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EP.139 Black Muslim author, Rahma Mohamed shares story growing up in Canada
39 Plays1 month ago
I talk to Rahma Mohamed, who was born and raised in Hargeisa, Somaliland. At just eight years old, her family immigrated to Canada, where they settled in Quebec. Rahma faced many challenges as she entered her first formal school, grappling with the French language while being the only Black Muslim girl in her class. Despite experiencing bullying, she persevered and became the first in her family to graduate from university, mastering both French and English.
website: https://rahmarodaah.com/pages/about-us
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Transcript
Introduction and Shared Background
00:00:00
Speaker
All right, welcome back everyone to another episode of It's Personal. I am super excited for my guest today. Most recently found out that we are both Canadians and I normally don't have two Canadians on, so I'm so curious about that, but I will allow her to introduce herself first. Yes, Canada in the building. It also never happens for me to be interviewed by any fellow Canadian podcaster who also happens to be a children book author. So I'm really honored to be here with you. um So my name is Rahmah Rhoda. I am a mom of four. I live in Alberta, Canada, and I write picture books. Beautiful picture books.
00:00:47
Speaker
Beautiful picture books.
Immigration Story and Early Challenges
00:00:49
Speaker
I always start with this question. I think be I'm curious. I know a little bit of your story just from hearing you online talking about your books and your experience. But what tell us a little bit about the little girl um who grew up immigrating to Canada? Yeah, so I think, yeah, my story, like when you go back into the the books that I like to write is Mainly I think same as you, like for that representation to see yourself in books and why that is important. So a little bit about the, my story is I came to Canada when I was seven. We immigrated almost when the Civil War was starting in Somalia and we immigrated in Quebec and that was really shocking because in Quebec at that time there wasn't a big wave of immigrants that were coming um from Africa.
00:01:45
Speaker
And so I oftentimes found myself to be the only black Muslim girl um you know in in my classes. And then I have vivid memories of being in these classes where they couldn't really place you in school because I didn't have any formal school training. um So they put you in a class where they call the class that K where it's like welcoming class where like youre you're just like being welcomed into the country, but really didn't feel welcoming. as um
00:02:16
Speaker
for my recollection really tough years in the beginning and um just that notion of coming from a place where everyone looked like me and everyone spoke the language that I spoke to coming to a country where no one looked like me and I didn't know the languages that were being spoken um that really stayed with me and it really imprinted on me and that sense of belonging and that sense of ah Seeing myself and and all of these things were things that I carried with me And I think that is just you know what I try to give back to kids to see themselves in these
00:02:55
Speaker
magical stories where they could be any anybody anything where they're the main character in and you must have gone through so much as a immigrant a newcomer to to Canada in those school systems because yeah are I mean I'm from Nova Scotia I um I consider myself very lucky to have grown up in ah community that is predominantly black and I at least went home to that um after school. And I can only imagine not going back home to that um in regards to community wise. Who are some of the people that like kept your
00:03:35
Speaker
Spirit's high kept you motivated because um there has been times where you've talked about being bullied or being targeted from kids. um Who are the people that influenced you to keep going? Because as a kid, it's hard. It can be really hard to want to go back to school and school should be a safe place. And it wasn't always a safe place for you. So who are some of those people?
00:03:57
Speaker
Um, I think just my parents, honestly, because we were going into this together, right? I'm the oldest of, uh, what we would, my parents would have seven kids. Um, but at that time when we immigrated, there was just me and my two younger siblings. Um, and we didn't really have any other family. And in Quebec, like I said, there wasn't a big community of Somalis at that time. Um, so those, uh, we were there for two years.
00:04:25
Speaker
And after those two years, we moved to Ottawa, where there was that community of Somalis, where there were kids of you know from back home from where I was from.
Finding Community and Belonging
00:04:38
Speaker
um that we I found community there. But the first two years, there really wasn't anybody outside of my family that I could really lean on um ah to to kind of give me motivation. It was just basically my parents speaking love into me and letting me know that um they know how hard it was. But sometimes I couldn't even explain how difficult it was because the they were also going through like their own struggles.
00:05:05
Speaker
So I didn't even have language to explain like how hard of a life it was. And so i I'm grateful that after those two years, we did move to Ottawa where there was that sense of community where I wasn't the only Somali girl in class where um you know, even though I was still struggling with the language, there was other people that could that spoke Somali and that where we had a community where in the neighborhood there was other Somali kids and other Somali families and we found community that way and which was such like a world of difference where I saw everyone struggling like me, but we found solace in each other. But were what were some of the books that you were
00:05:50
Speaker
um I don't want to say given or introduced to growing up in school. o I think one of the first books that I really connected with was Anne of Green Gable. i might My wife talked about this book so much. That's the first book that she talks about. saying I was so obsessed. And if you guys don't know, like, I mean, I'm sure like Anne of Green Gable's classic everywhere, um but it is a Canadian ah classic. And it was like a mandatory read. And Anna Green Gable, she looks nothing like us, as you know a white Canadian ah with red hair. But I can echo with her story because like she was an outsider. And she was also outspoken. She was a feisty, opinionated character. And I always saw myself as that. Like I had stories and I i wasn't
00:06:44
Speaker
afraid of confrontation and yeah I got bullied but I always spoke back and I always like you know I pushed back and and I just loved and and I really connected with her story of wanting to find belonging and um the feeling of being rejected and the feeling of wanting to have a place like that sense of even like friendship and how dramatic she is I just I just and then and then that's when I like realized that books were even though the characters sometimes don't look like yourself there are parts of
00:07:24
Speaker
people that you can identify yourself. So like this concept of finding books that were, that looked like me, like that wasn't a thing because any of the books that people like, or teachers would recommend, they were always like, um, things that I am like, this is not really written from, or an animal out of exactly. Like, yeah like out of love or, or, you know, things like that. But out of green table, I love that was my or snipe books that I fell in love with. It's it's crazy how much this specifically people of color, people from the global majority have to reach out or I mean, I would even say now, but like even more so back then how we would have to search for that belonging, because like looking at a book like that, you're not right away thinking, oh, my gosh, I'm going to have so many connections. You're like, OK, this is something that I'm required to read.
00:08:22
Speaker
And then luckily for whatever reason, you're able to look at a text and be like, Oh, even though she doesn't have the same experiences as me as like, you know, a person of color, I can still make connections. And that's hard work for a kid. Like that is really, really hard work for a kid. Like those are things that we specifically explicitly have to teach kids in the classroom to do. Um, and for you to be able to do that at a young age is incredible. So.
00:08:49
Speaker
Shout out to Anna Green Gables because a lot of people have connected to that book, even though um she does not look like a lot of different people who have brought up in Canada, have immigrated to Canada, et cetera.
Journey in Publishing
00:09:04
Speaker
I want to talk about your, I want to call it a series of books, but I'm going to let you tell me whether it's going to be a series or not. But there are two dear series, like you have Dear Black Child and Dear a Muslim Child. And um one of the things I'm thinking about You speak about this very often how, you know, um there is has been, and I would say you can correct me if I'm wrong.
00:09:27
Speaker
um often a stigmatism, negative impact on um just like how Muslims are um portrayed in books or lack thereof in general. um How did your experiences like impact or inspire you to write these stories? um And what was that first story where you were like, oh, this is something that like is connecting to like, not just my faith, but like who I am and the people around me as well. Yeah.
00:09:57
Speaker
um So actually, like, before I even get to my latest two books, I started out as a self-published author. So I published two other books previous to these traditionally published books. And the reason why I did that is because I had a hard time finding books that were featuring Black Muslim characters.
00:10:18
Speaker
And just kind of reflecting back on these two big identities that you know I embody, and so are my children, is I found a lot of books that were targeted towards the Muslim children, and they all are kind of these books. And and I would say that there are some that have Black protagonists and the characters and things like that, but mainly they look like on from Arab descent, they have pale skin and it's it's not featuring the black identity and the black features that my children have. So I would have these stacks of books of like Islamic ah children a picture books. And then I have stacks of black, ah beautiful African-American illustrated written books where they celebrate their black ah skin and hair and just what it means to be black and talk about
00:11:12
Speaker
the the how hard that is. and and i just you know even and And if we even go back into my story, picture books are something that I didn't really read because I came to Canada when I was seven. So there were simple books that were introduced in earth in order to learn phonics. And I actually learned to read in French. So my second language is French and English is my third language.
00:11:39
Speaker
um but so So there's, but I didn't have that time where, you know, picture books are written to me. So I discovered picture books when I had kids. And that's when that issue, I found that there is this gap of not, there's no picture books that address these two big identities. And I was like, okay, well, that this is a problem. And every night we will alternate between these two stacks of books. And then the story, my first picture book story came to me and I didn't really think that I would
00:12:11
Speaker
can be an author, honestly. Because when you're the first immigrant of a family that came in the only family, telling your parents that you wanted to have a career in literature, that doesn't, that doesn't fly, right? It doesn't, they like, no, no, we will, we will not have that. um ah You can become a lawyer, a doctor, and like, you know what I mean? You know, so ah that wasn't in the cards for me.
00:12:38
Speaker
But I'm really grateful that God brought me back into an alignment with the gifts that he has given me because I do believe that we have certain gifts and affinities and it's up to us to nurture those things and and live in the purpose that were given to us. And so that's really what I set out to do is I wanted to have representation for Black Muslim children out there that they didn't need to compromise their faith to be ah something or they didn't need to compromise who they are and that both of these things were given to them by God. And so those two things are important to me. So my two first picture books were just featuring black Muslim children. And so when I got when i wrote Dear Black Child, I said, this book needs to be traditionally published because I wanted to be um read by so many kids.
00:13:34
Speaker
And I knew that it needed to go further than I could do. And and so that's why i I set out to kind of look for a publisher. And when I got discovered and I got a two book deal, I said, the next book is going to be Dear Muslim Child because it has to be. And so that's how these two books came to be because I wanted a love letter to black children. And that's what I wrote first.
00:14:01
Speaker
And then I'm like, okay, well, we have to write Dear Muslim Child because that's also near and dear to my heart. And so that's how these two books came. And if it's a theory, I don't know. um it's it's i haven't um i it's It's very difficult to write stories that don't have stories. I don't know if you've experienced the same thing. It's really difficult to do. And um it's also even in the parts of the illustration,
00:14:29
Speaker
how do they portray that? Your book is so beautiful and I feel like it's such a beautiful companion to Dear Black Child. I'm from like it's in the same type of poetry writing as as as that and but it's hard to do. It's really hard to do. You have to kind of connect to it and have this moving language that that addresses so many things um without being a story. So in the future, I would love to write more dear something. um Have I done that yet? No.
00:15:03
Speaker
And so, but but this is why um these two dear books exist. And they are beautiful and phenomenal and and all the things. So yeah, no pressure at all. No pressure, but I appreciate both of them so much. And I i was going to ask about your story because You also talk a lot about like your self-publishing journey. um And I think people forget that that is actually an option. um That is something people do for a living. um You don't always have to be published by um a big company um to get your work out there. And sometimes it takes a long time to to just you know crack the code, figure out how to get an agent, um how to query a letter, how to figure out a manuscript. like Those things take a lot of time and effort. So um I love that you speak so openly about like your journey because that is what a lot of people do. That is what a lot of people do. I know. Right. yeah And I just wanted to add that I had a really positive um experience with self-publishing because when I set out to self-publish, I didn't actually do it because I failed at traditionally publishing.
00:16:15
Speaker
I did it because that was the choice that I made. And I really think that it also helped me have a stronger voice in the traditionally published industry. Because when I came in, I already knew this is what I i want to do. I already knew like I already had a brand. I already had a platform. I already had like you know all the things that I knew that I was going to do as an author I had started years ago. so I was very clear on what I was writing and who I was writing for and what I was looking for in terms of a partnership and like, you know, a publisher. And so I think that that really helped me advocate for myself too. It really did. So I always tell people self-publishing is a choice and is a choice that you can make. And there's ah pros and cons in both. Honestly, everything is not great on just one side.
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah, po on both options. Yeah. Yeah. And you're a great writer. And I don't think it's easy. It's not easy for anybody to just write something and give it to an agent and then be like, Okay, I enjoy your work like There's proof in what you do as a writer and what you do is really, really great for kids and enjoyable for adults to read. So um I think it takes practice and trial and error and all the things to figure out your voice as a writer and you're doing it and I appreciate it.
00:17:42
Speaker
Thank you. you. It's hard. Yeah, you do you do a lot. It's hard. Yeah, you do a
Balancing Life and Creativity
00:17:49
Speaker
lot. So I also know that you, our mother, um you've done, I don't know if the kids are still being homeschooled, but you do homeschool.
00:17:58
Speaker
You're an author um a wife you do you have a lot of hats that you wear um yeah what do you do to balance all those things um what are what are the some things that you do to balance and then on top of that my follow-up question is what are some things you do for joy outside of the the busy um the busy stuff that you do.
00:18:19
Speaker
Um, balance is hard. I don't think there's ever any equal balance and like when you're doing so many different things, um, I think they're just kind of, um, different things that you're prioritizing over others at different chapters in your life.
00:18:37
Speaker
So I am homeschooling the kids. I used to when I started writing, I was working full-time and I had two kids. So um I stepped away from my full-time job at this time and decided that because obviously that I am homeschooling the kids most of the time. um I do have help. And so the part of the balancing is stepping away.
00:19:03
Speaker
and having help at home and kind of trying to um segment my different things that I do. So I do have help that comes in. We have a part-time nanny. So I go out and write somewhere else. And then I come back in and we do what we need to do at home. And then so that's how I have separate areas, um things commingle sometimes as well. And ideas, as you know, writing ideas can come to you at any moment. So but you have to have something handy and you have to have something where you can jot something down and you get back to it, where you write in different increments, um just making sure that it's hard to do everything full time. So I try to just kind of do things in different sections.
00:19:57
Speaker
And in terms of what was the other part of the question? joy What do you do for joy? Reading, reading, but I think like joy. and So what I do for joy, like I consume different art forms.
00:20:12
Speaker
o So sometimes when I read, I'm sometimes reading like, does reading count? Does reading count though? Because right now, like I'm into reading um novels in verse because I want to write a novel in verse. So I'm reading these novel in verse and studying them in a way that I'm studying. Right. So I found that now reading is not completely in the realm of joy. So I've started consuming arts in different forms, different forms of storytelling. Like for example, I took the kids to a play last week and we saw the tree um the the three musketeers. And so that was a form of storytelling, um open mic poetry. Like I tried to consume different art, like beautiful movies or different, like, you know, different type of art.
00:21:07
Speaker
that is storytelling based and I think all artists storytelling. But um that's what I try to do so that I can see someone else in their elements of excellence to inspire me in my own because now reading is almost like studying. Because you have to read in order to be a writer. And sometimes it's hard. But I found that audiobooks are, I enjoy those.
00:21:36
Speaker
audio books are really enjoyment, audio books and podcasts. If I'm going to recommend the book to you because before I forget, so I just read a book called um How the Boogie Man Became a Poet by Tony Keith Jr. When I mean this was the one of the best, if not the best audio book that I've listened to.
00:22:00
Speaker
in such a long, it is absolutely stunning. Stunning. Just the way it's written, inversed. It's it's a kind of like a memoir type. um I would say, I think it's, I want to say it's YA middle grade, probably more YA than anything, but you have to read this book and you're also studying um books that are free verse.
00:22:24
Speaker
Yes. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. We have to definitely exchange like audio because I love people that recommend good books to me. But sometimes I try to listen to books that I necessarily maybe wouldn't read in print. And and sometimes books take me back so good. They're so so good that I'm like, I have to buy the French version now. I agree. Me too. Me too.
00:22:50
Speaker
so yeah what do you most And some people say it doesn't count, but I firmly believe it counts. Oh my gosh, totally. i do I tell my kids all the time in the classroom, like they are constantly, not constantly, but they love listening to books on Epic Books. um They are constantly trying to find audio books. And I think, partially, because I do push that, I think it's such a great way. like I think kids learn so well. I'm teaching in an international school, so they're technically all, for the most part, EAL kids. like they're all trying to learn English. So when they're listening to English, someone else speak English words. like That is so valuable for them as learners. like They are not just having to read the words on the page. They're hearing them being pronounced constantly. So yeah, I think audiobooks is such a great form of reading and it is 100% reading just like on the page, for sure. I firmly believe that. like you know When I became a mom, it's when I discovered audiobooks.
00:23:46
Speaker
and I've never looked back and and I have a stack of audiobooks that I have listened to audiobooks, some of them that I purchased afterwards and read it again because I enjoyed it so much. But audiobooks is just, ah it's just, yeah, it's a different art form that I, i and it's an art because you have these people that are speaking in all these different incredible ah voices. it's It's an art form. It's almost like watching a play, but you're just listening to it and you fill in the blanks of what you see. I i love it.
00:24:17
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it it it's stunning. It's absolutely absolutely stunning.
Future Aspirations and Social Media Engagement
00:24:22
Speaker
um And the last question I had for you was, looking ahead, what are your hopes and goals ah for your writing?
00:24:30
Speaker
Oh, okay. I hope to publish more books. um I also hope to um give back in other ways. So currently right now I do teach grade five and grade six ah creative writing. So I hope to have more of an impact directly with kids in different um areas. So I've also thought about doing an online a creative writing program for children. i just
00:25:03
Speaker
I want kids to fall in love with reading and writing and I want them to find their voices early on. um And I just want them to be passionate about creative writing and um just encourage them to do that. um And I hope to see more books for me. It's a different, a difficult chapter, trying to juggle all the things that we talked about, but I hope that I'm able to have some of these new works published in the near future.
00:25:33
Speaker
I hope so too. And I'm sending you all the positive vibes your way. We need more books from you. Thank you. Where can people find you online? ah So I am mainly, I am ah on all the but platforms, but the one that I like, the one that I engage the most on is currently on Instagram. So you can find me on all the social media platforms.
00:26:01
Speaker
I appreciate you, Fred. Thank you. Thank you so much. This has been such a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.