MANKATO — A recently published book takes a look into lives of the educators, musicians, artists, a fireman and other immigrants who have chosen this part of Minnesota as their new home.
“Voices of the Journey: Immigrant Stories from the Minnesota River Bend Area” seeks to preserve the history of immigrants in the region through firsthand accounts of the challenges they have faced, the help they’ve received and what they’ve done to pay it forward.
The collection of essays provides the back stories of 47 first-generation Americans from 27 foreign countries. The book is the first of its kind to focus on local immigrants in Mankato, North Mankato, Lake Crystal, Nicollet, St. Peter and New Ulm.
“It’s really exciting to share personal stories,” said Ahmed Mohamud Jaffer, who was born and raised in Somalia.
Jaffer, team coordinator for Mankato-based Minnesota Council for Churches, said most of the people he meets are unaware of his background. His three-page essay, “Remembering the Past and Helping Others,” fills in the details of what’s happened in his life.
“It tells where I grew up, how I came to a new country and adopted a new life and how I contribute to my community,” Jaffer said.
“This project is innovative,” said Dana Niu, a retired librarian who gathered the essays, interviewed their authors and edited the book.
Niu began the stories project about 10 years ago, although the work stalled during the pandemic. Her inspiration, she said, was a hefty library reference book she came across that lists Minnesota immigrant statistics.
Her book is a 208-page hardback with text written mostly in English. Its full-color cover features a photo montage of the immigrant authors busy at work or posing with family members.
Readers are likely to find stories by people who are public figures or longtime neighbors.
Mankato’s mayor, Najwa Massad, was a child when her family fled Lebanon to escape a civil war. Retired college professor and VINE Adult Community Center regular, Anita Dittrich, was born in Latvia and came to the United States as a World War II refugee. Mankato family physician Carolyn Baerg is from Nigeria — her husband is a Minnesota native.
In 2023, Baerg and Mankatoan Barb Maher co-produced a public-access show about Nigerian crafts. Many of the items showcased by the duo were purchased by Maher while she was a Peace Corps volunteer in her friend’s home country during the 1960s.
This summer Maher has been relishing reading the book edited by her good friend, Niu. Immigrant stories are of interest to Maher, in part, because her late husband was born in Canada.
“I’ve been reading one story a day from the book,” Maher said.
Copies of “Voices of the Journey” were first available to the public during an event at Blue Earth County Library attended by several of the essayists.
Metone Wamma was invited to share his story of traveling with his wife and children from Papua New Guinea to Minnesota. His essay is “My Immigrant Story: A Melanesian in Mankato.”
I am the only one,” Wamma said, jokingly, during introductions at the book launch.
Chilean immigrant Pamela Riquelme-Paredes talked about her licensed home day care where children have opportunities to practice speaking Spanish.
Niu, who grew up in China, did not use her story in the book. The storytellers who participated represent a small segment of the region’s immigrant population.
A Minnesota Historical Society webpage discusses the important roles immigrants have played in Minnesota’s history, starting well before statehood was granted in 1958.
“In fact, it is impossible to discuss Minnesota history without detailing immigration in the past and present. The Ojibwe and Dakota people who have made this land their home for centuries were joined and then driven out or confined by European settler-colonists and immigrants in the 19th century. Minnesota became a home for Swedes, Irish, Germans, and Italians in the late 19th century, for Poles and Mexicans in the early 20th century, and for Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Vietnamese, Mexican, Salvadoran, Karen and Somali people in the late 20th and early 21st centuries,” MHS writes.
The Land of 10,000 Lakes continues to draw immigrants whose cultures intertwine with multiple others in Minnesota.
Copies of “Voices of the Journey” are available for $15 at the Blue Earth County Library, 100 E. Main St.