Somali Bantu in North America

The Somali Bantu are a minority group that migrated from other African Bantu countries: Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique, into the southern part of Somalia more than 200 years ago. Some came as slaves to Somalia, and others migrated into southern Somalia before the Somali majority near the Jubba and Shabelle rivers, where the soil is most fertile for farming. Those who came from Tanzania retained their Bantu language of Kizigua. Those from Malawi and Mozambique were forced to forget their native language and learn the Somali Maay language, spoken in southern Somalia.

The Somali Bantu lived in remote villages; they were discriminated against and deprived of education and politics. In 1991, when the civil war began, some Somalis began robbing the Somali Bantu of their fertile lands and killing them. Many Somali Bantu ran away to the neighboring Kenyan refugee camps, where they waited for 14 years to be resettled in the USA. 

Finally, in 2004, the UNHCR resettled nearly 12,000 Somali Bantu into 50 different cities in the U.S., leaving many thousands in refugee camps. Since then, many in the diaspora in the United States have migrated from other cities into Columbus, Ohio, making Columbus the ‘hub’ where there are now approximately 5,000-10,000 Somali Bantu. 

Many experienced a lot of trauma, fleeing their homeland and watching their family members be killed. Today they suffer from PTSD, making it difficult to learn English, keep a peaceful home life, and move forward in their new homeland in the United States.