Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Refugees seek higher education
SPRINGDALE — A pair of refugee siblings in Northwest Arkansas have begun post-secondary education, a first among the more than 100 refugees who have come to the area in the past two years.
Heri Lukambo, 18, started in August at Northwest Arkansas Community College with calculus and English courses. His sister, Esta Akilimali, started a week ago at Petra Allied Health for her nursing assistant certification. Both have an eventual bachelor’s or higher degree from the University of Arkansas in their sights — civil engineering for the brother, nursing for the sister.
Akilimali, 21, said jumping into something totally new sometimes frightens her.
“And then I feel like my dream is coming true,” she said with a wide smile.
The two were among more than 20 million refugees around the world who
have fled war and persecution, according to the United Nations.
Lukambo and Akilimali’s family lived in Kenya for several years after leaving the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central Intelligence Agency and other observers say conflict in the central African country among the government and several armed groups over the past few decades has killed or displaced millions of people. Lukambo was born there.
A nonprofit group called Canopy Northwest Arkansas in 2016 began welcoming refugees to the area. Refugees must show the United Nations and several U.S. federal agencies they’re in mortal danger if they return home in an interview and screening process that can take months or years. Then groups such as Canopy and their volunteers around the country can help them find housing and work, enroll their children in school and settle into their new American lives.
Lukambo, Akilimali, their parents and four other siblings arrived one evening last spring. That same night, a Canopy case manager asked Lukambo and the others what their dreams were. Lukambo said he wanted to go to the university and was told the community college would be a good place to begin.
“It feels great, and I’m so motivated,” Lukambo said at the family’s Springdale home, adding he’s had engineering in mind since eighth or ninth grade. He goes to classes three days a week to fit around his work schedule at George’s Inc., where his mother also works.
Lusia Akilimali, Lukambo and his sister’s mother, said schooling in Kenya was inconsistent because it required tuition that could be challenging to pay. Refugees are considered second-class and cannot become citizens, she said. If her children were still there, they might have gotten a scholarship, or their educations might be over.
“I don’t know. But here, they go to school straightaway. I’m proud of them,” Lusia Akilimali said. “It’s God’s plan.”
She and her children repeatedly thanked God, Canopy and the U.S. for their opportunities. Esta Aklimali, who passed her GED exam in August and might go into pediatric nursing, said she couldn’t find the words to express her gratitude.
“I’m humbled,” she said. The family’s other children are or will be enrolled in Springdale schools, including a brother in high school who also wants to be an engineer, Lukambo said.
Lukambo has no car and takes the bus or rides with a friend to Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville. He relies on a patient supervisor when school makes him a few minutes late. He’s working on getting a driver’s license.
Though Lukambo and Esta Akilimali are the first of 112 area refugees to seek higher education here, it’s not for lack of initiative among the group, said Emily Crane Linn, Canopy’s resettlement director. Many of them are younger children in public schools, and their parents are often busy with long shifts at companies such as George’s or Tyson Foods.
Some nonetheless are working on their GED or taking other training, Linn said. One woman, a single mother with a full-time job, is working on an information technology certification with a Bentonville company.
“She does this in the middle of the night when her baby’s up,” Linn said.
Canopy has helped in various ways, such as working with the community college and university to schedule tours, decide which courses Lukambo and Akilimali should take and find out how to get financial aid. One of her goals for the coming year is to formalize that process for other refugees with higher education in mind.
Other refugee parents, like many immigrant and native-born parents in general, decide their children’s education is more important than their own, Linn said.
“The parents put all their eggs in the basket of their kids,” she said.
The community college and university require high school transcripts and other documentation for all students, including refugees, officials there said. Refugees are given legal permanent residency and so aren’t considered international students.
Starting at institutions such as the community college or Petra is a good way to get the needed documentation for English proficiency and other education requirements to enroll at the university, said Lynn Mosesso, university director of graduate and international recruitment and admissions.
“For your two students, it’s perfect,” she said of Lukambo and Akilimali. She noted the university provides orientation and organizations and group activities to help people of all backgrounds assimilate into the campus and university system.
“We’re always here to help,” Mosesso said.