The economic roller coaster we’ve all been riding has taken some of America’s newest arrivals for a ride too.
Refugees who were recently resettled are finding it hard to get their feet on the ground. And even refugees who’ve been in the states for a few years, are having a tough time.
This week we’re looking at the challenges refugees face during these uncertain economic times. In part two of our series “Starting Over,” reporter Sadie Babits brings us this story of a family from Somalia who has found some financial stability in the culture they brought with them.
Dadiri Nuro sits at his kitchen table talking to a friend on his cell phone, which is never far from his ear.
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| Starting Over: Refugees In A Down Economy Audio Slideshow |
Nuro is a refugee from Somalia living here in Boise, Idaho. Somali refugees call him at all hours of the day needing help or advice or just to chat.
As Nuro talks, his wife Fatuma has their daughter in a sling, resting on her hip as she cooks. Life, Nuro explains, is busy these days working nights, raising five children and handling a lot of phone calls.
Nuro was still a boy when civil war broke out in Somalia in the late 1980s.
Dadiri Nuro : “At the time the civil war occur my dad was wounded. My mom also wounded. They him seriously and they took him. My brother even up to now we don’t know where he is.”
And Nuro didn’t escape the violence. He pulls his pant leg up to show the long scars that cover his leg.
Dadiri Nuro: “ They just beat me, what they call, like a big stick! They beat me here so when I came to Kenya my leg it was pain.”
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| Starting Over: Refugees In A Down Economy Audio Slideshow |
He and his family fled Somalia, traveling by foot for 16 days until they reached the border of Kenya. He ended up in Kakuma - one of the world’s oldest and largest refugee camps. It was there that he created a plan through relief agencies to get children off Kakuma’s streets and into school.
Dadiri Nuro : “There is a lot of youth they don’t have any parents. So they are living alone. Many of the youth quit school because of problems they have.”
Problems like drug and alcohol abuse. His organizing earned him the name “Human Right.” Because of his leadership some 300 kids returned to school. But by that time Nuro and his family were getting ready to leave Kakuma to be resettled in America.
Dadiri Nuro: “We get here in the United States September 27, 2004.”
Nuro’s family landed in Boise, which is designated a “preferred community for refugees.” With eight months of federal help, Dadiri Nuro wasted no time embracing his new life. He found his first job here at the “Window Cover Outlet” in Boise.
Dadiri Nuro: “We just get the material and cut it off then we just built it. We string and everything.”
But business slowed and Nuro was laid off. He now works nights at Micron Technology leading a custodial team for $8.50 an hour. It was a big pay cut but life in Boise is nothing compared to living a refugee camp.
When Dadiri Nuro arrived in Boise he put his leadership skills to work. He set about uniting the some 350 Somali-Bantu living in the Treasure Valley. By learning to help each other, they would no longer need to
rely on the federal government.
Dadiri Nuro: “We started to build our community We collected people to see how we work ourselves. How we can assist ourselves in the community.”
The Somali Bantu formed a non-profit. They elected the man once known as Human Right as president. The community turned to its Somali roots -- farming.
Dadiri Nuro slips off his sandals in the car and puts on some muddy sneakers. He’s asked me a couple of times if I brought what he calls “farm shoes” out to this field on the outskirts of Eagle, Idaho.
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| Starting Over: Refugees In A Down Economy Audio Slideshow |
In a few minutes I was wishing I had those “farm shoes.” It’s muddy out here – real gumbo - after a day of hard rain.
This three acres is now the heart of the Somali-Bantu. Dadiri Nuro gazes over this empty field as the winter sun drops behind the foothills and a chill sets in.
A few months ago, in the hot summer sun, this garden was bursting with vegetables, including an African variety of corn used to make a sort of “meal” known as ugali.
Dadiri Nuro : “We was plant corn and pumpkin, watermelon, popo, chili, lettuce, onions, cabbage, okra and zucchini.”
None of this garden splendor would have happened without some donated land and farm equipment and a grant that funded irrigation pipes and seeds.
Dadiri Nuro : “We were farmer people back home. The day we get this farm, all the people were saying it’s kind of amazing. So now we remember back home and what we’re doing. This is our favorite job.”
It’s a bit of stability in uncertain economic times and it’s a bit of Somalia in a community that’s fast becoming Dadiri Nuro’s home.
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