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The Making of a Modern Diaspora: From Kakuma to the Land of Opportunity, the Resettlement Process of the Somali Bantu Refugees in the United States

Omar A. Eno, Portland State University

The civil war in Somalia, which began in 1991, has led to the collapse of the social system and governmental structures. In the face of this situation, millions of Somalis were displaced and took refuge in parts of Somalia and neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Yemen, seeking asylum. Most of the fleeing refugees crossed the border to the neighboring nation of Kenya, where the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has established refugee camps. Among the most affected by the civil war are the Somali Bantu groups. There are two groups of Bantu origin in Somalia, those from the Shabelle river valley who are the indigenous natives and those from Juba river valley imported into Somalia as slaves early in the nineteenth century. They were imported from Tanganyika & Zanzibar (modern Tanzania), Mozambique and Malawi, during the reign of the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The Somali Bantu are a minority group in southern Somalia whose members are ethnically and culturally distinct from the dominant-clan Somalis. The Bantu have been subjugated and discriminated as inferior outcasts in Somalia. Ruling parties marginalized most Bantu people, thus they were never integrated into the dominant Somali clan structure. As a result, they have had very little opportunities in education, politics, and economic advances. The Somali Bantu refugees were victims of violence in Somalia and in the Kenyan refugee camps (kakuma). The Bantu were actively seeking protection through third-country resettlement since 1993. Roughly 20,000 Somali Bantu refugees are scattered all over Africa and Yemen, some 5,000 found refuge in Tanzania, their country of origin. In 1999, the United States Government offered a resettlement opportunity to 14,000 Somali Bantu refugees from Kenyan camps for protection. The first batch of settlers began arriving in the United States in mid 2003, and their process continues today. The purpose of this paper is to examine the underpinning causes of the Bantu movement from Somalia to the refugee camps in Kenya, and the impact of being destitute in a foreign country. The paper will also analyze the resettlement process of the Bantu people into the United States, their level of integration into their host community and the difficulties they may have encountered in the process of assimilation. The paper will also investigate areas of potential success for the Bantu in the US, such as farming and learning various skills. It will also explore their access to employment, housing, and education.