While cradling her beautiful one-year-old granddaughter,
Mboni Mhiji spoke of her dreams for her entire family. “Mom wants us to have real homes here in the United States,” interprets her son Hamadi. With her husband, three sons and their wives, and 11 of her 12 grandchildren, Mboni came to the US in 2004 after 14 years in refugee camps in Kenya. Members of the Bantu tribe, they fled war and violence in their homeland of Somalia back in 1992. Employment is critical to helping refugees like Mboni and her family to achieve independence with dignity. In 2006, CFC’s Refugee Resettlement program teamed up with CFC’s Healthy Sisters’ Soup and Bean Works, a unique work experience program for women in recovery from substance abuse and poverty, to provide job skills training for refugee women. This integration of services made it possible for Mboni to learn basic job skills, like how to follow directions and work with a team, in a holistic and congruent environment.
According to Carol Henning, Healthy Sisters’ Program Manager, Mboni was a very good employee with a solid work ethic. “She always took initiative, never waiting to be asked to do something and she always smiled, even through the language barrier.” Today, Mboni has taken on the important job of caring for her grandchildren while her sons and their wives work. This is a strong family with a determined matriarch serving as an important example of the dignity of work.
