Ethiopian coffee by GCA Thrive

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

On the second Tuesday of the month from now until full-blown summer, Moorhead’s new Global Market will be offering different opportunities to different people in the halls of the Hjemkomst Center
For Moorheaders and their neighbors weary after a winter’s worth of hotdish, there’s a rainbow of treats available from the skillful hands who made them – baklava and sourdough, cupcakes and coffee beans grown in Ethiopia, There are beads and blankets and candles and soaps, and an Indian painter creating temporary henna tattoos.
But, too, there’s a larger vision. These cooks and crafters sharing their families’ traditions are taking advantage of a rare opportunity to launch their fledgling businesses at no financial cost, thanks to the mission of the Global Market. Someday they may form the core of the businesses to be housed in the International Market now under consideration for the corner of Eighth Street and Center Avenue.
Siham Amedy is the woman behind the monthly markets. Organized under the umbrella of Inclusive Moorhead, the markets are also supported by the Indigenous Association, the Immigrant Development Center, and the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County. Moorhead Parks and Recreation provides the site in the spacious lobby of the Hjemkomst Center.
Since the Global Market is scheduled on Tuesdays, shoppers can also visit the HCSCC’s “Land to Table” exhibit on growing and preparing the area’s favorite foods without the usual admission charge. A photographic exhibit entitled “Home of Memories: Portraits of Kurdish and Iraqi Minnesotans” is also on display through late June. (Siham herself is featured in one of the photographs.)
The Global Market carries on the Kurdish-American woman’s involvement in a variety of efforts to support Moorhead’s underserved ethnic communities. She arrived with her family in 1997 at the age of 6, part of the second wave of Kurdish resettlement. Very active at Moorhead High School, where she graduated in 2009, she completed a degree in biology and psychology at Concordia College in 2013 with the initial intent to become a doctor.
Instead, she went to work as a clinical researcher at Sanford Hospital, a case manager at Cass County Social Services, and as an inclusive recruitment and engagement specialist at North Dakota State University. She currently is a project lead for Creative Community Consulting. She is a past chair of Moorhead’s Human Rights Commission and spurred the instigation of Kurdish Heritage Month.
With the coming of summer, the Global Market will be merged into the Moorhead Farmers Market outdoors on the Hjemkomst grounds. The next event is Tuesday, April 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. Those interested in adding their wares to the market can request more information through the Facebook page of Inclusive Moorhead.