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have to fend for themselves.”
land State researcher who
Olol believes most families
authored the report, “That
need counseling, but don’t get
number has deteriorated and
it.
today two-thirds (67 percent)
“All of the newcomers need
of African children live in
therapy—especially when they
poverty.”
come from a war-torn place
“Our belief is that the com-
like Somalia.”
munity is deeply imperiled and
Families typically wait years
faces challenges that often
for a sponsor before they are
place it in the most marginal-
accepted into the United
ized of all communities of
Mussé Olol
States. Meanwhile, the chil-
color,” the 2010 report said.
dren are missing years of edu-
“Many African juveniles are
cation. Once in America,
already imprisoned in Oregon.
With this growing reality, the community is in Somali youth, who pick up English
quickly, often must bear the added burden of
a state of shock.”
having to translate American language and cul-
ture to their elders. Somali parents may have
Newcomers Face Barriers
no experience of education and little idea of
Olol arrived in the United States in 1981 as how to support their children in this new
one of the first Somali immigrants to Oregon. world.
He left the country just after it erupted into
“They are maybe 14 or 15 years old and they
civil war. Aged 19, he was one year out of high have maybe a second grade education,” Olol
school, and had $500 to his name. But he had says. “So what do the schools do? They place
attended a special technical school, and them in the 8th Grade. That’s not going to
already had some work experience. After work. You’re setting them up for failure.
learning English, he was prepared to succeed
“And when a child fails in this country they
at Portland State University.
are going end up in the criminal system. It
Today, 32 years later, Olol is happily married kills their future prospects.”
with a five-year-old son, and a good job as an
Olol says many Somali American youths
engineer. Other members of his family were have not been able to find a legal way to earn
less fortunate. His younger brother grew up in money and make lives for themselves.
Mogadishu, listening to bombs exploding and
“There are a lot getting diplomas, but have
hoping the next one wouldn’t hit him. Hand no prospects,” Mussé says. “It is scandalous.
grenades were cheaper than bottled water, Olol With employment as bad as it is, a lot of them
says.
end up in our living rooms.
“When my brother came here, he knew more
“Some kids are just 18 or 19 with a felony,”
about bombs and guns than he did about he says. “It’s really hard to give hope to kids
ABCs.”
like that. That’s why we’re trying to get them
One member of his family spent 10 months earlier.”
in hospital because of the trauma, he says.
African-born youth are now also at risk of
“Losing everything to being in a refugee getting involved with gangs. In April, 2012,
camp: it’s a trauma,” Olol says. “The kids Abdalla Burey Sheikwali, 23, and Fahad
Children at the
Police Activities
League youth
center in
Gresham took
part in a talent
competition
Friday. The
center is being
taken over by
Boys and Girls
Clubs of the
Portland
Metropolitan
Area, after the
league
announced it
no longer has
funds to support
the program.
Erin Hubert, CEO
of Boys and Girls
Clubs, said a
new center is in
the works to
serve East
County children
and teens. Most
staff will be
retained.
Abdalla Abdiaziz, 24, were arrested in a
shooting near Rose City Elementary
school.
The Immigrant and Refugee Council of
Oregon runs gang prevention programs,
using city-funded outreach workers. Cur-
rently IRCO has unspent money for an
outreach worker, and the city has
agreed to use those funds to hire a
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
continued from page 1
worker for African-born youth.
Antoinette Edwards, director of the
city’s office of Youth Violence Preven-
tion, says she’s excited about the partner-
ship, with IRCO and with Portland’s
African community.
Read the rest of this story online at
www.theskanner.com
Work
continued from page 1
your own employer to pitch in, or making a
financial contribution as an individual.
“Most of us adults have a memory of get-
ting a summer job and that is just not a real-
ity for youth today,” Lord said.
Studies of retirement patterns in the local
area indicate an expected 50,000 skilled
jobs will open up over the next five to 10
years, and advocates worry that now is the
critical time to get young people into the
employment pipeline.
“We provide all the training on the front
side – screening, matching and ongoing job
‘Most of us adults have a memory of getting a
summer job and that is just not a reality for so
many people today’
—Reese Lord, Worksystems, Inc
coaching for that young person,” Lord says.
“We think as a result of all those services
over the last four years, we’ve placed 1,800
youth in our community and over 90 per-
cent of those youth successfully completed
their internship.
“Given the crisis, this can have a transfor-
mational impact on a young person,” Lord
In Colorado, adults are allowed to grow
up to six marijuana plants in their own
homes, so long as they’re in a locked loca-
tion out of public view.
At least two Colorado entrepreneurs are
taking advantage of that aspect of the law;
they’re offering growing classes that have
attracted wannabe professional growers,
current users looking to save money by
growing their own pot and a few baby
boomers who haven’t grown pot in decades
and don’t feel comfortable going to a mari-
juana dispensary.
``We’ve been doing this on our own, but I
wanted to learn to grow better,’’ said Ginger
Grinder, a medical marijuana patient from
Portales, N.M., who drove to Denver for a
``Marijuana 101’’ class she saw advertised
online.
Grinder, a stay-at-home mom who suffers
from lupus and fibromyalgia, joined about
20 other students earlier this month for a
daylong crash course in growing the finicky
marijuana plant.
Taught in a rented room at a public uni-
versity, the course had students practicing
on tomato plants because pot is prohibited
on campus. The group took notes on fertil-
izer and fancy hydroponic growing systems,
and snipped pieces of tomato plants to prac-
tice cloning, a common practice for nascent
pot growers to start raising weed from a
``mother’’ plant.
Ted Smith, a longtime instructor at an
indoor gardening shop, led the class, and
warned these gardeners that their task won’t
be easy. Marijuana is fickle, he said. It’s
prone to mildews and molds, picky about
temperature and pH level, intolerant to tap
water.
says. “It’s not only good for the young per-
son; employers see a tangible return on their
investment. These people come in do good
work and produce results, and it’s a good
opportunity to improve leadership for front
line employees.
“It’s not just about how good it is for
young people in our community, it also had
some bottom line results for employers.”
For
more
information,
go
to
www.worksystems.org.
Pot
continued from page 1
growing cannabis, Clark said. Master gar-
deners are volunteers who work through
state university systems to provide horticul-
tural tips in their communities.
The situation is the same in Colorado,
where Colorado State University in Fort
Collins recently added a marijuana policy to
its extension office, warning that any
employee who provides growing assistance
acts outside the scope of his or her job and
``assumes personal liability for such
action.’’
The growing predicament is just the latest
quandary for these states that last year flout-
ed federal drug law by removing criminal
penalties for adults over 21 with small
amounts of pot. In Washington, home-
growing is banned, but it will be legal to
grow pot commercially once state officials
establish rules and regulations.
A precise schedule is also a must, Smith
warned, with set light and dark cycles and
watering at the same time each day. Unlike
many house plants, Smith warned, marijua-
na left alone for a long weekend can curl
and die.
``Just like the military ... they need to
know when they’re getting their water and
chow,’’ Smith said of the plants.
The class was the brainchild of Matt
Jones, a 24-year-old Web developer who
wanted to get into the marijuana business
without raising or selling it himself. As a
teenager, Jones once tried to grow pot him-
self in empty Home Depot paint buckets.
He used tap water and overwatered, and the
marijuana wilted and died.
``It was a disaster,’’ he recalled.
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