Trainees

Bertha’s family resettled in Rhode Island when she was 15. The camp where she grew up in Malawi was a place without enough food, water, or clothing. People would often wear the same thing for weeks at a time. Water scarcity led to fights. Yet the camp was also a community.Bertha talks about her program cohort as if they are family. She knows she can be hard on herself. But she believes that the experience of reaching out to a group and receiving their support has helped her trust herself. At the farmers’ markets she learned that she can overcome...

One program Beautiful Day started piloting this year involves job training for a few teenage refugee students who want to learn how help pay the family bills. We’re proud to introduce Ingabire Monique who first learned about Beautiful Day because her father started his career as a trainee. For the last few months she’s been helping run the farmers’ market. Monique was born in a camp in Tanzania and grew up along with 5 siblings in another camp in Mozambique. Her childhood memories are a window into what millions of warehoused refugees experience: “You don’t know where your next meal...

Meet Yonas! He is Kunama, an indigenous group of ancient ancestry in Eritrea. Born in a camp in Ethiopia, Yonas’ family resettled in the United States when he was 6.Yonas learned to love school and feels driven to do his best. His advice for us is to grow this program: “Refugee kids really need these experiences.” He especially enjoyed production In the kitchen and participating in a job-interview event led by Starbucks.Yonas plans to attend URI in the fall and major in engineering. He still hopes to apply everything he learned in a summer job. Like the rest of us,...

We interviewed Appoline via Zoom soon after our youth program went virtual. Appoline, who is a sophomore at a local high school, told us about some of the things she loves, like playing guitar on her school soccer team or playing the guitar. Her tutor gave her one as a gift and she is in love with it.  Originally from the DR Congo, Appoline was only 2 when her family fled Tanzania. Later they moved to a refugee camp in Burundi. Her family arrived in Rhode Island in 2014 when she was 10. She attended a summer camp called BRYTE, which...

A 17 year old junior in high school, Biniam was born in Ethiopia where his parents had fled from Eritrea. He spent part of his early life in Addis Ababa and then a year in a refugee camp at age 5, before moving to Providence shortly after his 6th birthday, where he has been ever since.  Biniam loves English literature. He credits this to one of his favorite teachers, who has made the subject easy and enjoyable for him. His favorite book is Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. He has been playing basketball since he was 9...

Elia (left) was born in Nakivale, Uganda in the camp where his parents found refuge after war broke out in DR Congo. He is one of 9 children who lived in a house of 3 rooms made of bricks with dirt floors.  His main memories involved playing soccer with friends. The family had cattle that he looked after, though the camp was hot and there was no fresh water. Sometimes there was no food for days. It took 35 minutes to walk to school.  The huge surprise for Elia arriving in Rhode Island was finding out that school was free....