Minn. Somali Man To Record Stories At Refugee Camp

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A young spoken word artist who fled Somalia as a child is returning to a refugee camp where he lived for five years to record the stories of those suffering from a devastating famine.

Abdifatah Farah goes by the stage name Abdi Phenomenal. He says he's nervous to return to the camp in Dadaab, Kenya, but believes the power of the human voice will bring change, raise awareness and give people hope.

Farah is leaving Friday with Matt Erickson, of Poet Nation. They hope to put videos online during their trip, and plan to create a documentary. The project is called "Voices of Dadaab."

The Dadaab camp was built in 1991 for 90,000 people, but now holds more than 400,000 refugees because of Somalia's long-running conflict and the famine.

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