Edmonton: Somali group’s new chair ‘a mom who’s trying to bring everybody together’

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An Edmonton Somali group, hoping to unite the community under one banner, has a new chair.

EdmontonJournal

 

 

By DAVE LAZZARINO
Friday, August 19, 2016

Marian Enow, a community librarian with Edmonton Public Library, was voted chair of the Council of Somali Canadian People of Alberta at a meeting on Wednesday.

“The purpose of the meeting was to have a voice of Somalia,” said Enow, adding there are a lot of different groups in the community, but they all need to align their goals.

Enow said the group is still in its infancy and details of her role is still being ironed out, but she is happy to take it on.

The Somali community suffered some tough times in the mid to late 2000s as a rash of murders and gang activity swept up a number of youth.

But recently, community members have been celebrating local successes, preferring to focus on the increasing numbers of university and college graduates in their ranks.
In that sense, Enow is the perfect choice to head up the new group. She came to Canada in 1987 as a refugee, along with a wave of immigrants who escaped before civil war displaced or killed hundreds of thousands of Somalis.

She managed to raise three boys on her own, all of whom have succeeded in school, and to earn herself a master’s degree in library sciences.

“I am a mom who’s trying to bring everybody together,” she said.

Aside from working with the city, she volunteers her time with places like the Boyle Street Community Services and the Bissell Centre. She said different populations have different needs and they have to be dealt with differently.

“Whenever the need comes, by the time you have the issue in your hands, you have to find how to address that need and analyze it and be able to forecast the outcome. Whatever we’re doing, we have to have a positive outcome,” Enow said.

dlazzarino@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/SUNDaveLazz