Sunday October 25, 2015
MOORHEAD – In Africa, when a child is sick, his mother might keep him out of school for weeks without notifying the school, a Somali community leader explained Saturday, and that's normal. But the same mother doing that here might be accused of neglecting the child even though that's not the case at all, he said.Omar Mohamed, a Somali community leader in Minneapolis, told the story to illustrate the gap of understanding between Somali immigrants here and local officials. He was in town to observe the introduction of a new group that could help close the gap.
The group of six men and women, called the Council of Elders of Moorhead, will serve as ambassadors for their people, helping local officials to better understand their community and vice versa. Present at the meeting were Mayor Del Rae Williams, Moorhead school Superintendent Lynne Kovash and other officials.
Hukun Abdullahi, who leads the Afro American Students Association here, said elders helped keep the peace among clans in Somalia and they can keep the peace here as well.
It came out of a meeting he had with Moorhead Police Chief David Ebinger, who asked him how Somalis resolved conflicts, he said. The chief asked the Somali community to elect elders who can work with police officers, Abdullahi said. "I'm very proud of the police and what they did for me."
Leann Wallin, the police department's community policing coordinator, said she feels officers can be more successful when they get help from the community. She added that Chief Ebinger was traveling for business and regretted not being able to be there.
Hukun said the Somali community continues to face many problems integrating. "Our main problem is employment — and the schools and the housing," he said. Local businesses are reluctant to hire immigrants who don't speak English very well, landlords sometimes take advantage of them and young Somalis are struggling in schools, he said.