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Casino Jobs Attract New Iowa Immigrants

``Iowa's gambling industry, which employs more than 10,000 people, has become a draw for newcomers from foreign nations, casino managers say. Some of the bigger employers are Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona and three major gambling operations in Council Bluffs.

``The workers include people such as Mohamed Osman, 29, who fled war in Somalia and is now a cook at Prairie Meadows. One of his colleagues is Djurdja Kokic, 31, a casino housekeeper who came here with her husband and three children to escape strife in the Balkans.

``…Important notices for workers are translated into languages for people from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Sudan, Mexico and other Latin American countries, and from the former Yugoslavia.

``…One of the challenges of hiring people from other countries has been to introduce them to the American hospitality industry, said Kris Adams, Harveys human resources manager.

"`Their culture may tell them that they shouldn't have eye contact. But we want them to have eye contact. It isn't insulting here to look somebody in the eye,' Adams said.

``Casino jobs are attractive to immigrants and refugees because of relatively good compensation packages and a chance to move their way up the employment ladder, industry officials say.

``…George Gabriel, 28, who escaped the war in Sudan, spent four difficult years in a refugee camp in Ethiopia before arriving alone in Iowa in May 1999. He is single and lives with a Roosevelt High School student who also arrived alone from Sudan.

``He works the night shift at Prairie Meadows as a housekeeper.

```I intend to stay in Des Moines. This is my land. Des Moines is very nice,' Gabriel said..."

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