The Somali community in the UK: What we know and how we ... - ICAR

such as those listed in the documents compiled
for the Somali Community Meeting at the
House of Commons. The reason given there for
women’s isolation is “lack of family network” 133
- the children, husbands, in-laws, kin, and clan
members surrounding a woman in Somalia. If still
alive, many of these erstwhile companions are
scattered around the world. Anxiety about their
wellbeing and sadness at separation compounds
the loneliness. Somali women were used to
outdoor activities at home. In the UK, obstacles
to an extra-domestic life - the weather, distances,
public transport - may confine a woman to her
home, which may be far from shops and friends or
family. Even when a number of people live at the
same address, one woman may be responsible for
their maintenance, burdened with chores that in
Somalia would be shared by other women in the
household. Older women face particular problems,
feeling estranged both from their own country
and the younger generation growing up in the UK.
The social context for the respect afforded to
elders, the social status and family support they
would have enjoyed at home, is missing in England.
Some grandmothers are cherished by their families
with whom they live, but others feel lonely and
redundant. 134
Elderly Somalis - especially women - may be
illiterate, and unless they come from the former
British protectorate in the north, are likely to speak
little English. 135 Top of the Community Meeting’s
list of women’s principal problems is ‘language’ - an
issue that appears over and over again in reports,
studies, and personal accounts as the main barrier
women have had to face. Inability to understand
or communicate inhibits their participation in the
wider society, hinders their access to services, and,
as we have seen in the case of health, prevents
communication with professionals. Faced with
uncomprehending women, health staff may
form the impression that Somalis are “stupid,
unresponsive and rude” (Harper-Bulman, 1997: 24).
Poor English also stands in the way of employment,
not only because a good command of the language
will be required for the job, but also because of the
resulting barrier to confident self-presentation.
There have been many initiatives by statutory
and voluntary services, including RCOs, to offer
English classes for refugee women, 136 but demand
greatly exceeds supply, and provision has suffered
with the decline in adult education institutes
during the 1990s. Uptake is most successful when
there is some provision for travel costs and, most
importantly, for childcare. Given the size of families,
and the scarcity of good childcare facilities that
they can afford, it is hard for many women to take
time out for themselves. Part-time, intermittent
classes do not provide an adequate solution, and
further problems arise when varying ability levels
are taught together. A study in Leicester found
that women also feel uncomfortable in learning
alongside men. 137
Even with knowledge of the language, it is hard
enough to grasp the codes and structures of an
unfamiliar society. Somali women often say that
their greatest drawback is in not understanding
the system. They quote examples: the majority
of women depend on benefits of various kinds;
when reaching the age of eighteen, the benefit
for a child will stop, but the mother may be
unprepared. A family has a Housing Association flat,
falls into arrears, but has no understanding of the
implications of the debt.
Housing is another item on the Community
Meeting’s list of women’s problems. As we saw
above, poor living conditions and overcrowding are
significant factors in the deterioration of mental
health. Many women are on their own and are
therefore responsible for accommodation - of the
45 households in contact with the Somali Support
Initiative in east London schools, nearly two thirds
were headed by a single parent or carer. 138
130. Breaking the silence: 13-14. 131. Ibid.: 11. 132. Ibid.: 12.
133. Report on Somali women and children refugees in the UK presented
to the Somali Community Meeting, 29.4.03.
134. Polese, 2001: 50-56; McCarthy, 1995: 16.
135. English was the medium of instruction in northern schools until 1969,
but older nomadic women had little formal education.
136. Language support may also be a component of other courses, such
as the childcare training offered by the Daycare Trust (Sherriff, 1995).
137. Daahir and Duale, 2002: 40-1.
138. Care must be taken about generalising from any one set of figures.
This is a survey based on children with problems at school. Taking a sample
of both men and women across seven cities contacted largely through Somali
RCOs, Bloch and Atfield (2002: 12) found that nearly a third of women
with children were single parents, while 41% of households contained three
or more children.
The Somali community in the UK
61