Somali Community Asking for Help

In an ABC 6 News update, it's been a week since two 16-year-old Somali girls went missing in Rochester.

Their parents say they left for school at Mayo High but never came back.

The situation has prompted the Somali community in Rochester to reach out and ask for help bridging the cultural gap. And plans are underway to do just that.

Rochester's Somali community is asking for help, especially for mothers.

"Most of them, they don't know the language, and most of them are single. There's no second parent for the kids, so we need a lot of help," said a translator at the meeting.

It's a concern that local officials say is common among immigrant groups across the nation.

"We've seen this here, and in almost every other community that I've been in, that's had a large influx of population," said April Sutor of the Olmsted County United Way.

"That the children obtain proficiency in language and culture faster than the adults and oftentimes there isn't a family structure that can support the children so the children don't respect the wishes of the parents," said Captain Brian Winters.

"There comes a tipping point where they say 'Yanno, we really want to keep as much of home as we can, but we need to learn and get more information about where we are, and how we work within the systems and how we get the system to work with us'," said Sutor.

"If you want to do something, you can't do unless you have a tool and the right resources so we need the city to show us," said a man attending the meeting.

And the community is ready to help.

Less than 24 hours after this meeting, the United Way of Olmsted County is already in the process of planning half a dozen classes to help bridge the gap between cultures.

"Let's have a conversation. Let's listen to you and find out what it is that you want to learn more about, and then bring in those organizations and people that can help bridge those educational gaps," said Sutor.

Which is exactly what the Somali community is hoping for.

The United Way plans to meet with Somali leaders in the next week to figure out what areas it'd like to focus on.

Classes are expected to start in the next two months.

Source: ABC 6 NEWS