moving to north dakota (Fargo, Bismarck: relocating, job, home)

[mama68]

hello,

my husband received a job offer in a small town in north dakota and we are thinking about relocating with our three children. we are muslim, and i have been looking for resources about muslim communities in the state but have not found many.

i would love to know if anyone can provide some information or some background, or if there are any muslim families living in small towns with small muslim communities, thatd be great!

thanks!

[ebitdadada]

Which town / area would you be moving to? I think Fargo has a decent size muslim community & Bismarck has a small but pretty quickly growing one. Grand Forks may but I don't really know anything about it. I'm not sure if you'll find much in the smaller towns but I guess you never know.

Hopefully we can give you better info if you let us know what town it is / what it's near.

[DaninEGF]

I found this web site of the Islamic Society of Fargo-Moorhead....

http://www.islamnd.org/main.php


There is a muslim students assoc at the Univ of North Dakota at Grand Forks

http://www.und.edu/org/undmsa/

I did not find any web references for Bismarck and am less familiar about that city....but it is growing as as prev post said sure it has some group.

As for Minot....there is Minot State University so you might have a small organization there too but unsure.

[mama68]

Hello again!

Thank you so much for your replies! We are looking in areas around Harvey, North Dakota. Does anyone have any information or resources about Muslim communities for this area?

Approximately how far is this area from some of the larger cities in North Dakota such as Fargo?

Thank you again!

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by mama68

Hello again!

Thank you so much for your replies! We are looking in areas around Harvey, North Dakota. Does anyone have any information or resources about Muslim communities for this area?

Approximately how far is this area from some of the larger cities in North Dakota such as Fargo?

Thank you again!

Harvey and Wells county in central North Dakota are very typical rural North Dakota farming communities. Nice, safe places to live, with mom and pop type stores and friendly people. Pretty heavy German area....my wife's parents are from up the road near Velva which was settled heavily by Germans from Russia. That said....you will not find any thing for Muslims in the area.

Churches in the area....
Assembly of God
Bethel Baptist Church
St. Cecilia Catholic Church
First Lutheran Church
Mennonite Brethren Church
Seventh Day Adventist Church
Trinity Lutheran Parish
United Methodist Church
United Pentecostal Church
Victory Baptist Church


Nearest big city is Bismarck about 100 miles away...could not find anything regarding Muslim/Islam on searches. Fargo/Moorhead which as the largest urban population and thus more diversity would be about 3 hours away...about the same for Grand Forks.

So....dont know anything about where you are from.....but while Harvey is a very nice quiet small town....may not suit your needs religion wise.

Dan

[MSUgrad]

Maybe I'm the only one that has quite a bit to say on this. I'm a 23 year old female that was raised in the Bismarck school system from preschool thru high school. I'm going to be frank and honest with you.

Being muslim, your children's lives will be made a living hell. The school systems in ND have horrible cliques. Most people in ND are born, raised, and die in that state. People talk about how friendly North Dakotans are. Well yes, if you are of Scandinavian descent which comprises 90% of the ND. I am half hispanic and look German like my mother. My live was a living nightmare and I cried with joy when my parents said we were moving to Michigan in the middle of high school. I was picked on and left out of everything. I also went to school with a jewish boy who was also teased mercilessly.

North Dakota is without a doubt safe for young children. Although if you are different from the norm, don't expect people to be accepting by any means. Especially the children. While the state is slowing getting better it is one large clique.

Oh yes one other thing, if your children are older (jr high/high school) there is absolutely NOTHING to do in that state for that age range. If you really do your research you'll find out that ND is one of the top states for youth abusing crystal meth. There is a lot of underage drinking and pot smoking. Quite simply, there is nothing else to do. And I lived in the capital where there should have been a lot to do.

I won't deny the state is really safe for young children and would recommend raising young children there. Although as they get older get them out. It was the best thing that could have happened to me.

Buena suerte!

[DaninEGF]

In response to the prev post....

In regards to being picked on, etc....I am white and raised in western Kentucky in a predominately white city and I got picked on all the time. More had to do with being bad in sports, recess, etc....all the way from sixth grade to high school. A friend of ours has a kid in third grade in Grand Forks schools and he lost a hockey game as a goalee and he has been picked on ever since....unfortunately kids can be cruel... the parents can be to blame too as hockey is very very big in the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks area and if you are not on a hockey team by second-third grade it can be tough. But what I am trying to say is that I think the teasing, etc can happen whether you are white, black, etc kids just find someone to pick one sometimes.

I hated where I grew up in Kentucky because of the teasing, but I dont harbor any negative feelings, just happened. Someone once tried to burn my hair in school class in seventh grade. That was the worst. Now, would I live in Kentucky again. No....my folks are there but I dont like the heat/humidity that far south.

Would agree to some respects about school cliques. In the northeast part of the state hockey is the big clique. Not in hockey means often way less friends....but not everyone is in hockey. There are other sports too. Regarding middle/high school....I do think getting involved is the key to not being bored. There are many many school related things to do (sports, music, drama) and a kid can be just as bored in Chicago as they are in North Dakota. The famous words heard all over is there is nothing to do.

Dan

[Jammie]

Oh yea, kids can be cruel to one another. Just wait until a teacher turns their back and find out what little angels they can be. School teasing is definitely a time that a lot of us would like to forget.

[MSUgrad]

Oh really? So being called a "beaner" "fruit picker" and a few other choice words I'm going to leave out is typical childhood teasing? I'll take "jerkface" "butthead" and some of the many other childhood tauntings.

North Dakota is nothing but cliques, and most people are very intolerant of differences. I can bet within the first year of this family moving there that they will be referred to as terrorists at least once. Maybe not to their faces, but one of their children will come back from school saying some little kid called them that.

I would never recommend North Dakota to anyone that was anything but a combination of blonde/brown haired or blue/brown eyes. When you are in some minority form, then you may tell me about taunting and childhood teasing that is normal for youth. No first grader should ever have to go home and ask if their family hopped a fence to get here. North Dakota as a whole is not friendly to ethnic or religious differences.

[DaninEGF]

MSU Grad.... so sorry....and I do agree with you in that since I am white and Lutheran I have a difficult time answering questions when people talk about tolerance and how they will be treated. But unfortunately I think what happened to you in ND could happen just about anywhere. My wife is from the Minot area and her family grew up in the Velva area which is all German and Germans do compose a large part of central ND heritage....specifically my wife is a German from Russia....third generation.

And if someone is Muslim and went to school I would believe that indeed they would get remarks as you said about being a terrorist, but again I say that would occur anywhere in the country. I lived for a while, while moving around the nation in my career, in Northville Michigan, a wealthy suburb of Detroit (this was 1992-94) and I do recall the strong will of the people to keep the "trouble out east" out....and I am sure you know what I mean. So people can be mean and intolerable anywhere where exposure to different cultures does not exist.

Dan