, LEWISTON – Iman Osman, Abdinoor Hassan and Osman Bashir flashed big smiles as they posed in their graduation caps.
Like all members of the Class of 2009, there was a lot of pride when they received their diplomas June 5, but the ceremony was extra special for them. They and Fatuma Hassan are the first four Somali Bantus to graduate from Lewiston High School, said their mentor, Sheikh Mohamed, spokesman for the Somali Bantus of Lewiston.
“I have never dreamt myself to be one of those graduates from high school, because there was no Somali Bantu ever who graduated from high school in Maine,” Osman said. “It was a night I will remember for my entire life.”
Considering they arrived in Lewiston in 2005 with little schooling and speaking little English, their graduation is a huge achievement for them, their families and the faculty.
Osman said he’s thankful to his family, the community and his teachers. “Most of them were very helpful,” he said.
As he is with all graduates, Principal Gus Leblanc said he’s “extremely pleased that these students have succeeded in meeting all the requirements for graduation.” They distinguished themselves by working hard while overcoming obstacles, Leblanc said.
Somali immigrants began arriving in Lewiston in 2001. The Somali Bantus, which are a different group, came to Lewiston in 2005. They now number nearly 1,000, Mohamed said.
Like the other Somalis, they fled because of killings and war in their lawless homeland. The Bantus lived in farming villages where there were few if any schools. Most were illiterate.
After fleeing to Kenya on foot, dodging murderers and thugs, they spent years in refugee camps before coming to the United States.
During an interview, the three graduates didn’t talk much about Somalia. They were young when they left. They did say that each of their fathers and some of their siblings died in Somalia. Bashir had eight sisters and brothers. “Four died, two in Kenya, the rest in Somalia.”
They said they had good experiences at Lewiston High.
When Bashir began high school, “I never had school. I came to Lewiston not knowing any English.” Initially he didn’t have friends. By the time he graduated he had lots. His high school years “went by pretty fast.”
They spent their first year in English Language Learner classes, where they learned English and grammar. Unusually fast learners, in their second year they asked their guidance counselors to take them out of ELL classes.
“I had to take a test. I passed,” Bashir said. After doing well enough on English proficiency tests, they were mainstreamed.
In ELL classes students can’t earn core credits, just elective, they explained. If they stayed in ELL classes longer than they needed to, they were using valuable time not earning credits to graduate. At age 20, students must leave the high school and attend adult education.
Their mainstream classes were hard, they said. “I talked with my counselor. She encouraged me to continue, no matter how hard. I really tried,” Bashir said. At first his grades were C’s. “My junior year I did good. I started getting B’s and A’s. My senior year was even better.”
Throughout school they worked to learn English and their subjects. They took extra classes, did extra work after school, studied at the library and at friends’ homes. School was important, they said.
Their reward was their graduation, their future. The ceremony was “nice,” they said. Their families are proud. “I’m the only graduate from my family,” Bashir said. “They never graduated from high school or any school.”
Hassan’s uncle and aunt and friends were there. When his name was called out they cheered, he said with a smile.
Colby College anthropology professor Catherine Besteman was there, too. A Somali Bantu author, 20 years ago she met Osman’s family in Somalia when he was a baby.
“I knew his extended family well,” Besteman said. “They were our closest friends in the village. None were educated since there was no school. They were hardworking subsistence farmers.”
Because of what they endured, the war, losing family, fleeing to Kenya through the desert, years in the refugee camp, “learning how to attend school and how to speak English in only a few years took more work than your readers can imagine,” Besteman said.
To get their high school diplomas, they had to do 12 years of schooling in four or five years.
This August, Hassan, Bashir and Osman plan to attend Central Maine Community College in Auburn.
Bashir wants to work in law enforcement. Hassan wants to become an auto mechanic. Osman, the secretary for the Somali Bantu Association, wants to be a social worker.
