"There is a burgeoning dubbing industry in Mogadiscio, " he says.

NPR: Somalia's Farah: Humanizing a Broken Place

Cambara will admit that she has made a faux pas arriving in Mogadiscio unprepared, with no addresses and no telephone numbers of anyone except Zaak and no personal contacts.

NPR: Somalia's Farah: Humanizing a Broken Place

He liked to stay out of trouble, preferring living and going to school in Mogadiscio to being sent back to his poorer parents in the hinterland, close to Galkacyo, in Mudugh.

NPR: Somalia's Farah: Humanizing a Broken Place

Arda has carried words back and forth from one to the other and has persuaded her daughter to put up with him, at least for the first few days, since Cambara informed her of her wish to go to Mogadiscio.

NPR: Somalia's Farah: Humanizing a Broken Place

She remembers his suffering from persistent indigestion ever since Arda, her mother, who is also his paternal aunt, brought him from a nomadic hamlet during his early teens as her charge in order to facilitate his receiving proper schooling in Mogadiscio.

NPR: Somalia's Farah: Humanizing a Broken Place

Her eyes downcast again, as expected of women in Mogadiscio these days she reaches into one of the inner pockets of her custom-made caftan to make certain that she has brought along her knife, her weapon of choice, if it comes to self-defense.

NPR: Somalia's Farah: Humanizing a Broken Place

After arguing for days and nights, Arda consented to Cambara's "ill-advised scheme" with a caveat: that they involve Raxma, who had wonderful contacts in Mogadiscio and, while waiting for things to be put in motion, that Cambara should either wait in Toronto or go ahead and stay with Zaak.

NPR: Somalia's Farah: Humanizing a Broken Place