Category: Africa

Kansas: Somalis learn to clean their apartments, landlords relieved

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I can’t really complain about this since I have advocated on these pages that Somalis and other refugees need to be taught how we live in America.  My only question is who should pay for this?  Shouldn’t this have been taught during the first 3-6 months that the refugee was in the US and taught by the resettlement agency contracted to care for the refugees when they first arrive.   Should the cost of such training be borne by the local community?  Perhaps corporate giant Tysons Food which brings the refugees to cities like Garden City to work in meatpacking be paying for this cleanliness training program?

From the Garden City Telegram:

In addition to the language barrier, many Somalis face challenges in every day life, such as learning to cook and clean in apartments much different than places they used to inhabit in Somalia.

In an effort to address these challenges new residents might be having in assimilating in their Garden City homes and apartments, Finney County K-State Research and Extension, GCCC, SRS and the Center for Children and Families held “Home Care for New Kansans,” a demonstration and lecture on how to keep a well-maintained place to live.

Linda Beech, K-State Extension agent, spoke to members of the Somali community Tuesday at GCCC. A previous demonstration was held for the Burmese community.

Beech spoke about which products to use on different places of the house and demonstrated a cleaning chart showing how often each task should be done.

She said landlords in the area helped spark the idea to provide the program to make sure new residents know how to properly clean and maintain unfamiliar appliances.

One major problem the Somalis face is learning to cook on a conventional electric stove, Abdi said.

After Beech’s program, some of the Somalis said they had problems getting accustomed to the stoves because they’re used to cooking with larger cookware, and using gas for heat.

Other Somalis said they didn’t know which cleaning and household products to use where, and that Beech’s presentation helped them understand what to use.

Most of the Somali residents live at 312 W. Mary St., a complex owned by Steve Burgess.

Burgess had said he helped initiate the program because of some of the expensive repairs he was having to do at his rentals at 305 W. Mary St. and 312 W. Mary St.

Burgess had said he was concerned about damage to stoves, carpet and appliances, and was concerned about the cleanliness of the apartments because of health concerns and damage repairs.

He said he appreciates his new tenants, but that many just haven’t learned the proper ways to maintain the rentals.

He said with the help of GCCC’s Adult Learning Center Refugee Program, and other outreach programs, the condition of the apartments has started to improve.

Read the rest of the article because there is an amusing (sort of) bit about Somali men getting accustomed to the respective roles of men and women in the US.

St. Cloud, MN man admits threatening Somalis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We first told you about this case, here.   And, to learn more about the on-going controversy swirling around the Somali issue in St. Cloud start here (or use our search function for ‘St. Cloud’).

From the St. Cloud Times:

A New Hope man who posted an online threat to shoot Somalis at a St. Cloud State University cultural event pleaded guilty Monday to making terroristic threats.

[…..]

James Scott Miller, 49, admitted posting the threat in response to an advertisement he saw on Craigslist that gave details about a Somali cultural night at St. Cloud State.

Miller has been in custody since his arrest in late March, and he was released from jail after his plea. He will be sentenced at a later date, and a plea agreement caps his sentence at 90 days.

Miller said he saw the advertisement for the Somali event on Craigslist. That ad listed the admission price at $10 per person. Miller admitted that, in response to the post, he wrote: “I’ll bring my rifle. I’ll gladly pay $10 for target practice.”

Miller admitted he posted the threat to “get a rise out of some people.”

[…..]

Officers spoke to Miller, who told them he made the post because he lives in an apartment building with a large Somali population and that he’s mad at them because “they have no respect for anyone else in this building,” according to the complaint charging Miller.

I’ve heard of this problem in apartment buildings from several places in the US.  The one that comes to mind at the moment is Shelbyville, TN where tenants were forced to move from an apartment building due to the disrespect Somalis showed to other tenants.  One big complaint I recall was that Somali drivers would dent cars in the parking lot and then not report what they did to the owner of the car.   I sure hope this guy isn’t going home to the same building!

Not everyone is fleeing Somalia

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Some are going to Somalia…..

The Washington Post published a story on Saturday that would lead readers to believe that the brutality of Al-Shabaab (Islamic supremacists) was driving everyone from Somalia.  No doubt the brutality of SHARIA LAW is responsible for the flight of thousands of refugees, but nowhere in the front page story does it mention that some Somalis from the so-called Diaspora in the West are going to Somalia to join the Jihad.*

Nowhere does it say that Al-Shabaab supporters are busy recruiting in the Somali “community” in major US cities (use our search function for ‘missing Somali youths’ for our dozens of posts on the subject), and nowhere in the story does it mention that Al Shabaab may be responsible for sending 300 Somalis across our Mexican border over the last year—Somalis who have disappeared into American Somali “communities.”  It is all about the suffering of the refugees.

Many are running from al-Shabab’s radical dictates and increasing savagery, as well as fears of a major government offensive. [Later in the article there is a mention that people fear the US is going to attack Somalia—this is the ‘US is bad’ template–ed]

[…..]

“If they could all afford to come, not a single person would remain in Somalia,” said Allawi, 37, seated with her children on the reddish, sunbaked earth a day after they arrived. “There is no freedom in Somalia, only death.”

[…..]

Yet al-Shabab, which the United States has labeled a terrorist organization, now controls large swaths of Somalia. It has imposed Taliban-like Islamic codes in a region where moderate Islam was once widely practiced. Urged on by Osama bin Laden, the group has steadily pushed into Mogadishu, importing foreign fighters and triggering U.S. concerns that the movement could spread to Yemen, across East Africa and beyond. Somalia’s government controls only a few blocks of Mogadishu and has little legitimacy elsewhere.

This strikes me as just one more story planted by the Far Left refugee industry to play on our sympathies so that we open our doors to thousands more Somali refugees this year.

For new readers, more Somalis are on the way:

For information on Somali missing youths, American citizens who have gone to Somalia to learn the Jihad trade, some leaving through Mexico, use those search words.  We have written dozens of stories on the case.  For more on Al-shabaab (sometimes spelled Al-shabab) also use our search function.

The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US (this linked post continues to be one of the most widely read posts we have ever written) in the last 25 years and then in 2008 had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.  That specific program has not yet been reopened (that we know of), but will be soon. 

Nevertheless, thousands of Somali Muslims continue to be resettled by the State Department as I write this. We recently learned that we will be taking 6000 Somalis this year from one camp in Uganda and as many as 11,000-13,000 total from around the world.

* Update:  Here is an annoying story about maligned Muslims in the US that discusses the recruitment of the poor disinfranchised Somalis and others.  I’m posting it here so I don’t lose the link—nowhere does it place the blame on the Islamic religious  imperative to fight Jihad.

Oh, and here is another link I don’t want to lose from Loganswarning, an excellent blog on Islamic supremacism—the call has gone out for Muslims around the world to fight the final jihad!

Swiss official in hot water for saying most Nigerians are crooks

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The head of Switzerland’s Office of Migration was quoted as saying 99.5% of Nigerian asylum seekers are petty criminals.  Well, that stirred things up a bit!  You think!

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alard du Bois-Reymond, director of Switzerland’s Office for Migration, has been on the job only since 1 January 2010, but if remarks he made to Swiss-German media over the weekend are a sign of what is to come, tensions over the country’s refugees policy could rise. The director told NZZ newspaper that his office will be setting up a task force which will bring together federal and cantonal offices to resolve what he referred to as Switzerland’s number one migration problem: Nigerians, the majority of whom are involved in petty crime and drug trafficking, he says.

“These people aren’t coming to Switzerland as refugees, but to make money”, he told NZZ, noting that 99.5 percent of Nigerians have no chance of being allowed to stay in the country.

His remarks prompted numerous negative reactions ranging from outrage to wonder that the head of a government office would stigmatize another nationality. Even populist media such as Le Matin went out of their way to point out that not all Nigerians are criminals, which du Bois-Reymond appeared to imply, interviewing asylum-seekers from Nigeria to tell their stories.

[….]

Du Bois-Reymond’s comments may have been aimed at reassuring conservative elements in Swiss politics about reducing the number of illegal immigrants and reducing crime, several observers told GenevaLunch, but they have stirred up a complex debate.

Even the UN agrees, most Nigerians are not in need of asylum:

Susin Park, the head of UNHCR’s (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, says the UN organization is aware that a large number of Nigerian applicants for asylum in Switzerland have been found not to be in need of international protection.

Not to worry!  It’s only boys involved in drug-related crime!

Du Bois-Reymond’s numbers outraged Mark Bamidele, president and CEO of the African Mirror Foundation, which recently set up an online African TV and radio service based in Bern. Bamidele says that while a majority of Nigerian refugee seekers are involved in petty crime it’s not 99.5 percent of those seeking asylum and “these are not drug dealers, they are boys peddling on the streets because it’s the only way they see to make some money.

Read the whole article, it is very interesting.

Feds can’t find the 300 Somalis smuggled into U.S.

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Freeman Klopott reports in the Washington Examiner: