LEWISTON – Some people have a knack for networking, a warmth that allows them to easily make friends.

Somali native Ismail Ahmed of Lewiston falls into that camp.

Since arriving in Lewiston in 2001, the self-employed consultant has become an unofficial ambassador for anyone who wants to know more about Somalis. He’s one of the go-to people for for new immigrants building a life here.

And he’s still deliriously happy about finishing the college degree he started in Somalia, and earning a masters degree at the University of Southern Maine Lewiston-Auburn College.

“My dreams were to go to college and get advanced degrees,” said Ahmed, 37. He used to idolize highly educated people. “I had a cousin who was the first graduate of the extended family to go to college,” Ahmed said. “I used to touch her head and hope that some intelligence would ooze from her and come to me.”

As he talks a smile rarely leaves his face.

When he arrived in Lewiston, he recalls being awed by the Lewiston Public Library.

“When you grow up and you don’t have the luxuries of having such stocked libraries, once you arrive here you go crazy. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, I have to catch up on the readings.’ … For me it was a gold mine.”

The library was the first place he studied, made friends, began networking.

In his early days in Lewiston he found work at call centers. Friends invited him to go to the chamber of commerce’s “after hours” meetings.

One thing led to another. He volunteered to help others prepare their taxes. Volunteers he met invited him to speak at the Rotary Club. After speaking there, then L-A College Dean Betty Robinson gave him her business card. To Ahmed, meeting a college dean was like meeting a rock star.

“She said, ‘You’d be a wonderful student at our college'” and invited him to meet with her. “I thought, ‘Wow, this man is riding high. Having tea and meeting the dean,'” he recalled with a laugh. Robinson told Ahmed the college would help him become a student.

Once a student, he made himself practically a resident of the college’s writing lab. He spoke English, having started learning the language at a refugee camp in Kenya, where he spent eight years. But coming up to the college level required higher skills, he said. Other students finished assignments in 15 minutes. “I was there until they shut the lab,” he said. “I was shaking in my boots.”

He joked that his dream of going to college “was a nightmare” because he was afraid of failing. When his first semester ended, his lowest grade was an A-minus.

He continued to make friends and connections. He founded the International Student Association of Lewiston-Auburn. He won awards for being an involved, outstanding student. Classmates gave him rides. Administrative assistants offered him food when leftovers were handy. He was at the college so much people would joke and tell him to go home. “I said, ‘Until I get that degree, I’m not leaving.'”

After graduation he moved to Baltimore and worked in refugee services. Saying he fell in love with Maine, he was back in Lewiston within a year, working for Catholic Charities of Maine as a cultural skills trainer.

He then started his own consulting services, STTAR (Support, Training, Technical Assistance and Resources) of Lewiston. His agency stresses self-sufficiency with refugees, Ahmed said.

Today, he sees himself as a bridge between the Somali and native communities. He’s involved in several organizations, the Lewiston-Auburn College, Tri-County Mental Health, the Trinity Jubilee Center, Maine People’s Alliance. On a recent afternoon he was meeting with Advocates for Children about creating a partnership to help Somalis with their teenagers.

He receives e-mails asking all kinds of questions. An Edward Little High School student wants to know about Muslims. “Or, ‘I’m from the synagogue. We’re having a meeting tonight. Can you come and talk about your experience?’ Or ‘I’m from the Children of War. Can you come and share with us?'”

Some who have never met a Somali may not have positive thoughts about what they’re like, he said. If after meeting him they change their minds, “I feel good,” he said.

Reflecting on the networking he’s made in Lewiston-Auburn, Ahmed said many people helped him. “The mentorship and the love I’ve received in this community is not something I could ever repay. It’s just wonderful.”