LEWISTON — To Mohamed Ali, the frenzied voices inside Lewiston’s Trinity Jubilee Center make sense.

Burundians searching for a place to stay, Somalis looking for a ride and native Mainers waiting for a meal seek out Ali, who can talk with them all.

Ali is an interpreter. The quiet, 42-year-old man speaks English, French, Arabic and Somali.

He does most of the talking with the kitchen staff. At the moment, most are from French-speaking countries in East Africa and speak little or no English. He works with volunteers and the folks who drop in for a meal or groceries or some pointers in navigating the general assistance system.

“As long as we can provide, we do it,” Ali said, sitting behind a computer in the center’s cluttered office.

And for folks who arrive in Lewiston from his country — Djibouti — he serves as a kind of one-man welcoming committee.

“Whenever they arrive, I think I am the first person they are referred to if the person is Djiboutian,” he said.

It figures. Before he arrived in the United States, Ali worked for his country’s diplomats.

He grew up in the capital city of Djibouti and left the country of roughly 800,000 people when he was about 25. He first went to work as an interpreter for the American military at a base in the Persian Gulf country. He later went to work at the Djibouti embassy in Qatar. At first, he was an interpreter there, translating between French and Arabic. He later did other jobs, eventually working as a cultural attache.

That all changed in 2012.

The political system at home turned precarious and he fled to the United States.

In February 2012, he joined a friend in Portland, Ore. Then, he heard about a growing community of people from Djibouti in Lewiston. He arrived in April 2012 and stayed.

His offer to volunteer at the Trinity Jubilee Center turned into his job, working in the often chaotic charity overlooking Kennedy Park.

He lives in Lewiston and is awaiting resolution of his own immigration status. His request for political asylum is labeled as “pending,” he said.

Meanwhile, he has become a quiet opponent to the political situation back home.

The U.S. State Department has described “significant human rights abuses” in Djibouti, including denial of fair public trials, interference with privacy rights, restrictions on freedoms of the press, assembly, and association, corruption and discrimination against women.

However, the country’s location at the southern tip of the Red Sea has made it a strategic gem. In early May, President Obama met with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh to secure a deal to keep U.S. troops there.

While they met inside the White House, Ali and friends protested outside. Their aim was to shine a light on abuses in Djibouti, which currently resembles North Korea in its assault on freedoms, Ali said.

And though Ali said he is happy in Maine, he longs to one day return home if the political situation eases, he said.

He has two sons there and lots of aspirations.

“I would like to go back and contribute and do what I can do, to take part of any change that is working for the people,” he said.

dhartill@sunjournal.com