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Somali Bantu resettlement marked by widespread innovation

The Anti-Defamation League's "Peace by Piece" project in Atlanta seeks to build interfaith and intercultural understanding. Photo: Bart Cohen

Intensive preparation and widespread innovation have marked the resettlement of Somali Bantu refugees in the United States. Many new programs have been developed, and CWS/IRP local affiliate resettlement agencies already have expanded several of them to serve all refugees.

Extensive orientation

Several affiliates said they are offering much more extensive orientation to all refugees as a result of their experience with the Somali Bantu. For example, in Phoenix, Ariz., Valley Metro, the local public transportation system, now brings a city bus to the offices of Lutheran Social Ministry of the Southwest for monthly orientation for refugees. That gives refugees a chance to practice boarding the bus before making their first guided foray on a regular bus route. "This started with the Somali Bantu," said LSMS Director Craig Thoresen.

Program Manager Amy Roach of the Interfaith Refugee Resettlement Program (IRRP), Concord, N.H., said, "We've always done field trips, but we did lots more with the Somali Bantu. We took them to the police and fire stations and the grocery store. We had a 'bus day.' We took walks to talk about pedestrian safety."

Everyday life in U.S. cities carries with it its own particular hazards, with which most Somali Bantu had little or no prior experience. Gas stoves, electric outlets and wiring, lead-based paint, cleaning supplies -- all these and more can be deadly.

There were so many issues around safety that the IRRP developed a Refugee Injury Prevention Group.

"A curriculum has been put together, with a checklist: 'Yes, the family is keeping up with this, but not that,'" Roach said.

Volunteers are key to reinforcing messages on life skills, pedestrian safety, and poison prevention, and attend monthly safety training workshops, she said. The Fire Department gives fire safety training in refugees' homes.

"The concept of this group came out of working with the Somali Bantu, and now the training is being offered to all refugees," Roach said.

Baby Shower Registry

The Baby Shower Registry was the brainchild of Zainab Black, a gift registry consultant at the Bon-Ton in the ShoppingTown Mall in Syracuse, N.Y. Black, originally from Tanzania, also volunteers for the Refugee Resettlement Program of the Interreligious Council of Central New York (ICCNY).

In spring 2005, six Somali Bantu clients of the ICCNY were pregnant, and the agency was seeking a creative way to get them what they'd need when their babies were born.

Black set up charity baby registries for the women and let them pick out things to put on their registries. Bon-Ton employees adopted one of the women, bought everything on her registry, and gave her a baby shower. Black found other people and organizations to adopt the other five women. The baby registry project grew as people heard about it and wanted to have their own showers.

After about six months, the IRCCNY opened the Baby Shower Registry to all refugees, giving priority to the families most in need.

On a warm autumn morning, Hasnay Kabiro and two of her children soak up the sunshine outside Journey's End Refugee Services, Buffalo, N.Y. She participated in JERS's Pregnancy Mentoring Program, naming her fourth child after caseworker Anna Ireland. Photo: Mitch Cummings

Pregnancy Mentoring Program

In late 2004, a client of Journey's End Refugee Services in Buffalo, N.Y., called to report that she was in labor. She couldn't find a caregiver for her three-year-old, and caseworker Anna Ireland ended up taking the toddler home.

At about the same time, another agency's client got to the hospital at the last minute and gave birth in the elevator, and other refugee women were giving birth at home.

In response, Journey's End launched a Pregnancy Mentoring Program, matching refugee clients one-on-one with long-time Buffalo residents. To implement this new approach, Director Robert Roggie tapped the expertise of then medical educator Parisima Kazemi to work alongside Ireland.

"We had 10 Somali Bantu pregnant at the time we started the program, but it opened up quickly for everyone," Ireland said.

Volunteers accompany refugee women to their medical appointments, make sure they are taking their vitamins, and arrange an advance tour of the hospital. They work with the expectant mothers to develop a plan for delivery day, addressing such points as: When do you call the doctor? Who will care for your other children? How will you get to the hospital? Who will translate for you? Do you have baby clothes and a car seat?

For her part, Ireland has translated for several births. "For the first one, I was woozy," she admits. "Later I got to see a Caesarian section, and it didn't bother me at all."

Women's Financial Empowerment

Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas launched a Somali Bantu Women's Financial Empowerment Program in Columbia, S.C. Participants took a field trip to Charleston, S.C., to visit a basket maker, and now are making their own baskets, said caseworker Michelle Adkins.

A local church is lining up childcare one day a month "so the mothers can go market the baskets," she said. The women also are learning to sew and "are able to make their own dresses. We hope eventually they'll get to market African clothing. Our agency just opened a Ten Thousand Villages Store, and a percentage of the crafts can be by local artisans."

Meanwhile, volunteers sold the women's Christmas bows for $5 each, generating several hundred dollars for the women, Adkins said.

Weekly health classes

Also in Columbia, LFS and the local Department of Health and Environmental Control have partnered to provide weekly classes for Somali Bantu families, addressing everything from simple hygiene to mental health issues.

Christian, Jewish, and Muslim members of the Chicago Youth Council collaborated with Somali Bantu children ages 4 to 18 to develop an engaging, 28-page storybook, "Why Are You Here? A Story of Faith, Friendship, and Hope." The book is a favorite at Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, which sponsors an after-school program for the children. Pictured: Lauren Menger with 10-year-old Idle, one of the book's artists. Photo: Eileen Ryan, eileenryanphotography.com

Enhancing children's education

Several innovative programs have developed in the area of education. A number of CWS/IRP affiliates have recruited English language tutors from area universities, giving students of social work and future teachers of English as a second language valuable practical experience. In Buffalo, N.Y., TOESL students from Houghton College use Journey's End Refugee Services for their practicum, Ireland said. This started with 20 Somali Bantu families, each of which was assigned two students. Now the students serve all refugees.

"Students come over from Houghton, N.Y., every week during the semester," she said. "Last summer, a spin-off was a month-long summer program specifically for refugee children, so they won't lose what they learned during the school year. It also helps new children get used to the school environment."

To help Somali Bantu children catch up and keep up in school, Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas launched SPLASH: Students Playing, Learning, and Staying Healthy.

This summer program is housed at Reformation Lutheran Church in Columbia, S.C. Several other churches help run SPLASH, and funders include Thrivent Financial and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

"The goal of the program is to prepare students academically for the school year and to help them maintain their health," said Adkins.

In summer 2005, 54 children enrolled in SPLASH. "We had many students who learned to read," she said. In summer 2006, SPLASH will open up to all refugee children. Newberry College will pay two college students to work with SPLASH, and a third student will be funded by the Eastern Cluster of Lutherans.

SPLASH is just one way LFS is supporting Somali Bantu children's education. The South Carolina State Department of Education gave LFS a grant for services to the Somali Bantu, including liaison between the Bantu community and the schools.

To help schools understand their new Somali Bantu students, several affiliates have offered orientations for teachers. In Houston, Texas, a student from the Rice University Center for Religious Tolerance did a presentation for elementary school teachers as a summer in-service, said Aaron Tate, Director of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston (IMGH). "We provided snapshots of the Kakuma camp. It opened the teachers' eyes to realize that, two weeks ago, this child who just walked into their school was in the camp, and they saw what fascinating students they were working with."

In Atlanta, a Somali Bantu mother addressed teachers on her hopes and expectations, said Leanne Rubenstein, Associate Director of Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta. "She stood up and said, 'I'd like to tell you about the Bantu,' talked about the hardship they'd been through, and emphasized that they as parents wanted their children to do well and were here to support the learning process."

RRISA's education and youth coordinator, Paedia Mixon, surveyed teachers on her young clients' academic and behavior issues, then worked with each child to set a classroom behavior goal and an academic goal -- such as to stay in their seat, or not fight, or read at the next grade level. "As a result, we have seen some great progress for some of the kids," Rubenstein said.

Journey's End encourages all refugee preschool-age children to enroll in pre-school to get used to the school environment.

Explained Ireland, "Somali Bantu children, some of whom had never been to school, didn't know how to sit and listen, and couldn't understand the teacher. We got an agreement with Holy Cross Pre-K, which has a bus, serves a free lunch, and has both half- and full-day programs." Subsequently, Somali Bantu children have been joined by Sudanese and Russian children.

Private transport pool

In Houston, Igloo Industries hired 200 refugee clients from IMGH and four other agencies. About three-fourths of those hired were Somali Bantu. "Because the job site was off the bus line, the agencies joined together to rent a bus, and provided round-trip transportation every day" for day and night (split) shifts, Tate said. "We paid for the bus through Match Grant and employment funds. Those jobs enabled many clients to become self-sufficient."

Read more about Somali Bantu resettlement.

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