Mary Laurel True

Who: Mary Laurel True, associate director, Center for Service Work and Learning, Augsburg College. “We educate students about the world and get them engaged right away with the community,” True says. “There are so many resources and ways to learn. Augsburg has been doing this for thirty-five years—‘Think global, act local.’ ”

Building Bridges: “For sixteen years, I have been the liaison between the college and the Cedar/Riverside community,” True says. “I’m always trying to figure out what’s going on in the community and what the college has for the community. It’s partnership and goodwill. The [East Africans] have said, ‘You know how to connect with us. We feel respected and understood.’ I love the community and want it to thrive. It’s not a do-gooder mentality as much as it’s ‘We’re all in this together.’ ”

Global Village: “As the world gets smaller, we have to understand each other, and not just from a theoretical point of view. We have to be together and talk together. I work with Somali translators to give tours—Somali coffee shops and malls, grocery stores, the senior centers. No one wants to talk about what they are going through here as refugees. They wanted to talk about home and how hard people are working to survive there.”

World Beat: “I helped organize a Women’s Night Out with a traditional fashion show and dance. Women and men don’t dance together in East African tradition—but the women really wanted to dance, so we did!”

World Market: “The Somali women’s market has the most beautiful scarves, and they start at $8. I shop there, bring people there, wear things I bought . . . There’s jewelry, perfume, skirts, henna—they’ll teach how to wrap turbans. It’s an untapped beauty/ fashion secret!” (There is no name on the building, but there is a Somali/East African mall one block west of 6th Street and Cedar Avenue.)

Change the World: “I received the Woman of the Year Award from the Anne Pederson Women’s Resource Center for building bridges between the East African women to the center. To be a woman of the year for anything is just amazing. There are days that I wonder, ‘Am I really doing anything? Am I making a difference?’ It really energized me. It’s humbling too—I think everyone else deserves it.”