PLEASE NOTE: Community Language and Culture Bank officially changed its name to Center for Intercultural Organizing in August, 2005 to better reflect our mission, work and values.

The Oregonian (Portland, OR) 
March 26, 2004 

BANTU REFUGEES FROM SOMALIA BEGIN NEW LIFE IN OREGON 
Angie Chuang

The first several of about 150 Somali Bantu refugees slated to be resettled in the Portland area have arrived and are adapting to life in America.

The new arrivals are part of the 12,000 Bantus that the U.S. government has agreed to resettle. The Bantus were historically a slave class in Somalia and have faced severe discrimination in modern times. Many fled Somalia's civil war and have lived for years, often decades, in Kenyan refugee camps.

"They are a unique group," said Hilary Clarke, a sponsorship assistant at Lutheran Community Services in Portland, which is the primary refugee resettlement agency working with the Bantus. "There is great joy at finally arriving, but it's a difficult adjustment because life in the camps was so different. There is so much to learn about life here."

The Bantus began arriving in mid-February, one family at a time, she said. They are being resettled in Beaverton, near a mosque they attend. Many Somali families also live in the area.

Omar Eno, a Bantu immigrant, moved from Toronto to Portland to co-found the National Somali Bantu Refugee Project at Portland State University with Daniel Van Lehman, a research associate at the university.

Eno and Van Lehman are talking to social service providers all over the country, providing them with historical and cultural information about the Bantus.

"They are people who have worked all their lives, who have adapted to a variety of situations," Eno said. "But the discrimination they suffered in Somalia, the stigma of slavery, still haunts them today."

Kayse Jama, a Somali refugee who works for Lutheran Community Services and founded the nonprofit Community Language and Culture Bank, said the Somali community has embraced the new arrivals.

Though historically the two groups have not gotten along in Somalia, life in the United States has a way of bridging those rifts, he said. The Somalis understand what it is to survive war and start over in a foreign country.

"Somali families have been cooking (the Bantus) food," he said. "Sometimes, Bantu families drop off their children at the Somali families' apartments when they have appointments."
Angie Chuang: 503-221-8219; angiechuang@news.oregonian.com.

HOW TO HELP
Lutheran Community Services is seeking contributions for emergency money -- cash set aside in case refugee families lose their jobs or have medical crises -- as well as furniture donations and volunteers willing to provide transportation for Bantu families. More information: 503-233-0042.