There are nearly 1,300 Somalis in Lexington, Nebraska (USA).
Ninety-eight percent of them don’t speak English and all of them are refugees, escaping to the U.S. from a country where it is no longer safe to live.
And, quite frankly, they need help from the community.
“The lack of financial aid is hurting us,” Somali Community Center director Abdullahi Mohammed said.
For the past four years, Mohammed, his assistant director Mukhtar Kora and a handful of volunteers have kept the Somali Community Center afloat with donations of time and money, a beacon to the influx of Somali refugees who come to Lexington looking for work to support themselves or their families.
“This is the first stop,” Maryan Sadow said.
Sadow, one of the volunteers at the center, speaks English very well. In addition to translating the English conversation for this interview, she answers the phone at the center, helps incoming Somalis connect to available resources for schooling, housing and medical needs and even councils workers on the expectations of their new employers.
“It’s called the Somali Community Center,” Mohammed interjects, “but we can help any African people.”
“The main reason we are here,” Kora adds, “is to help each other out.”
For the last three months the Somali Community Center has had a temporary reprieve from financial constrains as they received a grant from the Lexington Community Foundation that has enabled them to pay their rent. Now they are looking to the future and exploring options for their own sustainability.
“We want to educate more people,” Mohammed said, “so they can help themselves.”
Up to now, any education the Somalis have received has been in the form of classes held in an empty room above a local restaurant. Two Americans, neither of who spoke Somali, would help small classes of Somali residents learn the English words for their day-to-day needs.
Both of those volunteers have left the area, however; one to return to college in Seattle, Wash., and the other for a job out of the area. The Somali community is very interested in replacements for both of the language instructors.
“Nobody is planning to go back [to Somalia],” Sadow said. “They can’t study without help.”
In addition to learning English, the Somalis would like to absorb American culture and learn enough skills to work anywhere.
“We try to get them into a company,” Mohammed said. “Once they are there, it’s up to them to keep that job.”
Mohammed said he would like to see other businesses be willing to hire Somali workers just as Tyson has. In fact, the trio credits Tyson, especially Suzanne Reynolds and Mark Serratt, for the help they have been given.
“They have helped us big time,” Sadow said.
There are non-financial areas where the Somalis struggle, namely the language barrier. They credit the schools for providing resources for translation, but wish the hospital and Plum Creek Medical Clinic would follow suit.
The availability of housing is also an issue for the Somalis.
“There is not enough housing,” Mohammed said. “We have trouble finding housing.”
Sadow said that Somalis are looking toward Cozad for housing needs, and driving to their jobs in Lexington on a daily basis, but few Somalis can drive and Sadow said she will often take members of the community to Lincoln so they can fill out paperwork or conduct other personal business.
“If they have a job they pay me,” Sadow said, “but if they don’t work….”
Mohammed said he encourages someone from the city or state to come to the Somali Community Center and chat about what is needed to operate the office, ask him about how things in the community work. By doing so, they hope to scrape together enough funding to have a paid person at the office full-time, someone who is always there to help.
Barring that, they are looking for volunteers who can donate their time, teaching English, or money.
“We help with our money and our time,” Mohammed said. “But we need more.”
Source: www.lexch.com
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