ThreeSixty fall library workshop opens doors into world of religious and immigrant teens

By Tiffany Trawick, Safia Hirsi, Falastin Mohamed, Shibre Tefera Ligdi, Sadiyo Mohamed and Manal Ali

Every fall, ThreeSixty runs a six-week workshop at an area library to teach interested teens about journalism. This fall, an incredible group of mostly immigrant Muslim Somali and Ethiopian Minneapolis teens, as well as one Pentecostal teen, worked hard on stories that deepen understanding of their experiences in the Twin Cities, as well as their communities here.

Tiffany Trawick’s essay on balancing her religious beliefs with the more pop-culture-oriented student body at DeLaSalle High School shows her transition from thinking listening to unchristian music a sin, to listening to pop music in an effort to connect with her peers.

She writes: “I understood that being so uptight not only left me clueless, but also that my new classmates could not relate to me, which is not what I wanted. I can remember the embarrassing feeling that overcame me every time someone brought out an iPod, and everyone around me would bust out singing a song that apparently everybody knew…except me. I would always get reactions like “Don’t you know this song?” or “You’ve never heard of TLC ?!?” It was not good.

But I learned how to live in a more diverse atmosphere. I started to loosen up a little. I began listening to a wider range of music and wasn’t quick to stereotype others, but at the same time I never compromised who I was in my Christianity.”

Read her full essay here.

Safia Hirsi writes about the help immigrant women who have suffered domestic abuse are finding here in the Twin Cities, but also discovered that sometimes the hardest thing to defeat is their own belief that they are still under the power of their abusers.

Safia writes: “In her native Zambia, “Nagma” was reluctant to even press charges against her common-law husband because she says the man has powerful friends. Although she understands she could do so here, Nagma believes the man still wields too much power over her. So she remains at the shelter, along with her two youngest children while she seeks more permanent housing.”
The names of the sources in this story have been changed to protect their identities.

To read Safia’s story, click here.

Falastin Mohamed’s heart breaks a little more every time she looks at her sister, Ruun. Ruun was stricken with bacterial meningitis six years ago just before her family moved from Nairobi, Kenya to America. The disease causes inflamation of membranes in the brain and spinal cord, and can be lethal.

Falastin writes: “My sister’s condition worsened to the point where she fell into a coma. Doctors informed us that Ruun had water in the head and required surgery to save her life. After the surgery, my sister was left paralyzed and suffers from constant seizures. She cannot move without the aid of a wheelchair and remains in bed most of the day.”

“Sometimes I feel like I used to take Ruun for granted. I realized my mistake. I want to tell her how many she meant to all of us and how much we loved her. But I know there won’t be a response. It hurts so much that it makes me want to cry.”

Read Falastin’s essay here

Manal Ali writes a letter to her brother, who chews khat, the leaves of a shrub that grows in East Africa and is a stimulant similar to amphetamines, but is 2- to 10-times less potent, according to a December 2008 report that assessed the risk of its use in the Netherlands. To Manal — who’s name, as well as her brother’s, has been changed to protect the family’s privacy — her brother’s use of khat is a problem. It changes his behavior in ways that cause problems and worry her.

Manal writes: “When you chew khat, Mohamed, you act silly sometimes and fight with no purpose. You are always talkative, and you have difficulty in sleeping … When I talked to the school nurse about teens and drugs, she said that marijuana is the illegal drug American teens use most often. They may want to fit in with friends or groups. They may also like the way it makes them feel. Or they may believe that it makes them more grown up. They may take drugs because it seems exciting.

I think you use khat for those reasons. You’re having a hard time adjusting to life in America.”

Read Manal’s full letter to her brother here.

Shibre Terefa Ligdi explores how many women from Sub-Saharan Africa find new educational opportunities after immigrating to America. According to the United Nations, 72 percent of girls from this area of Africa never enter high school. Mardia Hamed was one of those girls. She only attended school until fifth grade before she quit school to work as a maid to earn money to help her family.

Shibre writes: “She was expected to do every thing in the house: housekeeping, cooking, taking care of the children, taking care of their livestock — like goats, cows, horses and sheep. She also washed clothes by hand, using water, which she carried on her back a long distance from a river.”

Hamed went back to school after moving to Minneapolis and hopes to help women like her get an education.

Read Shibre’s story here.

Sadiyo Mohamed still remembers her first day of school in the United States. She was a freshman in high school, and she didn’t know a word of English. Sadiyo writes about her immmigration experience, how she mourns the loss of peace in her home country of Somalia, but also how she is taking advantage of all new opportunities.

She writes: “My dream career is to be journalist who writes things that are happening in our planet and to work with United Nations. I think I can see that my dream starts now, and I’ll continue to work hard until I get them, God willing.”

Read her full essay here.

See the full issue here.

And thank you to all the students, donors, partners and students who made the workshop possible.