Trainees

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....

We wanted to take a moment to recognize Denise, who, even as we write, is already moving on to a part-time job.  Originally from DR Congo, Denise spent many of her 23 years in a refugee camp in Rwanda. There she learned to read and write in Kinyarwanda. She also found her first job which involved doing comedy in "show business" at the camp!. Wow!  Denis has a 5-year-old son which means that work, training, education, and parenting are part of a high-stakes juggling act to become successful in the US. But she is absolutely determined. In order to accommodate...

Ngabo is one of our youth job trainees. Here is his story.Ngabo’s parents and older siblings fled from Congo to the Gihembe refugee camp in Rwanda where Ngabo was born. He recalls friends, learning some English in school, and how it was sometimes an hour walk each way to try to fetch water in a swampy area. His extended family, including cousins, all lived in a tent.When Ngabo's family was resettled in the summer of 2016, he didn’t realize that some of those cousins were already here in Rhode Island. How great to be close to them again! Ngabo tested...