Collegiate Times

Learning a different language to get a job and support a family is the hardest challenge that Somali Bantu refugees encounter on American soil.

My name is Laura García. I come from Monterrey, Mexico — two flights and a 3-hour drive away. I came to Virginia Tech as a part of an exchange program with my home school, Tec de Monterrey.

Every summer a group of students comes to Virginia Tech to work with the Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships (CSECP). Led by a fearless educator, Michele James-Deramo, the center works in community development programs with the refugee community in Roanoke. This year, I am part that special group and I hope to share my experience with you for the upcoming weeks.

My story begins here, in Blacksburg. For the next four weeks, I will try to recreate what I see and learn from my class work with the Somali Bantu refugee community in Roanoke. So far my contact with the community has been somewhat limited: I attended a Board Meeting of the elders at Landsdowne, I baby-sat 2 year-olds so their parents could pay attention in their ESL class and I am working with a classmate to build a website for the community.

For the next couple of weeks my work will be the same: Trying to help in anyway possible. It could range from cleaning and reading stories for children, to explaining how banks and supermarkets work and teaching children how to write their own name.

It’s hard to imagine a life without ever knowing the soft glow of a light bulb, the sound of cars passing by or even the pitter-patter of water flowing out of a faucet. It is hard to imagine that waking up tomorrow is not a guarantee. It hard to imagine setting foot on an airplane for the first time only to land in a different continent, full of strange people who speak a language unknown to you.
This is the story of the Somali Bantu who have been relocated to a resettlement community in the United States.


A little bit of history    

Brought to Somalia as slaves by the Arab trade routes in the 1700’s, the Somali Bantu have been a minority discriminated against for centuries. Since its relative independence from European rule in 1960, Somalia has been a war-ridden country, experiencing endless fighting amongst internal factions hungry for power. Recently, Somalia has been without a stable central government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre fled the country in 1991.

The Somali Bantu have suffered the cross fire between the government and the rebels caught in warfare. Having their lands stolen, their women abused and their men killed led to a mass exodus of all Somali Bantus.

Some found refuge in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Tanzania, but eventually have all been relocated to refugee camps in Kenya.

In 1999, the United States government recognized Somalian refugees as a priority. By 2002, 12,000 Somali Bantu were moved to the Kakuma refugee camp to be interviewed by U.S. Immigration for resettlement.

Those Somali Bantus who were allowed to resettle in the States were sent to cities such as Denver, Tucson, Manchester, New Hampshire, Burlington, Vermont, Atlanta, Columbus, Ohio and San Diego. Last year, 4,189 Somali refugees were accepted into the United States.


The Pilot Street Project

The Pilot Street Project began with a phone call to the Roanoke Refugee and Immigration Office from Michele James-Deramo.

“The program opened its doors in February of 2006 to serve the many needs of the 110+ African refugees who were placed at Maple Grove Apartments in Roanoke, which was located on Pilot Street in northwest city,” states the program’s web page.

Since then, the program has relocated to four different communities in the Roanoke area: Landsdowne, Jamestown, Indian Village and the Villages at Lincoln. Students involved with the project normally help with ESL classes, tutoring, organizing activities for the kids or mentoring families through the adaptation process to life in the United States. The program has grown and is now forecasting to impact approximately 300 refugees by the end of the year.


Upcoming Attractions

On Saturday, June 19th, coinciding with the yearly remembrance of Juneteenth and the end of slavery in the United States, the Somali Bantu community will be very busy. It will host a soccer game at 5:00 pm against its brothers from North Carolina in the soccer fields adjacent to the Roanoke Carilion Clinic.

The Roanoke team beat the North Carolina team the last time a match of this nature happened. The rematch promises to be an exciting event. As soon as the match ends, the whole congregation will migrate to the wedding reception of one of the board member’s sisters. As a part of the student group working with the Somali Bantu for the summer, I have been asked to attend both the match and the wedding.

So, as the weekend unravels I will keep my eyes and ears open to capture as best possible the unbreakable spirit that this community shares. My purpose is to show you through my experience in Roanoke and through being an immigrant myself, the stories of the Somali Bantu.

A wedding, a soccer match, and hopefully in the next weeks a summer camp for kids, will prove excellent starting points in understanding a people whose journey started centuries ago in Africa and now has brought them to the United States.
   

A version of this article appeared in the Jun 17 issue of the Collegiate Times.