In Bridge Collapse, Refugee Group Faces a New Ordeal---Somalis

[rodeodance]

August 8, 2007
In Bridge Collapse, Refugee Group Faces a New Ordeal
By MONICA DAVEY


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/us/08bridge.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 7 — Among the hardest hit in the bridge collapse last week was a group that had survived war and strife in their homeland, Somalia, and a move across the world to settle here.

Steps from the bridge, in the spice-scented groceries and other stores in the neighborhood of Somalis along Cedar Avenue South, the toll of the collapse was inescapable.

At least two Somalis were injured in cars, and one, bruised and shaken, returned to the neighborhood on Tuesday, recounting his ordeal. Other young Somalis were among those who survived when the school bus they were riding in dropped.

Sadiya Sahal, 23, a pregnant Somali nursing student, and her toddler daughter remained missing in the Mississippi, among the eight people whom divers continued to look for.
.........

Estimates of their current numbers and the numbers of American-born offspring vary widely, even among community leaders. Census figures from 2000 showed that 11,000 people of Somali ancestry lived in Minnesota.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. This is so sad

I was honored to be invited to a Somali clan zkr in the Twin Cities several years ago. The graciousness of the people was overwhelming! I felt like I was part of the family--and as such, I grieve now for their losses.

[aquart]

3. What does the broken bridge do to commercial traffic in that area?

[rodeodance]

2. thousands clustered in the neighborhood of Somali

Community leaders, citing a rush of recent arrivals, say tens of thousands more may be here, with thousands clustered in the neighborhood of Somali shops and subsidized high-rise housing beside the Interstate 35W bridge downtown.