Out of Africa, Into Helpful Hands

By Megan Greenwell

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 27, 2006; Page B03

When Wendell Chesson came to the District from Liberia 25 years ago, he did not know where to find housing, where to learn English or how to locate health care. Now, he said, new African immigrants won't have to face the same challenges.

Chesson and dozens of other African-born District residents celebrated the opening of the African Resource Center yesterday at a converted house on Vermont Avenue near U Street NW. The center is part of a growing effort by African immigrants to provide a voice for their community.

In order to be heard, we have to build an institution," said Abdul Kamus, an Ethiopian immigrant who devised the plan for the African Resource Center and will serve as its executive director. "Starting today, the community is in charge of helping each other through this center."

About 16 percent of new immigrants in the region are from Africa, according to a 2001 Brookings Institution study, but community leaders said African-born people have less of a cohesive identity than do Latino or Asian immigrants. The D.C. Council voted in March to create an Office of African Affairs, many years after similar offices were founded to serve the Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander communities.

"We have many cultural differences, but when it comes to achieving benefits, we have to do it for all Africans," Chesson said. "There might be a few Ethiopians here and a few Nigerians there, but if we put all the countries together, we are a big group."

The African Resource Center will teach people about their rights and provide information about education, health care, immigration procedures, language access programs and other services, Kamus said. The staff will work with the Office of African Affairs to bring relevant issues to the attention of elected officials.

"We have always thought immigration was about Latinos," said Juan Carlos Ruíz, general coordinator of the National Capital Immigration Coalition. "We've been illuminated and educated, and we pledge our full support for the development of this organization."

One initial focus of the African Resource Center will be trying to develop solutions for the problems created by the law, passed in 2001 but enforced only recently, that does not allow taxi drivers to register the vehicles they own in the District unless they live in the city. Most of the city's drivers live outside the city, and Kamus said a majority are African immigrants. D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Causton Toney attended yesterday's celebration and promised to work with community leaders to find solutions.

"The invitation for me to come here was a clear indication of the desire to bridge the gap between the government and the community," Toney said. "Now we can work together."