This article was written by Karen McDonald, AmeriCorps Member working with iACT.
Our ESL students are a dedicated and enthusiastic bunch. Every morning they pour into our downtown location, eager and ready to learn. In a favorite mid-morning ritual, teachers prepare ‘chai’ for the students. At break, they swarm into the corridor congregating in the common area, which begins to resemble a cross-national village square. Amid whispered prayers and quiet laughter, bundles of homemade bread and cakes are passed from hand to hand. Then it’s back to the challenging work of learning American English.
By noon, the classrooms are empty. Mothers rush down the stairs to collect toddlers who are not always as ready to leave the nursery. Several students attend classes in the morning, leaving just enough time for them to get to work. Yet, one very determined gentleman can always be found bent over piles of paper, soliciting help on thorny grammar questions after everyone else has disappeared. Ask any teacher who they would choose as most dedicated learner. They will say, “Gilbert, of course.”
Dr. Baseya Mbala Gilbert hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a region thought to have been first settled some 80,000 years ago. DRC features a vast central plateau covered by tropical rainforest surrounded by mountains to the west, plains and savannahs to the southwest and grasslands to the north. Gilbert, as he prefers to be called, was born in the DRC. His father was a highly respected nurse and his mother took care of home and children. Though he had six siblings, Gilbert was the only one in his family to graduate with a university degree. He came to the U.S. by way of Kenya twelve years ago. I asked about his childhood, and he spoke about how peaceful life had been when he was a young boy.
Gilbert was just starting high school when a nationalist movement in Belgian Congo demanded the end of colonial rule. This led to the country’s independence in 1960, but almost immediately a series of conflicts led to war. Congo remained unstable because tribal leaders had more power than the central government. Gilbert said that his family lived in the capitol city of Kinshasa, which for a while remained peaceful despite bloodshed in Eastern regions of the country. He remembers a large migration of people fleeing war-torn areas, swelling the population of the capital city. He told me that he attended high school with many of the displaced youth.
After graduation from Kinshasa University, and as a young doctor, he provided care for patients in remote rural areas treating dozens of cases of malaria, typhoid fever and pneumonia. In 1999, Gilbert left the capitol and moved to the Eastern part of the DRC to work. But, the Second Congolese War began a little more than a year after the first. It became a question of safety for Gilbert and his family, so they resettled as refugees in Kenya.
Gilbert explained how refugees were required to build their own houses. When I asked about water, he said that tap water was rationed: two hours in the morning and two hours in the early evening. He explained that refugees had access to clean water, food and education thanks to organizations like the International Rescue Committee and the World Food Programme, a food-assistance branch of the United Nations. Though Gilbert was employed as a medical worker, refugee credentials weren’t recognized – so despite extensive education and experience, he wasn’t allowed to practice medicine.
Then came an opportunity to resettle in America. This was a desire Gilbert had nurtured since childhood. After long periods of vetting, refugees are somewhat randomly assigned resettlement cities. Most know little about the region in which they will land. Gilbert landed in Austin, where he was delighted to find community and a Christian church that mirrored his family’s home faith practices. His children are older and, following in their father’s footsteps, have completed or are pursuing degrees in both the U.S. and Canada. Gilbert’s current focus is on obtaining a G.E.D. He intends to complete courses that will allow him to attend medical school. His ultimate dream is to reestablish himself as a medical doctor in his new home, America.
