“Hope is what our parents smuggled from country to country.”

Welcome to the We Do Hope podcast
With Zena Kazeme and Rakaya Esime Fetuga: Poetry of Hope
Listen now (1:00:35)

Jessie and Tilly chat with spoken word performers Zena Kazeme and Rakaya Esime Fetuga. Zena is a Persian-Iraqi poet who draws on her experiences as a former refugee to create her poetry and Rakaya is an award-winning poet and writer from London of Ghanaian and Nigerian heritage. 

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Zena Kazeme

Zena Kazeme is a Persian-Iraqi poet who draws on her experiences as a former refugee to create her poetry — exploring ideas of home and belonging, exile and war. With a master’s in human rights and immigration, refugee rights form a central part of her poetry and her work.

She’s contributed to BBC Radio 2’s Pause For Thought, performed at the Poetry Cafe in the heart of London’s Covent Garden and Imperial College, London, for International Women’s Day. By day, Zena runs a refugee resettlement programme in London, and she also happens to be a trustee of Amos Trust!

Rakaya Esime Fetuga

Rakaya Fetuga is an award-winning poet and writer from London of Ghanaian and Nigerian heritage. She describes her work as depicting “women of the global majority through an ethereal lens”.

You’ll hear broad concepts captured by tiny, sensory details that conjure up vivid moods of nostalgia, anger, joy, sorrow, and celebration in her work. 

Zena’s Hope In A Hurry

Hopeful Read:
The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran

Hopeful Listens:
Podcast: Modern Love — The New York Times
Podcast: Where Should We Begin — Esther Perel 

Rakaya’s Hope In A Hurry

Hopeful Watch:
Oprah & Viola: A Netflix Special

Hopeful Anthem:
One Step At A Time — Jordin Sparks

The poems that Zena performed for us were called The Women Of My Country and My Lebanese Neighbour. The poems that Rakaya performed were called The World Is Yours (scroll to 52:49) and Why I Asked My Kid Self To Hang Out After School.

You can follow Zena on Instagram and Twitter and Rakaya on Instagram and Twitter. You can find out more about SUFRA here.

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All episodes of We Do Hope can be found at wedohope.org or wherever you listen to your podcasts. To find out more about Amos Trust, please visit our Home page.