Somali Bantu has long since inherited a legacy of oppression and discrimination in their foster homeland of Somalia. Ethnically diverse and different from Somalis, the Somali Bantus are the descendants of splintered Bantu tribes who were the chief attraction during the great Arab slave trade of the 19^th century.

 Most Somali Bantus arrived in Somalia thousands of years ago as migratory agriculturists from central and southern Africa and settled in arable regions characterized by high rainfall and extensive river systems. Others were brought to Somalia through the slave trade in 1800s, and to provide a workforce for the Italian and British colonial powers. Since arriving in Somalia, Somali Bantu groups were subjected to harsh, back-breaking labor as they would find employment in farms as peasants or in factories as plantation workers. They were also denied of land ownership and quality education for their children. Somalia, up to this day, continues to terrorize Somali Bantu splinter groups displaced in the southern region of the country. 

Origin and cultural discrimination are only half of what the Somali Bantus have endured over the past decade. During the civil war in the early 1990s, small-to-large militia groups attacked and looted Somali Bantu families, which forced them to leave their homeland in search of security and opportunities. Thousands of Somali Bantus reached their neighboring country of Kenya as refugees looking for a new beginning. Somali Bantus, however, experienced unfathomable levels of discrimination and oppression at refugee camps located in Dadaab and Kakuma in Kenya. Bantu families were robbed of the little belongings they have left, and they were forced to perform work that offers minimal or no room for personal growth and development.The Somali Bantus nevertheless managed to thrive in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps by drawing on their agricultural skills and community cooperation. Although they made up only 10 percent of the 130,000 refugees in Dadaab, they held over 90 percent of the heavy labor, construction, cooking, cleaning and other manual jobs. As a community, they have gained a reputation for being both industrious and adaptable.