African Immigrants Community Services: East African Culture & Art Collision

1. Biweekly two-hour Parent-Child cultural arts sessions (average 29 participants biweekly). We contracted two Somali culture and art experts who provided workshops community forums for parents. The workshops covered various topics around culture, multiculturalism, introductions to arts and art in the Somali context.
2. Bi-monthly cross-cultural Dialogues/Gatherings (104 unduplicated participants so far).
3. We have arranged Somali poets to recite poems to the youth and explain it to them what it means and what context it was for. Students were exposed to the various genres of the Somali art, such riddles (Googaalaysi, proverbs, dances and traditional games like ‘shax, laylo gobaleey and shabadaan’.
4. SAPA has served 53 Somali students at Minnesota International Middle School (MIMS) through the summer and fall sessions

AICS & SAPA

• Have completed planning, activities, roles and responsibilities: we then continued year two biweekly two-hour Parent-Child cultural arts sessions (average 42 participants monthly). We contracted Somali culture and art experts who provided workshops, community forums for parents around culture, multiculturalism, introductions to arts and art in the Somali context. College and high school students were exposed to art & culture books.
• We repeated year one's poems recitation for the youth to comprehend and decode contexts, themes and values.
• These were traditionally used as a means of transferring cultural knowledge and values to the youth. Those values included but not limited to honesty, courage, generosity, loyalty, leadership, compassion and more.
• Students learned traditions of rural, nomadic lifestyle. We continued Elders engagement with youth one on one to exchange ideas on Somali proverbs their meanings and the experiences contained.
• On year two Youth learned multiculturalism and its importance to develop as good moral character citizen and tolerance.
• Community Art experts shared literature materials written on Somali Art and Culture including the rich Somali poetry, particularly the foreign writer’s views on the Somali Art and poetry. Examples were Richard Burton, Ian Lewis and others. We proceeded with year one exercises and encounters onto the subsequent year program. On year two we served 93 Somali students at Minnesota International Middle School (MIMS) through fall and winter and spring sessions. We used STEP-UP interns to provide leadership and role modeling for the new group. They filled in as good examples and aides. Parents engaged into the project and encouraged their youth, which enhanced performance and effectiveness. Toward the finish of the mid-year session, guardians were welcome to a session where they exhibited their science projects and shared the work they did during the program.