Guided Cultural Tours Foster Community Connections

A dancer performs at the Somali museum. Photo Sarah Whiting

During Metro Surge, hate speech and lies about immigrants ran rampant. In response, the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) expanded their tour series Learning From Place. Designed and led by people in selected cultures, these tours empower communities to share their stories without media filters.

May Kao Fredricks speaks to people on the tour bus. Photo Sarah Whiting

“Our community needs healing, and healing is done together,” says MayKao Fredericks, Chief Humanities Officer at MHC. She hopes these tours will help people slow down and see each other.

I joined the tour Learning From Place: Somali South Minneapolis to learn about the Somali community around Lake Street.

Museum & Dance

We started at The Somali Museum. Osman Ali founded the museum using his collection of Somali artifacts. As the first and only museum dedicated to Somali culture in North America, it relays the history of Somalia, Somali people in Minnesota, and Somali traditions.

The museum also runs a program that teaches traditional dances. “[Dance] connects the youth to their culture,” said Mahamoud Mohamed, the museum’s artistic director, as he encouraged us to move and clap along. “Please dance with us.”

He taught us basic moves. In a dance meant to mimic camels, we bent our arms back and forth across our body while bobbing our heads. Two of the troupe’s dancers performed the full routine for us.

Art

One of Guulsame Osman’s murals on the side of a grocery store. Photo Sarah Whiting

Next, we walked outside to meet artist Guulsame Osman. He showed us three murals he painted on Lake Street along with other artists from Kushite Arts. Most of his murals feature vibrant animals — camels, elephants, giraffes, birds — and East African motifs. A black cat gazes upward in his favorite mural Hope.

“Murals make us proud as residents and make tourists wonder,” he says.

Food

We traveled back inside to meet Mariam and Halima Mohamed, sisters who founded Hoyo Sambusa. Hoyo means “mother” in Somali, and Hoyo Sambusa specifically employs immigrant mothers to handmake sambusas — deep-fried triangular pockets of meat or lentils bursting with spices. They’re sold in Lunds and Byerlys, Minnesota co-ops, and public school lunches across Minnesota. We toured their kitchen, and they gave us each a sambusa to try.

Shops

Refreshed from our snack, we boarded a bus to ZIZI Boutique. Owner Balqiis Hersi uses her love of fashion to curate a collection of trendy modest clothing. She lived in India for 12 years, inspiring her affinity for color and patterns.

Balqiis Hersi at ZIZI Boutique. Photo Sarah Whiting

“Whether you cover or don’t cover, you can find something to wear here,” Hersi said. She hugged each woman goodbye, inviting us to return.

We boarded the bus again for our final stop: Karmel Mall. Yusra Mohamud, the tour’s curator, led us through the bazaar style shops and restaurants to the top level where a painted Somali flag covers the entire ceiling. We drank mango smoothies and shaah — Somali milk tea — as we reflected on the tour.

Mohamud encouraged us to return to each tour stop with friends: “Somali people always want people to come to learn and experience.”

Spending time in different cultures helps people learn the truth about each other.

Upcoming Learning From Place details and registration

• August 13: Learning from Place: Watt Munisotaram (Cambodian Temple)
• August 19: Little Africa Plaza
• September 10: Little Mekong Cultural District
• September 19: Bdote
• September 19: African American History and the Duluth Lynchings of 1920

To support our unique community-based storytelling: