Zain Verjee (born February 11th, 1974) is a Canadian State Department correspondent with CNN, based in Washington, D.C. Previously, she worked as a newsreader for The Situation Room and a co-anchor of CNN International's Your World Today.
Born and raised in Kenya to Indian parents, Verjee received her undergraduate degree reading English from McGill University, Montreal, and studied at York University in Toronto, Canada. Verjee is a Canadian citizen and speaks Gujarati, kiSwahili and conversational French.
Verjee joined CNN in 2000. She has covered world events such as the Agra Summit between President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India, the conflict in the Middle East, the trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milošević, the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Hajj and the war in Iraq. She, also, reports about African business news for the weekly program Inside Africa, which offers an in-depth look into news on the continent.
In July 2006, she reported from the DMZ, and in September, she conducted an exclusive interview with former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami.
Verjee's thoughts about The Pilgrimage to Mecca: "There's a saying that a Pilgrim that travels to Mecca for the Hajj should leave the Holy City quickly, so, as not to get attached to it."
Previously, Verjee worked for 98.4 Capital FM, Nairobi and the Kenyan Television Network (KTN). Verjee also freelanced for the BBC, producing several programs.
She recently published "Live & On the Air", a children's book exploring the experiences of a young girl who moves from rural Kenya to Nairobi to work as a broadcaster. Ms Verjee has also produced successful radio campaigns spreading awareness of Deadly HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B & Polio.
Her community efforts include work with Street Children, Operation Smile and Violence Against Women.
On January 16, 2008, while taping a report on an anti-government protest in Nairobi, Verjee was hit in the back by a tear gas canister fired by police; the attack was later broadcast on CNN. She was not seriously injured.http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/01/16/kenya.tension/index.html
