- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(gentle music) - R-Town, this show about Rochester meets a local woman who volunteers thousands of hours helping immigrants in southeast Minnesota.

And we learn about a local husband and wife team who have made their tiny cottages dream a reality.

We also get the latest from the RCTC campus.

All that and so much more, coming up next on R-Town, the show about Rochester, (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Coming to you from 125 live in Rochester, Minnesota.

R-Town.

(upbeat music continues) The McKnight Foundation, recently announced seven Minnesotans as recipients of the 2024 Virginia McKnight Binger Heart of Community Honor.

Zene Aly of Rochester was one of seven honorees recognized for volunteering thousands of hours helping immigrants in southeast Minnesota.

Today we're joined by Zene, here to tell us more about this honor and her work in the community.

Welcome to R-Town Zene.

- Thank you for having me.

- So it's such a huge honor and I'd love to hear a little bit from you, about your experience of learning that you were recipient of the community, Heart of Community Award and what this recognition means to you?

- Thank you for the question.

Yeah, it was, I was honored and it was like with the sense of gratitude and responsibilities that I received it, and this is not just what I did, what I've done.

It is as a community what we were capable of achieving and it is a good reminder for those who are making difference every day, just to continue making a difference.

- Well thank you for that and for bringing in the idea of this community.

And a lot of the work that you've done has been in community with community, alongside community.

You're the co-founder of Ethiopian Community, Rochester, Minnesota.

Can you share what inspired you to be part of starting that organization?

- So yeah, the Ethiopian Community was found by 10 passionate Ethiopians who, as we come from a collective culture, this is a need of guiding our, sharing the resources and the information that we have and helping newcomers navigate through the resources to make it easier.

And in the meantime, we come from a culture, rich culture that has a lot of different cultural value, and we'll like work at it that we can share here in the community.

So we say like, okay, so, if we have a space neutral away from the religion, or the politics that can bring people together to unite, to share their experiences and in the meantime to navigate through the resources, we can make it easier.

And that is how it was found in 2020.

And we've been doing a lot of work ever since.

- I'm sure.

And I've read a little bit about all that work that you've done.

And for you personally, can you describe your own experience transitioning to Rochester after immigrating?

- Yeah, and well, when as I arrived here, I thought I will be able to use all the knowledge, the experience that I have, but it was not, and I have to wait for a little bit, until I make sure that all the proper formal process, like paperwork and the legal process has to be finalized.

But in the meantime, there was a way that I can still be active, be engaged, learn the culture now, learn the system, and I find myself really engaged and productive when I volunteer.

And that is where it start.

And it helps a lot.

In one way, it deepen my knowledge as about the community and the system.

On the other hand, like I was able to help others, because I understand what it feel to transition into a new space, learning the new culture while preserving our own culture as well.

- Amazing.

You, so shared a little bit just about transitioning here to Rochester.

Before coming to Rochester, had you lived in other places?

- Yes, I used to live in United Arab Emirates and I used to work for an engineering company, that has different departments and I was the quality management officer before I moved, but I fill out a different position before that and I worked for 10 years for that company.

- And then you arrived here and found so many different ways to serve and be part of the community as well?

- Yes, that's correct.

And here, yeah, I have to teach myself a little bit of like how the system work, what the work culture look like?

In the meantime I went to school also, to have a new skill to be able to sell my knowledge here.

- And so did you come with a family, or did you come by yourself that time?

- I came with my husband and myself and my daughter and I have my second one, daughter was born here.

- And how have you observed the Ethiopian community in Rochester evolving over time?

Your own family has grown.

How's the wider community grown?

- The community is growing, growing in a very remarkable way.

And a very good example will be the Ethiopian, most of the community members that we serve, I'll say 80% of the communities that we serve, are connected to some religion, the faith based organization, right?

So the Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox church is the one which houses more people and now it is growing out of space.

Now to the point that they would like to transition into a bigger space and that has a potential to also provide more services.

- And that space remind us, is that's in northeast Rochester, the church.

- The church on East Center Street.

- [Nicole] East Center Street.

- Yeah, by Boys and Girls Club.

Yes, that's the one.

- I should have maybe asked this in the beginning.

I'm very well aware of where Ethiopia is and what Ethiopian culture is like.

Can you share a little bit about, just for folks that may not know a little bit about Ethiopia and Ethiopian culture?

- Yeah, the Ethiopian culture is, it really welcoming, warm and hospitable and during the time of like joy, or during the hard time still, standing together and unity is the core of our culture.

That is in the area, in the place that I grew up.

That is the kind of support that we have in the community.

Extended families, friends, neighbors, they are the first responders, the daycare system and everything.

So it is communities that lift up each other and stand together, especially during the time that when people are the most vulnerable, it can be the time of losing a loved one, or it'll be the time of a wedding, it's still, we have to come together as a community and nobody should stand the challenges by themself.

And it helps.

It helps.

- It seems like that value of unity and solidarity is a big part of the ECRM organization.

And can you tell us a little bit about, you serve as a program coordinator for the emergency response.

- Yes.

- Program.

Can you tell us a little bit about what that does?

- Yeah, the crisis response is the things that we do and actions that needs immediate action before escalating into critical and worse situation.

And it can be shelter, food or like other part of thing and like health crisis.

So with that, like we started when family experienced really like a disstressful situation, that we supposed to house them right away.

And in the meantime we also help them navigate through the administrative, the legal and (indistinct) process as well.

And it is important, because once it start collapsing then it'll be really hard even to bring them back up.

So that need an immediate action and that is how we started and we have been helping a lot of people.

But it is a rewarding thing as well, because the supports that they get around them, it helps them to not only to stand on their feet again, but they will come back and contribute to, they give back to the community and they share the stories.

They become a supporting part of the community and there are hope for others as well then.

It is a temporary thing and we want to make it as short as it can.

- And it becomes like a giving back cycle.

- [Zene] Yes.

- In terms of that, as I mentioned in your introduction, you've volunteered thousands of hours of your time to this work.

What is a typical volunteer time look?

Is there a typical volunteer day for you and what type of work are you doing?

- Well the organization itself, it is volunteer based because I have a day work, but on addition after like the work hour, is when I get to serve the community.

So as there are a lot of calls that are coming and we help the transportation language, the primary hindering factor for community to navigate through the complex systems that we have here.

Yeah, resources are available, but it is really not easy to access them.

So we help with the language, with transportation, translating the materials, making sure that people understand.

We want them to get into the workforce and we want even sometimes the professionals who are coming to this country, like they will try to find something in their field but that may not be the case.

It's not easy either to make their educational credential equivalent to this level.

Otherwise, it's just a matter of having a network or maybe some kind of education to bring it to their field of work.

So, all that like we try to make the resources as accessible and as easy to get work for them.

- Excellent.

What advice do you have for newcomers to our community as they transition to life here?

- Well, adjusting is a process and it takes time, to be patient and to take it, to try to understand, the most important things that can be prioritized and in my case, understanding the legal process that need to be in place ahead of time before I start even thinking about the working.

So it'll be really great to ask help when needed, to get clear information and to understand the system, but in the meantime to go back and contribute to the community when it is possible, once they start stabilized, or establishing themself.

Yeah.

- Do you have some success stories or something that comes to mind as you think about this last several years of the ECRM and some of the things that you have seen as major achievements for the organization?

- Yes.

So, the people who have been, like they thought that it is really impossible, or maybe it's hard to be back in a normal cycle and now coming back and just being the very active member of the community, or helping who are just going above and beyond to support others is the most rewarding thing.

On the hand, the youth group who really are taking the lead in different activities.

Now we have two of them serving in the county community council, which really makes me happy to see them participating in that level.

And they are also engaged in the community the different school governments, which that also another great thing.

And in terms of, the ECRM as an organization, starting we thought that we will be providing, hosting an event, a cultural event, and showcase artifacts in the culture.

In the meantime we will just engage the community and we'll share what we have.

But now, it is even like more than a cultural event.

We have workshops, we have some informational sessions.

It can be financial literacy, it can be with the school, the higher education related information that we can pass to the parents and the students and like other critical factors, like other groups that we can discuss and we can brainstorm.

We bring people, experts who can guide us through the process.

So those are the things that really are a great thing, a great outlet, a good space for all of us to learn and to strive.

- Yeah, it sounds like the organization continues to evolve and continues to strengthen as well.

- Yep.

- As we're wrapping up here, what opportunities are there for community members to learn more and support the work of the Ethiopian community of Rochester, Minnesota and just you Zene?

(Nicole chuckles) - So yeah, volunteers are a great resource and it is a volunteer led organization and we always appreciate the volunteers that are coming to donate their time and their expertise, and mentoring the youth.

It can be helping us, or organize events and we really appreciate volunteers to be part of our work in the meantime.

There are different organizations that are support us, providing us space, providing us the required resources to keep the operation movement.

So, making sure that we really contribute to those organization.

United Way being one, and the Family Service Rochester providing the other space and yeah.

- Wonderful.

Well thank you so much Zene for joining us and for all the work that you do and congratulations again.

- Thank you.

Thanks so much for having me.

(upbeat music) (upbeat guitar) - We wanted to build four tiny homes and this was a great opportunity.

The lot met the size requirements, so we wanted it to be close to Mayo, be downtown from Zach's experience.

- This all started with actually a client that bought a house to renovate and turned out that the house was not able to be renovated the way he anticipated.

And he called and asked for ideas and I told him, "I have a great idea, let's be partners".

And then we brought it, or I brought it to the city to discuss options.

And I surprisingly got just unbelievable feedback from them.

They love the idea.

(bright triumphant music) (bright triumphant music continues) (Zach chuckles) - Zach was the builder, the visionary.

He really spearheaded everything.

I at the time, helped with the real estate purchase of the property with the client.

I helped with design, interior design, aesthetic, colors, all the furnishings, the decor, purchasing everything and material selection.

- Once we came up with a good plan, the rest of it fell into place.

Building a tiny house, it's significantly different to building a traditional single family home, as far as HVAC and just keeping things small, tight.

- [Lauren] I wanted to go a little bit modern Scandinavian aesthetic.

Zach really appreciates the modern lines.

- I want it to be comfortable, something where people could walk 10 feet and be inside the door, have a comfortable bed, have a comfortable couch to lay on, or sit on, or lounge on, or be able to make your own meal, if you're here with your significant other, you have your kids with you, I wanted you to be able to do a home cooked meal.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Every house is exactly the same.

Literally everything, to the end tables, to the flooring, to the entry rug, the door handle, the fridges, literally everything is identical.

- [Lauren] Just a mirror image.

- [Zach] Yep.

- Depending on what side of the property you're on.

I think another important part of design was, he touched on it was the zero entry, meaning no steps.

We wanted to make them wheelchair friendly, but unfortunately with the size restraints on this specific parcel, we were not able to fit everything in and meet those ADA standards.

So, we did our best to make it as comfortable for people as possible.

- Down in Texas hunting and fishing, and I stayed at a place very similar but it was on a much larger scale, there's probably 40, or 50 homes, tiny homes that is.

And at night everybody gathered around a fire and have a beer and it felt at the time, that that would be something absolutely perfect for our community, because everybody comes here for the clinic.

Everybody has something in common.

- We hosted a large open house grand opening party and invited everyone in the neighborhood, in the real estate industry.

Friends, family, clients.

We had a great turnout.

That was really fun to get to answer questions and just show everyone what the heck we've been doing here.

Rochester's hard taxes, property value itself.

So you really have to build in the numbers like density, to be able to make it more affordable.

'cause we would love to build a whole single family community of tiny homes for sale.

We're not quite there yet in this area.

I worked in the restaurant industry, before real estate and that was a majority of my clientele when I worked downtown.

Some people have gotten the worst news of their lives that day and anything we can do to make it better, it's a small thing, but we wanna try.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] For more information about this story and other R-Town features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter at KSMQ hashtag R-Town, or ksmq.org/rtown.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (gentle music) - Good morning, it is October 24th and we are headed in to do some more infectious disease testing.

So, let's hope I don't have any diseases.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) Just finished.

I think we're up to at least 18, if not 20 vials of blood, that I have had to test, give to them, since this whole process started.

I also did not exactly know what the testing was gonna be today, so I haven't eaten.

(Jessica chuckles) So I think now the next step is to go get some food and probably coffee.

So, another step done.

It is election day.

I am currently in the children's production at RCTC.

So, I just finished not too long ago I finished our show for the day and then I went and had my last test for the donation.

It was once again blood.

So we're at 20, I don't know.

But also I went in looking like this 'cause you know the life of an actor, and my coordinator told me that she is booking our flights today, because the donation is in a week from Thursday.

So yay.

(gentle music continues) So a bit of an update.

My donation got postponed 'cause I came down with influenza B. I'm okay, but we are now donating in two weeks I think.

And so I just got done with some more testing 'cause I had to redo the testing from before.

So now we're getting close to 30 vials of blood.

So, let's hope this is the last time we have to do anything.

(gentle music continues) Day two of the filgrastim shot and I am exhausted.

I just woke up from like a two hour nap and I feel like I could fall back asleep very easily.

So, but other than that, not any other symptoms so far.

So, we'll see.

(gentle music continues) It is day three of injections and I am feeling pretty miserable, achy everywhere.

Mainly today it's my sternum and my ribs.

Yesterday it was my hip.

I am on my way to my parents, 'cause I'm gonna stay there overnight and then we'll head up to the airport tomorrow, which is crazy.

I just had to say goodbye to my dog.

I'm gonna be gone for like five, six days and I've never left her overnight.

So, I'm a little worried about that, but I know she'll be okay.

But what about me?

What am I gonna do without my dog?

So, the adventure begins officially.

Yay.

(gentle music continues) It's donation day.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Thank you for joining us today.

I hope you learned as much as I did about all that's going on in our city and the wonderful people making it happen.

For more content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at hashtag R-Town.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of R-Town, the show about Rochester.

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.