Casa’s services translate to advocacy in many languages

Nonprofit is working more with the county’s burgeoning African population

‘‘A friend of mine was coming here, and told me, ‘Go down there, look for a job,’” said Ngongang, whose wife and three of his six children have since joined him in Takoma Park. Three remain in Cameroon.

Ngongang found employment on his own after several visits to the center, but eventually returned to Casa to work as a day-laborer organizer for Africans in response to a growing need that he and Casa had seen.

Casa, an immigrant advocacy group headquartered in Silver Spring that runs the county’s three day-laborer centers, was founded in 1985 in response to the influx of Central American refugees needing services in the area. Tabs on the organization’s Web site translate the group’s message into Spanish, and to many, it is still known as ‘‘Casa de Maryland.”

However, for about the last six years, Gustavo Torres, Casa’s executive director, has looked for ways to expand services to the growing African community. About a quarter of those who come to Casa looking for employment are now French-speaking Africans, he said. And about 35 percent who use the center’s monthly Mobile Medical Care services are African, said Dr. Elisa Jaramillo, senior manager for health care services at Casa.

Over the last year, Casa has increased efforts to reach Africans through health care services through partnerships with nonprofits such as the Ethiopian Community Development Council and the county’s African American Health Program, Jaramillo said.

‘‘They’ve seen the impact the center has had on Latinos, and they’re motivated to come and ask what it’s all about,” she said of the African immigrants coming to the center. ‘‘The needs are the same.”

On Friday morning, a group of about 15 Africans crowded into a trailer at Casa to listen to a session on HIV⁄AIDS prevention. The talk was led by Jeanne Tshibungu of the Ethiopian Community Development Council.

Tshibungu, from the Republic of the Congo, said the sessions at Casa allowed her organization, which is looking to expand the reach of its Real AIDS Prevention Project, to access and educate a built-in network of Africans in the community.

‘‘There’s always a good turnout,” Tshibungu said.

Ngongang, who speaks Spanish, French, English or a mix of the three while communicating with the day laborers, said many of the Africans who come to Casa looking for work arrive at the center with proof of higher education. But they use the mainly labor-intensive work — cleaning, yard work, moving furniture — to ‘‘improve themselves,” he said.

Silver Spring resident Appolinaire, who did not want his last name printed, arrived at Casa three months ago. In Cameroon, where his wife and three children remain, he worked as a cameraman for television stations.

‘‘He would like to work, develop and some day do what he did in Cameroon,” said Ngongang, translating for the French-speaking Appolinaire, who comes to the center every day for work. ‘‘He wants to continue getting assistance.”

Twenty to 25 African men and a handful of African women come to the Silver Spring center daily looking for work or legal and health care services. A French teacher was hired last year to work with the staff.

The staff also is required to attend annual ‘‘cultural competency training” where they discuss the different perceptions Hispanic groups have of each other, and learn about the African countries most represented at Casa — Cameroon, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Ngongang said the Africans who find Casa do so mostly by word of mouth.

‘‘You hear all the time, ‘Mi Casa, let’s go to mi Casa,’” he said.