Hassan Omar, the President of the Somali Community Association, Columbus, Ohio had a goal of becoming an entrepreneur when he first arrived in the City of Columbus in 1998. He knew there was only one Somali business, a restaurant serving the Somali community and wanted to set up his own business. But this changed when on a daily basis he was inundated with requests from people who were in need of various forms of assistance – for interpreter, read and write letters, fill out forms and papers. He suspended his ambition of owning a business to that of serving through a platform that will help and support the people. Hassan spoke with The Immigrant on how Somali Community Association was set up, its activities, achievements, challenges and expectations.
Somali Community Association
I invited different people who are community leaders. I explained to them what we planned to do. I explained to them that this is America and some people must be ready to work for them and identify with their aspirations; talk on their behalf. We presented our vision to them and they agreed with it. We held an election and I was elected President. I have been elected three times. I am here 12hours a day. Fortunately, in the first six months, the Somali community funded the center. They paid the rent and staff. Later we got grants and donations. At that time the community was small, Somalians in Columbus were 500 to 600 individuals. But over the years the number has been increasing exponentially. Every week people are coming directly from refugee camps in Nairobi, Kenya, or secondary migration, that is people who move from other States since Columbus has been known worldwide as destination for Somali people. We opened the door in September 1999 and started operation in 2000.
Fortunately we’ve been able to help thousands of people. People came with little or without nothing and we were able to settle them down. In the early time, about 1997/98 there was only one Somali business, a restaurant called African Paradise. Today we have over 800 Somali businesses ranging from ware stores to Somali Malls where you can find ethnic food, ethnic clothing and other products. We have visible number of Somalians and also in terms of economy. We’ve worked with and helped over 30,000 people in the last 15 years. We organize the community, identify the leaders, we bring everyone together and talk about what we want.
We hope to build a strong Somali community nationwide, not only in Columbus, to make them strong so that we can have a voice. Right now we realized that the reason we don’t have anything is because we don’t have a voice out there to speak on behalf of the Somalis.
We are not resenting, we are not angry, and we just made an assessment and the result and evaluation from the result we made is that if you don’t have a voice you don’t expect anything from nobody.
Education
Up to 99 percent of Somali children who finish high schools in Columbus go straight to college which is extraordinary. I read an article recently which said Africans are the highest number of achievers in schools in the United States. We have thousands of kids who have graduated. There are a lot of Somalians supporting the economy in Columbus, Ohio, especially in the health sector and the trend is continuing.
Though when we came to Columbus, the City did not expect to receive a large number of people and so plans were not made for such large population at a time. There was no system in place to help and welcome new immigrants. We became like self-made immigrants. We are tax payers and we have a huge work force which pay taxes and we believe we pay up to $9 million in taxes annually, or even more.
We educate and mobilize the Somali community to carry out all responsibilities required of them including voting during elections. We vote as a block. We teach and tell the people that voting during an election is the only way to pick somebody that will represent them well and take up their issues. We don’t care about the party, we care about the issues that affect us. We encourage the people to vote based on the issues.
However, we don’t get enough support from the City of Columbus. Right now there is no single Somali organization getting support from the City of Columbus in terms of funding to support and help people who are learning English, seeking jobs, after school program, youth programs, housing and safety. They are not looking into the needs of the community except the negative aspects.
Somalians are good citizens and we are happy to be living in Ohio. We would like to see Somalians in the Law Enforcement area, we don’t have that. We would like to see that.
Stigmatization
We feel wrongly labeled some times and it is an agony. The man that recently attacked people at a restaurant in Columbus was credited to be a Somalian by the media without proper investigation. The man was eventually discovered to be from West Africa. Story like that creates fears in the community. It is singling the community out for labeling and stereotyping that tarnishes image and stall our progress.
For instance on the incident at the Nazareth Restaurant, we will invite the media and make a press release on issue. Regularly we have communication with the community through worship places, business community and community centers. We communicate immediately there is an information. We ask ‘do you know that person?’ I will be the first person to know about it or the religious leaders because they need to take to the person to the funeral if there is a case of fatality. But in the recent case, after six hours and when we could not get a response I realized immediately that that person that committed the crime was not from Somalia.
Events
On Saturday February 21 we will be inviting people to the 4th Anniversary of the Somali Script where we write in Somali language. We have Somali alphabets. I reach out to the community leaders and the worship places to bring certain number of people to attend so that we can get to the grassroots. We don’t have problems getting people together.
New refugees
There are resettlement agencies that are in charge of bringing in new refugees. They are responsible for renting, empowerment, to get a job and at least to take care of the first six months. Later on people come to us. Before they used to send them to us to Learn English as a second language but we are no longer doing that based on politics. However, people come here for any issue. We get calls and emails from companies requesting for job seekers and we have no problem meeting the demands.
Police and Fire Service
We’ve had several conferences on how to have the minorities work in the Police Force and Fire service. We just had one recently with the Police. We are the second largest Somali community in the United States. Overall there are about nine police officers and some fire fighters but in Columbus we have zero. No police officer and no fire fighter of Somali community in the Columbus Police or Fire service. It is not just about meetings and efforts. We want to see result. We need somebody to do something and not somebody who is talking something. We want somebody who is going to say ‘I am going to hire a person’. We have the young men who have the capability, who are educated and have ability to pass the test in English language and are physically fit. They do a lot of Public Relations that they will hire but we need action.
(Culled from The Immigrant, USA)
I invited different people who are community leaders. I explained to them what we planned to do. I explained to them that this is America and some people must be ready to work for them and identify with their aspirations; talk on their behalf. We presented our vision to them and they agreed with it. We held an election and I was elected President. I have been elected three times. I am here 12hours a day. Fortunately, in the first six months, the Somali community funded the center. They paid the rent and staff. Later we got grants and donations. At that time the community was small, Somalians in Columbus were 500 to 600 individuals. But over the years the number has been increasing exponentially. Every week people are coming directly from refugee camps in Nairobi, Kenya, or secondary migration, that is people who move from other States since Columbus has been known worldwide as destination for Somali people. We opened the door in September 1999 and started operation in 2000.
Fortunately we’ve been able to help thousands of people. People came with little or without nothing and we were able to settle them down. In the early time, about 1997/98 there was only one Somali business, a restaurant called African Paradise. Today we have over 800 Somali businesses ranging from ware stores to Somali Malls where you can find ethnic food, ethnic clothing and other products. We have visible number of Somalians and also in terms of economy. We’ve worked with and helped over 30,000 people in the last 15 years. We organize the community, identify the leaders, we bring everyone together and talk about what we want.
It is noteworthy to say that people who came to us as refugees are today citizens of the United States of America. Those who came empty handed, some of them, are millionaires. The kids we used to give after school programs are doctors. I feel like blessed with this progress.It is noteworthy to say that people who came to us as refugees are today citizens of the United States of America. Those who came empty handed, some of them, are millionaires. The kids we used to give after school programs are doctors. I feel like blessed with this progress. I know many individuals may not like me because I believe I grew up in a country where you have like a cross weather and where like sheep you have to me shepherd. They are safe, they have what they eat but you need to watch their own back to help them. So if there is somebody committing a crime you have to tell the person and talk about what is good for that person. To prevent a crime, you have to tell people to follow the rules and regulations of the environment you live in. You have to tell the people that this is your own country. You are an American. You own here; you have your children; you have your business. So this is home. You have to take care of it. You have to protect your country.
We hope to build a strong Somali community nationwide, not only in Columbus, to make them strong so that we can have a voice. Right now we realized that the reason we don’t have anything is because we don’t have a voice out there to speak on behalf of the Somalis.
We are not resenting, we are not angry, and we just made an assessment and the result and evaluation from the result we made is that if you don’t have a voice you don’t expect anything from nobody.
Education
Up to 99 percent of Somali children who finish high schools in Columbus go straight to college which is extraordinary. I read an article recently which said Africans are the highest number of achievers in schools in the United States. We have thousands of kids who have graduated. There are a lot of Somalians supporting the economy in Columbus, Ohio, especially in the health sector and the trend is continuing.
Though when we came to Columbus, the City did not expect to receive a large number of people and so plans were not made for such large population at a time. There was no system in place to help and welcome new immigrants. We became like self-made immigrants. We are tax payers and we have a huge work force which pay taxes and we believe we pay up to $9 million in taxes annually, or even more.Columbus City
Though when we came to Columbus, the City did not expect to receive a large number of people and so plans were not made for such large population at a time. There was no system in place to help and welcome new immigrants. We became like self-made immigrants. We are tax payers and we have a huge work force which pay taxes and we believe we pay up to $9 million in taxes annually, or even more.
We educate and mobilize the Somali community to carry out all responsibilities required of them including voting during elections. We vote as a block. We teach and tell the people that voting during an election is the only way to pick somebody that will represent them well and take up their issues. We don’t care about the party, we care about the issues that affect us. We encourage the people to vote based on the issues.
However, we don’t get enough support from the City of Columbus. Right now there is no single Somali organization getting support from the City of Columbus in terms of funding to support and help people who are learning English, seeking jobs, after school program, youth programs, housing and safety. They are not looking into the needs of the community except the negative aspects.
Somalians are good citizens and we are happy to be living in Ohio. We would like to see Somalians in the Law Enforcement area, we don’t have that. We would like to see that.
Stigmatization
We feel wrongly labeled some times and it is an agony. The man that recently attacked people at a restaurant in Columbus was credited to be a Somalian by the media without proper investigation. The man was eventually discovered to be from West Africa. Story like that creates fears in the community. It is singling the community out for labeling and stereotyping that tarnishes image and stall our progress.
For instance on the incident at the Nazareth Restaurant, we will invite the media and make a press release on issue. Regularly we have communication with the community through worship places, business community and community centers. We communicate immediately there is an information. We ask ‘do you know that person?’ I will be the first person to know about it or the religious leaders because they need to take to the person to the funeral if there is a case of fatality. But in the recent case, after six hours and when we could not get a response I realized immediately that that person that committed the crime was not from Somalia.
Events
On Saturday February 21 we will be inviting people to the 4th Anniversary of the Somali Script where we write in Somali language. We have Somali alphabets. I reach out to the community leaders and the worship places to bring certain number of people to attend so that we can get to the grassroots. We don’t have problems getting people together.
New refugees
There are resettlement agencies that are in charge of bringing in new refugees. They are responsible for renting, empowerment, to get a job and at least to take care of the first six months. Later on people come to us. Before they used to send them to us to Learn English as a second language but we are no longer doing that based on politics. However, people come here for any issue. We get calls and emails from companies requesting for job seekers and we have no problem meeting the demands.
Police and Fire Service
We’ve had several conferences on how to have the minorities work in the Police Force and Fire service. We just had one recently with the Police. We are the second largest Somali community in the United States. Overall there are about nine police officers and some fire fighters but in Columbus we have zero. No police officer and no fire fighter of Somali community in the Columbus Police or Fire service. It is not just about meetings and efforts. We want to see result. We need somebody to do something and not somebody who is talking something. We want somebody who is going to say ‘I am going to hire a person’. We have the young men who have the capability, who are educated and have ability to pass the test in English language and are physically fit. They do a lot of Public Relations that they will hire but we need action.
(Culled from The Immigrant, USA)
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