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Immigrants Find Persistence Pays Off With Jobs, Businesses
By Lisa Chmelecki
LEWISTON, 29-Sep-2003 (Sun Journal) – The night before her first day of work, Abayi Munye got out of bed about 10 times to look out the window.
As soon as the sky started to lighten, she changed into her dress and covered her head with one of her favorite scarves. When her husband dropped her off at the Hill Mill, it was 5:30 a.m.
The parking lot for Fancy Stitchers Inc. was empty. The front door of the factory was locked. Every room was dark.
Munye sat on a bench and waited a half-hour before her supervisor showed up. Munye recognized the woman from her interview and introduced herself.
The woman looked at her watch, then told Munye that she didn’t have to be at work until 6:30. She would have to wait.
“I know. That’s OK,” Munye replied. “I wait right here for door to open.”
It had been more than a year since the 37-year-old mother lost her job at a clothing factory in Minnesota. Although the factory’s sudden decision to shut down came as shock, Munye saw it as an opportunity to make a change.
She and her husband and their five kids packed their car and drove to Maine, following dozens of neighbors and relatives who had already made the move.
The family stayed in a shelter in Portland for a month before coming to Lewiston.
By the time they arrived, this small city founded two centuries ago by Yankee Protestants, had become home to more than 1,000 Somali immigrants. Many of them had fled Atlanta, Minneapolis, New York and other cities in search of safer neighborhoods and better schools.
They also hoped that they eventually would get jobs that paid them enough to get off public assistance.
‘Extraordinary network’
Although finding work has been one of their toughest challenges, many – including Munye – have proven that all it takes is time and persistence.
Of the estimated 1,200 to 1,300 Somalis now living in Lewiston, city officials and Somali leaders believe that more than 70 percent of the adults are working.
Over the past year, they have landed jobs answering telephones, collecting bank debts, operating printing machines, stitching car mats, selling home-improvement supplies and caring for hospital patients.
L.L. Bean hired about 80 Somalis for seasonal jobs in its Freeport warehouses. The Home Depot hired about a dozen to work in its Auburn store. Banknorth Group Inc. has six Somali employees, and Fancy Stitchers Inc. has three.
In addition, a few Somalis have opened their own businesses.
Downtown is now home to four stores and one restaurant owned by the city’s new immigrants.
“If I’m going to be working for somebody, why not work for myself?” said Hawa Kahin, co-owner of World Fashion at 159 Lisbon St.
Kahin opened her store this summer with partner Safia Hersi. It’s a second job for both: Kahin works mornings at another Lisbon Street retailer and manages the store in the afternoon. Hersi works mornings at the store and evenings as a gift wrapper at L.L. Bean.
“At first, it was a very slow process,” said Rose Hodges, the acting director of the Lewiston Career Center. “But once employers started talking to one another, more and more employers started to call here and say, ‘I want to hire Somalis.’”
At that point, the number of employed Somalis started to multiply.
“Somalis have an extraordinary network amongst themselves,” Hodges said. “If one person gets hired somewhere, you can be certain that 10 or more will go to the same place the next day.”
Less needy
The chain reaction is reflected in the city’s General Assistance budget.
Between July 1, 2001, and June 30, 2002, 456 Somalis relied on money from the city. The following year, that number dropped to 203.
Since July 1, 2003, only 26 Somalis have accepted General Assistance.
When Somalis first started arriving in Lewiston in February 2001, many people worried that they would drain the city’s resources. Their financial burden on Lewiston was at the core of the controversial letter that Mayor Larry Raymond delivered to the Somali community last October.
In the letter, Raymond asked Somalis to encourage their relatives and friends to stop coming to Lewiston in order to “reduce the stress on our limited finances and generosity.”
For Munye, who learned broken English by watching American cartoons with her children, staying on welfare was never an option.
She filled out several applications before the Lewiston Career Center accepted her for a program that pays a person’s salary for a six-week trial period.
Having worked at shoe and clothing factories in Minnesota, Munye was an obvious fit for Fancy Stitchers, a sewing factory that makes car mats, handbags, eyeglass cases and many other items for companies around the country.
After the six-week trial, owner Bob Allen hired her at $7 an hour.
“No working, no feel good. No like welfare,” said Munye.
Munye has never been late to work. She understands enough English to communicate with her supervisors, and she is able to fit the daily prayers required by the Muslim religion into her break times.
“It’s worked out perfectly,” Allen said.
‘A learning curve’
However, not all local Somalis have entered the work force with the same ease.
Cultural differences and language barriers have prompted some companies to turn to the Lewiston Career Center for help.
The center recently agreed to pay two Somalis to work temporarily as trainers and interpreters at L.L. Bean. The giant retailer asked for the trainers after realizing that many Somali employees had trouble understanding their supervisors’ instructions.
Rose Hodges and Hussein Ahmed, a case manager who works with the career center, were also called to Dingley Press in Lisbon, where some Somali workers were angry about not being able to pray at specific times and about having to take instructions from female supervisors.
“It’s been a learning curve for us,” said Shawn Legassey, an assistant human resources manager at Dingley Press.
Over the past two years, Dingley Press has hired 11 Somalis at a starting salary of $8 an hour.
“Most of them have been very punctual. Their attendance is excellent and they are steady workers,” said Legassey. “But we have had some struggles.”
During their visit to the printing company, Hodges and Hussein explained to the immigrant workers that they must pray during their scheduled breaks and they must respect all supervisors — male or female.
The company also agreed to provide a Somali translation of its personnel policy, and to post ingredients of the snacks in the vending machines in order to help Somalis whose religious practices bar them from eating pork byproducts.
“I tell people, ‘The most important thing is to do as Americans do. You need to go with the majority,’” Ahmed said.
Concept of time.
One of the biggest differences between Somalis and Americans is their respective concepts of time.
In Somalia, being on time isn’t as important as it is in America, Ahmed said. If someone makes an appointment for 10 a.m. Monday, it would be acceptable to show up at 2 p.m. Many people do not wear watches.
This cultural difference has caused problems for some Somalis.
Allen, the owner of Fancy Stitchers, fired a Somali employee because he never showed up for work on Mondays.
Carol Albert, the Auburn manager for Manpower, a temporary employment agency, said she hasn’t had much success with placing Somalis. Many of them never showed up for scheduled interviews, their references could not be reached and some stopped reporting to their job without any notice, she said.
The Lewiston Career Center has attempted to deal with those problems by coaching Somalis on the importance of time and dependability.
“We’re not used to being strict on time,” Ahmed said. “We have different attitudes. But I tell people, ‘You need to learn to be on time — not two minutes late, not one minute late.’”
Handling pork
Some companies have found that it isn’t only the Somalis who need special training.
Hannaford, a major grocery chain, plans to hold a training in Lewiston for its managers at which a panel of local Somalis will talk about their community and their culture.
Even though Hannaford did not have any openings in its Lewiston and Auburn stores, the company wanted to be prepared to hire Somalis in the future, said Karen Epstein, a spokeswoman for the grocery chain.
One of the topics that will likely be discussed at the training is that many Somalis haven’t applied for jobs at grocery and convenience stores because their Muslim religion prohibits them from touching alcohol or pork products.
That problem should be easy to solve, Epstein said.
“If handling pork products is an issue for a Somali cashier, someone else can ring that item through,” she said.
Being prepared
Before Banknorth Group Inc. hired its first Somali employee a year ago, bank officials held a special meeting to talk with supervisors about the challenges of working with people with different languages and cultures.
After the employee was hired, the bank held another meeting where employees asked questions and expressed their concerns. The employees also got a brief lesson in Somali culture, where they learned that many Somali women do not shake hands with men.
“We’ve found that the more prepared you are, the more successful you are,” said Pamela Szalajeski, a human resources manager for the bank.
The bank now employs six Somalis, some of whom have prior banking experience.
Awil Gulid and Barlin Mohamud, who live in Lewiston and work in the filing department at Banknorth, both graduated from college in Somalia with degrees in accounting and economics.
Gulid was getting ready to start his first full-time job at a bank and Mohamud had just started working at the Somali National Bank when the civil war broke out, forcing most businesses to close.
They both fled to refugee camps with their families and eventually made their way to America. Gulid went to upstate New York and Mohamud went to Virginia.
They tried to get jobs at banks, but they were told that they didn’t know enough about computers and they didn’t have the proper certifications. It wasn’t until they came to Lewiston that they were given a chance.
Both Gulid and Mohamud have worked at Banknorth for about a year, and they have already started thinking about moving to higher positions within the company.
Matching skills
Other Somalis with specialized skills haven’t been as lucky.
Some are holding out. Instead of accepting a job for minimum wage, they are hoping to transfer their certifications or to complete courses to become eligible for better jobs.
“Matching skills is something that is a challenge,” Ahmed said.
Others have been forced to take the lower-paying jobs because they want to support their families without public assistance.
A man who worked as a pharmacist in Somalia is now working at a call center. Fancy Stitchers recently hired its third Somali worker, a former nurse in a Somali hospital. And a college professor has spent the past year behind a checkout counter.
Like Abaye, the daughter of a farmer who is over 100 years old and still works in Somalia, they are simply happy for the steady paychecks.
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