Salma Al Adhami (Iraq) and Tracy Moore were paired through the Senior Companion Program which is a subset of Catholic Charities of Maine's American Friends Program.  The two women have worked together for four years and have come to think of the other as family. 
Salma retired from teaching first grade after thirty years.  It was a job she loved.  She lived in Basra, Hilah, and Baghdad, Iraq before moving to Westbrook, ME in 2014 to be with her surviving son.
Tracy is a social worker who volunteered through Catholic Charities of Maine and feels lucky to have meet Salma.  Tracy has helped Salma find her way to a fiber arts center and the two women love to exchange recipes and so much more. As you can hear, they care very much for one another.
Salma is also involved in the New England Arab American Organization (NEAAO) where she spends time with peers and receives instruction in swimming, Zumba, and computer literacy.
Though she brought a translator to this interview, Salma has studied English for years and wants to become independent now that she has applied for US Citizenship. 

This interview was translated by Nagham Al Ani.

Music: Samer Didi sings Hymn of Basra.

Martin's parents were farmers from South Sudan who taught their sixteen children to be "givers" by donating ten percent of their yields to people who needed food.  Martin has been working to support others since. 
He was interviewed in April of 2015 about his work at the Director of New England Interpreter Services.  Click here to listen to that archived show.
Martin has now started his second business, using his communication skills in the human services.  USA Family Well Being Services provides in home social work support (HCT or Home Community Treatment) for families, in their native languages.  He and his team help vulnerable families to support children with special needs while introducing them to resources and offerings in their local communities.

Music: Bob Marley "Everything's Going to be Alright."

This is the fourth time Georges has been on New Mainers Speak.  During this interview he speaks about the on-going responsibilities of citizenship.  He has been working with Results, a global organization focused on ending poverty through political and policy actions focused on global health, education, and economic opportunity.

He cares about an informed citizenry and encourages people to be aware of what is going on and taking action to support good policies.  Georges encourages people to insure the veracity of the content they read about in the news, checking the source, using multiple sources and checking with trusted contacts. 

Georges continues to work in his professional job as a property manager for Avesta, serves as President of Ladder to the Moon Network and helps to produce Amjambo Africa, a newspaper for Africans in Maine written in several languages and circulated through the Bangor Daily News monthly.

Music: George's nephew Israel Mbonyi sings "Ibihe" 

El-Fadel came to Maine in 2004 after being forced from his home in Darfur, Sudan.  El-Fadel was previously on New Mainers Speak in August (NMS 188) and September (NMS 191) of 2018.  He continues to share his stories and his insights regarding all he has learned throughout his epic journey, to date. This interview was timed well to coincide with Thanksgiving.  There are few people more grateful for what they have than he.
In this segment El-Fadel focuses on the way people from his village show respect to elders.  He also helps listeners to understand the powerful respect Sudanese people feel for the earth and the very dirt from which all life flows.  He discusses the way they grow their foods, find their well water, make their homes of mud bricks and grasses (also born of the earth) and even make their toys from the hard baked clay earth.  Their gratitude and thanksgiving always starts with a respect for the earth and soil that make life possible and holds us at the end of our lives.

For regularly updated news about Sudan, El-Fadel suggests Darfur Women Action Group. 
If you wish to book El-Fadel to speak at a school event he can be reached at Elfadelfcr@gmail.com.

Music: An Ethiopian song for joy and peace.

Mambo left Luanda, Angola  alone and arrived in the US in 2015.  It was difficult, but he quickly found his way once he was enrolled in classes at Portland High School.  He had help from his principal, mentor, teachers, and friends who became his new family here in Maine. 
Presently, Mambo works third shift packing lobster for trade and then goes to college full time, studying business management at Southern Maine Community College. He hopes to one day have his own business so he can work for himself and employ others. 

Music: Mambo pays tribute to his recently deceased 19 year old friend/brother Mardo with the song "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa.

Tae Chong (NMS 097) is the director of TEEM (The Emerging Entrepreneurs of Maine) which is a new program offered through Catholic Charities.  This project has a market called Fikiria (Swahili for "Imagine") which is a store-within-a-store at 244 St. John St, Portland, inside the Threads of Hope store.  Amanda Fisher is the manager of the mission driven resale shop that helps to fund other Catholic Charities programs in the area.  She brings with her years of high end retail experience and shares information about display, marketing, advertising and sales to the entrepreneurs, among many other responsibilities. 
Presently, Nana Batumike and Zahra Abukar (NMS 160) are creating fashion designs, selling jewelry and make up for Africans at the St. John St location.  If you want to learn more about "Glamming" and "Queening" swing by and and check out their designs.
 
Music: Selected by Nana Batumike, "Dream Big" by Ryan Schupe.

Earlier this year (2018) Anselmo and Henrique arrived in Portland, Maine.  They come from Cabinda, Angola which is an area about the size of New Jersey (7,000 sq. miles) located between Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo on the Atlantic Ocean, and is not contiguous with the rest of Angola. 
In Cabinda there are many natural resources (oil, diamonds, gold, uranium, phosphates, and rare tropical hardwoods) and a temperature that ranges between 65-87F all year long. 
Some people in Cabinda would like to seek independence from Angola and sovereignty for their people, as their culture is quite different from Angola's and their work to unite the disparate groups has not been successful. 
Anselmo and Henrique are a part of a group called ADCDH (translated from Portuguese that stands for the Association for the Development of a Culture of Human Rights) which works peacefully toward raising global awareness about their region's issues.  

Music: "Filho DeCabinda" by Filipe Mukenga

Music + Words
Kifah Abdulla (NMS 141 and 173) and Devon Colella co-create an emotional healing art form between poet and cellist. Devon describes a landscape and Kifah lets his "ears taste the cello" and responds with a reading of his poetry.  Together they explore silence and sound while awakening a different kind of consciousness that invites healing from diverse experiences, such as life as a prisoner of war.

If you are interested in inviting them to your future event they can be reached through these outlets:
www.kifahabdulla.com 
abdulla.kifah@gmail.com
DevonColella@comcast.net
https://www.quadtheduo.com/
also through facebook and instagram.

El-Fadel watched his house and village burn when he was 12 years old.  What followed were ten years of running, hiding, escaping genocide and childhood slavery.  While he might have been a boy in school he was leading a very difficult life.  That is why he values education and appreciates all his elders ever taught him. 
He came to the US in 2004 and started learning English.  Now he works with students to cultivate compassion and share information about his life and the political realities of war and genocide.  He is also working two jobs and is going to finish his high school diploma (through Adult Education) in just 10 more credits. 
El-Fadel believes that if you have money for one month that is enough, the real richness of life comes from "raising others up."  He has many awards and certificates recognizing the humanitarian work he does with youth.  He supports the efforts being done by other groups here in the US: STAND and Darfur Women Action Group.  If you wish to book him for a school event he can be reached at Elfadelfcr@gmail.com.

Music: "Ethiopian Instrumental Music" by Habeshaw Abel (and the video portrays his village).  

Malual was born in South Sudan and studied hard to become a physician, specializing in tropical medicine and infectious disease.  He trained in South Sudan, Jordan, and the UK.  Malual moved to the USA in 2009 and became a citizen in 2013, but didn't have a license to  practice medicine here so worked in public health, instead.  In March of 2015 Malual was on New Mainers Speak before he started school to become a Physician Assistant (NMS 052) and now he is back to talk about his unorthodox journey as a health care provider.
He  works as a PA at Greater Portland Health, professionally offering the very best care to local people, regardless of their insurance status.  And he speaks fluent Arabic, too. But, when he is not at work he likes to be at home with his wife and three children (11, 10 and 5) in Biddeford. 

Music: Sinach sings "I Know Who I Am."