DAKAR, Senegal — She grew up in Canada, but like many children of immigrants, dreamed of reclaiming her heritage.

So Hodan Nalayeh, a journalist, founded an online show, Integration TV, to chronicle life in her country of birth, Somalia and in the Somalian diaspora. Then in December, she moved back there, newly married.

Ms. Nalayeh’s reporting steered clear of politics, her friends and colleagues said, focusing instead on the lives of women and young people, on the struggles of the poor to make ends meet, and on the natural beauty of the country.

“She never spoke about the ills of the country,” said Fadumo Qasim Dayib, a Somali who met Ms. Nalayeh a few years ago. “She tried to stay neutral so that she wouldn’t be seen as a threat.”