Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Migrant workers in U.S. help sustain Somalia economy
By Christine Bonasso
The Lantern (Ohio State U.)
05/18/2006

(U-WIRE) COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ilham Jama keeps her cell phone near at all times. On a windy Tuesday afternoon, she sits at a bench beneath an oak tree on the Oval, holding the phone in her lap. Around her, students lie on the grass, sunbathing. But Jama is uncomfortable with merely sitting.

"There is too much to do," she said. "From work, I go to class, then I study. Afterward, I go home to help my parents." Jama, a work-study student in the department of social work, is earning her bachelor's degree in sociology.

Jama works on campus not only to help support her parents, but also her aunts and uncles, whom she left behind in Mogadishu, Somalia.

"My father has three brothers and sisters. My mother has seven. Because of the civil war in Somalia, there are few jobs."

According to a 2002 World Bank report, 60 percent of Somalis, such as those living in Mogadishu, are unemployed. Five million Somalis, or 73 percent of the population, live in poverty, defined by the World Bank as subsisting on less than $2 per day. The average per capita income of Somali households is $226 per year.

Jama's two siblings also help support their family.

"Only one of us goes to school while the others work," Jama said. "My brother worked his way up to become a manager at the Gap and my sister is in patient outreach." After she graduates in winter quarter of 2007, Jama will work while either her brother or sister attends school.

"We send about 40 percent of our money home to family in Somalia," Jama said. "We try to send money before they even ask."

Money sent home by Somali immigrants such as Jama and her siblings accounts for almost 23 percent of Somalia's economy, or about $700 million annually, based on statistics in the 2002 World Bank report. Money from rent and international aid amounts to only 14 percent of household income. Migrants from numerous developing countries around the globe send a total of $126 billion home each year.

Jama is one of many Somalis working at Ohio State. David Farrell, at Ohio State University's Office of Human Resources, said, "There are nineteen university employees who currently list Somalia as their birth country." He noted that there may be more than 19 Somali employees at OSU. "Because whether an employee indicates his/her 'birth country' in employment information is voluntary and not required." Farrell said Somalis hold positions as clinical instructors, clinical lab technologists, custodial workers, patient transporters, patient care associates and research assistants.

Jacquelyn Monroe, assistant professor of social work, interacts regularly with the local Somali community through their social agencies. In those encounters, Monroe has noticed Somalis' commitment to family.

"I hear it everywhere I go," Monroe said. "They tell me, 'It's such a blessing to be in the USA, we must send money home.' All of them — students, parents, even kids — sustain the whole family. The need is so great. I spoke to one man who'd gone five days without food back in Somalia."

The division of Somalis into five major clans, or family alliances, is intended to provide both social and economic security for clan members. Part of Somalis' commitment involves remaining connected with remote family members. Jama said she speaks to her relatives in Somalia once every couple weeks. She also sends money to members of her clan whom she has never met.

"Sometimes," she said, "People we don't know will call and say, 'We are the daughter of this person or we are the son of that person. We really need help.'"

Although Somalia still has no banking system, postal system or any other public service typically funded by a federal government, money sent into the country from migrants like Jama reaches the intended recipients through the clan system, which acts as a type of postal address for each citizen. According to a 2005 BBC News Web article, a recent boom in Somalia's telecommunication networks enables the estimated one to three million members of the Somali Diaspora to keep "In touch with those left behind ... The money sent by migrants not only supports families and livelihoods, but also goes into investment."

The clan system connects Somali migrants to their home country through a complex financial network, but ironically, Somalia's civil war persists partly because of conflicts among clans and with other groups. A 2003 United Nations Department of International Protection study on the Internet reports that "The clan system has proved to be a divisive and destructive force when manipulated for economic and political gain." The same UN article also notes that numerous factors, such as the end of the Cold War, stockpiled weapons provided by both the United States and the former Soviet Union, underdevelopment, government corruption and clannism, all contributed to the current crisis in Somalia.

On-going conflicts, such as the recent fighting in Mogadishu between the Islamic Courts' militia and a coalition of clan leaders prevent migrant Somalis like Jama from returning to her home.

"Somalia is somewhere I miss so much," Jama said. "I was seven when I left for Egypt. I don't remember a lot about my country — I remember a house, people. My family. I have not seen my aunts and uncles in 16 years."

The cost of supporting a significant proportion of Somalia's economy through migrants' income is high. Monroe said that many local Somalis are unable to save money for the future because they have to support so many family members. Yet preparing for the future, such as establishing and maintaining local support agencies and educating young Somalis, will play a crucial role in the country's success.

"Somalis think big," Monroe said. "They need massive assistance now. I'm working with Ilham Jama and other local Somalis on smaller projects, such as providing school supplies to kids in Somalia."

Children living in Somalia typically do not have access to proper education. A 2002 United Nations Development Programme study reported that about 10 percent of urban children age 5 to 9 and nearly 25 percent of urban children age 10 to 14 work instead of attending school. The employment rate of rural and nomadic children is twice the urban rates for both age groups.

Since arriving in the United States from Egypt at 17, Jama has worked. "I didn't go to school at first," she said. "I was a cashier at KFC in Connecticut. But my mother told me, 'No, you have to go to school.' So I came here to Columbus."

In Columbus, many young Somalis, like Jama, work and attend school. But others, such as recent migrants without any previous formal education, are failing Ohio's proficiency exams and dropping out of school, Jama said.

While student teaching in a north Columbus public school, Sahra Shirdon, a junior in English, observed a reading and writing problem among Somali students. "Many of these children can't write a complete sentence," Shirdon said.

Before coming to OSU, Jama tutored local Somali students through a program at Columbus State Community College. Jama said she fears that students who arrive from refugee camps might never learn enough to pass the proficiency exams.

"Some kids can hardly multiply," Jama said. "They're starting to quit school. But I want to show them the opportunities of education."

The situation back in Somalia is even more complicated. Somali faction leaders still control two-thirds of the country. Moreover, according to a 2005 report by the Famine Early Warning Network, a conglomeration of relief agencies including the U.S. Agency for International Development, "Seven African states are facing food emergencies." The famine affects over eight million people in African countries from Niger to Somalia, but because of the lack of internal security, the report notes, aid organizations often are prevented from bringing food and other supplies into Somalia.

The longer the civil war drags on, the more difficult it might become for migrants to help sustain Somalia's economy. But for as long as they are able, Jama said she and her siblings will continue sending money home to their aunts and uncles, who put the funds toward food, phone calls and school for their own children.

"They could use the money to leave Somalia, to stay in one of the refugee camps in Kenya or Ethiopia," Jama said, rising from the bench and gathering up her book bag and cell phone, anxious to get to class. "But if all of us left, who would be there for Somalia? By staying behind, people show they don't like what is happening to our country."

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