Faduma Abdi, a Somali refugee, takes an English lessons at Mary's Place in Rochester. About 2,000 Somalis live in the region, mostly in northwest Rochester.
For refugees, the basic survival needs come first: food, clothing, shelter. Then there are the services that help them to start their assimilation into a new culture: English lessons, education, job training.
But for certain groups, there are other issues that might not immediately come to mind, like the mental and emotional scarring that comes from living in a nation that has been at war with itself for 23 years.
"All these families are coming, and their mental health is really difficult," said Sharon Silvio, director of the English language classes for the Somali Community of Western New ...