The Somali Bantus are a minority ethnic group living on the river banks of Somalia, a country mostly inhabited by Somalis. The Somali Bantus live in Southern Somali near two major rivers:the Shabelle and the River Jubba. Somali Bantus are the descendants of many Bantu ethnic groups found in the eastern part of Africa, such as Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawai. Somali Bantus were brought to Somali during the 19th century as slaves. Most of the Somali Bantus slaves were from Majindo, Makua, Manyasa, Yao, Zalama or Zigua tribes.

Somali Bantus are culturally, physically and ethnically different from the Somalis. Somali Bantus have darker skin, are typically shorter and more muscular with broader features and have harder hair than the Somalis. Somali Bantus usually speak two languages including Maay Maay (the official language of Somali Bantus, which all Somali Bantus understand) and Zigua, spoken by only one group of Somali Bantus. Not all Somali Bantus understand this language.When the civil war began in Somalia, Somali Bantus became very vulnerable and were sent out from their farms by armed people of the Somali clan. After much killing, torturing and raping, along with severe famine, many Somali Bantu fled from their properties without knowing where they were headed. It took Somali Bantus up to four weeks to arrive at the Kenyan boarder, eating leaves off trees and sometimes drinking muddy water while waiting for the rain to drink fresh water. Most Somali Bantu families died on their way to the Kenyan boarder due to lack of water, hunger and diseases such as anemia.Somali Bantus and other Somali groups were brought to refugee camps by UNHCR and were divided into three different camps.The Somali Bantus at first thought it was safe to live in these refugee camps, but after living there for one to two years, they realized they were facing the same problems they had in Somali, such as torturing. It would happen randomly during day-to-day tasks such as when Somali Bantus would collect firewood from the jungle.

 When the problem increased in the refugee camps, Somali Bantu leaders asked UNHCR to be resettled to their countries of origin like Mozambique,Tanzania and Malawi, which the three countries rejected.In 2000, the United States agreed to resettle 12,000 Somali Bantus in the United States. Most people, including the Somalis, couldn't believe the Somali Bantus were going to be resettled to the United States.When everything came closer and the resettlement of the Somali Bantus became true, the security for the Somali Bantus in the refugee camps became even more dangerous. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) decided to relocate the Somali Bantus to other refugee camps in Kenya, which were safer than their current refugee camps.Somali Bantus went to the new refugee camp called Kakuma, where they lived for one or two years before the first flight of the Somali Bantus came to the United Sates. They are now here in the United States, nearly 12,000 of them, living across the the United States, experiencing a life they had never dreamed of, and especially lives their ancestors never had.