International Women's Day 2022: in conversation with Deqa Dhalac

Who is Deqa Dhalac?

Deqa Dhalac is the Mayor of South Portland, Maine. She is a Somali immigrant and has lived in the US for the last thirty years. She is a woman of many firsts: the first Somali-American mayor in the US, the first Black mayor elected in South Portland, and first Muslim elected to the South Portland City council.

Dhalac is committed to improving her city’s response to climate change and increasing the availability of affordable housing. Naturally, as a big advocate for migrants being more involved in their local communities, she also promotes diversity, equality, and inclusion for all.

The journey from Somalia

Born in Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, Deqa Dhalac grew up with two brothers to parents who prioritised her education. She received private language tuition in English, Italian, and Arabic. Her father was a major influence on her passion for politics and democracy, and was a political activist in Somalia who spoke out many times against the corruption in Somalia’s dictatorial government.

“[He] taught us: ‘don't worry about where you’re at right now, in Somalia. There are other countries in the world that have Democratic ways of choosing their presidents, their governors, local government, all of those things’. And we were really fascinated by that because all our lives, we’d never seen anything like that.”

Her journey to the US was one of many stages. Just prior to the start of the civil war in Somalia, her family rallied round to help get her out of the country. After travelling to Italy via Libya, she lived with a cousin for a little while before moving to London. Her stay in London was a short one, a period of only a few months, and from there Dhalac travelled to Canada where she requested asylum. Her request was immediately granted - the civil war in Somalia had now begun and escalated.

In 1992, she arrived in the United States and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where her now-husband lived at the time. Their families had been close back in Somalia, so there was already a close connection before they eventually married and had three children.

Dhalac began working in hospitality in Atlanta, and met many other immigrants in her community. During this time, she noticed that many immigrants who arrived in the country and went on to gain citizenship weren’t registering to vote, or even aware that they could. Instead, their priorities were taking care of their families in their new life and sending money to family back home - something many customers of WorldRemit can relate to.

Seven years after settling in Atlanta, Dhalac’s uncle recommended she relocate to Maine. He knew that she was always seeking new opportunities for education and as well as presenting these, his town of Lewiston had one of the largest Somali immigrant communities.

It didn’t take long for Dhalac to fall in love with Maine - just one visit, in fact! As soon as she’d spent some time in the city of Lewiston with her uncle, she knew it would be a perfect fit.

“It's an amazing state. It's a very welcoming state. It's very much a state that is safe. […] The crime rate is very low compared to a big city like Atlanta or New York or Chicago, those big cities.”

Dhalac then began using her multilingual skills to work as an interpreter for Catholic Charities Maine and working for the city of Portland to help refugees get settled in their new home country. When she moved to South Portland, she invested even more time and dedication into working with the community around her.

While she worked as a social services manager, Dhalac got her first Master’s degree in Development Policy and Practice from the University of New Hampshire, then went on to get a second Master’s degree, this time in Social Work from the University of New England.

Becoming the first migrant mayor in the US

During the time that Dhalac was getting her Master’s in Social Work, Donald Trump was running for president. On one of his visits to Maine, many residents of the state, both white and Black, objected to his statements regarding the Somali community in the state.

Dhalac only felt more inspired to speak up and attended numerous rallies in favour of immigration and inclusion.

No doubt inspired by Dhalac’s passion at these events, many townspeople of South Portland encouraged her to run for city council in 2018 when a spot opened up. She started her campaign in earnest, knocking on doors and doing what she could to connect with voters and win their support. When she won, she made history as the first African American and first Muslim elected to the council. In 2020, she ran unopposed for a second term.

Encouraged by this success and by six months training with Emerge Maine, a platform which encourages Democratic women in Maine to run for office, she then began her campaign to become mayor, once more encouraged by her family and colleagues throughout the city.

Thanks to the strong relationships she’d built within the community, Dhalac’s campaign was a big success, with many people stepping up and volunteering to help with social media, website creation, and campaign management. She describes her rise in local politics as “very old fashioned”, being based on community building, years of volunteering in the community, and door-to-door campaigning.

In 2021, the seven-member council unanimously elected her to serve as the city’s Mayor, a decision based on her years of volunteering within the community, as well as her platform advocating inclusion, affordable housing, and better access to education.

What makes this an even more notable achievement is that South Portland’s population is 90% white. To Dhalac, this proves that “when you build relationships, it doesn't matter who people are. They can be anybody and they trust you and they know you and they can count on you. They will come and stand beside you when you really need them the most“.

As well as being an inspirational woman herself, Deqa Dhalac has found inspiration in other women, too.

She lists Harriet Tubman and Mother Theresa in particular, as well as praising many other immigrants who now hold elected titles in the state of Maine. But of course, the main woman who stands out is Dhalac’s mother.

Despite receiving no formal education, Dhalac credits her as being incredibly wise and knowledgeable. Her strength and belief that “girls can do everything” was surely a driving force behind the woman Dhalac is today.

“So I will say to all the young women, especially women of colour, especially immigrant women: take their spaces. Do not say ‘I can’t do it’. Yes, you can. If I did it, you can do it.”

Flying Two Flags for Somalia and the US

Dhalac’s three children were all born in the US and identify themselves as African-Americans, but she made sure to educate them on her home country and their Somalian roots. In Atlanta, Georgia, there is a higher percentage of Black population than in South Portland, which meant the transition from city to city came with a bit of a culture shock.

Now in a city where 90% of the people are white, it was incredibly important for Dhalac to ensure that her family embraced all parts of their heritage, including their African-American identities, by learning about Somalian culture and practising speaking Somali.

It will come as no surprise that family is incredibly important to Daqa Dhelac. She consulted her husband and children before running for mayor and only proceeded when there was a majority vote (“So I said, ‘okay, Democratic house majority rules - we're going to run!’”).

Her father passed away shortly after she left Somalia, but her mother still lives there. They remain very close and speak at least twice a week. As well as these frequent phone calls, money transfers also keep the bond with Somalia strong:

“It's funny, when I became Mayor, she called and she said ‘all the family members, all the neighbours, everybody is standing in front of the house! They say you own half the United States, you have to send money. You have to send money so that we can cook a feast for these people and blessings!’ Like, wait a minute, I don't own anything. I don't even get paid for this gig. [...] We have to have a real job in order for us to pay for our bills. I'm like, ‘I work mom!’. She's like, ‘yeah, but still, people don't know that. So you can spend some money’. So I did that so that she can feed all the neighbours and everybody.”

If you’ve ever had a conversation like this with your family members, then we can certainly help. Money transfers home with WorldRemit are fast and secure, and easily done on our app or through our website.