As you drive through Northwestern Wisconsin, you can see across the horizon for miles. If you drive with your windows down, you can smell a tinge of manure, the freshness of the air and, depending on your location, you can hear the hum of tractors, harvesting the season’s bounty. If you’re looking for Barron, Wisconsin, […]
An Afternoon in Barron, Wis.
The School The classroom was loud with chatter and giggles. Instruction was underway in the ESL class at Barron High School. The energy in the room seemed misplaced for 8 a.m. but the colorful headscarves and traditional Muslim robes worn by the students added to the lively environment. They said they don’t dress this way […]
The Help for the Somalis
Amongst those already living in Barron came their new neighbors, the Somalis. In the early 1990’s, Barron become the new relocation for the refugee. It’s a small and safe community with great resources and job availability. “There are a lot of Somali families here from Minneapolis,” said Marsha Iverson-Smith, WITC Adult Education Instructor for English-Language […]
Jafar Hirmog: A Somali Immigrant Living the American Dream
What does Facebook smell like? Stop into the Amin Restaurant on 531 East La Salle Ave. to find out. A colorful array of items lay behind the cashier counter: deep red, emerald green and royal blue Muslim prayer rugs; bottles of Hebolene, Vatika, Amila and Tresemmé hair care products; and plastic-protected khimars of various colors […]
A Town Adjusts to its New Neighbors
In the late 1990s, Somali immigrants fleeing war and famine came to the United States seeking a stable life and knowing anything was better than what they had left behind. Some of them settled into small towns across the country like Barron, Wisconsin. What followed was a culture shock for a town that is nearly […]
We’re Safe Here at Barron High School
The classrooms looked like many of the other classrooms in the Barron High School. Desks were placed in rows, their cream-colored tops all arranged in vertical lines. Posters and sayings lined the walls, displaying a personal touch of each of the teachers in the school. But the English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms were […]
Working, Praying, Racing: John Mayala’s Life as a Barron Resident
At 83, John Mayala is a man of few words and many seasons, who remembers being a 12-year-old boy on his parents’ farm when Wallace Jerome, the founder of Barron’s Jennie-O Turkey factory, rolled into town. “The guy had turkey eggs and was driving a ’41 Pontiac,” he said, smiling. Now Mayala is retired, the […]
A Regular’s Take on ‘Somali-ville’
“We didn’t want them here, but they came and we take care of them,” said Elaine Johnson of Barron, Wis. as she sipped her Diet Coke through a straw at the town’s Veteran’s Foreign War bar. Johnson was an older woman, with chunky silver rings adorning each of her fingers, and she was talking about […]
How a Former Minister helps the Somali Community
At the Barron Public Library a heavyset gentlemen wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans, with glasses hanging from his face, sat at a table between three Somali immigrants. Dean Freimund was helping the immigrants study for their upcoming citizenship test to become legal residents in America. Even though some citizens in Barron still struggle […]
Obtaining Citizenship
Local volunteer Nancy Pike says helping Somali refugees from Barron, Wisconsin obtain their citizenship is the most selfish thing she does every week. “It’s a very selfish endeavor,” said Pike. “I walk out of here feeling like a million bucks.” Pike is a member of a local community group named Citizen Partners. She, along with […]
Community Created Through Food
It isn’t clear that Barron’s Amin Restaurant & Grocery is in fact a restaurant upon first entrance. Once through the doorway, the eye first notices a glass display case with slightly fewer desserts than one might expect to see at a bakery. The wall behind is a disheveled collage of various beauty and healthcare products […]