Anelca Kialanda, 36, an asylum seeker from Angola, stands in the men’s dormitory at the new shelter for asylum seekers in Portland. He said he already feels more at home there. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

On their first night, they feasted on jerk chicken, fufu and turnip greens.

Thursday night’s meal was still a big topic of conversation the next morning.

Anelca Kialanda, 36, who came to the United States from Angola in February, said it was the best meal he’s had in months.

He is one of 120 asylum seekers who moved into a new shelter in Portland’s Riverside neighborhood on Thursday to free up beds at the Homeless Services Center and provide more appropriate services for the growing asylum population in Portland.

At the city shelter, Kialanda said, the food was often unfamiliar and cooked in ways he wasn’t used to. The meal made him feel more at home. He hopes there will be more like it.

“Everyone was happy for dinner last night. We had an orientation for two hours and food was the main question. We’re really trying to make sure that culturally appropriate food is served here,” said Larissa Gahimbare, program manager at the shelter.

Marie Mundi, 67, said the foods served Thursday are Congolese staples.

She came to Maine from the Democratic Republic of Congo in May with her husband. They heard that the state has good social services and that they might be able to work here. They had an acquaintance who lived on Washington Avenue in Portland, and they stayed with her for a few months. But then she had to move away, and Mundi and her husband became homeless. That’s how they ended up at the HSC. She said it was OK there, but, at her age being in a shelter is difficult.

‘A PLACE THAT IS THEIRS’

The much-anticipated opening of the shelter was smooth, better than staff anticipated. What was expected to be a four-hour process took only an hour because the city’s parks and recreation department provided multiple buses and extra staff members to help out with the move.

“I was surprised because moving 120 people from one location to another is not always an easy thing. But the buses available and the city employees helping was amazing,” said Mike Guthrie, acting manager of the shelter.

Services at the new shelter will focus specifically on the needs of asylum seekers, who often arrive in Maine with little money, few belongings and are unable to work for months if not years. Guthrie said the HSC was serving so many populations with different needs that sometimes things slipped through the cracks. Here, he said, he thinks things will run more effectively.

“The goal of this shelter was to relieve pressure over there (at the HSC). It just made more sense to provide services for this population specifically. Now people feel like they have a place that is theirs,” Guthrie said.

The dining area at the new 20,000-square-foot shelter for asylum seekers. Staff served jerk chicken, fufu and turnip greens during the first dinner at the shelter as the city makes an effort to serve more culturally appropriate meals.  Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Guthrie said the shelter has arranged to work with In Her Presence, an organization that will offer English classes on-site in the small lounge area, made up of some cafeteria tables and televisions. The shelter will also bring in immigration lawyers from the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project and volunteers from Hope Acts to help with transportation to court proceedings.

They have also contracted with the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition to provide culturally appropriate meals.

A LONG JOURNEY

On Friday morning, the new shelter was quiet. There were rows of bunk beds tidily made with green, red and yellow blankets. A few people were napping. Some were in the lounge area charging their phones. But most people were out.

Guthrie said some people have jobs or already attend local churches so they go out during the day. There are 108 beds in the male dorm, which is immediately beyond the lounge space. Through a door to the left is the female dorm, which has 71 beds.

Each bed corresponds with a locker. There is a laundry room with enough machines for everyone to wash their clothes at least once a week, although they’re considering adding more machines, Guthrie said. The shelter serves three meals per day, and workers save any leftovers for guests who may have missed mealtime because of work.

Less than 24 hours after opening, 120 of the 179 beds were full. Guthrie said they plan to finish processing all the people from the HSC over the weekend and then will start filling the remaining beds.

“It’s hard to say how fast they’ll be filled, but we do anticipate being full before long,” Guthrie said.

Speaking through an interpreter, Kialanda said he had been staying at the HSC for seven months. He left his home-country of Angola more than a year ago because of his role as a leader and an activist with a group called Unita, which was fighting political corruption in the country. He said he had no choice but to leave his wife and three kids and flee.

Kialanda spent about eight months in Brazil before making his way to the United States. He thought he would be safer in the U.S. – where he had no friends or family – because Angola and Brazil’s government have close ties, he said.

When he first arrived in Maine on Feb. 28, he slept in a church for three nights and then went to the family shelter at the YMCA on Forest Avenue before landing at the HSC.

He prefers the new shelter. He said the old shelter was difficult for him. Guests were woken up each day early, usually between 4 and 6 a.m., and he had trouble sleeping. He had to go through the check-in process daily and was assigned a different bed every night. He didn’t like how strict the rules were around mealtimes and curfew.

He thinks he will sleep better at the new shelter where he can stay in the same bed.

Morie Mundi, 67, an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo, sits on her bed at the new shelter for asylum seekers in Portland. She and her husband are hoping to find housing soon and want to bring her kids and grandkids to Maine. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Mundi said being able to sleep in and rest makes a big difference for her. She and her husband are hoping to find housing soon and start work as soon as their papers come through. She says she’d be willing to do any job.

If God allows, she says, she hopes someday her kids and grandkids can come be with her in Maine, too.

Kialanda is still waiting for his work papers to be processed, but he is eager to start a career. He did some painting work back in Angola and hopes to follow the same path here, painting houses and cars. He has already signed up for English classes and has been accessing General Assistance services for food and other basic necessities.

His only complaint is that the women need to walk through the men’s dorm to get to their dorm. He wishes he had more privacy. But overall he likes the space and feels grateful to have moved.

Once he gets his work papers he plans to start sending money home to his wife and kids. His eldest son is 10, and his younger twins are 8 now. He hasn’t seem them in nearly two years. One day he hopes they can come to Maine and be with him. He doesn’t think they’re safe in Angola. But the process of bringing them here is costly, so they’ll have to wait until he can save up some money for their journey.