In Khartoum, she is referred to as the singing revolutionist. Alaa Salah has an angelic voice that matches her gorgeous beauty.
She has been the face of the Sudanese uprising, that finally toppled dictator dictator Omar Al Bashir on Thursday.
Alaa is just 22 years, if she was in Kenya, she would be a slayqueen taking stupid pictures for her Instagram followers and asking people what they thought about her eyebrows.
“She was trying to give everyone hope and positive energy and she did it,” she said. “She was representing all Sudanese women and girls and she inspired every woman and girl at the sit-in. She was telling the story of Sudanese women … she was perfect.” Lana Haroun the person who took the viral picture of Alaa, that has been shared on various international media told CNN.
Salah told the Guardian she was happy that the image, taken on Monday evening at a demonstration in the Sudanese capital, had been viewed so widely.
“The day they took the photo, I went to 10 different gatherings and read a revolutionary poem. It makes people very enthusiastic. In the beginning I found a group of about six women and I started singing, and they started singing with me, then the gathering became really big.
The Architecture student in Khartoum said that she does not come from a political family.
But with poem and songs, she encouraged the people of Sudan to rise against the tyrant. She used songs and poems learnt from her time in school.
“I have practiced presenting at the university; I don’t have an issue with speaking in front of people and at big gatherings.”
A line in the poem she read – “The bullet doesn’t kill. What kills is the silence of people” – is popular with protesters, and was chanted by demonstrators in January 2018.
We hope our Kenyans girls can emulate this lady. They should understand that there is more to life than just slaying on Instagram.