In August 2020, I stopped by Lisbon Street to see a friend and fellow community organizer. He mentioned that he’d loaned a spare room to a man named Abdikhadar Shire, who was then trying to get his health and social services nonprofit off the ground. Since I also work in public health, I poked my […]
Conversations with New Mainers
Tahar Maide of Chad is a health care hero
Conversations with New Mainers:
Being multilingual helped Samu Tona — and Lewiston
I met Samu Tona on the first day of the rest of his life. It was September 2017. Just days before, they’d fled their native Angola, where crime rates were on the rise, politically motivated killings had become commonplace. “There is so much insecurity there,” he said. “It’s dangerous, basic human needs are not being met, unemployment […]
Tolerance isn’t enough; we must welcome Afghans with open arms
Like generations of immigrants before them, they will become part of America, contributing their brain and manpower, their optimism and their culture.
Héritier Nosso: Our immigration policies hurt families. It’s time for a pathway to citizenship
It’s time for our elected officials to acknowledge immigrant essential workers with more than just words of thanks. As Congress debates passing further COVID relief packages, they need to include a pathway to citizenship and reunite families who have been kept apart by our inhuman immigration policies.