METRO 100: American Refugee Committee

Minneapolis-based humanitarian organization helps displaced people in countries like Rwanda, Pakistan and Somalia.

Said Sheik-Abdi left his native Mogadishu in 1993 and is now a program manager with the American Refugee Committee.

Image credit: Photo by Tate Carlson

Recommended by the Editor

METRO 100: Good

METRO 100: Evil

By: Dana Raidt

Editor’s note: The following story is excerpted from our METRO 100 list – described ever-so-humbly as “the best damn list ever” – which includes 62 people, places, organizations and other community features we think make the Twin Cities great.

See our full METRO 100 (Good) list here; and the evil (in a good way) list here. As always, we appreciate feedback, and encourage you to comment on this story, post on our Facebook page or tweet us @metromag using the hashtag #metro100.

Said Sheik-Abdi has just returned from a five-day humanitarian trip to Mogadishu, Somalia. He brings back with him dire stories of disease, starvation and death stemming from the famine oppressing East Africa.

“The situation is difficult to express in words,” he says, interrupting himself to recall specifics: crowded and unsanitary hospital wards, starving families walking three weeks to get to bare-bones refugee camps, illiterate mothers unable to track down medical care for dying children. In the Western world we can’t help but imagine such tragedy in theoretical terms. But for the 11-year Minneapolis resident, the situation is anything but abstract—not just because he encountered it face-to-face, but because it’s happening in his hometown.

Sheik-Abdi, who left his native Mogadishu in 1993 at age 22 (two years after the start of an ongoing civil war), is a program manager for Neighbors Initiative. It’s the newest relief program put forth by the American Refugee Committee, a Minneapolis-based humanitarian organization that helps displaced people in countries like Rwanda, Pakistan and Somalia. He and the ARC, with the blessing of the U.S. State Department and several corporate, civic and non-profit program partners, are at the helm of a first-of-its-kind movement.

The ARC is seeking to bring both long-term development and immediate aid (medical services, sanitation infrastructure, water and other essentials) to the famine-stricken country, as well as awareness (through education, fundraising, music events and other initiatives like a Somali food truck) to the Twin Cities. What’s unprecedented—and has helped the program gain kudos from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—is that it is doing so largely under the leadership of Somali nurses, doctors, volunteers and administrators like Sheik-Abdi, and is backed by large-scale grassroots support from the local Somali community. “This program is made in Minnesota by Minnesotans,” he says.

President and CEO Daniel Wordsworth explains the 30-plus-year-old organization’s residency in Minneapolis is no coincidence: “This state has a longstanding commitment to refugees,” he says. “That’s not just because of policy; it’s everything from the welcoming and inclusive nature of the community to [local] employers helping refugees to get jobs.”

“There’s a willingness of Somali Minnesotans to go back home and help,” says Sheikh-Abdi. “The majority of them have been in the same situation these people are in now—it’s a different narrative, but the same pattern.” He pulls out a snapshot of himself with a Swedish humanitarian worker and explains how she helped facilitate his own education and emigration to the United States. “This can happen to anyone. It’s my responsibility to pass the torch and help.”

To contribute to ARC's Somalia relief efforts, visit arcrelief.org or iamastar.org, or call Jessica at 612.872.7060.