Meet Hani Abdile
Watch Hani speaking ABC’s The Drum
Hani Abdile spent 11 months in detention on Christmas Island after fleeing the civil war in Somalia alone at age 16. When she was released in 2014, she took a workshop with Word Travels. We have booked her for gigs ever since. Hani published her first book in 2016, and has now appeared at Sydney Festival, Sydney Opera House, on ABC TV's Q+A and is at university studying journalism.
Hani is one of thousands of people Word Travels’ donors have supported on their personal and professional journeys.
Your tax-deductible donations keep Hani’s stories flowing - read more about our impact here.
Join us in telling the stories that bring communities together. Come with us to remote country towns. To neighbourhoods populated by people of colour. Come to schools where income is low and experiences are powerful. From prisons to boardrooms. Refugee centres to spot-lit stages. First line to manuscript to publication to career.
If you believe in bringing the mic to wherever there is need, we want you on this journey.
Help us give communities time and space to craft their stories; to add poetry, creativity and performance skills to their own authenticity. When people perform their writing, they gain agency. They represent their own narratives.
People we work with don’t see themselves reflected accurately, if at all, in traditional media. Let’s change this.
Meet Solli Raphael
Solli Raphael is from Coffs Harbour, NSW. He performed with Word Travels in his local library then we invited him to the Sydney Opera House for Australian Poetry Slam. Solli was 12 years old. Word Travels’ video of his performance reached 3 million views in three weeks. Since then he has published two books with Penguin, appeared on multiple TV shows, performed at TEDxSydney and in front of a live audience of 35,000 at the Commonwealth Games. Today, Solli is an ambassador for Dymocks Children’s Charities and writes poems for organisations like Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
Solli is one of the thousands of people that we have helped on their personal and professional journeys.