She's Muslim - Don't Panic

My family’s immigration story from Lebanon has always captivated me. My grandfather was a fantastic storyteller and would regale us with tales of the Old Country. To this day, I can smell my grandmother’s kitchen. When you think of your grandmother’s kitchen, what comes to mind? We can learn a lot about a person by the family recipes they preserve and pass on to generations: Syrian rice, baklava, Kibbeh nayyeh, stuffed grape leaves, tabouleh, hummus. Culture runs deep in my kitchen and in many kitchens of the homes I am blessed to visit. Food is the single great unifier across cultures. Food feeds the soul.

My soul is so touched by the honor of serving on the Cultural Integration Committee with the Nellie Mae Foundation. It has become quite clear that my role as a woman of culture is to elevate other women of culture. I’ll have you know their glass ceiling is a little higher and a little thicker. I have developed deep bonds with many of the women and their children in the community. This is where I met Fowsia.

Fowsia vividly remembers hearing thunder and seeing lights. She recalls her mother with the rosary beads and the Quran, praying “God Save us!”  Fowsia’s dad placed her and her sister in the closet. Everything was shaking. Deep in her heart, Fowsia at this young age knew something was wrong. My own heart is in my throat as she relives her father’s exact words to her mother, “By noon today we will be all gone. They want to level the city to the ground.” Fowsia remembers her mother’s words, “I’m leaving. I’m not staying.” Fowsia’s mother and sister did leave. And through a series of unfortunate events, Fowsia stayed with her father throughout the war.

The horrors she shares. Malnourished. Hiding in trenches, running from trench to trench depending on which side was winning the war. She was six years old. Six. Finally, her father found a stranger willing to take Fowsia to Ethiopia for safety. However, there were a lot of civil rights violations in Ethiopia: genocide against the Somalis, unwarranted arrests, raping of women. Fowsia proclaims Ethiopia more terrifying than Somalia.

Six years later, at the age of twelve, Fowsia made the journey alone to live with a stranger in America. She endured the thorough health screenings and cultural orientation. Fowsia discloses her assumption in believing that America was all white. Upon her arrival in New York, she awakens in an airport filled with African Americans. We both giggled at her naiveté. Fowsia has a remarkable gift. I am always in awe of her observations of human behavior.

From New York to San Diego to Atlanta, her journey stops in Lewiston/Auburn. Fowsia is well educated with a vast knowledge of psychology, brain science, and human behavior. As an advocate, cultural broker, and interpreter for the Somali community, Fowsia walked more in cadence with Americans. Fowsia recognized her modern appearance became a barrier when she tried to navigate in her own culture. Fowsia finds more acceptance if she demonstrates cultural sensitivity and wears a hijab and a long traditional dress.

Fowsia sees the world with open eyes and endless possibilities. Fowsia adapts very quickly, and she is extremely alert, and highly aware of her surroundings all the time. Hypervigilance is a key feature in PTSD and survivorship. Yet, she does not see a lot of barriers in life. She is extremely positive and friendly to all. She does not choose her circle of friends based on tribal relation, blood relation, or ethnic relation, but because she likes their attributes. She is one of the most amazing people I have come to know.

Fowsia’s home is America, so even though she is Somali in nationality, in many ways, she has adapted to the American life. In fact, homeless American veterans are of enormous concern to her. Like so many of us, she cannot understand the detriment upon American veterans, and she finds ways to help. She equates it to her own experience.

In my dialogue with Fowsia, I empathized with her and shared how as a young child I was taunted by kids in my school because of my skin color. Fowsia recognizes that we have different colors, and points out that white is a color too. "Why am I being called a person of color? I don’t like that." She looks at me for an answer to what I regard as a rhetorical question.

I respond, “Actually Fowsia, from a physics standpoint, white is not defined as a color because it is the sum of all possible colors. Black is not defined as a color because it is the absence of color.”

She looks at me with deep ocean eyes, and I wonder if I misspoke and crossed the line. But she says, "Now, Audrey, that's another conversation! I like to talk to you."

(Please take a moment to watch Fowsia’s Story and hear what her heart has to say.)

Exercise:
On a piece of paper, with your non-dominant hand, write the name, Mohammed Abdi.
How did that feel? Awkward, challenging, discouraging, embarrassing, pressured.
That is how immigrants feel every day.

My Life’s Lesson:  I have learned that connecting back to my roots is powerful. Very little separates us from each other, and my life is in parallel to the many first and second generation immigrants I have come to love and admire. In Fowsia’s words: “You will be amazed at how strong you are when the only choice you have is to be strong. You’ll be amazed at how strong humans are, and how you’re survival adaptability is like impeccable when you’re forced to survive, you know.”

Kindly suspend your disbelief and do not make assumptions about cultures. Learn from your own past, your deep cultural background. In my position, it is essential to be able to work well with diverse teams, including individuals from cultures very different from mine. In many businesses, global and cultural awareness is a crucial competency for all employees. Businesses are looking for people who understand international and cultural differences and can interact respectfully with individuals from diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, religions, and sexual orientations. Don’t be surprised if you get a question about cultural competency in your next interview.

• How do you practice cultural understandings?
• How do you share your cultural background with others?
• What kind of cultural community do you envision?
• How do you go about building a rapport with someone of a different cultural background?
• What scares you about cultural integration?

From the sweetest spot in my heart to yours,
Assalamu Alaykum (May Peace Be Upon You)
~Audrey

Fowsia Musse works as a lead awareness educator at Healthy Androscoggin for both new and long-time Mainer populations in Lewiston. She has been working in the field of health as a cultural broker, medical interpreter, and Community Health Outreach Worker for nine years. She is also a student at Central Maine Community College, pursuing an Associate's Degree in Human Services. Fowsia worked collaboratively with Susan D. Jacoby, DNP, CNM, who practiced midwifery at Central Maine Obstetrics-Gynecology; Heather L. Lindkvist, a former lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Bates College; and Dr. Monique Lucarelli, who practices Internal Medicine at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, on an article published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health, entitled, "Increasing Certified Nurse-Midwives' Confidence in Managing the Obstetric Care of Women with Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting." Fowsia spent her early years in the U.S. working in Lewiston with the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine (formerly United Somali Women of Maine) to empower immigrant women and children, and advocating for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, family crisis and generational trauma. Fowsia is a board member at a Maine Community Integration, a nonprofit ethnic-community based organization working on education, advocacy, and social change empowerment in Lewiston’s New Mainer communities. She has been a leader in the organization since its beginning and founded a tutoring program for immigrant youth that was one of MCI’s earliest projects. She serves on the Immigrant and Refugee Integration and Policy Development Working Group, that was established by the Lewiston City Council and volunteers with the Lewiston/Auburn Neighborhood Network and the local Red Cross. She also regularly volunteers her expertise to work on parent/school engagement with Auburn Public Schools.