The prosperity of Nashville’s Somali refugees is hindered by unending payments to friends and family in their home countries. That’s part of the findings in a new documentary set to premier tomorrow night on Nashville Public Television.
NPT producer Will Pedigo spent more than 4-months chronicling the Somali community in Nashville, estimated at 5-thousand.
“You think their problems are all solved. They’ve been resettled…but it’s not over. They’re still connected to folks back in Somalia – day-to-day keeping in touch with what’s the situation there. How’s my family? Are they safe?”
An estimated billion dollars worldwide is sent back to the war-torn country each year through the so-called Howala network. That billion dollars is equal to some estimates of the African nation’s gross domestic product.
Ibrahim Ferah was interviewed for the documentary. He’s a Nashville agent for the money wiring company Dahabshiil.
“I know some people in this city who skip meals so they can save that money to send back to Somalia.”
The documentary concludes that the remittances from jobs, ranging from factory work to taxi driving, keep the Somalis from getting ahead in the U.S. The half-hour documentary airs at 8 o’clock Thursday night.
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