General Information
Included in this section are statistics from the US Census Bureau describing this population.

• Population ~ The total number of Somalis living in the United States is estimated at 150,000,of whom about 40,000 are Somali refugees from the dominant clans. With tens of thousands of Somalis, Minneapolis has the largest Somali community in theUnited States. Other metropolitan areas with large numbers of Somalis include Columbus, Ohio, New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Diego, Atlanta, and Detroit. (For more information on Somalia in general, please see the Center for Applied Linguistics’ Culture Profile on Somali refugees.)
• Language Spoken at Home ~ Resettlement agencies in the United States may want to try first using Af Maay, then using Af Maxaa-speaking Somali staff to translate. Some Bantu children may have a strong enough command of English to communicate with resettlementworkers.

The authors of this website attempted to find statistical information for this cultural group, however the U.S. Census Bureau did not include information specific to the Somalian population. Some information was obtained from Culture Profile No. 16 February 2003 The Somali Bantu Their History and Culture by Dan Van Lehman & Omar Eno available at: http://www.cal.org/co/bantu/somali_bantu.pdf

Internet Website Resources
Use this condensed list of information to locate reliable resources on the internet to further your knowledge about the culture of the client you are working with.

• http://xpedio02.childrenshc.org/stellent/groups/public/@xcp/@web/@clinicsanddepts/documents/
  policyreferenceprocedure/web025020.asp
  • Language
  • Social Structure
  • Etiquette
  • Religion
  • Holidays
  • Medical Care
  • Traditional Healing
• http://www.mchb.org/HealthAndCulture/SomaliHandout.htm
  • Religion
  • Family Structure
  • Health Beliefs and Practices
  • Traditional Healing
• http://www.pbs.org
• http://www.tolerance.org
• http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/refugee/refugeepub.html
• Cultural Orientation Resource Center:
  • http://www.cal.org/co/http://www.unicef.org
• http://www.humanrights.state.mn.us/somali_history_facts.html
• http://depts.washington.edu/mchprog/docs/posters/2007/OsbornCapstone.pdf

Books and Videos
Included in the list of books and videos that may make you learn more about your client are a list of discussion questions to answer as you read the book or watch the video. These questions are designed to get you to think about the material and apply what you’ve learned to working with your patient.

Books:

• Finnegan, William. (1999). The invisible war. The New Yorker: January 25, 1999, pp. 50-73.
• Gray-Fisher. (1994). Infogram on the Democratic Republic of the Sudan. Des Moines: Iowa Department of Human Services, Bureau of Refugee Services.
• Lee, Cecelia. (Ed.). (1998). Sudan–A cultural profile. Toronto: University of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work (AMNI Centre).
• Kemp, C. & Rasbridge, L. (2004). Refugee and immigrant health: A handbook for health professionals. Cambridge University Press.
• Reimers, D. (2005). Other immigrants: The global origins of the American people. New York: NYU Press.
• Roble, A. & Rutledge, D. (2008). The Somali Diaspora: A Journey Away. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Sharp End. (n.d.). Lost boys, Kenya (Kakuma). Great Britain: 6-minute video synopsis on the Sudanese youth.
• U.S. Committee for Refugees. (1999). Sudan–Personal stories of Sudan's uprooted people. Washington, DC: U.S. Committee for Refugees.
• U.S. Committee for Refugees. (2000). World refugee survey 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Committee for Refugees.
• Zutt, Johannes. (1994). Children of war: Wandering alone in southern Sudan. New York: United Nations Children's Fund.

Videos:

• Gaaddasaar, M. (Producer). (October 6, 2008). Egal Shidad: Stories of Somali health [Television broadcast]. St. Paul: SPNN.
• Hamzeh, Z.H. (Director). (2003). The letter-An American town and the Somali invasion. [Motion picture]. United States: Hamzeh Mystique Films.
• Somali Voices: Ololfilm.com. Olol Film Productions. (2004). Olol films. Retrieved on March 16, 2009 from:
  • http://www.ololfilm.com/index.html.
• Your Guide to Somali Culture DVD (Documentary Film) by Olol Film Productions

*The creators of this website have not previewed all of the above videos and books, therefore it is recommended that you visit PBS.org or tolerance.org for a complete list of books and videos available.

Scholarly Journals and Search Keywords
There are many scholarly journals that contain great information concerning healthcare disparities, cultural groups, and healthcare beliefs. Once you have access to these journals, common keywords or phrases are provided to guide your search and narrow your focus.

Journals

• Alternative therapies in health and medicine
• Journal of the National Medical Association
• Medical Care
• Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.
• Health Affairs: Project Hope
• Journal of Transcultural Nursing

Keywords to Use When Searching

• “Somali”
• “Healthcare”
• “Multicultural healthcare”
• “Healthcare disparities”
• “Alternative medicine”
• “Somali medicine”
• “Somali” AND “healthcare”
• “Somali” AND “Access to healthcare
• “Somali” AND “religion”
• “Somali” and “family structure”