Living a life that Matters

The Somali Bantu community is a smaller sect of people from Somalia that reside around the Juba and Shabelle rivers in the south. After to feeling to Somalia and Tanzania, many of these refugees were located to the United States. Tucson is one of the cities that many of these refugees are now starting over in. Phoenix also has a growing Somalian Bantu community and this year I started volunteering at the Somali Bantu United Association of Greater Phoenix as an ESL instructor. The Somali people and the Somali Bantu don’t get along too well. Many have carried their years of conflict here to the U.S. as they are a large honor culture. But with the efforts of Peace Catalyst International, there has been a huge answer to prayer recently. Both cultures have decided to put aside their differences and work together. We don’t know what this looks like, but God is definitely working. We held a meeting today at a Somalian coffee shop over tea and sambosas to discuss what the future lies for the community and us instructors. Praise God!