LEWISTON — Muhidin Libah still marvels sometimes at how easy it is to make soup in this country. Back in Somalia, he said, he would have had to travel half a mile just to get water and then spend considerable time and effort heating it. A dozen years after he came to Lewiston as a refugee, it’s […]
Somalia
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
From Somalia to North Yarmouth, radio star settles into new American life
NORTH YARMOUTH — Abdi Nor Iftin’s journey to Maine started in a tiny shack in Mogadishu, Somalia, watching Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Terminator.” It was there, packed in a room with about 30 other people, that he learned his first three English words: “I’ll be back.” At an event at SPACE gallery in Portland on […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Looming crisis for Somalis who wire cash to families
LEWISTON — Once a month, Anisa Dol wires $200 from Lewiston to her parents in Somalia to help pay for their food and rent. It’s not an extravagant amount of money by American standards, but $200 means survival in Somalia. If her parents didn’t have that, she worries they’d be kicked out of their home. […]
Posted inLocal Sports
Lewiston High School soccer evolves over time, unites students and cultures
LEWISTON — “Shobow Saban” echoed through the halls of Lewiston Middle School from the muffled, crackling speakers. Curious classmates looked for him in the hallways. Some swiveled in their seats if they thought he might be in their classroom. There was a certain mystery about Saban, a scared immigrant who, along with his family, was […]
Posted inLocal Sports
Coach Abdi helps usher in new style of play
It is the way many Mainers — and beyond — have played soccer. A player kicks the ball. The player chases the ball. The player kicks it again. And chases again. And on it goes. But Abdi, a longtime coach likely won’t ever use the phrase, and you definitely won’t see him teaching it. “I […]
Posted inLocal Sports
McGraw feels career got a boost
LEWISTON — Mike McGraw took over as head coach of the Lewiston High School varsity boys’ soccer program in 1982. He had been an assistant to Paul Nadeau, the team’s coach since its inception. As 10 seasons turned to 20, and then 30, McGraw reflected each year, wondering how many more he would coach. Through […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Sharing his light: Somali refugee leads through love
Editor’s note: This essay was originally published in the Assumption College Magazine. WORCESTER, Mass. — Shobow Saban, a Somali refugee who immigrated to the United States and settled in Lewiston, lends his personal story to a fictional work, “Out of Nowhere,” authored by Maria Padian. The book, published last year and winner of the Maine […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
U.S. drone attacks militants in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia — U.S. military forces attacked the extremist al-Shabab network in Somalia Monday, the Pentagon said, and a witness described ground-shaking explosions in a strike that reportedly targeted the group’s leader. Al-Shabab had attacked the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people a year ago this month and the U.S. […]
Posted inSpecials
Sights unseen: Lisbon Street’s ethnic stores — open to all
An American poked their head into the Mogadishu Store on Lisbon Street in Lewiston and asked “Can I come in?” “Why not,” responded shop owner Shukri Abasheikh. “You are welcome anytime.” Abasheikh says that most of her customers are from Somalia, Angola, Uganda and Sudan, but her store is open to all. “We are open to […]
Posted inNew England, sj-web
Springfield, Mass., mayor: Stop sending my city refugees
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts mayor is calling for an end to refugee resettlement in his city, saying Somali families are putting pressure on already strained services in Springfield, a onetime industrial center where nearly a third of the population lives below the poverty line. Mayor Domenic Sarno is the latest mayor to decry […]