The prominent Somali singer and guitarist Hassan Adan Samatar once sang about Beledweyne.
“The overflowing river, irrigating the dry soil. Farm lands stretched far and wide. A canvas of green pastures covering everywhere. Trees swayed under the weight of blooming flowers. Grapes ripened in the soft glow of the sun. Sorghum and maize stood tall before surrendering to harvest, their golden grains tossed from their stalks.”
A golden era depiction of a city blooming. But golden eras are fragile things.
The same river that once gave life has turned into an unpredictable force. War and conflict have painted fear onto the streets, and the echoes of famous celebrations have faded into distant memory.
Yet, even in this silence, some still hear the beautiful tunes of their past. Some still see the stories waiting to be told.
Abshir Rageh was one of them.
Born in Beledweyne, he grew up listening to tales of what the city used to be. But as a young man making his mark on the streets of his city, he was more interested in not only what his city could be, but what the future was for his country.
On the streets where the past loomed large, he dreamed of creating a new story. One that would not just remember Beledweyne but reimagine how his country was seen from outside.
And so, with a camera in hand, he set out to bring that vision to life.
Abshir had grown up seeing the world through a different lens. Not just seeing the dust-filled streets and crowded markets. But everyday to and from school, he imagined stories hidden within them. Where others saw a country bedevilled by only war and conflict, he saw a stage to tell the resilience, dedication and hope of his people. Where others saw only hardship and chaos, he saw the spark of something greater.
Beledweyne shaped him. Moulded him. Just as it has shaped and moulded so many before him. It marked him with struggles, stories, and a reason to dream.
And many years later, when he picked up a camera as a profession in his country’s capital, Mogadishu, it was that same dream he carried forward. Not only for himself, but for an entire nation longing to see itself on screen.
His journey is simple. A masterclass story of defying expectations, reclaiming narratives, and proving that even in the face of adversity, dreams can find their way to the screen.
But Abshir Rageh was not supposed to fall in love with movies.
The Somali parents, like many of them in their deeply traditional community, saw films as distractions. A one way ticket to moral corruption—high up on the moral curve with forgetting to greet elders and walking with bad company.
Yet, the boy could not resist. He slipped away with his friends into makeshift cinemas with tattered bags as cover. Here he sat down on a tired mat and watched bootlegged Bollywood films flickered on old tired screens so passed down generations. He hardly understood the words, but their emotions spoke louder than words.
Emotion plus music and constant dances after every five minutes, was a hook that glued Abshir to the screen for many years. It was there, in those secret moments, on the tired mats and old screens that Abshir discovered the power of storytelling.
The older he grew, the more Somalia’s wounds deepened. The civil war had long shattered the country’s creative industry, leaving only memories of a once-thriving theater and film scene. Most young people his age sought survival from the sea, and far away lands. But Abshir was different.
He pursued an education in public administration at Somalia University in Mogadishu. The first time he picked up a camera, not to film stories, but to document reality. The suffering. The resilience. And the unspoken pain of his people. So there he was, on every street, in every corner documenting. Clicking. Recording. Many times, the images he captured were raw, powerful, and sometimes dangerous.
Fate took him through many different jobs at first. A role at the government media services, filming for the presidential team. But fate when fate duly called, he answered. In 2019, he made a decision that would change everything. To tell the stories that matter, he joined Somalia’s leading private television network— Astaan Media. It was here that Abshir finally embraced what he was meant to do. Tell stories. A filmmaker that simply brought every emotion he desired to reality.
The world knew Somalia for many things. A simple google check of the name Mogadishu was enough to show you this. Gory images are always splashed on your face. From War. To piracy. To famine.
But Abshir’s lens was directed on something more powerful. He saw love. He saw tradition. He saw the silent struggles of everyday people fighting not just for survival, but for dignity. He also saw something else. The power of making a difference. His dreams moved him. Etching a need. A determination to tell the story of Somalia. His series “Habboon”, a story of love battling societal norms, gathered tens of millions of YouTube views. His drama “Dhaxal”, tackling the complexities of inheritance and tradition, captivated audiences across the country.
In Mogadishu, where cameras telling a story like his were rare and actors had never been to film school, Abshir counted what it would take. A camera? Astaan media. A crew? I will train from scratch. So the next cinematographers, editors, and sound designers of Somalia were born. All through the magic wand that is Youtube Tutorials which Abshir gathered for his team of selected individuals with a dream like his.
Within no time, young people who had never stepped in front of a camera found themselves starring in some of the most-watched Somali productions. And with that determination, and a strong sense of patience, the idea of storytelling as a career, as a future, began to return to Somalia.
Yet whenever he speaks, you hear how the greatest sign of his success is not in the thousands of people who show up for auditions. Nor is it the growing interest of advertisers or the rising recognition of Somali actors abroad.
Today, Abshir Rageh is not just a filmmaker. He is a dreamer who has taken his place in transforming the narrative about his country and people. His story is not about making movies any more but about reviving a lost art. About giving voices to the voiceless, and proving that in the darkest places, light can still shine.
The young boy who began his journey in a war-torn town, sneaking into cinemas now makes them.
And for the first time in decades, Somalia is watching itself on screen again.
