The work Sahro Jamah Farah does as a Home Care Aide to prepare meals, cook, and clean for her six consumers in the Puget Sound area is both rewarding and demanding. But in addition to her work as a Home Care Aide, Farah often serves as a cultural ambassador of both Islam and Somalia.
Farah emigrated from Somalia in 2006 and has worked as a caregiver with Full Life home care agency for the last nine years.
“I support my children and help support people back home in Somalia with my job,” Farah says. As a caregiver, Farah learned to gracefully navigate language barriers and cultural differences with her consumers. “After a while,” she says, “you become a part of the consumer’s family.”
Balancing her work as a caregiver with the emotional labor of explaining her country, her culture, and her religion means she often works a double shift with her consumers.
On a recent walk with a consumer, Farah recalls getting approached by strangers. Her style of headscarf—known in Arabic as a hijab—made her and her consumer visible to people with questions. “Some people don’t even know where Somalia is,” says Farah. “They came up to me and wanted to know if the country is clean, or where in Africa it is. I just tell them it’s very clean and it is close to Kenya,” Farah says with a laugh.
Though her patience is often tested, Farah would not trade her job for any other. In fact, she finds herself working more than she has to, just for the joy of helping others. “Today is my day off,” she says. “But I’m filling in for another caregiver who called in sick. I try to fill-in for others when Full Life needs me. We’re like a union.”
Sahro Jamah Farah is both a dedicated Home Care Aide and a cultural ambassador of Islam and Somalia. (Photo by Paul Joseph Brown)
A naturalized citizen, Farah has become an active member of her community despite experiencing culture shock when she first came to America. “Except for when I traveled to London, I had never really seen so many white people as I have in Seattle,” she says. “But you can’t tell who is a good person or who is a bad person based just on race or religion.”
Farah credits Islam with her ability to connect and adapt in unfamiliar communities. She says discrimination based on race, religion, or nationality has no place in the religion of Islam. Farah says Muslims believe in treating everyone, from strangers to family members, with a basic level of respect.
Islam is a religion of 1.6 billion diverse followers who comprise 22 percent of the world’s population. Across regional differences and various sects, the global community of Muslims in countries such as the United States, Britain, Somalia, and Indonesia is held together by their belief in several core principles.
“My religion says that no matter where you’re from or what your beliefs are, you should get help if you need it,” Farah says.
Once in 2009 on the way to work, Farah found herself with a flat tire. “I was wearing my hijab and I barely spoke any English back then,” she says. Car after car passed her on I-5, until a white man pulled over and helped her get moving again.
“He was not my brother, not my husband, not my same color, and not a Muslim. But he helped me anyway. That’s what we’re supposed to do for one another.”
Islam is an Arabic word that loosely translates to “peace through submission to God.” Many of Islam’s principles serve Farah in her role as a caregiver: tolerance, perseverance, and courtesy.
At the same time, she chooses not to participate in some activities, and chooses her consumers and the work that she does based on her principles. “I had one consumer from the Sudan,” says Farah.
“He needed help with showering, but I don’t touch men who are not my husband or a family member. Also, I’ll do extra work for women, but anything involving alcohol or pork are things that I can’t purchase or handle. So I make foods that I’m familiar with that I know my consumers will enjoy. My culture becomes their culture.”
Not everyone is open to Farah’s faith and culture. Last December, NBC News reported that rates of hate crimes against Muslims in America tripled in 2015. The 38 hate crimes committed against Muslim businesses, mosques, and clerical leaders in November and December of that year are examples of the anti-Islamic sentiment that Muslims like Farah are forced to endure.
Home Care Aide Sahro Jamah Farah prepares a bed for her consumer. (Photo by Paul Joseph Brown)
In addition, the pledge by presidential candidate Donald Trump to block Muslims from entering the United States has added to the climate of fear for Muslims in the U.S. and abroad.
“People have said mean things to me,” says Farah. “I had one consumer who tried to convert me away from Islam everyday. I respected his religion, but he did not respect mine. He would ask why he couldn’t see my hair or why I couldn’t hug him. I had to explain that my faith is important to me, but he ignored me.”
Rashida Sulaiman, a caregiver from Malaysia who resides in Walla Walla, Wash., believes that many Americans rely on stereotypes of Muslims that are fed to them by mass media. “I think people don’t want to know or learn about other religions,” Sulaiman says.
However nice people have been to her in Walla Walla, Sulaiman believes that the discrimination experienced by Farah is rooted in misinformation about Muslims and their beliefs. Sadly, caregivers like Farah and Sulaiman are often not visible enough to debunk deep-seated prejudices.
Home Care Aides are America’s fastest growing profession. And, according to the Pew Research Center, Islam is the country’s fastest growing religion. The future of care may look a lot like Farah and Sulaiman. And the future of people who need care will look like them as well.
According to a 2011 article in The New York Times, older Muslims have difficulty finding health care facilities that are sensitive to their unique dietary and linguistic needs. Home Care Aides like Farah and Sulaiman may very well be the solution to this problem in the years to come.
