I am Claire and I am a resilient woman because...

My name is Claire and I came to the United States from Kenya 2 years ago.

How long have you been living in this area? Please share with us about your journey coming here.

I have been living in this area since May 2018. It’s the only area I have lived since I came into the country. Coming to this land of opportunity was a dream come true. It was my third trial at the visa lottery, and I was among those fortunate enough to be awarded the opportunity. I came here accompanied by my then 4-year-old daughter and was also expecting my son. My sole mission was and still is to chase my dreams (career), better my life and that of my dependents and eventually give back to the community. The spirit of “Harambee” togetherness is still very much alive in me.

We are doing a feature series about resilient women. What type of challenges in your life contributed to you becoming a resilient woman?

Since I arrived here it has not been a bed of roses like I initially thought. I have faced many challenges the greatest one been housing, finances and time management. As a single parent juggling between raising two young kids, working and taking classes while at the same time trying to settle in and adapt to the culture here has not been a walk in the park. I have learnt that to accomplish this it requires sacrifice and selflessness. It is a journey where the previous milestones act as motivation for the future ones yet to be met. It also requires a strong support system that encourages and reassures one when the going gets too tough. I have learnt the art of prioritizing, accounting for my time and seizing opportunities that are available. I like the phrase “success happens when opportunity meets preparation”. I am a classical example of it.

How are you staying resilient during this time of COVID19?

During this time of COVID 19, I choose to stay resilient by continuing to take my studies online while at the same time seizing the opportunity spend time with my children. Over time I have learnt to try and look at the positive side of every situation despite how challenging it might be. This always helps me keep my joy and look up to a brighter tomorrow. Online classes have their own challenges especially for a first timer, but I choose to not let COVID-19 get in the way of my studies.

What do you love most about Mother Africa? What motivates you to be a part of Mother Africa events and activities?

I was introduced to Mother Africa by a friend. At that time, I needed support with baby stuff. I initially thought I would go in, get the support and leave, but the warm reception that I encountered won me over. My first impression was that they really cared about my welfare. The follow up was so amazing. I felt valued.

Later, I was invited into this mum’s group that turned out to be family. It still is. They provided an avenue where one would share and connect with other mothers without getting looked down on. This avenue was God sent especially since I felt so alone with nobody to share my worries with. It is so fulfilling to be part of Mother Africa’s events and activities. I feel that Mother Africa and all their staff are a family away from home whose main purpose is to rally behind me and my fellow mums and give us the encouragement we need to chase our dreams and meet our potential.
 
What is your hope for the future of Mother Africa, yourself and your fellow resilient women?

My hope for the future of Mother Africa is that it will expand its boundaries across states and countries to reach out to more women in the hope of empowering them through the various support services that they offer.

I also hope that I and my fellow resilient women will each reach our potential and reach out to other women and join efforts to empower them as a way of giving back to the society. Like they say, “lighting many other candles doesn’t dim the light of the original candle, it only increases light in the room.”
 

Interview conducted by Mother Africa staff member Catherine Muite

I am Nimo and I am a resilient woman because..

My name is Nimo Abdi
"I am a resilient queen. I shine with loveliness and have a great positive attitude even when things are challenging! That is resiliency."

How long have you been living in this area? Please share with us about your journey coming here.
 
I grew up in a refugee camp in Kenya. I came to The United States in 2004. I lived in Kent, Washington for 10 years, I moved to Wisconsin in 2014 and now I came back to Washington in 2020. Overall, I've been here in America for about 16 years. When I came here, I did not know how to speak English and the culture was very different.  I had to adapt to everything even though things were challenging. I did not give up because I was passionate about the culture, the environment, the language and etc.
 
We are doing a feature series about resilient women. What type of challenges in your life contributed to you becoming a resilient woman?
 
I survived being in a refugee camp. I came to America not knowing the language. I worked so hard to graduate from high school that led me to achieved my diploma. I got married really young and God blessed me with two kids while determined to finished college. I thank God for everything because nothing stopped me from accomplishing my goal and I finally got my Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education.

What do you love most about Mother Africa? What motivates you to be a part of Mother Africa events and activities?
 
The main thing I love about Mother Africa is because they are strong and caring women who work hard to empower other women within their community. Mother Africa provides resources to refugee and immigrant women to help them achieve their goals. Because of that I am motivated to help the community. I enjoy the training Mother Africa provides because I learned a lot from it than it encourages me to teach others.

Since 2013 I have been a Community Leader with my community, doing projects like Women's Groups with Mother Africa. Then in January 2020, I got hired as the full-time Program Coordinator for Mother Africa's new Safer Healthy Homes Program. I support a team of Health Promoters to go out into their communities and provide information and resources on safe home measures like air quality, mold prevention and safe home cleaning products. A lot of this information is very new to our communities so I believe this program is very important to keep the families and children safe and healthy. 
 
How are you staying resilient during this time of COVID19?
 
I believe by not giving up and having hope and also staying connected with my community. I’m working from home to ensure everyone stays safe during this pandemic. I strive to keep each and every family safe and inform everyone the importance of staying home.

What is your hope for the future of Mother Africa, yourself, and your fellow resilient women?
 
My hope for myself is to keep striving, to assist the community, and to never give up.

For my fellow resilient women, I hope you don’t to give up on dreams and to always help the community in anyway possible.

And for Mother Africa, I hope they extend service to other counties within Washington. And I hope they continue to do good work and to serve the community even more. I thank Mother Africa for helping and empowering other women. Thank you.

Interview conducted by Mother Africa staff member Fardosa Abdirahman

I am Nilu and I am a resilient woman because..

I am Nilu, an immigrant woman from Afghanistan.

How long have you been living in this area? (Greater Seattle) Please share with us about your journey coming here. I moved here in 2016 so it is four years that I live here. Back in Afghanistan, I was a family counselor and involved in a number of women-empowering programs in my society. As a social activist trying to empower women rights in a close society like Afghanistan, it was not safe for me and I decided to immigrate.

As you know, we are doing a feature series about resilient women. What type of challenges in your life contributed to you becoming a resilient woman? I was working as a social worker and ran a series of TV and radio programs focusing on domestic violence against women in Afghanistan. In a patriarchic society like Afghanistan, providing advocacy to women who are the victim of domestic violence was a challenging job and I was threatened several times. I was even criticized by angry men during a live TV program I had in support of married women beaten up by their husbands but I did not give up as I believe the resilience of women is a need, if they want to get their God-given rights.

What do you love most about Mother Africa? What motivates you to be a part of Mother Africa events and activities?  What I love about Mother Africa is the women-centered activities in which refugee/immigrant women are motivated to stay tall and find their success-path in American society without disregarding their culture or belief.

What is your hope for the future of Mother Africa, yourself and your fellow resilient women?

I've been working in Mother Africa as a Best4Babies Support Sister for new moms in my community for 3 months now, and I see how receptive my Dari-speaking community is for such social-empowering programs. I hope Mother Africa continues the good work they have been doing!

For my fellow resilient women, I hope they raise the bar and keep moving disregarding the challenges of new life-style her as “where there is a will, there is a way.” I hope to continue working with Mother Africa and contribute the successful journey they have for women.

Interview conducted by Mother Africa staff member Shekiba Khoram

I am Shekiba, and I am a resilient woman because...

I am Shekiba, I came to the USA in 2016 from Afghanistan.

How long have you been living in this area? Please share with us about your journey coming here. I moved to the USA in 2016, so I have been here for 3 years. I was working at a US company in Afghanistan as an engineer. Back home, women do not do these types of jobs. A group of Taliban wanted me to not work there anymore since I was a woman, and I am supposed to stay home and take care of the children. I did not give up and continued to work there. But then I came to the USA for a conference, and while I was here I was targeted back in my home country. The people that targeted me told me that they would kill me if I go back home. I decided to stay here for the safety of myself and my family. Then I was in a detention center for 3 months and applied for asylum and got it without a lawyer.  After 8 months, I was finally able to call my family and tell them I am safe.

As you know, we are doing a feature series about resilient women. What type of challenges in your life contributed to you becoming a resilient woman? The challenges that contributed to me becoming a resilient woman is when I was alone here in the USA with none of my family. Living in a detention center. Leaving my 2-month baby that I was breastfeeding, and I wasn’t able to see my family. That made me stronger. Whenever I was sad, I kept telling myself that I am strong, and I can do this. I had to be stronger for myself and my family back home.

What do you love most about Mother Africa? What motivates you to be a part of Mother Africa events and activities? Mother Africa works with women. When I was back home, I spent 10 years doing social work with women. Mother Africa also does the same thing, so I like that a lot.

What is your hope for the future of Mother Africa, yourself and your fellow resilient women? In February this year I also started working as a screener for the new Flourishing Resilient Children (F&RC) Program with Mother Africa for the Afghanistan families. We do early childhood developmental screening to help the parents see how their children are doing with different milestones depending on their age, so that we can support their growth. Our community is very happy with this program. I hope to continue to work with Mother Afric, and I am happy that they are working with our Afghani women too. We have no other organization working with us like this.  Whenever I am at Mother Africa, I am very happy.

Interview conducted by Mother Africa Program Assistant, Florette Ebengho 

I am Petronella and I am a resilient woman because..

My name is Petronella I have been an activist/advocate for women and children who face violence since I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I ran my own organization there.

How long have you been living in this area? Please share with us about your journey coming here. I have been living in Washington state for 7 months. I moved to the US because I couldn’t express myself anymore in my home country Congo. I was targeted because I was fighting against violence against women and children. The fear of being targeted brought me to the US as an asylee.

What type of challenges in your life contributed to you becoming a resilient woman?  Because of the war in the Congo, I became a resilient woman because I saw women and children being sexually assaulted by military members. This is something that no one should have to experience. It motivated me to work hard and that’s why I have a nonprofit back home that continues to fight against all the violence that women and children face. And living in the US too makes me resilient. I am alone here, I came without any family members. I discovered nonprofits that support women, including Mother Africa, that continues to help me when I need assistance, since I am still homeless (living in someone else's apartment).

What do you love most about Mother Africa? What motivates you to be a part of Mother Africa events and activities? When I discovered Mother Africa with Risho’s help, I felt better felt safe and welcomed. I felt like home. This is home. When you are alone and you don’t know anyone, attending events with other African women like the ones they have at Mother Africa, that makes you realize that you are not alone.

What is your hope for the future of Mother Africa, yourself and your fellow resilient women? Mother Africa works with women the same as I also work with women back home, so I would like to get more involved with Mother Africa. I hope that Mother Africa continues to get more funding in order to help this diverse community, so they can continue making other women also feel welcomed and at home.

Interview conducted and translated from French by Mother Africa Program Assistant, Florette Ebengho