When I left Wells Fargo in 2002 to start the African Development Center, I never dreamed that our work in Minnesota would be acknowledged around the globe, or that I would be invited to an international conference to talk about our community economic development work here at home. I certainly never expected to talk in Skien, Norway, about how the Norwegian community can integrate its Somali-Norwegians into its economy in terms of creating meaningful employment opportunities and entrepreneurship pathways.
Let’s step back a moment to see how this relationship came to be. It was established in December of 2007, when the Skien Kommune delegation came to Minnesota to tour our African immigrant and refugee communities and businesses. The delegation decided the work of the African Development Center and the Minnesota Somali community would be a great example for its own Somali community in Skien.
Now back to our trip. The travel was marvelous, from our classic hotel to our gracious and accommodating hosts. Needless to say, it was very difficult to leave when our week was up. Fortunately, our hosts provided a farewell meal on the last night of our stay that included a home cooked meal and deep and fascinating discussions about integration, race, diversity and the future of our countries.
Somali Norwegian Community
So what did I take from this fruitful trip? For one, I learned that members of the Somali-Norwegian community want to succeed and integrate into their new homeland, but are not sure how to do so. They have very few visible male role models to emulate. The Somali-Norwegian community is spread throughout country, although the largest number live in the capital of Oslo. This group is relatively new to Norway, and has less education than other immigrant and refugee communities. Because of the never ending civil way they went through, many are traumatized, and as a result, are not very trusting of each other and are divided along many lines.
As for Norway itself, it is a very cohesive and nearly homogenous country—there’s not a long tradition of diversity. Because of that, Norwegians tend to treat new communities such as the Somali-Norwegians as dependents or worse, children who are not capable of integrating into the society on their own. The impression I got was, “Follow our rules or else!”
In addition, the Norwegian government dominates the lives of its people, providing universal health care and a generous social welfare system, along with high taxation. This structure provides little incentive for some in the new communities to seek employment. But I got the impression that the overall Skien community really wants the Somali-Norwegian community to succeed in getting jobs, acquiring education and raising their children successfully. It seems all that was missing was a dialogue between the communities on just how to do that. I hope trips like mine serve as a starting point for those very discussions.
