GONZALEZ: I’m Ana.

NUNES: I’m Alex.

GONZALEZ: And you’re listening to Mosaic, a podcast from The Public’s Radio.

NUNES: This podcast is a mosaic of stories about immigration in America told from the region where much of it began.

GONZALEZ: In this episode, we continue the story of Omar Bah, a Gambian refugee now living in Providence.

BAH: And I went to that job interview. I’m sitting across this person. I was constantly looking at their eyes. The only time I would blink was when they are looking at their papers. I would still quickly blink, and my eyes would be watering. I think they must have found me very, very strange.And I think the interview ended up being about: where am I from in this world?

NUNES: Omar tells us about his journey to the U.S.: his struggles, his triumphs, and the path in between. 

GONZALEZ: As a former journalist in The Gambia, Omar stood by his conviction to write stories that exposed the corrupt government there. He was persecuted, tortured, and escaped with his life, but that wasn’t the end of the story.

NUNES: No, far from it. After narrowly avoiding death on a bus bound for Senegal, Omar spends a year in a refugee camp in Ghana. He gets a chance to come to the United States. It’s a whole new world.

BAH: Oh my goodness. Samba knows where everything is.

GONZALEZ: Samba! What’s this book about?

SAMBA: My dad. When he was in The Gambia…

GONZALEZ: I’m sitting at Omar’s dining room table with him and his two kids, Barry and Samba. The younger one, Samba, runs to get a book to show me. It’s Omar’s autobiography, Africa’s Hell on Earth. As you can imagine, it’s kind of a long book, so we look at the pictures.

BARRY: That’s enough pictures.

BAH: This is where they start.

SAMBA: This is where it starts. This is my dad.

BAH: I was 24 years old. I was a reporter at this newspaper.

SAMBA: Wow. Woah.

BAH: Look at my face, Samba, how thin I was…..

GONZALEZ: Barry and Samba know a ton about the Gambia and Gambian culture. They speak Pular and Wolof, the tribal languages of their parents. And they know about their dad’s life as a journalist. They even know the story where that armed guard let Omar and his bus full of people cross the bridge on his way out of Gambia.

SAMBA: Wait. Is this the?

BAH: This is the bridge!

SAMBA: Yeah, that’s the bridge, right?

BAH: You see some of it is broken. This is where I was almost arrested by soldiers when I was escaping.

GONZALEZ: So, I’m looking at these photos with Omar and his sons. We’re all kind of joking around a bit, and Barry turns to a page with a picture of young Omar on a wanted sign from the national manhunt. 

BARRY: But you won’t believe this. The dictator put up wanted signs. And our dad was clarified as a wanted man.

GONZALEZ: Oh wow.

BARRY: Bah declared wanted.

SAMBA: He was innocent.

GONZALEZ: How does it make you guys feel when you see that poster of your dad?

BARRY: Surprised. And angry. 

SAMBA: Because he didn’t even do anything. He was just about to be president, and then this.

BAH: Yeah Samba believes I was about to be president. Which is a good thing.

GONZALEZ: Were you really about to be president?

BAH: No, I was just a journalist. [laughter] I think Samba wants me to be president. 

NUNES: Well, Omar’s not running for office in 2020. He’s living in Providence.

BAH: Rhode Island has become home. Honestly, I think I know Rhode Island better than I know Gambia.

GONZALEZ: Omar landed at T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island around midnight in May of 2007. As he rode into Providence, he kept looking out the window at all the lights and homes and saying to himself, “This is America. Wow. This is America.”

NUNES: Omar had dreamt of the U.S. each night in Ghana, where his walls were made out of cardboard and tarp. He dreamed of what he calls a “Sugar Candy Mountain”, a place where rivers flow with honey and milk, and all the houses are like 5 star hotel suites.

GONZALEZ: As we know, Providence is no mountain, and the Providence river was covered by cement until the 90s. And Omar’s first apartment in Federal Hill is far from a luxury hotel. It’s one of those old, wooden, multi-family homes. His apartment is on the third floor, and he has to walk up these creaky wooden stairs. 

NUNES: Those are memories Omar looks back on and laughs at, but he was struggling. He said the first weekend he spent in Providence, he didn’t leave that apartment. He sat at the kitchen table, alone, in silence and sadness, for three days.

BAH: And I was having a lot of nightmares, and a lot of moments where I would be scared about things for no reason. I was just going through so much. And I said, alright, I want to make myself busy. And I got a library card at Knight Memorial Library on Elmwood. And I started going there to borrow books. Mostly biographies or autobiographies that to do with someone overcoming some sort of difficult life experience. The point was that I wanted to see how people overcame hardship.  But also for me to just learn from, to know if people can survive, I can also survive. 

GONZALEZ: Remember, Omar was not only tortured and forced to leave his entire world in Gambia, including his wife, Teddi, who, by the way, is still in Gambia at this point, living under house arrest. Omar lived in a refugee camp for a year before entering the US. He’s all alone, living with post-traumatic stress, high anxiety, and deep sadness. 

NUNES: That’s because trauma, especially that kind of trauma, literally changes the makeup and chemistry of your brain. It changes the way you respond to stress, anxiety and danger, both mentally and physically. And that’s the state Omar is in, which makes it so much harder for him to adjust to an entirely new life.

BAH: There is no refugee that does not have any form of trauma. Because that is actually why you are a refugee. Because an event happened that caused mental and psychological distress. You know, you are forced out of your home. Even if you are not tortured or witnessed murder, that alone is traumatizing. 

NUNES: Despite all of this, Omar still has to function in the world. In the early weeks of his life here, he gets a job interview with some help from the International Institute. And on top of everything he’s dealing with emotionally, he has to learn about the nuances of American business culture.

GONZALEZ: Right. Like Omar said in Gambia it’s rude to make direct eye contact with someone. In Gambia you don’t give a firm handshake. But when he went to prepare for his interview at Rhode Island Housing, the folks at the International Institute told him, “Give a firm handshake, and make a lot of eye contact.”

BAH: I remember the first time I went for that interview at Rhode Island Housing. When I shook their hand, they almost fell near me because I made it so strong. They were like “Wow that’s a strong muscle!” That was the reaction. That’s what they said to me, “Wow, that’s a strong muscle!” 

NUNES: They thought you really wanted the job.

BAH: Exactly, they were like “this guy’s ready to work”. And I went to that job interview. I’m sitting across this person. I was constantly  looking at their eyes. The only time I would blink was when they are looking at their papers. I would still quickly blink, and my eyes would be watering. I think they must have found me very, very strange. And I think the interview ended up being about: where am I from in this world? 

NUNES: You definitely do not have to be an immigrant to relate to that feeling Omar is talking about. I don’t think anyone’s first job interview is an enjoyable experience. But things for Omar do get better.

GONZALEZ: Yeah. He got that job at Rhode Island Housing and started making friends with his co-workers. Two years pass. Between his coworkers and other refugees, Omar builds up his community and network of people. Finally, his wife, Teddi, gets clearance to come to the United States after being under house arrest in Gambia for three years. Omar makes sure that the baggage claim of TF Green Airport is packed with his new friends when she lands.

BAH: I mean the airport was FULL with people, flowers, cards. She was shocked when she saw people at the airport. It was a lot of people. That was the beginning for her to know, you know we are not strangers here. You know this is home, you know. So she came, and at that time, I was a little more settled. I got an apartment, actually the apartment we lived when Barry was born.

SAMBA: (off mic) And then, and theeeeen and theeeen

GONZALEZ: That’s his younger son, Samba, in the background there. 

NUNES: He wants to hear about when he comes into the story.

GONZALEZ: Which is good, I guess. Because he’s keeping us on track. Ok, so Omar and Teddi welcome their first son Barry in 2010. Then Samba was born two years later. And Omar is still working at Rhode Island Housing, but all the while, he’s witnessing more and more refugees coming to Rhode Island. And, sometimes, they need more help than the organizations here can give them. 

BAH: Good morning.

EMPLOYEE: Good morning, Omar.

NUNES: Omar and his wife founded the Refugee Dream Center in twenty fifteen to try and fill the gaps in services for refugees. I went there one day and followed Omar around.

BAH: Deb, we need your help. There is a family moving tomorrow, and we need the guys.

ALEX: Omar had a super full day planned. He’s helping a family move. He’s got a web conference. And people just keep coming into his office.

GONZALEZ: How would you describe 2019 Omar versus 2007 Omar?

NUNES: He’s a completely different person. He’s charismatic, positive, energetic. And he’s doing so much. 

GONZALEZ: Yeah, he’s not only running the Refugee Dream Center, but he’s in school, and he’s a full-time dad. And people really trust him to help them out.

BAH: I mean, if the guys are ready, we can get the UHAUL...

GONZALEZ: What’s the biggest gap—that gap in resources that really comes back and people suffer because of it?

BAH: We needed to create some sort of a venue. Some sort of a center. Some home so that people can identify with, have some place to come to. Can have someone who looks like them, who has experienced something that they’ve experienced.

NUNES: The Refugee Dream Center served 100 refugees in its first year alone.

GONZALEZ: And it really is that home Omar is talking about. People can go there for case management, to learn English, to find a translator. Someone is always there to help refugees with paperwork, appointments, and finding housing.

GONZALEZ: Sure. OK. So, hi everybody, my name is Ana.

NUNES: And my name’s Alex, sorry to interject, yeah. Nice to meet you all. 

GONZALEZ: Thank you all so much for being here, uh we….. Fade out

GONZALEZ: On this day, a dozen or so refugees are sitting with me and Alex at the Refugee Dream Center. We are asking them about what brought them to the Center and what it means to them.

ELIAS: I came from Iraq in 2017. It’s been my second year here. And we escaped the hell of ISIS. They burned our houses. They kidnapped our kids and daughters and families. They slaughtered the men. They enslaved the girls. They burned everything. They stole everything. And thanks, God, we are here. And thank you very much for having us here. For the good care that you’re offering us. And thank you.

WOMAN: The bad people, they took everything-- the money, the car. They left us. Now, I have peace, a good life, [arabic]. I came refugee. And I came here. Now I’m good. Because without peace is without life.  

GONZALEZ: There are so many stories from that day at the center. 

NUNES: Some of the things we heard were hard to even respond to. Hard to understand, like that one couple from Syria who had to leave some of their children in Jordan. 

GONZALEZ: Yeah, and despite some of these events in their lives, they still have so much hope and plans for their futures in America.

ELIAS: As soon as we arrived here, we started cooking for families. Making cuisines, mostly Syrian cuisines. And we should thank Omar, because Omar, the head of the Dream Center, he helped us. Renting us those cars, arranged meetings with other families, ones who need Syrian food, and day by day, we started cooking for families here, living here in Providence.

KAYEMBE: We arrived here as a family of 6 people. My daughter had already completed high school. Right now, she’s at URI, she’s doing criminal justice. And by God’s grace, she may graduate next year.

The world is full of trouble. Especially when you look at refugees in refugee camps, life is not easy. And once we come here, we all hope for a better life. America is now my home. Rhode Island is my home. Providence is my home. 

BAH: My mom is offering you cassava leaf.

GONZALEZ: Oh, thank you much! Do you need to eat, too?

BAH: No, I’m good. Actually I ate before going to pick them up.

GONZALEZ: I’m back at Omar’s apartment. His mom, who followed them to the U.S. and now lives with them too, is cooking dinner for Barry and Samba and cleaning up. Barry and Samba are reading books and eating chicken and cassava leaves, which are kind of like spinach, over rice. I ask them what they think about their dad’s work, if they have any questions, or anything like that.

GONZALEZ: Do you have any thoughts about the Refugee Dream Center or about what your dad does, or anything like that?

BARRY: What I wanna know is how he got the name Refugee Dream Center?

GONZALEZ: Ooo good question!

BAH: Wow, you know many people don’t ask me that question… I wanted to create inspiration for refugees, but also to inspire Americans to join the efforts to give refugees an opportunity to regain the humanity they might have lost because of the extreme sufferings they went through.

The America I know, 2 things are there: possibilities and opportunities. And I wanted refugees to dream to obtain those. And I know it is possible.

GONZALEZ: What are your dreams for this program in the future, and even yourself. Like your work and the Center, what do you see for it?

BAH: Well, starting with the Center, my biggest dream is to have a clinic, a refugee clinic that will integrate and co locate services that refugees otherwise cannot access. Or are stigmatized to seek.

GONZALEZ: What are your hopes for Barry and Samba over here?

BAH: Well Barry and Samba, I think they are going to be great leaders, amazing amazing human beings. And I leave them to choose. I’m just trying to be the best example I can be to them, and hopefully, we will see what they will do, probably rocket scientist, or astronaut, or-- 

SAMBA: Astronaut

GONZALEZ: What do you want to be in the future?

BARRY: An animator

SAMBA: When I grow up, I want to be a space scientist that goes in space. To explore planets that people didn’t know about. 

GONZALEZ: That would be cool. Yeah, round of applause for that, Samba. I hope you do that. That would be great.

GONZALEZ: If you want to learn more about Omar, the Refugee Dream Center, and the rest of our series, you can find more information at thepublicsradio.org/mosaic.

NUNES: Mosaic is a production of the Public’s Radio. We had help from James Baumgartner and Kylie Cooper Our original music is by Bryn Bliska. Our editor is Sally Eisele. Torey Malatia is the general manager of The Public’s Radio.

Support for this podcast comes from Carnegie Corporation of New York, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at Carnegie.org.