A Somali Community Office has opened in Fort Morgan, and it will help deal with several issues affecting the refugees and the surrounding community.

Somali elders asked Khadar Ducaale to come help their Morgan County community with issues ranging from the driving skills of the newcomers to how to find housing, he said.

The office will be an additional base from which supporters can help Somalis and advocate for them as they face learning how to live in a new country, Ducaale said.

Ducaale has been in the U.S. for about five years, coming here from India, where he had studied microbiology, he said.

After moving to the U.S., he became involved in the issues facing his fellow refugees and went to college in Rochester, Minn., for a couple of years to study social work in order to have better skills to help them, Ducaale said.

Most recently, he was working in Nebraska before being called to Fort Morgan, he said.

Somalis face numerous problems in adapting to their new nation after years in refugee camps among hunger and danger, Ducaale said.

The civil war in Somalia has raged on and off for 20 years and many of its citizens were forced to flee for their lives as the larger tribes fought for control of the nation. Often, they end up in huge refugee camps in countries like Kenya.

Some of those refugees are chosen by United Nations workers to move to more settled nations, such as the U.S. In the U.S., they are granted refugee status, which gives them the right to live and work in the country.

However, some of these immigrants need to complete paperwork or be naturalized, and the new Somali Community Office will be a place where they can get help with that, Ducaale said.

He said he plans to hold English classes in addition to those which the Adult Basic Education program at Morgan Community College offers.

Ducaale said his main goal is to help Somalis assimilate into the Morgan County culture as easily as possible, and to explain to them how to become a part of the community.

It is simply not feasible for Somalis to come to live here and stay as a population apart, he said.

“We want to make the transition easier for our people,” Ducaale said.

Somalis can be a complicated people because of their varied pasts, but they are doing their best to regain their human dignity and Morgan County is a good place to do that, Ducaale said.

Aside from the issue of learning to drive, which was covered in the Thursday edition of The Times, Somalis also find it hard to find a place to live and struggle with employment, he said.

Housing is very tight in Fort Morgan and it is very difficult to find rental units, Ducaale said. That has meant some Somalis have been forced to live in motels, which is expensive.

Other places they have found are not places they would want to stay or to spend money on improving, he said.

It would be nice to see if some developer would be willing to take a chance and build some affordable housing, Ducaale said. That would be both an opportunity for contractors and would keep Somalis spending their money in Morgan County.

Ducaale also said he would like to work with Cargill Meat Solutions — which employs a number of Somalis — to find ways his people can advance.

Until now, even Somalis who have worked at Cargill for two or three years are still in the same positions as those coming to work now, which is frustrating and disappointing, he said.

It seems like there are only two levels of employees outside top management — supervisors and floor workers — and no Somalis have made it to supervisory positions, Ducaale said.

Somalis want to learn from managers and executives what type of education they need to be desirable enough to be promoted, he said.

“We want to work with them to solve these problems, but it’s very discouraging,” Ducaale said.

Cargill’s Fort Morgan General Manager Mike Chabot said everyone at Cargill has a chance for promotion and the company works hard to give advancement opportunities to all employees of any kind.

Somalis are paid as well as any employees and pay is negotiated with the Teamsters union, so Somalis are treated like any other employees, Chabot said, adding that ethnic background is not a factor in hiring or promotion.

Cargill also offers educational programs to its employees.

Ducaale said his Somali brothers and sisters are very thankful to be employed, but they want some chances to improve their lot in life.

Ducaale also said he will work to translate documents to help Somalis to understand the legal system and other systems, which can help to make their transition to Morgan County more smooth.

Somalis also have the help of Lutheran Family Services of Colorado, which aids individuals and families with funding to become settled in the U.S., some training and help in finding employment.

LFS Morgan County Case Manager Hussein Abdi has an office in Fort Morgan. He can help Somalis with problems and can also help people in the community with issues surrounding their interactions with the refugees. His telephone number is 970-867-4388.

— Contact Dan Barker at [email protected].

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