AFGHANS

in north america

Somalia is a globalized nation with more than one million Somalis living outside the country. While nearly two-thirds of all Somalis living outside of Somalia live in neighboring countries in Africa, many have also moved to North America. The majority of the exiles left as refugees due to the outbreak of civil war starting in 1988 and lasting into the early 1990s. Somalis also left their country due to the breakdown of law and order, difficult economic conditions, and because of drought and famine.

Other Somalis who have come to North America include Somali Bantu, a minority clan of people who came as refugees in the early 2000s. Though many of them fled the civil war of the early 1990s, they remained in refugee camps in Kenya for about ten years before starting new lives in North America. Ethnically, Bantu are not Somali and they speak a non-Somali language—Maay Maay.

Somalis have often done well economically largely due to an informal system of pooling resources known as ayuuto or hagbad. This involves the members of a group contributing money to a fund and then taking turns using money from the fund in establishing businesses.

Afghans in the Washington Metropolitan Area

The most important animal in Somali culture is the camel. A delicacy for Somalis is camel milk which is becoming readily available in regions in North America with strong Somali populations. Several camel dairies have been formed in North America to meet the growing demand for camel milk. By the way, Somalia has the largest number of camels in the world, with over seven million.

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Religious Life

Islam first entered modern-day Somalia during Mohammed’s lifetime. Today, Somalia is 99.8% Muslim, ranking second in the world among countries with the highest percentage of Muslims. Traditionally, Somali Muslims have been Sunni Muslims following the Shafi School of Thought. Over the last couple of decades, however, the more fundamentalist Salafi school has acquired many followers. The collapsed state of Somalia, and the fact that it is the only country in East Africa with an almost 100% Muslim population, has made it a breeding ground for radical versions of Islam. While most Somalis in North America and Somalia practice a peaceful version of Islam, radical Islamists have found ripe recruiting grounds among disenfranchised Somali youth in North American cities. Many Somali Muslims are active in seeking to combat radical influences within their community. In North American cities, mosques play a key role in reinforcing not only Islamic identity, but also Somali culture.

Somali sambusa is popular and available throughout Somali stores. Sambusa is a fried or baked pastry, usually triangular in shape. It is stuffed with spices, onions, chilis, garlic, and with beef or lamb.

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These are the Afghan communities in North America most in need of gospel witness

Simple Map

People Group	Metropolitan Area	Population Size	Concentrated Area	Priority Score
Afghan	San Francisco	31,642	Fremont	69
Afghan	Toronto	41,735	Scarborough	57
Afghan	New York	9,631	Flushing (Queens)	49
Afghan	Los Angeles	14,767	Irvine	57
Afghan	Montreal	9,215	Saint-Martin (Laval)	60
Afghan	Vancouver	7,500	West Minster	51
Afghan	Sacramento	19,783	Elk Grove	69
Afghan	Washington D.C.	29,696	Springfield	73
Afghan Hindu/Sikh	New York	6,000	Hicksville (Long Island)	86
Algerian Arab	Montreal	54,635	Little Maghreb	71
Bambara	New York	5,000	Harlem	69
Bangladeshi	Toronto	23,400	Danforth Village	46
Bangladeshi	New York	118,166	Jamaica (Queens)	43
Bangladeshi	Detroit	11,087	Hamtramck	44
Bangladeshi	Washington D.C.	23,908	York Town	49
Bangladeshi	Los Angeles	7,362	Little Bangladesh	46
Bangladeshi	Atlanta	8,753	Doraville	48
Bangladeshi	Montreal	6,920	Parc Extension	48
Bangladeshi	Philadelphia	9,288	Hatfield	47
Belzer Jewish	New York	12,518	Borough Park (Brooklyn)	86
Bobover Jewish	New York	23,509	Borough Park (Brooklyn)	90
Bosniak	St. Louis	50,000	Mehlville	77
Bosniak	Phoenix	10,000	Glendale	64
Bosniak	Detroit	10,000	Hamtramck	64
Bosniak	Utica	5,000	Bleecker St.	60
Bosniak	Des Moines	10,000	Merle Hay	63
Bosniak	Grand Rapids	10,000	Kentwood	63
Bosniak	Jacksonville	12,000	Hogan	65
Bosniak	New York	10,000	Astoria (Queens)	63
Bosniak	Bowling Green	5,000	Morgantown Road	60
Bosniak	Toronto	10,000	Etobicoke	61
Bosniak	Atlanta	10,000	Lawrenceville	61
Bosniak	Chicago	70,000	Northside	82
Breslov Jewish	New York	5,000	Boro Park	86
Bukharan Jewish	New York	60,000	Rego Park (Queens)	74
Chabad Lubavitch Jewish	New York	27,103	Crown Heights (Brooklyn)	91
Egyptian Arab	Los Angeles	23,765	Anaheim	40
Egyptian Arab	Toronto	36,340	Mississauga	45
Egyptian Arab	New York	47,647	Astoria (Queens)	46
Egyptian Arab	Dallas Fort Worth	5,621	Richardson	30
Egyptian Arab	Chicago	8,276	Hickory Hills	25
Egyptian Arab	Nashville	7,308	South Nashville	31
Egyptian Arab	Riverside	6,564	San Bernardino	30
Egyptian Arab	Washington D.C.	10,911	Lanier Heights	24
Egyptian Arab	Philadelphia	5,249	Center City	33
Fouta Tooro	New York	5,000	Bed-Stuy (Brooklyn)	78
Fulbe Futa	New York	5,000	Morrisania (Bronx	77
Gerer Jew	New York	8,791	Borough Park	84
Gorsky-Kavkazi Jewish	New York	10,000	Kensington (Brooklyn)	89
Gujarati	New York	138,735	Edison (NJ)	70
Gujarati	Toronto	75,175	Brampton	61
Gujarati	San Francisco	39,116	Fremont	52
Gujarati	Los Angeles	40,328	Woodbury	45
Gujarati	Chicago	44,986	Georgetown	43
Gujarati	Atlanta	23,816	Big Creek	52
Gujarati	Houston	32,736	Sugar Land	62
Gujarati	Detroit	20,063	Farmington	55
Gujarati	Montreal	7,830	Dollard-Des Ormeaux	56
Gujarati	Boston	17,364	Town of Acton	59
Gujarati	Raleigh	6,688	Shiloh	45
Gujarati	Charlotte	7,206	Mallard Creek	46
Gujarati	Calgary	8,585	Horizon	52
Gujarati	Edmonton	7,510	Strathcona Industrial Park	52
Gujarati	Baltimore	8,615	Ellicott city	44
Gujarati	Austin	8,364	Walsh Creek	44
Gujarati	Seattle	18,722	Inglewood	48
Gujarati	Dallas Fort Worth	32,132	Plano	48
Gujarati	Riverside	6,579	Sierra del Oro	50
Gujarati	Miami	11,116	Plantation	54
Gujarati	San Diego	7,746	Miramar	49
Gujarati	Phoenix	10,087	Chandler-Kirby Estates	47
Gujarati	Tampa	6,798	Brandon	51
Gujarati	San Jose	34,825	San Jose	59
Gujarati	Portland	5,011	Rockcreek	50
Gujarati	Sacramento	9,972	North Natomas	50
Gujarati	Minneapolis	8,630	Eden Prairie	49
Gujarati	Philadelphia	24,274	Hatfield	41
Gujarati	Orlando	6,802	Willamsburg	52
Gujarati	Columbus, OH	5,605	Polaris	37
Gujarati	Hartford	5,297	Rocky Hill	49
Gujarati	Washington D.C.	34,109	Calverton	61
Gujarati	Vancouver	10,685	South Vancouver	58
Indian Hindi	New York	249,722	Jersey City, Edison	46
Indian Hindi	Toronto	171,095	Etobicoke	45
Indian Hindi	San Francisco	70,473	Fremont	40
Indian Hindi	Chicago	80,975	Georgetown	44
Indian Hindi	Vancouver	68,905	South Vancouver	39
Indian Hindi	Houston	58,925	Sugar Land	38
Indian Hindi	Los Angeles	72,590	Artesia	37
Indian Hindi	Sacramento	20,322	Valley Hi/North Laguna	44
Indian Hindi	Boston	31,256	Town of Acton	54
Indian Hindi	Montreal	18,163	Parc Extension	56
Indian Hindi	Seattle	33,699	Bellevue	31
Indian Hindi	Raleigh	12,038	Morrisville	45
Indian Hindi	Dallas Fort Worth	57,838	Breckinridge Farms	32
Indian Hindi	Ottawa	10,595	Napean/Westboro	56
Indian Hindi	Edmonton	27,470	SE Edmonton	51
Indian Hindi	Charlotte	12,972	Mecklenburg	41
Indian Hindi	Phoenix	18,156	Chandler-Kirby Estates	55
Indian Hindi	Minneapolis	15,533	Edina	50
Indian Hindi	Austin	15,055	Walsh Creek	47
Indian Hindi	San Diego	13,942	Miramar	50
Indian Hindi	Winnipeg	11,300	Colony (Little India)	53
Indian Hindi	Cincinnati	7,623	Clifton Heights	47
Indian Hindi	Orlando	12,244	Williamsburg	50
Indian Hindi	Kitchener	6,585	West Mount	36
Indian Hindi	Cleveland	6,268	Glenwillow	48
Indian Hindi	Denver	8,191	Sedalia	52
Indian Hindi	Portland	9,021	Rockcreek	44
Indian Hindi	Tampa	12,236	Brandon	52
Indian Hindi	Miami	20,009	Plantation	55
Indian Hindi	Bridgeport	7,331	Stamford	53
Indian Hindi	Baltimore	15,507	Ellicott city	35
Indian Hindi	San Jose	62,685	San Jose	50
Indian Hindi	Hartford	9,535	Rocky Hill	49
Indian Hindi	Pittsburgh	6,612	Marshall Township	48
Indian Hindi	Richmond	6,588	Three Chopt	31
Indian Hindi	St.Louis	7,112	Ballwin	44
Indian Hindi	Indianapolis	7,366	Wayne Township	51
Indian Hindi	Milwaukee	5,679	Brookfield	58
Indian Hindi	Columbus, OH	10,090	Polaris	36
Indian Hindi	Atlanta	32,135	Big Creek	35
Indian Hindi	Alberta	9,330	Calgary	36
Indian Hindi	Philadelphia	43,694	Eaglesville (Center City)	57
Indian Hindi	Detroit	36,113	Troy	56
Indian Hindi	Washington D.C.	61,396	Ellicott city	46
Indian Hindi	Riverside	11,842	Sierra del Oro	51
Indonesian Muslim	Los Angeles	7,500	San Bernardino	29
Iraqi Arab	Atlanta	5,988	Clarkston	38
Iraqi Arab	Austin	6,161	Pflugerville	43
Iraqi Arab	Buffalo	7,305	North Park	52
Iraqi Arab	Houston	11,914	Mid-West	41
Iraqi Arab	Sacramento	5,173	Arden-Arcade	38
Iraqi Arab	New York	5,520	Astoria (Queens)	47
Iraqi Arab	Detroit	68,626	East Dearborn	57
Iraqi Arab	Chicago	17,491	Bridgeview	53
Iraqi Arab	Toronto	29,045	Vaughan	47
Iraqi Arab	San Diego	16,591	El Cajon	56
Iraqi Arab	Dallas Fort Worth	22,987	Richardson	42
Iraqi Arab	Phoenix	12,758	Jefferson at Steele Indian	42
Iraqi Arab	Seattle	7,667	South Seattle	39
Iraqi Arab	Washington D.C.	7,238	Lanier Heights	42
Iraqi Arab	Vancouver	5,205	Surrey	40
Israeli Sabra Jewish	Toronto	7,625	North York	49
Israeli Sabra Jewish	Miami	12,299	Plantation	54
Israeli Sabra Jewish	New York	36,720	Kew Gardens Hills (Queens)	66
Israeli Sabra Jewish	Chicago	5,148	Skokie	47
Israeli Sabra Jewish	San Francisco	9,384	Sunnyvale	51
Israeli Sabra Jewish	Los Angeles	18,885	Pico Robertson & Fairfax	60
Jordanian Arab Muslim	New York	5,543	Paterson	39
Jordanian Arab Muslim	Chicago	7,122	Bridgeview	40
Jula	New York	5,000	Harlem	69
Kazakh	New York	5,460	Brighton Beach (Brooklyn)	50
Kosovar Albanian	New York	40,000	Pelham Parkway (Bronx)	64
Kurds	Nashville	15,000	Elysian Fields	54
Lebanese Arab Muslim	Detroit	33,099	East Dearborn	42
Lebanese Arab Muslim	New York	15,759	Paterson	33
Lebanese Arab Muslim	Toronto	29,750	Mississauga	34
Lebanese Arab Muslim	Los Angeles	18,893	Monterey Park	35
Lebanese Arab Muslim	Boston	12,694	Somerville	34
Lebanese Arab Muslim	Dallas Fort Worth	6,440	Richardson	27
Lebanese Arab Muslim	Houston	6,622	Mid West	27
Lebanese Arab Muslim	Miami	8,971	Upper Eastside	47
Lebanese Arab Muslim	Washington D.C.	6,904	Woodley Park	33
Mandinka	New York	5,000	Highbridge (Bronx)	81
Maninka	New York	5,000	Concourse (Bronx)	76
Persian Jewish (Mashadi)	New York	5,000	Great Neck (Long Island)	88
Moroccan Arab	Boston	10,968	East Boston	45
Moroccan Arab	Los Angeles	7,272	Central LA-Beverly Wood	44
Moroccan Arab	New York	33,693	Astoria (Queens)	56
Moroccan Arab	Chicago	5,961	Bridgeview	44
Moroccan Arab	Detroit	6,660	Hamtramck	37
Moroccan Arab	Miami	9,935	Upper Eastside	47
Moroccan Arab	Philadelphia	9,409	Center City	41
Moroccan Arab	Washington D.C.	15,634	Brockwood	49
Moroccan Arab	Montreal	77,450	Little Maghreb	74
Moroccan Jewish	Toronto	5,000	North York	83
Moroccan Jewish	Montreal	10,000	Hampstead	64
Pakistani	Toronto	128,845	East York	51
Pakistani	New York	105,236	Midwood (Brooklyn)	50
Pakistani	Houston	39,668	Sugarland	47
Pakistani	Dallas Fort Worth	23,450	Breckinridge Farms	45
Pakistani	San Francisco	12,654	Diamond Heights	39
Pakistani	Washington D.C.	42,941	Fairfax couty, Mt. Vernon	46
Pakistani	Chicago	34,786	Skokie	34
Pakistani	Los Angeles	23,831	Central LA	35
Pakistani	Alberta	19,500	Calgary (castleridge)	45
Pakistani	Vancouver	14,610	Burnaby and Surrey	48
Pakistani	Montreal	15,920	Parc Extension	48
Pakistani	Edmonton	11,805	Blue Quill	37
Pakistani	Philadelphia	11,756	Delran	32
Pakistani	Seattle	5,206	Meridian	41
Pakistani	Riverside	6,691	Corona	41
Pakistani	Miami	8,054	Miramar-Pimebrook Pines	49
Pakistani	Atlanta	12,021	Roswell	39
Pakistani	Boston	6,201	Cambridge	43
Pakistani	Sacramento	6,970	Sacramento	44
Pakistani	Baltimore	11,275	Ellicott City	29
Pakistani	Orlando	5,396	Florida Center	48
Pakistani	Stockton-Lodi	7,444	Stockton	44
Pakistani	San Jose	5,890	Milipitas	44
Pakistani	Ottawa	7,175	Sandy Hill	46
Pakistani	Detroit	10,101	Canton	36
Palestinian Arab Muslim	New York	16,222	South Paterson (NJ)	50
Palestinian Arab Muslim	Toronto	15,555	Mississauga	50
Palestinian Arab Muslim	Chicago	24,832	Chicago Lawn	52
Palestinian Arab Muslim	Dallas Fort Worth	5,052	Richardson	38
Palestinian Arab Muslim	Detroit	7,584	Livonia	36
Palestinian Arab Muslim	Los Angeles	12,064	Anaheim	44
Palestinian Arab Muslim	San Francisco	7,609	Soma	42
Palestinian Arab Muslim	Washington D.C.	6,078	Lanier Heights	38
Persian	Toronto	97,110	North York	41
Persian	Los Angeles	127,713	Tehrangeles	43
Persian	New York	30,520	Great Neck (Long Island)	33
Persian	San Francisco	50,170	San Mateo	25
Persian	Vancouver	44,355	West Vancouver	23
Persian	San Diego	17,282	La Jolla	20
Persian	Montreal	23,410	Notre Dame de Grâce	24
Persian	Houston	14,742	Woodlake/Briar Meadow	21
Persian	Seattle	12,287	Bellevue	16
Persian	Chicago	8,760	Lincolnwood	23
Persian	Calgary	8,570	Sunalta	23
Persian	Ottawa	7,620	Bayshore	32
Persian	Boston	7,746	Malden	29
Persian	Atlanta	8,590	Cobb	10
Persian	Dallas Fort Worth	13,939	Plano	21
Persian	Portland	6,672	Pearl District	22
Persian	Philadelphia	5,760	Gladwyne	20
Persian	Phoenix	5,479	Scottsdale	20
Persian	Washington D.C.	30,426	Tysons Corner	26
Persian	Sacramento	8,100	El Dorado Hills	17
Punjabi Sikh	Atlanta	6,187	Norcross	55
Punjabi Sikh	Dallas Fort Worth	5,815	Irving	50
Punjabi Sikh	Houston	8,184	Willowbrook	51
Punjabi Sikh	New York	80,000	Richmond Hill (Queens)	69
Punjabi Sikh	Toronto	159,910	Brampton	75
Punjabi Sikh	Vancouver	155,945	Surrey	65
Punjabi Sikh	Yuba City, CA	15,000	South Yuba City	57
Punjabi Sikh	Los Angeles	30,000	Buena Park	59
Punjabi Sikh	Chicago	11,247	West Ridge	58
Punjabi Sikh	Detroit	10,000	Canton	56
Punjabi Sikh	Indianapolis	10,000	McCordsville	55
Punjabi Sikh	Philadelphia	5,360	Millbourne	55
Punjabi Sikh	Washington D.C.	8,618	Fairfax	47
Punjabi Sikh	Seattle	20,000	Kent	67
Punjabi Sikh	Edmonton	20,425	Southeast Edmonton	64
Punjabi Sikh	San Francisco	40,000	Fremont	71
Punjabi Sikh	Winnipeg	9,885	The Maples	43
Punjabi Sikh	Abbotsford	28,235	Clearbrook	49
Punjabi Sikh	Hamilton	5,920	Grayside	50
Punjabi Sikh	Calgary	30,420	Castleridge	59
Punjabi Sikh	Montreal	9,205	Parc Extension	57
Pupa Jewish	New York	8,825	Williamsburg (Brooklyn)	90
Sanzer Jewish	New York	7,006	Borough Park	88
Satmar Jewish	New York	156,744	Williamsburg (Brooklyn)	99
Skver Jewish	New York	17,678	New Square (Rockland Cty)	91
Somali	Toronto	80,000	Etobicoke	83
Somali	Columbus, OH	40,000	Northland	80
Somali	Edmonton	20,000	McCauley	78
Somali	Seattle	25,000	SeaTac	77
Somali	Minneapolis	70,000	Cedar-Riverside	71
Somali	Nashville	5,000	Southeast Nashville	61
Somali	San Diego	15,000	El Cerrito	75
Somali Bantu	Toronto	6,000	Etobicoke	86
Somali Bantu	Columbus, OH	5,000	West side	85
Soninke	New York	15,000	Highbridge (Bronx)	85
Soninke	Cincinnati	5,000	Westwood	76
Sri Lankan Sinhalese	Toronto	15,000	Scarborough	37
Sri Lankan Sinhalese	New York	7,500	Tompkinsville (SI)	32
Syrian Arab Muslim	New York	11,502	Bay Ridge (Brooklyn)	37
Syrian Arab Muslim	Los Angeles	7,999	Anaheim	36
Syrian Jewish	New York	75,000	Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)	96
Persian Jewish (Tehrani)	Los Angeles	40,000	Beverly Hills	88
Persian Jewish (Tehrani)	New York	20,000	Great Neck (Long Island)	86
Thai	New York	14,300	Elmhurst (Queens)	22
Thai	Los Angeles	34,615	East Hollywood (Thai Town)	21
Thai	Washington D.C.	12,811	Shaw	28
Thai	San Francisco	9,785	Civic Center	29
Thai	Seattle	9,343	University District	24
Thai	Chicago	7,837	Albany Park	29
Thai	Dallas Fort Worth	8,154	City Place	19
Thai	Las Vegas	8,018	Paradise	25
Thai	Riverside	7,851	Eastside	26
Thai	Miami	5,296	Edgewater	27
Tibetan	New York	13,000	Jackson Heights (Queens)	78
Tibetan	Toronto	8,000	West Parkdale	75
Turk	Atlanta	5,055	Sandy Springs	56
Turk	Boston	6,462	North Brookline	57
Turk	Chicago	7,361	Mount Prospect	56
Turk	Toronto	23,085	Mississauga	67
Turk	Miami	8,102	Miami Beach	56
Turk	New York	41,367	South Paterson (NJ)	57
Turk	Houston	5,324	Memorial Park	56
Turk	Montreal	13,570	Nouveau-Rosemont	62
Turk	Philadelphia	7,179	Riverside (NJ)	57
Turk	San Francisco	12,810	Sunnyvale	59
Turk	Washington D.C.	12,918	Fairfax	59
Turk	Los Angeles	11,500	Culver City	58
Turk	Vancouver	5,185	Richmond	56
Uzbek	New York	28,506	Brighton Beach (Brooklyn)	37
Vizhnitz Jewish	New York	18,382	Kaser (Rockland Cty)	90
Wolof	New York	20,000	Harlem	81
Yemeni Arab	New York	20,000	Bay Ridge (Brooklyn)	73
Yemeni Arab	Detroit	25,000	Hamtramck	72
Yeshivish Jewish	Chicago	5,894	West Rogers Park	68
Yeshivish Jewish	Miami	10,726	North Miami Beach	72
Yeshivish Jewish	Washington D.C.	9,921	Glen (Baltimore)	70
Yeshivish Jewish	Toronto	16,000	York	75
Yeshivish Jewish	New York	120,000	Lakewood (NJ)	91
Yeshivish Jewish	Los Angeles	13,600	Hancock Park	74
Tunisian Arab	Montreal	17,645	Little Maghreb	74
Figures for matrix score formula (don't delete)

Helpful resources for sharing Jesus with Afghans

Resource	Description	Link
The Prophets' Story	This video presents the gospel in the Somali language simply and quickly through the stories of the Biblical prophets.
The Way of Righteousness	This series presents the stories and message of the biblical prophets chronologically in 100 15-minute audio clips in the Somali language.
Nolosha Cusub	The best online gospel resources in Somali. Various articles, testimony videos, and songs.
Waddada Runta	Online gospel articles and videos to reach younger Somalis.
Bible.is	An online audio/written Bible and app in Somali and other languages.
The Somali Bible Society	PDF of an updated & modernized Somali translation of the New Testament.
Q and A about the Bible and Qur'an	200 questions and answers about the Bible and the Qur'an in Somali.
Mary Magdalena (Jesus Film)	Somali version of the Mary Magdalena film. Very powerful among women.
Discover App	Discovery Bible Study story sets in Somali.