World Refugee Day

Everyday I meet people who ask me how I came to Mauritania. The answer is one word: Aminata.

A mutual friend first introduced me to Aminata in 2007, a few days after she arrived in New York. She lived in the Central African Republic where her father worked as a trader until the war forced them to leave, then they moved to Togo, followed by Senegal, and then back to their home country of Mauritania. Aminata's family originally left the country to search for better opportunities and were forced to spend many years in exile because of the 1989 conflict.

Although Aminata was already ten-years-old, she had only completed two years of school. Her education was interrupted by conflict and displacement. She couldn’t add or subtract and she spoke only her mother tongue, Pulaar. Aminata’s father came to the United States as a refugee nine years before her, working hard to finally bring his family to join him and be able to access all of the rights they had been denied for many years. Education was one of his greatest ambitions for his children, since neither he, nor his wife, had ever been to school.

Unfortunately, her school district didn’t have a sixth grade so when her father tried to enroll her in the nearest primary and middle schools, he was turned away with no clear explanation. I met Aminata the day before school started but she was not yet enrolled in school. After many phone calls, I was able to finally advocate to the NYC Department of Education and the Principal of the primary school for her to be placed in the fourth grade. This prevented her from being forced to commute by public transportation to the next school district with a sixth grade. This was also a more appropriate place for her developmentally and academically, since she had so many years to catch up with.

After winning the battle of getting Aminata enrolled in school, I thought my work for the family was over. I didn’t think that it would be possible for a diverse and high-needs neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, to be so ill-equipped to help Aminata. There was no after-school tutoring, very little ESL support, and no classroom assitants. The Principal suggested placing Aminata in the small Special Education class so she could get the extra support she required but I refused because that was not an appropriate solution for her. 

While I was researching programs and extra support for the family, on a temporary basis I started visiting Aminata at home to help her complete her homework and also to show her how much I believed in her. If there was a night I couldn’t come to her house, Aminata would call me and leave a pleading message on my phone, “Please come over, I have so many homeworks.” I would always find myself changing my plans and doing everything to be there. We read books and added triple-digit numbers. The day Aminata read her first book, “Green Eggs and Ham”, by herself brought tears to my eyes. Before I knew it, Aminata became one of the most important people in my life.

I continued visiting her many evenings a week, since I had realized that there were no tutoring programs available to low-income families. I treasured every second I spent with her and would look forward to hearing her opinions about the things she encountered in her new world. Pizza? Not so good. Fried chicken? Delicious. Hot tamales? Not so good. Sugar Daddies? Delightful. I made lists of all the things she liked and didn’t like and enjoyed making her my favorite foods. Aminata could not get enough of my chocolate chip cookies. She couldn’t even take one bite of freshly baked apple pie, despite weeks of begging me to make it for her.

Within a few months, Aminata started making friends at school and started finding her way through her new life. In the Spring, I received excited phone calls from her teachers. Aminata had performed the best in her class in the state-wide standardized math test. No one could believe that she could achieve so much in one year.

The next year, Aminata changed schools and none of her classmates would even believe her when she told them she had just come from Africa the previous year. Her English was nearly perfect and she barely had an accent. The endless hours she spent watching Disney movies and t.v. series paid off, as well as the extra hours she spent doing her homework and visiting the library. By the time she reached the sixth grade, Aminata had already become the top student in her class. Her favorite subjects are reading, writing, and math. Now preparing for the seventh grade, there seem to be no limits to her potential. I am waiting to hear of her future triumphs and I know I will never be disappointed. 

After three years of knowing Aminata, in addition to the hundreds of Fulani refugees I taught in the evening classes through my volunteer work at the Fulani community center, I started wanting to learn Pulaar and understand more about their culture, values, and traditions. I wanted to spend time in the places where all of these friends grew up and understand the lives of all of the family members they left behind.

I came to Mauritania in search of myself and a better understanding of the conditions that drive people from their homeland, force them to live as refugees in foreign countries, and endure the hardships of living in a low-income and high crime neighborhood in one of the biggest cities of the world.

Visiting Aminata’s village, meeting her grandmother two months before she passed away, and spending time with her cousins was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I am so proud to know Aminata because her achievements are a reminder that anything is possible in this world and if we set out to succeed we can accomplish amazing results. Aminata has taught me many things and I know I will carry these lessons with me for the rest of my life.