Tani waa kuu muhiim adiga. Fadlan aqri.
Ogeysiis! Importante para Usted, por favor léalo. Please read!
Announcements brought to you by Cultural Bridges of St. Joseph, a committee of Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization. We are dedicated to ease your transition into our community.
by Kaylee McGovern
I’m not from Minnesota. I was born and raised in Washington state, just north of Seattle, but St. Joseph has been my other home for the last two years or so as I work toward my degree in elementary education at the College of St. Benedict.
At home, I loved hosting people and practicing hospitality, but I never knew how impactful it could be until I moved away from home for school. I often read the biblical commands to “welcome the foreigner, for you too were foreigners,” but being away from home showed me firsthand what mercy true hospitality is. Since coming to St. Joseph, many have extended welcome to me. But there are others in Minnesota who need hospitality more than I do, and I fear they go unwelcomed.
I had the privilege of meeting one of our Somali neighbors, a woman named Liin Guure, affectionately known as “Maama Liin” by her community. In my time speaking to her, I was struck by how much her answers to my questions echoed the sentiments I myself have spoken about Minnesota and about home. When asked what she missed, her answers about parents and siblings and home called forth images of my own brothers and little blue house. When she talked of the beauty of their land, the rivers and oceans and the animals, I smiled for all the times I’vebeen eager to show off pictures of my home’s landscapes.
Though her descriptions of home amazed me, Maama Liin herself impressed me the most. She was a teacher for 10 years in Somalia, and she explained that the chance to read and write and speak in English are so important to her here. She is exactly the kind of lifelong learner I want to be. Especially humbling was her answer to my question about what we can do here in St. Joseph to help Somali families feel welcome. She told us that they love to be included in community, but we also can come to them to allow them to welcome us. It was a powerful picture of someone who has every right to expect hospitality but who instead seeks to give. She doesn’t need our stuff or our jobs or our money. She needs to be seen as the giver and provider that she is. Even her affectionate title “Maama” comes from the fact everyone in the community comes to her for help and advice. She is known as giving, helping and kind in her own community. I feel privileged to know I live in a town where someone like her resides.
I could write about the social, academic, and yes, even economic benefits of having refugees in our community. There are many. However, I think Maama Liin’s story speaks for itself, showing we are the fortunate ones that she would seek a home in our midst. She comes from a wonderful place, full of beauty and abundance and she offers herself and talents freely to those around her. Anywhere she chose to live would be blessed to have her, and yet she lives here in St. Joseph.
While Maama Liin is a person I won’t soon forget, I know she isn’t the only person we’re lucky to have here in our community. Before I met her, I knew that welcoming the stranger was the right thing to do. Now, I’m quite sure there’s no greater privilege.
If you have any questions, please contact Juliana Howard at 715-791-8976 or Jamal Elmi at 320-310-2351.
Kaylee McGovern, College of St. Benedict student, talks with Liin Guure.
