An Article About the Literacy Program

"These are people who are incredibly strong and have survived unbelievable things.” Sherry Byrnes, family literacy coordinator
Somali Bantu teens find a welcome in Buffalo

By MADELEINE BURNS NeXt Correspondent Updated: 06/25/08 7:11 AM
Imagine... You’re a young teenager. Your country has erupted into civil war, There’s fighting, violence, genocide, enslavement, and you witness unspeakable horror. You make it to a faraway refugee camp, but may find yourself separated from your family. Finally, in a desperate international relief effort, the United Nations rescues you. You’re sent to another country, and although you’re finally out of danger, everything about your new home is different and bewildering. You cannot read, write or understand your new language, and nobody understands the language you speak. How can you possibly survive?
You no longer have to imagine.
This story is a reality for thousands of Somali-Bantu children and their families. They fled their native Somalia to Kenyan refugee camps and have ultimately been placed in the United States. More than 13,000 Somali Bantu refugees now live in the United States, and some call Buffalo their home. The majority of the Buffalo families reside on the East and West sides of the city, and their school-age kids attend Buffalo Public Schools.
Omar Mberwa, tall, athletically built and soft-spoken, reflects upon adapting to the United States. “When we first started out here, it was hard for me to make friends,” he says. “It was hard to communicate with people, with American people.” Now wearing jeans and a brightly colored T-shirt, he looks like any American teenager.
Maryam Bakar still wears her traditional African dress and headscarf, called a hijab. She agrees with Omar. “When we came here, everything was different. The houses, the people, the clothing, the food,” she says. “So we had to get used to it, and it was really hard.”
“When I came here, I was shocked,” says Yusuf Abdi in excellent English. “I was like, ‘Hey, this is not what I was told back there!’ I was told that in America, you pick up money off the ground!”
“These are people who are incredibly strong and have survived unbelievable things,” says Sherry Byrnes, family literacy coordinator at Literacy Volunteers. “To come halfway around the world from a tropical country, and land in Buffalo, with snow up to their eyeballs.”
Last September, in an effort to assist the acclimation of Bantu teens, Literacy Volunteers teamed up with the Junior League of Buffalo to create the Somali Bantu Youth Council, a committee for those who are a part of, or who care about, the Bantu community.
For the first time in their lives, they have had to “cope with public transportation, health care systems, education systems, you name it,” says Byrnes. The committee focuses on “fun education” through outings, as well as college prep, job readiness, tutoring and leadership skills. So far, there are 14 Bantu teens who meet weekly and make up the Council. They have played indoor soccer, gone to the movies (a first experience for many), attended a play at the University at Buffalo, taken a computer class at D’Youville College and toured the Buffalo News, WBFO radio, Roswell Park and UB.
Unlike many American teenagers who have been raised in a privileged culture, these kids, coming from refugee camps that are grim places, do not take anything for granted.
Ask a typical American teen what are some of the best things about the United States, and you may get answers that range from iPods, to Facebook, to the mall on Friday night. But ask one of these Somali teens what they most appreciate about being here, and the nearly unanimous answer is a real eye-opener: “Water.”
There’s tap water everywhere in the United States, but it’s a huge luxury in Somalia, where clean water is a rarity and people must stand in long lines extending from wells that house the precious resource.
Shaban Muktar is a talkative boy with a great sense of humor who good-naturedly takes ribbing about his height from his peers. One of his favorite parts about living in the United States is the washing machine. “Every time you want to wash your clothes, you just put them in the laundry,” he says. “You do not have to go to the river to wash them, you do not have to use your hands.”
Many other aspects of assimilation into U. S. culture have been enjoyable for the Somali kids. You can find them on the soccer field, the baseball diamond, the football field, at the bowling alley and in the swimming pool. You might spot them at the Anchor Bar, wolfing down Buffalo chicken wings. Maybe you’ve heard them playing piano and violin, or have read something they’ve written. Perhaps they’ve even told you how much they hate snow.
“This project is so amazing. Doors are opening. These kids are going to succeed,” says Byrnes. As part of the Council’s agenda, the teen members created a presentation for the Junior League, to tell their story. They declared, “You need knowledge to succeed.” To gain that knowledge, they believe, schooling and education is of the utmost importance.
“I didn’t know English. It was hard to understand English. It was difficult to learn English,” says Ali Mohamed, a polite teen with a mile-wide smile who attends Grover Cleveland High School. “But here, in the United States, every
day we go to school. We get books, we read, we understand, we learn.”
With education comes a chance for success, believes Yusuf, who is enrolled at Lafayette High School. “I’ve gained a lot of opportunity in the United States,” he says. “There is communication, the opportunity to be educated. I have the right to go to school, I have dreams that here I can accomplish. Everyone has their own goal, and it’s possible,” he continues, “That’s what I love about the United States.” Yusuf aspires to be a neurosurgeon, and has received recognition for his volunteer work in the community.
The teens realize that not all in the United States are fortunate. Maryam believes the fabric that makes up communities is actually stronger in Africa than it is in the United States. “In Africa, there are not as many homeless people” she says. “It is easier to be taken care of and be a part of a community [in Africa] even if you do not have an education.” The teens also have observed that crime and violence exist here, as it does in Africa.
On the positive side, Salim Musa points out that most American food is delicious. He also likes the easy mobility here. In contrast to the need to walk everywhere in Africa, he observes, “you can drive, just get in a car and visit people! There are good roads here, so you can travel easily.”
Bilal Musse discusses something almost every American has access to: a telephone. “When you wanted to talk to somebody, there were no phones,” he says of Africa, “you had to go and get the person.”
As the Bantu Youth Council grows, its message of acceptance remains strong and clear.
“One can look at them and think of them as so exotic and different from us because of their experience and where they come from – and if you’re really small-minded, because of the color of their skin,” says Byrnes. “But guess what? They’re just like us.”
Madeleine Burns is a sophomore at City Honors.