VOA常速英语2015--汇款业务中断导致索马里移民担心老家亲人（在线收听）

Disruption in Sending Cash Home Distresses Somali Immigrants 汇款业务中断导致索马里移民担心老家亲人

Once a month for years, Ahmed Ahmed has been going to Dahabshil, a money service agency catering to the Somali community outside Washington.  The taxi driver has sent $200 every month to his family of eight left behind at home — until recently.

艾哈迈德·阿赫迈德多年来每个月都会前往达哈比什尔，这家金融服务机构专门面向华盛顿外的索马里社区。出租车司机的阿赫迈德每个月要向老家的8名亲属汇去200美元。可这一次他无法达成所愿。

The service has been stopped, leaving Ahmed very worried.

“Forget the medicine or anything else," he said. "The priority is food.  If they don’t get the money, they don’t have food.  They don’t have any jobs.”

“忘了药品和其他的，当务之急是食品问题。如果他们拿不到钱，就没的吃。他们没有任何工作。”

After years of civil war and anarchy, there is no formal banking system in Somalia, so families overseas rely on informal money transfer networks known as hawalas to deliver cash to their needy relatives.

多年的内战和无政府状态后，索马里并没有正规的银行系统，因此身在海外的家庭依靠名为“哈瓦拉斯”的非正式货币转移系统为急需的亲属汇款。

Merchants Bank of California was the last U.S. bank to handle wire transfers to Somalia. In early February, the bank announced that it would shut the service down. The reason most likely pertains to the U.S. fight to stop the flow of money that helps fund extremist groups in the region, such as al-Shabab.

加利福尼亚招商银行曾是最后一家处理索马里电汇业务的美国银行。2月初他们宣布这项业务停止营业。原因可能与美国政府努力遏制资金流向当地青年党等极端组织的举措有关。

Census data show that 80,000 Somali immigrants live in the U.S.  A majority of them send money to their families in their impoverished homeland.

人口普查数据显示有80，000名索马里移民生活在美国。而且绝大多数人都向贫困老家的亲戚们汇款。

Osman Yusuf, manager of the Dahabshil money transfer agency, said the customers send about $200 to $300 on average. "We also have a lot of people who send $20, $30, $50," he said.

达哈比什尔金融服务机构经理奥萨曼·尤瑟夫称大约平均是200至300美元。还有很多人汇20、30和50美元。”

In all, more than $215 million in U.S. remittances went to Somalia last year. Now, without cash transfers, Somali community leaders worry about the future for Somalia's chlidren.

去年从美国汇往索马里的款项总共达215,000,000美元。而现今随着无法汇款，索马里社区领袖对自己国家孩子们的未来感到忧心忡忡。

Farah Mohamed, a Somali community leader, and his group have been building a school with donations from Somali immigrants. "The school will definitely stop," he said. "There is no way we can build a school or we can do anything.  There are a huge number of Somali kids that are just growing up.  Unless they get the right education, right assistance, we don't know what their life will be."

法拉·穆罕默德和他的组织一直凭借索马里移民的捐款修建一所学校。“学校进程肯定会搁置。我们没有别的方法建校而且无能为力。索马里有很多孩子正在成长，如果没有适当的教育和帮助，我们不知道他们长大以后会如何。”

Some lawmakers and aid groups have raised concerns about the humanitarian consequences and have called for an emergency plan.

一些议员和救援组织已经提出人道后果问题并呼吁制定紧急方案。

Scott Paul, a senior adviser at international aid group Oxfam America, noted that "there are communities of Somali refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya that have no other way of supporting themselves.  If these companies [money transfer agencies] close down, those refugee camps and refugee communities are going to be in severely dire straits, maybe even worse off than people in Somalia.”

国际救援组织乐施会美国分会高级顾问斯科特·保罗说道:“也许最为重要的是在埃塞俄比亚和肯尼亚的索马里难民社区无法帮助到这些人。如果这些汇款公司中断汇款，这些难民营和难民社区的境况就会更为严峻，也许比索马里境内的那些人还要糟糕。”

Congressman Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, also said a disruption in remittances would cause greater security risks.

代表明尼苏达州的国会议员基斯·艾利森也表示中断汇款可能反而带来更大的安全风险。

“When you know that al-Shabab and other recruiters will offer a young man a gun, a wife and a few bucks, it becomes clear how critical it is," he said. "We must fix this remittance problem.”

“如果你明白青年党和其他组织会为一个年轻人提供枪支，妻子，还有点钱。显然问题就会更严重。我们必须解决汇款问题。”

The U.S. Treasury Department says officials recognize the importance that remittances play in Somalia and are working across the government to consider different options to address the issue.

美国财政部表示官员们已经认识到汇款对索马里的重要性，因此政府各部门正在通力合作考虑以不同的方案来解决这个难题。

But no solution has yet emerged. Somali immigrants are in fear for their loved ones.

不过解决方案仍未出台。索马里移民们仍旧担心自己的亲人。

“Really, really, I am worried about I cannot send money back home," Ahmed said. "I don’t know what do.”

“真的、真的，我担心不能把钱寄回老家。我不知道该怎么办。”