Training immigrant health partners in Minnesota

BY BERLINE PIERRE-LOUIS, TC DAILY PLANET

November 28, 2011

In Irene Asong-Morfaw’s native Cameroon, the cultural opinion is that “boys are the heroes and boys can’t get in trouble.” This mindset, she feels, prevents boys and men from having to be responsible for their sexual health. Asong-Morfaw says that a woman may know that there are ways to prevent pregnancy or STI’s but if her husband or partner does not approve of birth control or condom use she may feel she can’t pursue these options freely. That’s why she is part of the Partnership Project, a Planned Parenthood program designed to meet the reproductive and sexual health needs of African-born persons in the Twin Cities in a culturally appropriate way. The project uses community leaders as lay health educators to deploy culturally relevant sexual and reproductive health information into the community.

Minnesota’s immigrant population increased rapidly during the 1990s, and has continued to grow, though at a slower pace, during the past decade. A large and growing proportion of new immigrants come from from East and West African countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Kenya

Somali Woman’s Illness and A Family’s Quest for Healing

Joel Grostephan

New America MediaST.CLOUD, Minn. — Samira Iman was missing for nearly two years. The 31-year-old Somali didn’t run away. She wasn’t kidnapped. She didn’t go to Africa to fight in Somalia’s decades-old civil war. She was living in St. Cloud, Minn., in a group home for the mentally ill. But Samira’s family lost track of her, and mental health officials did not help them locate her.

ST.CLOUD, Minn. — Samira Iman was missing for nearly two years. The 31-year-old Somali didn’t run away. She wasn’t kidnapped. She didn’t go to Africa to fight in Somalia’s decades-old civil war. She was living in St. Cloud, Minn., in a group home for the mentally ill. But Samira’s family lost track of her, and mental health officials did not help them locate her.

One day in the fall of 2007, Samira fainted at the poultry processing plant where she had begun working. She was taken to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with mental illness, according to her family. After she was discharged, she was either sent to a group home or released on to the street, but not to her family. When her younger brother, Yahya Iman, tried to find out where she was, Stearns County Human Services cited government privacy laws and would give no information.

Immigrant workers struggle to support families back home

By Jaclyn Evert   TC DAILY PLANET

Semenyo Ahli gathers stray carts in the Wal-Mart parking lot on University Avenue in St. Paul. He came to the United States four years ago for economic opportunity and to attend college to become a registered nurse. Despite being qualified to work as a nursing assistant, Ahli has been unsuccessful in finding a second job in addition to Wal-Mart. However, no matter how tight the money gets, Ahli still sends money back home to Togo every month. “I have brothers and sister back home,” he said. “And my dad is not working, so they use the money for food.”

“I got a job here because of my friends,” he said. “They helped me to get a job here. I did apply to Target when I first started looking for a job, but I didn’t get it.” The $8.20 an hour he earns from pushing carts has to cover not only his living and education expenses, but also to support his family back in Togo, Africa. His family largely depends on remittances to survive, but sending $300 monthly is becoming a financial burden. Recently, his hours at Wal-Mart were cut from thirty-six to twenty hours a week. Like Semenyo Ahli, several of his fellow employees have reported with frustration that their hours also have been cut recently.

Store managers at Wal-Mart on University Avenue declined to answer any questions.

Something You Should Know About African Immigrants in the US …. Pass It On

by Nelima

Over the weekend I was chatting with some friends about the need for mentoring programs for young Africans. I was taken back to the time when I was part of a forum on getting immigrant girls to think about college. I was assigned to a group of about six African girls and we started to explore interests and career ideas. What struck me the most was that all, but one of these girls were not sure about going to college. “How will I make college when I don’t know if I’ll finish college?”  said one. This was such a different attitude from my high school days. Granted not everyone was expecting to go to college, but I’d never heard anyone say that they weren’t sure they’d make it through high school. And even most of those who didn’t make it to college were hindered mostly because of limited space and funds, but if the opportunity was available they would go to college.  

With that in mind, I would like to share some excerpts from a page on African immigrants to the US, which I found on Wikipedia a couple years back. Feel free to share, feel obligated to share if you are a mentor.