African Dundada performs all over the Portland area.  His mission is to communicate with as many people as possible, thus he creates music in a wide variety of styles.  In this interview he demonstrates some freestyle rapping and showcases a more reggae style song he just wrote, at the end of the show.
"Sounds of the City" is a platform he is invested in which helps others to showcase their talents. More than most, African Dundada has an eye on what is best for the community and looks to make that happen.
To hear more about African Dundada's background you can listen to his first interview (click here NMS 152). 

Music: African Dundada sings "We All The Same."

Zoe and her husband Walid brought their young family to Maine in 1997 both with degrees in Information Technology. To hear the 2017 interview about her life in Lebanon click here. Seeing the need in the immigrant community Zoe formed New England Arab American Organization in 2014.  NEAAO's mission is to ease the integration of Arab immigrants into American society and bridge the gap between cultures.  NEAAO offers new and established arrivals, older and younger women of different educational and socio-economic levels access to information, support, education, workforce developement and connections in their new realities in Maine. 
Beyond the 60-70 hours a week Zoe invests in this community organization she also serves on a board to prevent sexual assault and hosts a monthly radio program at WMPG called Tarabz.

Music: Enrico Machias sings "J'ai quitte mon pays."

Stela comes from the rose oil region of Strelcha, Bulgaria. She attended high school in Plovdiv, a city she highly recommends visiting.
It has the distinction of being the European Capital of Culture for 2019.
Only having been in Maine since May 2017, Stela has already found her way to meaningful work as an accounting assistant, is taking courses for an accounting certification, tutors students at USM, and helps the workforce development endeavors at SMCC.

FMI: Global Connections video interview with Julia Trujillo Luengo and Stela Markova-Kanin. 

Music: Stefka Sabotinova sings "Prituri se Planinata"

Mariella grew up in Butare, Rwanda as the youngest of 9 children in a loving and supportive family.  25 years ago her world turned upside down because of the genocide.  She speaks here about how she coped with her losses as a young woman. Mariella has lived, worked, and studied in Rwanda, Uganda, Belgium, Denmark, and England prior to arriving in Maine last August 2018.  She is uniquely qualified to be an advisor to those undergoing transformations, having re-invented her life multiple times.  Currently,  Mariella is the Program Coordinator of  Immigrant Business Hub program at the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center.  They offer new entrepreneurs access to support through mentorship, networking, advice, and finding capital. 
She is also a new member of the Greater Portland Health board of directors and the mother of three sons.

Music: Aline Gahongayire sings "Ndanyuzwe" (I am grateful).

This was a special one-hour round table discussion on Workforce Development in Maine. Guests highlighted a program they all experienced together at Southern Maine Community College called ESOL-to-IT as director, instructor, student, and tutor. 
Maine has a real need to develop a workforce because of an aging population with upcoming retirements as well as new business growth.  Immigrants offer a skilled and hard working labor force.  If Maine strategically plans for it we can match meaningful work with just the right workers. 
Dieudonne summarized it well, New Mainers are grateful for the help/training/support they receive here and want to remain loyal to Maine.  If Maine had more infrastructure to connect jobs and workers, immigrants and native Mainers both would be able to stay here, work, pay taxes, and contribute to building a healthier state for tomorrow, all of us together.

Guests:
David Zahn, Chair of ESOL and Global Languages Department at Southern Maine Community College. For more information on the ESOL to EMT click here
and more on SMCC's workforce training click here.

Stela Markova-Kanin, International Project Coordinator from Bulgaria who was a volunteer and tutor in the ESOL to IT and ESOL EMT programs offered at Southern Maine Community College. She spoke of free Conversational English support at YMCA where she works in accounting.

Dieudonne Nzeyimana is a pioneer in the development of IT in the Rwanda Public Administration, was COO of Population Services International and recently participated in the ESOL-to-IT workforce development program. 

Stefanie Trice Gill is the founder of IntWork, a diversity recruitment firm that specializes in matching Maine employers with engineers, IT, and other STEM professionals, mostly immigrants. She helped in a similar way with the ESOL to IT program at SMCC. MANA also offers info on workforce gap and solutions.

Music:
Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares sing "Ergen Deda" early in the program and to close
Kizito Mihigo sings "Ijoro Ribara Uwariraye"

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.