Oliyo Ibrahim

Oliyo Ibrahim, a member of the Somali Bantu community based in East Hartford, New Britain, and Enfield, makes traditional baskets, fans, and mats from dyed grasses. She learned to make hand-woven baskets from her grandmother, using these items as containers and mats for seating in her life as a farmer. Her baskets became an important way for the family to earn money for food and supplies at markets. Because of the civil war in the 1990s in Somalia, Oliyo fled to Kenya where she taught basket making in the refugee camp. In the United States since 2004, she formed a women’s basket cooperative in Maine before settling in Connecticut with her family in 2009.