We were all sitting around a long table at the coffee shop...laughing, reminiscing, and enjoying some really good coffee. The door jingled, announcing a customer's arrival. When he came around the corner within sight, I gasped-a Somali! I knew that Minneapolis has the largest Somali population in America (somewhere around 50,000); I saw it for myself when I lived here for a year before internship. But this time around I had a totally different perspective. I know these people.
The next day Jessica and I ventured downtown using the public transit system. I think we spent more time that day on buses and light rails than off of them! And we saw more Somalis than I could keep track of. It was so strange, seeing a woman clad in full Somali Muslim skirt and gimbis (head covering that only leaves the face revealed). We passed a butchery that promised "halal" meat (the Islamic version of kosher). All of this against a backdrop of skyscrapers and electronic transportation and a sky that poured rain all day. I wonder what these people thought when they first immigrated here. It must have been very frightening!
You don't have to go far to find a cluster of Somali shops where you can get henna done or buy a prayer rug and some incense. They have really banded together to help ease the culture shock. Yet you can see the new coming through too. A younger Somali women, though still wearing a more modern headscarf, was using the latest iPhone. Who is reaching out to these people? The world has come to us. Are we ready?
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