SOMALIA: If you google the name Nura Abdullahi Hagi you will not come up with much. The work she does leaves little trace beyond the isolated communities in which she works in Somalia.
But make no mistake: the 24-year-old human rights activist is making an impact. Already something of a veteran in the field (she has been campaigning on women's rights since she was 14), Nura has helped to form a network of activists that is challenging her country's patriarchal and often violent social norms.
"It used to be the culture that you could not even talk to your men," she says. "You would go into another room and they would decide what was best for you. But now it's starting to change. The traditional leaders, the religious leaders are starting to talk about human rights and women's rights."
Such progress should not be understated in a country that has endured years of fighting between rival warlords, and remains teetering on the brink of anarchy. Although elections took place last year, the rule of law is noticeable by its absence.
Three months ago, Nura had to seek the protection of her clan when an armed group - implicated in human rights abuses she was investigating - threatened to kill her unless a $4,500 bribe was paid. On that occasion, a negotiated solution was reached without money changing hands, but Nura knows she may not be so lucky next time.
"My clan are not armed," she notes.
For more than three years Nura had a bullet lodged in her abdomen, having been shot while driving home from a rally for democracy in 1998.
The bullet was eventually removed in an operation in Mogadishu, allowing her to give birth to her daughter - Fatima - six months ago. However, the damage to her body lingers today.
She is three months pregnant, and has been told by a gynaecologist whom she visited last week while on a trip to Dublin for a human rights conference that her life - and that of her second child - will be at risk without further surgery.
A member of the Somali Young Women Activist coalition, Nura was invited to Dublin along with more than 100 other human rights activists for a series of security workshops hosted by Irish campaign group Front Line.
Front Line was set up four years ago by Amnesty International's former director in Ireland Mary Lawlor. Arranging medical treatment for Nura is just another part of the service.
Ms Lawlor's philosophy is to give whatever support is necessary to allow human rights activists do their job - even if that means going above and beyond what most human rights organisations would provide.
Another of the delegates - a Cambodian trade unionist - was served last week with an arrest warrant in Cambodia for allegedly defaming the government.
A number of his colleagues have been imprisoned, and Front Line is now trying to arrange for the man to travel to a third country where he can continue his work in safety.
Despite her difficulties, Nura too is looking forward to resuming her work.
"It is difficult. It is very risky sometimes. If someone wants to kill us we cannot really do anything. But we have to continue because that is our work and they are our people."
