Organization brings community to African, African-American women

Organization brings community to African, African-American women
By TaLeiza Calloway • tcalloway@stcloudtimes.com • October 5, 2009



Launched in November, Omeka! aims to build relationships between African and African-American women in the St. Cloud community. The monthly gatherings offer food, fellowship, a listening heart and more. And the organization is looking ahead to its second year and the needs of its growing membership.
Debra Leigh, an Omeka! organizer and professor at St. Cloud State University, has seen growth among the women and the connections that have formed since the group’s founding.
Leigh remembers during an early circle-share-in, one Somali woman spoke for all of the Somali women in attendance. Ten months later, all those in attendance share what they are feeling, she said.
“It was really powerful,” Leigh said. “We realized that each of them had found their voice.”
“Omeka!” is a Swahili word meaning to display; to speak out; to spread out. This is accomplished each time through the sharing of journeys, cultures and ideas; they’re always learning from one another, according to organizers.
From education and health care, to family life and housing, each meeting has a theme. Women are not the only benefactors. Child care is always offered, complete with an activity for children.
Looking ahead
Possible changes ahead include focusing more meetings to a particular topic, hosting a two-day educational summit, creating a space just for the meetings as well as helping other diverse groups, Leigh said.
As organizers for Omeka! look ahead, they are confident the organization will continue to reach women and improve its outreach. They will meet in November for an overall evaluation of the program, said Hedy Tripp, coordinator for Create CommUNITY.
Omeka! is one of the programs under Create CommUNITY’s umbrella. It is funded through a grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation.
“Omeka is an experiment,” Leigh said with a smile. “We learn as we go.”
Sister Chrispina Lekule, who worked with helping form Omeka! believes the mission is being fulfilled. Lekule is a graduate student at St. Cloud State.

Lefse: A Scandinavian tradition

Lefse: A Scandinavian tradition
By Amy Bowen • abowen@stcloudtimes.com • October 14, 2009

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Del.icio.usFacebookDiggRedditNewsvineBuzz up!TwitterFOLEY — With the precision of a master baker, Mike Romslo ever so gently rolled out a paper-thin piece of lefse Tuesday night at Henry’s Banquet Center.


Romslo lives in International Falls, and drove down to visit his daughter Lisa Wruck, who lives in Foley. Wruck, asked him to help make lefse for the Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church’s annual fall dinner Oct. 21.
Romslo, who proudly claims he’s 100 percent Norwegian, happily made the trip, and joined about 12 volunteers who made 100 dozen lefse rounds Monday and Tuesday night.
Romslo knows lefse. He grew up on it. Christmas isn’t Christmas without lefse, he said.
His sentiment is shared by the other church members and family members who took part in the lefse-making project.
The Foley church’s dinner and bake sale, both offering homemade lefse, is the church’s only fundraiser, said Connie Henry, who served as one of the head lefse makers. The church has made the lefse for at least 35 years, she said.
For those who aren’t Scandinavian, lefse is like a potato crepe. Church lefse makers peeled potatoes, boiled and mashed them. They then added a little salt, white pepper and sugar and “lots of butter and whipping cream,” said fellow lefse maker and owner of Henry’s Banquet Center Sharon Henry. She is not related to Connie Henry.
“That’s Norwegian,” Sharon Henry said. “You need butter on everything.”
The dough is chilled until workers are ready to use an ice cream scoop to make balls.
That was Alvin Henry’s job Tuesday night. Connie Henry is his wife. He laughed and chatted with fellow bakers as he made the dough balls. The community really looks forward to the lefse, he said.
It doesn’t matter if they’re Scandinavian, he said with a chuckle.
“We spoil people,” he said.
Marilyn Hovde, one of the lefse rollers, has been spoiled for almost 40 years. She’s Dutch and Swedish. Her husband is 100 percent Norwegian, she said.
“I didn’t know what lefse was until I married (him), and now I love it,” she said as she rolled the dough balls into thin disks.
The lefse is then carefully transferred to a hot lefse pan and cooked until just browned and bubbly. Romslo carefully watched his lefse puff up ever so slightly before he removed it.
“You just get the feeling,” he said of knowing when to take it off the heat.
The lefse is then cooled under blue towels to keep it from drying out. Blue just happens to be one of the colors featured on the Norwegian flag.
After the lefse is cooled, workers packaged it in plastic bags for use later.
How people enjoy the finished lefse is up to them. Some like white sugar. Others swear by brown sugar. Everyone loves butter.
Romslo sprinkles brown sugar on his and rolls it up.
“And sometimes (I add) butter,” he said. “But I’m staying away from that.”