The Somali Diaspora: A journey Away

Editor's Note: WardheerNews had a rare opportunity to interview Abdi Roble and Doug Rutledge of the Somali Project. The interview delves onto how the book Somali Diaspora: A journey away was envisioned. The interview is insightful, and informative.
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WardheerNews: Could you briefly describe how this project the Somali Diaspora, a journey away got started?
Abdi/Doug: After the civil war broke out in Somalia, and Abdi saw Somali refugees coming to Columbus, he wondered how he could help them. He was not a doctor or a lawyer; he was a photographer. He thought he could best bring attention to the concerns of the Somali people by documenting them.

WardheerNews: What was the aim of the Somali Diaspora project? 
Abdi/Doug:1) Provide a documentary history of the Somali Diaspora.  2) Educate the Hosting community.

WDN:How did you meet each other and got involved in the project?
Abdi/Doug: Doug got interested in photography. He bought a camera from Abdi.  From there we became fast friends. When he started the project, he realized that he needed a writer to record everyone’s story. So Doug started going to the field with Abdi, and they have worked together ever since.

WDN: For Doug: How did you ease into the community while working on the book in light of Islam phobia which has probably contributed to suspicion in the part of the community members on anyone reporting or writing about them?
Doug: Good question. I think when we first started, people were both shy of the interviews and of the camera.  However, once the Somali Documentary Project began to establish a track record, people started to understand that what we were doing was a good thing for them and their children. The other thing to say is that Somali people are very friendly folks. They might be shy of interviews, but when Somali people can see that you respect them, they will love and respect you in return.  Finally, everybody has a story to tell, and if you encourage him or her in a kind way, they will let you know that they would like to have their story told.

WDN: How did you choose the topics and the subjects for the book?  
Abdi/Doug: The chapter headings came from an interview with Hashi Abdi, who is the director of the Somali Action Alliance. Doug wanted to discuss the way in which Somali people related to the mainstream culture without using outdated concepts like assimilation.  I also did not want to impose terms from disciplines from the theories of cultural anthropology or sociology.  However, Hashi gave us a way of talking about it that seemed to make sense to Somali people.  In fact, we asked many Somali folks if they agreed with the pattern that Hashi described.  When everybody seemed to like it, I went through theories of cultural anthropology and found an Hispanic academic who described the experience of Hispanic immigrants in a similar fashion, so I used this gentlemen’s work to support what Hashi was saying.  In that way we found a way to talk about the process of immigration that was both academically appropriate and simultaneously came from the voice of the Somali Diaspora itself.

WDN: Why was going to Dadaab an important part of the project?
Abdi/Doug: When we had our first show, and gave presentation, we described members of the Somali Diaspora as having recently come from the refugee camp. Then people asked us what life was like in the camps. We really did not know. Then we realized that the story we were telling would not be complete until we went to Dadaab.

WDN:You have spent quite some time in Dadaab documenting the lives of Somali refugees in that camp, could you briefly describe the conditions of the camp, the coping mechanism of the people, are all the people in the camp awaiting resettlement somewhere or has this became a permanent home for them?
Abdi/Doug: The camp is permanent for most refugees. So few folks are resettled, that as the UNHCR explained to us, most people will not leave Dadaab, until peace comes to Somalia.  When we went to the graduation ceremony, the Imam said to the children and their parents that they cannot think about this life, but must think about something higher.  I think the spirituality of these very religious people is part of what gets them through.

WDN: What prospects are there for the youth in Dadaab, could you dissect into the lives of the youth at the camp?
Abdi/Doug: Education is very difficult. There are school systems but almost no books, pencils or paper.  Moreover, many of the teachers are themselves educated in the camp. Finally, there is a limit to the space, so that all children can go to elementary school, but there simply is not room for more than half to move on to advance grades. For girls the situation is much worse. Few young women move on to the advanced grades. Most are held back to help their mothers. Otherwise, they get married at a young age, and begin working for their own families.  Since people have little prospect of getting out of the camp, planning ahead might be difficult.

WDN:There seems to be a huge divide between the youth in Dadaab and those in the US, could you talk about that divide and how the two communities can get involved to help each other out?
Abdi/Doug: Yes, whenever we give presentations at Twin Cities International, which is a school that serves primarily a Somali community, we realize that young people have no idea what their brothers and sisters in Dadaab have to endure.  Moreover, when we make presentations in the Somali communities around the country, many people say, “we had no idea.”  However, after the young people see our presentations, they invariably ask what they can do, and the Children at Twin Cites International helped raise money for the people in the refuge camp.  Now, Twin Cities International is thinking about establishing a distance-learning program so that teachers in the school can work with the children through virtual communication.  This would mean establishing the technology to make that possible, but people are at least considering it.

WDN: You have followed the migration of Abdisalam Abdirahman family to the USA, could you elaborate on how you have come to follow such a family?
Abdi/Doug: We told the UNHCR that we wanted to follow a family, so they introduced us to the people who had passed through the necessary hoops and would soon be resettled.  We went in Nov, and we were told that those families would be resettled into the New Year.  Then we spoke with each family.  When we talked to the family of Abdisalam, we simply made friends with them quickly, and so it was obvious that we could work with them through the years to come.

WDN:The family first settled in Orange country California then relocated to Portland Main, such frequent moves  seem a trend for the Somali families in the US  could you give reasons why?
Abdi/Doug: In placing recent immigrants in the US, the state department has very different goals from Somali families.  According to outdated anthropological  / sociological theories, the state department wishes to avoid what is considers ghettoizaton.  Therefore, the state department settles Somali immigrants in areas with few other Somalis.  However, all immigrants are more likely to flourish if they live near people who speak the same language and share the same cultural values.  Moreover, as you are well aware, Somalis seem to prefer to be together more than other ethnic groups.  In addition, Americans in general seem to think that people from equatorial Africa would necessarily prefer to live in a warm climate.  They do not stop to think that people need to live where work is available and where they can educate their children.  Finally, perhaps because of their nomadic heritage, Somali people are less intimidated by moving than are many other peoples.

WDN: What are the prospects for this family now that they are in America? 
Abdi/Doug:  If by prospects, you are asking how the family will do financially, they will be okay. Their children will probably more successful then they are, but Abdisalam will be able to have food, shelter and they will be able to educate their children.  Their financial and psychological struggles will be profound, but they will survive.

WDN:  You have both been involved in helping the refugees in Dadaab; in particular you are involved in establishing a school and have an upcoming trip could you talk about that project and accomplishments?
Abdi/Doug: The $25,000 we raised, $8,000 went to textbooks for the 3 secondary schools.  Then we purchased over $5,000 worth of desks and chairs for the schools in each of the 3 refugee camps that make up Dadaab.  The three secondary schools were built by the community in each camp.  They have raised the money themselves to construct the buildings.  Then we arrived to supply the furniture and the books.

WDN: Being that the Somali community is a visual one, and one that loves everything DVD, is there a documentary film version of the book in the horizon?
Abdi/Doug: Abdi is a black and white photographer and Doug is a writer.  We want to do what we our good at.  However, the Somali Documentary Project is also blessed with the skills of Tariq Tarey, who is very good at shooting video, so SDP will certainly produce a video at some point.  Tariq has been videoing the Somali community in Columbus, OH and has recently traveled to Dadaab, so we will see where this goes.

WDN: Can you share with our readers any memorable moments in your journey in Dadaab or during the course of the project?
Abdi/Doug: When we saw Ijabo, the wife of the family we followed, in Dadaab, her face was covered, but when we saw her in California, we could see how malnourished she was.  That was shocking.  It was equally a surprise to realize how generous people in Dadaab were.  How people on the verge of starvation could possibly invite a well fed American into their hut to share what little they had was perhaps the most humbling experience that we have every had.  We both promised ourselves that we would never complain again when we left the camp.

WDN: Who was the book written for and who do you think will benefit from this book since it is written in English?
Abdi/Doug: The book is aimed both at Americans and Somalis.  We are trying to introduce American people to their Somali neighbors, and we are trying to document the history of the Somali Diaspora.

WDN: What is next for the Somali Documentary Project?
Abdi/Doug: We spent last summer in Europe.  While there, we learned how people were getting to Europe and what routes Somali people were taking to flee the war.  We would now like to document those routes and the suffering that takes place along the way.

WDN: In the beautifully illustrated photographs everyone seems at ease with the camera how were you Abdi able to capture people at such an ease?
Abdi/Doug: Because we get to know them.  Abdi believes that the camera is an extension of the photographer’s relationship with his subject.  Once the subject feels like he is your friend, or your brother, the good feelings he has with you will be reflected in the photograph.  The other thing is that people know that Abdi’s camera will always treat them with respect.  Once they know that, people get comfortable.  If they were concerned that the camera might not show them in their best light, then they would be much more shy.

WDN: What effects should this book have on youth?
Abdi/Doug: A good friend and Somali elder, when shown this project said,  “In Somalia, when you are lost, we say, ‘look back’” He went on to say that for adults, the project would have the effect of helping people to look back to their culture and to look forward to a life in America.  For children, he said, the project would help them understand themselves and their cultural identity, which would in turn, help them look forward to an American future.

WDN: Recently a young Somali boy was shot dead in front of the Brian Cole Center an epicenter for the Somalis in Minneapolis by another young man according to the Star Tribune, some elute to gang violence among some teens while parents are left in shock of coping with yet another violence that is taking their sons, while working on this book did you come across any such incidents and could you share some ideas the reason such problems are mushrooming for the Somali communities in the US.
Abdi/Doug: Our first response would be that the problem is not mushrooming.  We can understand why it might seem to be mushrooming from a Somali perspective.  However, from an American perspective, Somali children seem very well behaved.  Moreover, America has always had racial and class tensions that lead to gang violence.  The fact that a few Somali kids, who have suffered from culture shock and the horrors of war, and who are all too often alienated from an educational experience that was not designed for them, get caught up in the tensions that America threatens them with should hardly be surprising.  What is surprising is that most Somali children are conservative, well-behaved and superior achievers.  If you check the statistics, you will find that African immigrants actually do better in American schools than American kids do on average.  That, I think is what we should find surprising.

WDN: While we are on the topic of youth, most immigrant youth go through a period of “Identity crises”, while working on the book did you encounter Somali youth who question their identity and have confusion with the so called double identity (One Somali and the other American) they face daily?
Abdi/Doug: The short answer is no. We certainly encountered children with emotional problems, the cause of which might range from war trauma to cultural shock.  But it is interesting to us that Somali parents say that their children are becoming too Americanized and husbands often think that their wives are responding incorrectly to American culture.  However, the wives themselves would never say that.  It seems similar to the children.  Sure, people have a hard time being placed in schools for several reasons.  Most people in school seem not to understand the Somali child, and because the child was placed according to age and not academic achievement, he does not seem to understand the school.  The struggle to survive is profound.  However, it seems to me more complex than worrying about how to balance American and Somali identities. 

WDN: The book cover says plenty to all Somali females but in particular it is a positive depiction of a young Somali girl who while adhering to religious tradition is able to be a typical American kid, why did you pick that particular photo for the cover?
Abdi/Doug: We were trying to challenge typical American stereotypes.  Besides, we should the choices to a young lady named Nimco, and she thought that this was definitely the photograph to choose for the cover.

WDN: Do you think the photographs in the book translate and tell the stories of families devastated by the Somali civil war?
Abdi/Doug: The Somali civil war is a horrible thing.  To suggest that any photographer and writer could possible do justice to the pain and devastation that Somali people have suffered, would automatically do an injustice to their pain.  However, we have tried to tell the story of people who have endured more than human beings should ever have to endure.  To the extent that we have not done justice to their experiences, we apologize.  Nevertheless, we have tried to tell the stories that we think need to be told.

WDN Thank you

Abdi/Doug: You are well come

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- visit www.somaliproject.org

- Book Review: The Somali Diaspora - Yasmeen Maxmuud

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