Second Installment in NPT’s Original Documentary Series Explores Nashville’s Somali Population

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – October 30, 2008 – More than 5,000 Somali refugees now call Nashville their home. They left a war-torn country and many still have family trying to survive in Somalia and in refugee camps across Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen, and other countries. From the simply named Somali Coffee Shop, which provides a hub for Somali life in Nashville, to the experiences of Somali taxi drivers in the city and Somali students in public schools, Nashville Public Television will introduce viewers to this emerging community in Nashville in NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS: SOMALI, premiering on Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. The documentary is the latest installment in NPT’s four-part NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS series.

“America is known as a land of opportunity, where through hard work, a person can make a better life for themselves and their family,” said producer Will Pedigo, who also produced NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS: LITTLE KURDISTAN, USA. “For new destination cities like Nashville, the expectation of opportunity is extended to an increasing number of immigrants and refugees, who find almost immediate access to jobs in the city’s relatively stable economy.”

While many Somalis were resettled directly to Nashville, others migrated here from cities like Minneapolis, Seattle, San Diego and Columbus. Ohio, because, as Abdulkadir Guure says in the documentary, “we chase the work.”

“If somebody says that there is a lot of warehouse jobs in Phoenix, Arizona… folks will just move,” he adds.

For the immigrant and refugee communities living in Nashville, access to jobs is only one step towards achieving a prosperous future.  Many desire education opportunities, want to learn English, to live a safe environment, and build a thriving community rooted in the values and traditions of their culture.  Some have attained all of these goals; others face barriers too insurmountable and leave. For most, life in Nashville is about work, sending money back home and trying to balance Somali traditions and cultures while adjusting to life in the US.  

“Everybody here is supporting somebody back home, because Somalia is a war torn country and most of people live off the relief they receive from overseas,” says Abdirizak Hassan in the documentary. “The money we send back home is really the backbone of the economy in Somalia.  It affects us because a lot of people would have saved some money to do business here or pay for the college of their kids, but they can't do that because they have to send whatever they get back home.”

The NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS series looks at Nashville’s status as a new destination city for refugees and immigrants, and explores the rich diversity of people now calling Nashville home.  Across the United States, mid-sized cities like Nashville are experiencing unprecedented growth in their international populations. Together these communities are redefining the traditional international city on a smaller local scale.  NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS: LITTLE KURDISTAN, USA, which explored Nashville growing Kurdish population, was the first installment in the series.

“As our new neighbors rebuild their lives in Nashville, their experiences, contributions and conflicts impact the city,” says Pedigo “They are also challenged by isolation and barriers unknown to many Nashvillians. How Nashville addresses its changing demographic will be important for the future of similar communities across the country.”  

The NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS series includes in-depth web content at http://wnpt.org/productions/nextdoorneighbor s, public forums and panel discussions after each of the four programs.

NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS: SOMALI is made possible through a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s My Source initiative and is supported by the Nissan Foundation and The HCA Foundation on behalf of HCA and the TriStar Family of Hospitals. A partnership with the Vanderbilt University Center for Nashville Studies provided valuable research and community outreach.

ABOUT NASHVILLE PUBLIC TELEVISION

Nashville Public Television is available free and over the air to nearly 2.2 million people throughout the Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky viewing area, and is watched by more than 600,000 households every week. The mission of NPT is to provide, through the power of traditional television and interactive telecommunications, high quality educational, cultural and civic experiences that address issues and concerns of the people of the Nashville region, and which thereby help improve the lives of those we serve.

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Click for downloadable version. Bashir Ali works at the Somali Coffeeshop in Nashville, a central hub for the Somali community in the city. Photo by Will Pedigo/NPT

Click for downloadable version. Madina Hussein (right) receives guidance from Carleta Whitfield, Chair of the Mathematics Dept. at Stratford High School in Nashville. Photo by Will Pedigo/NPT.