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Somali kids' program put on hold
Union Leader ^ | 1/29/2010 | Beth Lamontagne Hall

Posted on 01/30/2010 6:09:04 AM PST by Altura Ct.

MANCHESTER – A federally funded weekend education program for Somali refugee children has been put on hold after allegations it was teaching Muslim doctrine.

Police Chief David Mara, Mayor Ted Gatsas and Superintendant of Schools Tom Brennan recently received a letter saying the Somali Bantu Community Association is teaching from the Quran during its weekend youth program.

Mukhtar Idhow, director of the group, said the program is not a religious school, but is a tutoring program for Somali children. The program is run through Southern New Hampshire Services and is housed at the city's Multicultural Center on Maple Street.

The goal, Idhow said, is to raise graduation rates in the Somali community. The program will not meet this weekend and will be on hold until after the group speaks with city officials and decides whether to continue, he said.

Idhow and other local officials say the letter is part of an ongoing feud between the leaders of the Somali Bantu organization and the Somali Development Center, another nonprofit group that provides aid to local Somali refugees.

"There's been a lot of rumors about bad blood between the different factions, said Dan Calegari of Southern New Hampshire Services. "I work with these people daily. There's never even been any hint of religious activity. ... It really comes down to animosity between different segments of the Somali population."

Mara said he also heard the letter was part of a feud and is working with the groups to address the rift within the Somali community.

"We're trying to mediate, but we are not shutting out either group," said Mara. "We're doing our best to keep the animosity down to make sure this doesn't turn into anything bigger."

Somali Bantus, the descendants of African slaves, are a marginalized minority in Somalia that suffered greatly during the country's civil war. Many were evicted from their farmland by other Somalis and fled to neighboring countries. Thousands of these refugees eventually made their way to the United States.

There is a language difference between Somalis and Bantu Somalis, said Idhow, which is how the rift all started. Because some Bantu refugees were more fluent in their own tribal language than Somali, the local elders thought it best to have a group that specifically served the Somali Bantu community.

Abdirahman A. Yusuf, director of the Somali Development Center's regional office in Boston, said he believes the allegations have merit and should be investigated.

"Members of the community were concerned about actions that could divide the Somali community and the larger host community," said Yusuf. "It's something that should be looked into."

Whatever disagreement exists between the groups is not ethnic, he said, but based on a previous, unrelated disagreement between the leaders of the two groups.

City officials said they are talking to members of the Somali Bantu group and looking into the allegations. Brennan said he has no reason to believe the independent program is teaching religion and has asked a department social worker to speak to the group.

Mara said he has referred any questions regarding the group's grant to the federal agency in charge of its funding.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: culture; immigratiom; islam; muslim

1 posted on 01/30/2010 6:09:05 AM PST by Altura Ct.
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To: Altura Ct.

We are currently living in stage three.

Stage 1:
Start immigrating - move into a country quietly

Stage 2:
Begin starting Mosques: “learning centers” community helps: food etc.

Stage 3:
Political activism: demanding rights, denounce derogatory comments/press etc.

Stage 4:
Get elected, pass laws favoring rights etc. move toward political majority

Stage 5:
Political control, Sharia Law


2 posted on 01/30/2010 6:16:52 AM PST by STONEWALLS
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To: Altura Ct.

Same old crock of crap. In Lewiston Maine, some young American girls are dating Somali men, wearing Burka’s and converting to Muslim faith because they think it’s “cool.”


3 posted on 01/30/2010 6:18:01 AM PST by dokmad
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To: dokmad

“In Lewiston Maine, some young American girls are dating Somali men, wearing Burka’s and converting to Muslim faith because they think it’s “cool.”

...and the little bastard children they bear from these Somali men will be with us for decades.


4 posted on 01/30/2010 6:23:09 AM PST by STONEWALLS
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To: STONEWALLS

Please look at what they are doing in Connecticut. They are trying to build a muslim cemetery on 63 acres of land. They will try to start wherever they think the American people are not looking. We will fight this, but we will be labeled racist and fear mongers.


5 posted on 01/30/2010 6:24:41 AM PST by cameraeye (A happy kafar!)
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To: STONEWALLS

maybe those girls should be circumcised, just to get the entire experience...


6 posted on 01/30/2010 6:25:31 AM PST by silverleaf
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To: Altura Ct.

News out of Mexico, by way of NAFBPO, reports often of Somali’s crossing the Mexican border to the USA.

——————————-

El Heraldo (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) 1/21/10

More Somalis caught

Four Somali males were found hidden in the sleeping compartment of a tractor trailer at a highway checkpoint in Honduras. The four Somalis, pictured below, were aiming to reach the United States. The Salvadoran truck driver was on his way north after dropping off cargo in Nicaragua. (The photograph below accompanied the article.)

http://m3report.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/poverty-and-educational-problems-in-mexico/


7 posted on 01/30/2010 7:02:37 AM PST by AuntB (If Al Qaeda grew drugs & burned our forests instead of armed Mexican Cartels would anyone notice?)
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To: AuntB
These individuals should be converted to Christiany. Any who refuse need to be shipped by to there cursed land.
8 posted on 01/30/2010 7:12:14 AM PST by Realman30 (If 10% is good enough for Jesus, it ought to be enough for Uncle Sam.)
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To: dokmad

Those girls from Maine are going to find it really cool when they start getting beaten by their Somali men with rubber hoses and later getting honor killed.


9 posted on 01/30/2010 7:22:17 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine
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To: Altura Ct.

Why are we importing these people? They bring no value to us, just crime and indigence?


10 posted on 01/30/2010 2:10:28 PM PST by rmlew (Democracy tends to ignore..., threats to its existence because it loathes doing what is needed)
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To: rmlew

That is indeed the question. Why?


11 posted on 01/31/2010 5:17:24 AM PST by Altura Ct.
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