The country of Somali has been torn by civil war for much of the past two decades. The photographs in 'Far From Somalia' followed the lives of several of the approximately 3,000 Somali refugees who fled from this conflict and resettled to the Lewiston-Auburn region of rural Maine. The predominantly Caucasion, Christian population of Lewiston had a mixed reaction to this influx of Muslim Somalis when it commenced in 2001; the conflict which reached its height in 2003 when a white supremacist group came to Lewiston to demonstrate in the town. The town and local college countered with a 5000 strong show of support for the Somalis, but the public perception of the Somalis as a misunderstood, dependent drain on public resources has remained. In 2006, writer and anthropologist Lacey Gale and I were awarded grants from the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Women's Fund to document both the challenges and successes of Somali women and children rebuilding and redefining their lives in Lewiston. A multimedia piece resulting from the project will be shown throughout Maine to encourage growing awareness and dialogue between different cultural groups.