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Now He Can Say, “I am Shimoy!”

Saying Goodbye to Shimoy the Rancher In another life, Shimoy was a rancher of goats, camels, and cows. He insists that he loved all the animals equally, keeping no favorites. The land was beautiful and green, situated between the two largest rivers in Somalia....

Now He Can Say, “I am Shimoy!”

You Must Have Hope and Keep Going

I never got to go to school before. Right when I started going to my first school, the civil war started in Somalia. It was a terrible, dark time. Everyone was running for their life. I was very young then. We left Somalia and went to Kenya. Life in a refugee camp is very hard.

Suleban Faces Forward

Suleban remembers his early years in Somalia with fondness. Everything was so simple then. He went to school and played soccer in his free time. As he got older, he started working in a meat factory to earn a little income. Sadly, those simpler times didn’t last. War came to his home country, and Suleban,

Nora Finds Connection and Community

Before coming to the United States, Nora owned her own business in Somalia, selling coffee, tea, and snacks. She had many customers and knew a lot of people. So the isolation she felt when she moved to Minnesota was a stark contrast. At first, Nora didn’t leave the house, let alone talk to people. She

Breaking Out of the Box

“I could not go anywhere. No movement…My life was a box. I live 23 years there.” This is how Ibrahim describes living in a refugee camp in Kenya from age 9 to 32, after fleeing violence and civil war in his home country of Somalia. He was not free to travel or even leave the

Distance Learning 2.0

“I’ve never considered myself a computer expert, so I was a little nervous when I started my AmeriCorps VISTA role last August as the ELC’s next distance learning coordinator. However, I quickly learned the same lesson I now try to impart to students: Distance learning isn’t scary, and anyone can do it.” Over the last