Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist K'naan travelled to Somalia in September, 2011, to see how he could help.Nabil Elderkin
K'naan visited camps for displaced people and hospitals. He was shocked by what he saw.Nabil Elderkin
People carry water at the Tarabunka camp for internally displaced persons in Mogadishu on Sept. 7, 2011.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Makeshift shelters at the Sayidka camp for displaced persons.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
A mother washes her child at the Sayidka camp on Sept. 6, 2011.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
A woman walks in front of the country's parliament buildings, heavily damaged after many years of war. K'naan remembers the country's elegant buildings of his youth.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
K'naan's father, who fled Somalia years before his son, would send him rap albums from the United States. K'naan used them to learn English.
When he was eight, K'naan's uncle had let him shoot an AK-47 on the streets of Mogadishu. He grew up in Toronto after his family fled Somalia when he was 13.