By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

If nobody knew about the New England Arab American Organization (NEAAO) located in Bridgton, people from the organization might have drawn some attention to it during a flash mob held in front of the Bridgton Public Library.

The flash mob is one of several community awareness activities that have been planned for 2020, according to NEAAO Program Assistant Melinda Thomas.

Already, in this area, there have been cultural awareness trainings for people in the social services field.  The mission of NEAAO is to “bridge the cultural gap for a healthier, better integrated community,” according to a flyer. 

The NEAAO was founded in 2015; and there is an office located at the Westbrook Community Center.

A federal grant provided the money to start a NEAAO office in downtown Bridgton in January 2019. It was Through These Doors (TTD) that applied for the grant. TTD used to be called Family Crisis, has been in existence since the 1990's and is located in the Lakes Environmental Association building.

The grant is a three-year grant for rural areas from the Office on Violence Against Women, according to TTD Lakes Region Prevention Advocate Stephanie Noyes. There are two other grant partners, in addition to NEAAO, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) and the Bridgton Police Department, she said. 

“The Bridgton PD is very supportive of our efforts. Through These Doors is very fortunate to have all three of those grant partners,” Noyes said.

While law enforcement is a well-established ally, NEAAO needed an office to get established in town. 

“We had enough space to make an office for NEAAO. Instead of them having to find a space, a whole separate space in the lakes region, they share space with us,” Noyes said.

The reason behind the grant being awarded is to have the services in place as new Mainers move out of cities and into the more rural communities. 

“We anticipate that over the next several years, we will have more people coming to the rural areas. We don’t anticipate that is going to happen immediately. The numbers of new Mainers in our location are steadily increasing,” she said. 

“We are in a housing crisis not just in this state, but across the nation. Not enough housing exists, we have new Mainers that are being pushed out of the greater Portland area and moving to the lakes region,” she said.

“We want to do what we can here to be in a place of inclusivity,” Noyes said. “That people are culturally aware and practicing inclusivity.”

Thomas talked about the purpose of NEAAO in Bridgton.

“With the grant, Samar Khuder and I share the position. The grant pays for one full-time position, but we share that job,” Thomas said.

Khuder is a trained program advocate. She does advocacy for victims of domestic violence in the lake region.

“We were brought on as a partner to help with cultural awareness. We have been doing cultural awareness trainings for staff and for area service providers. We have a been reviewing materials and policies for cultural sensitivity,” Thomas said.

“Our work goes beyond the Arab American population. We are helping to address the issue of making services more culturally appropriate for new Mainers, for survivors who are new Mainers. NEAAO works with women from Congo, from India, from Bangladesh. Any new Mainer can participate in a NEAAO program,” she said.

Also, Khuder and Thomas have discussed forming a culture club so that community members can learn about people from other countries.

“We would look at one culture and invite people from that culture to do a presentation. Take Thailand for instance. We would invite as speakers some of our new Mainers from Thailand. It would be about cultural etiquette. Things to do and things not to do. Why do they tell you not to do certain gestures in certain countries—that sort of thing,” Thomas said. 

Summer would be the preferred time to start up the culture club. No dates have been set for that yet.

However, people will be able to register for a cultural awareness course set for this spring. The organization will offer a comprehensive cultural awareness training for people in social services field and health care providers at St. Joseph’s College in Standish on April 3.

Thomas talked about some of the misconceptions about the Arab culture.

“People might think that there is more domestic violence in a newcomer’s household than in [the homes of] Americans who were born here. That is misinformation. People might think that the men from other cultures are more violent than American men; and that is not true. The statistics are pretty much the same,” Thomas said.

“People think that Arab American women are oppressed and have no power within their families and within their culture,” she said. “They look at women that wear the hijab as being oppressed. That is actually a choice that a women makes. It is grounded in her relationship with God, in her religion. It is not a pool of oppression. It is a choice she makes.”