TakePart
Friday, August 26, 2011
In 2008, 24-year-old aspiring journalist Jay Bahadur left behind his market research job in Chicago and set off for Africa's far coast to get the scoop on Somalian pirates. Three years later, he's not only lived to tell the tale but written about it in his new book, The Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World.
Recently, TakePart caught up with the Toronto-based author to ask him what he learned from infiltrating the shadowy underworld of modern piracy.
Jay Bahadur. (Photo courtesy of David Christen)
TakePart: Much has been made of your age when you went to Somalia. Looking back, do you think it worked to your advantage?
Jay: I think my age is definitely part of the book's marketing angle, and that was something on which I was counting when I began seriously planning to write it. The idea of a young and naive man, setting off alone to make his career (or die trying!) is a very appealing motif.
TakePart: You mention in the book that many locals bristled at being called "pirates" by the foreign media. As a Westerner, how did you ultimately earn their trust?
Jay: Most of the pirates I dealt with belonged to the same sub-clan as my local journalist partner, as well as his father, Puntland President Abdirahman Farole. As the guest of the de facto head of their clan, my hand was stamped, and most of the pirates were willing to grant me an audience. It helped as well that members of the main gang I was interviewing had recently renounced their pirating past, and were actively campaigning against piracy in partnership with local religious leaders. They were like ex-cons who had found Jesus, eager to let the world know that they had been saved.
Just another day in the life of a pirate.