

A young poet tells the story of Darfur

Surviving genocide as a child, one poet turned to verse to make her people's suffering visible to a world that looked away. She describes writing her first poem about Darfur at age ten, after witnessing the grief and isolation that followed mass violence and displacement. Through raw poetic storytelling, she illuminates how expressing pain and joy together builds resilience and connection. Her poems transform statistics into stories that demand to be witnessed and remembered.

Poetry Breaks Silence Where Statistics Cannot Reach

"The 21 Million"

Africa

communication

family

language

humanity

identity

performance

refugees

poetry

spoken word

storytelling

TEDMED

writing

kids

TED Stage Talk

Emtithal Mahmoud: A young poet tells the story of Darfur