Bartamaha ( Portland):- The arrest of a Somali-American teenager in Oregon in late November for an attempted bombing sent a shock wave across the Central New York Somali community, its leaders said.
Now they say want to send a message to their fellow citizens in Central New York.
“We want to express our feelings in that we deny or criticize any form of violence whether it is Somali or anyone else,” said Hassan Gadid, a Somali community leader.
The Somali Community Association of Central New York, which community leaders formed in 2009, is working with its young people, association President Adan Warfa said.
The leaders are not worried that any local young person would engage in such an act, said Daud Ahmed, another group member. But the association is working to provide young Somalis with programs and support to help them succeed in their new country.
The all-volunteer association started to offer its first youth programs several months ago and is looking for resources to do more. It provides weekly tutoring for students and a soccer program for boys.
The money to pay for anything the association does pretty much comes out of the pockets of its members, who say they feel an obligation to help the Somalis who are relative newcomers to Syracuse.
Ahmed, who works for the Syracuse school district’s Refugee Assistance Center, estimates that the local Somali community numbers close to 2,000, including roughly 500 children.
The community leaders say they were the first wave of Somali refugees to arrive in Syracuse after fleeing a country torn apart by civil war. Some have been here more than two decades.
The early wave of refugees knew Somalia before it fell apart, so they had a chance at an early education and to develop an identity, association member Mohammed Yusuf said. That meant they arrived here determined to excel, he said.
The more recent arrivals never knew a stabile Somalia.
“The civil war in Somalia disintegrated everything,” said Ali Ahmed, association member and community leader.
The social fabric unraveled, cultural traditions were lost and so was the chance for an education, he said. The later wave of refugees arrived here with many needs, he said. Adults struggle to learn English, receive very little support in acclimating to their new culture and families tend to be isolated, he said.
The Somali youth, like American born young people, need programs to support them and goals to work toward, Yusuf said.
“So what we see is that if we don’t have something established for the youth, then there is going to be a problem. Not as big a problem like what that kid was alleged (in Oregon) but that they are going to be just wasting their time, they are not going to be resourceful, they are not going to be good citizens,” he said.
The leadership met with young people over the weekend to hear their thoughts about what happened with the teen in Oregon and to let them know they are connected to a community, Daud said.
Last month, authorities in Portland, Oregon, charged Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He is naturalized United States citizen who was born in Somalia.
The FBI said after it conducted a sting operation for nearly six months Mohamud detonated what he thought was a car bomb at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland.
The association’s most immediate goal is to secure a building where it can offer youth programs, to have a location where the community can turn for help and to have a place to be together. The association is looking for any help it can get.
“The only resources we have is human resources,” Ahmed said.
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Source:- Syr.
