Get inside a Somali Pirate’s Head
For three years I’ve been working on a self-financed documentary about Somali pirates. It’s called SKULL & BONES: INSIDE SOMALI PIRACY. The production has required I undertake sometimes-harrowing journeys to Somalia and Kenya and at sea on the Gulf of Aden. After investing countless hours and more than $10,000, I am close to finishing the film. Just one shoot remains: an in-depth interview with an actual pirate, in his bandit town in Puntland, northern Somalia.
That’s right: we need to get inside a pirate’s head.
Puntland is not the kind of place an outsider can easily visit. Lucky for me, my work in East Africa has rewarded me with some of the best friends a journalist can have. In late 2007 in Mogadishu, I met Mohamed Omar Hussein, one of Somalia’s bravest and most experienced journalists. Hussein has volunteered to travel to Puntland in my place. I’m asking backers to fund Hussein’s work and, by extension, the completion of our documentary.