 My name is Ann Smith, and we're here for Africans United of New England, and today my guest is Simon Hamada Mainghi. Hamada Mainghi. Oh, I said it wrong. Hamana. No, I'm glad you told me. So my legal name is actually Kyaluzitu Hamada Mainghi, but due to the fact that people can pronounce my name. Kyaluzitu. Yeah, I can see that. But that would be a while for me to catch that up to a friend. You know, imagine being like six years old and like, you know, in school trying to write a 13 letter name and everybody's like, Joe, Kim, you know. But Simon is definitely an okay name, Simon. Okay, great. Well, Simon is here because, you know, when Bezier and I have given the show, we've talked a lot about the first generation of new arrivals from Africa and other parts of the world, the sort of millennial generation and the things that they're up against. There are a huge number of them from Africa as well as the Middle East. And as everybody in the United States knows, we're probably going to get a whole bunch of Afghanis and other people and making your way to a place of comfort. You know, you don't feel like a complete and total stranger to everything. And a place where you feel like you're starting to succeed is tough. It's tough. There's a lot of things you have to navigate. So we're going to start by asking Simon to tell a little bit about his birth and how his family ended up being traveling from place to place or moving quite a lot. Through, again, of course, no fault of their own. And we're going to talk about that and then how they arrived in the United States. So Simon, why don't you tell me where you were born? So again, my name is Kalujito Hamari-Muyengi. I was born March 11, 1995. My mom was from Congo. My dad is from Angola. And I was born in Ethiopia along with my sister, Segunda. And your family, you were born in, where were you born? Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. You were born in Addis Ababa. So both of your parents were from two different countries, but you ended up in Addis Ababa. Were you in a camp to begin with or were you living there? Well, actually, we were very blessed and fortunate to kind of avoid that kind of scenario. My family originally, their original goal was to go to Sweden. Their main goal was to stop by Ethiopia. I had one of my dad and uncle take care of paperwork for my dad to go to Sweden first. And then send me and my mom along. But at the time, my dad found out that my mom was pregnant. So they decided to stay in Ethiopia and start a new life. And from there, my mom, she sold clothes and my dad was an entrepreneur. He sold goods. He went to Sudan. I like to call my Indiana Jones. They traveled different parts of the world just to kind of get a good fitting. Seeking the family fortune. Yeah. And your mom, what did she do? She pretty much sold clothes. And even now thinking about it, she was very involved in immigration, community as well as the refugee community. Even looking at her old pictures, I've seen her holding mics, doing a lot of activities just to promote women, gathering men, women in parliament, within the immigrants. And you're the oldest of how many children? Four. Four. You have a sister younger than you and then a brother and then a sister? So it's me, my sister, another sister and a younger brother. And your younger brother. Okay. But you didn't get to go to Sweden. You stayed in Ethiopia. Ethiopia, yep. And from there you went to... From there you went to... It's all right. It's all right. No, it's a very good... It makes you sad because it's like it could have been... And we could have been anywhere in the world. We're actually here in America. And I think many of people like yourself who are new to this country will nod and say, yeah, it took us all these different stops to get where we wanted to go. And maybe we didn't even get there yet. Yeah. So go ahead. Tell a little bit about the story of your long odyssey getting here. Yeah. So again, born in Ethiopia, stay there for 10 years. And originally when we took care of the paperwork for us to leave Africa, we were supposed to originally go to Canada. We did the whole paperwork to go to Canada. And somewhere along that process, they changed our destination. They said, okay, you guys will be going to America. And then we did the paperwork. They didn't ask. They just didn't. You guys are going to go to America. And we did all the paperwork. We sold all of our goods. We were ready to travel. And right when we got at the airport, they confirmed that we were going to Washington, D.C. to start our life there. Okay. Which sounded cool. Washington, D.C., any African or anybody around the world that will be happy to live in the area of White House. Yeah. And when we got at the airport, they took my dad to a separate room and we were kind of getting scared. Just getting a little shaken up like, hey, what's going on? Not today, next year or something like that. Yeah. And then they took my dad to a separate room and then they pretty much told him that, hey, sorry for all this change again. You guys will be going to Baltimore, Maryland. And then from there, everything was confirmed. You know, they think we spoke to like our case workers, you know, from, you know, while they were in America and while we were like, I think somewhere like in German on our way to America. And from there, you know, we started life, you know, in Baltimore, Maryland, 2005, summer of 2005 and from there has been history. And I think you mentioned when we first talked about this that there was something kind of ironic about you ending up in Baltimore, that your father recognized the harbor when you... Oh yeah, I do remember that story. I do remember that story. So just before all these processes came in place about us wanting to leave out of Africa, one time my dad was just looking at a TV show and it was actually the Baltimore and the harbor and he didn't know, you know, what part of... Yeah, because the harbor of Baltimore is a huge attraction, tourist attraction. Yes, for sure, for sure, for sure. And then the reason I can see why he kind of connected with that because he actually wanted to start his own like import-export business. And so when he's seen the harbor, you know, the bus he kind of connected with it. And then he vividly told him, so like, I'm going to take my family there one day. And then after the whole entire process, you know, Sweden didn't work, you know, Canada didn't work, Washington DC didn't work. It was just like when we arrived in Baltimore City we would just walk around the inner harbor and then just hit my dad's like, I wanted to bring my family here. So there was a great deal of irony that he ended up at place he had already seen, didn't even know what it was. But I mean, obviously he didn't even know it was called Baltimore. No, not at all. Because when they said Baltimore he didn't know but he saw the harbor and he went, well, this is home. Exactly. Great feeling, great feeling. So at that point you were what, 10-11? Yeah, 10 going to 11. And where did you get placed in school? So around the area, around the neighborhood we live that they have different schools called Highland Town. So they have like Highland Town 215, 237. I think they have like another one again as well too. So I started off going to school at Highland Town 215. Okay. And what grade did they put you in? Fifth. Okay. And was it at this point? No, I think it was later that you did your little trick so I won't bring that up right now. I guess I'll ask, how did you go about fitting in? Well, so I was very blessed and fortunate as I stated earlier, my family was definitely a refugee in Ethiopia thanks to my mom and dad sewing, selling goods. All their work, yeah. Yeah, all their work. Now they was able to afford to send me and my sister to a private German school. So that's where I was able to pick up people. Oh, okay. So by the time you came to the United States, you already spoke English. English. What other languages? So I already spoke English, Lingala, French. I used to speak fluent Amharic, fluent. Like even when I spoke... Which is the language of Ethiopia. And even when I spoke with people back in Ethiopia, they wouldn't even think that I was from another country. Oh, no, you're actually one of us. And you speak so good, no accent. I didn't come here right around that time. I didn't have nobody to practice it with. So I kind of lost it. But just a few years down the line, we figured that it was a huge congregation of Ethiopians in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. So I was like, oh, if we actually went to Washington, D.C., I could have still... It'll come back, though. There'll be the right opportunity. We'll come up. But you already had a lot of English. Was it at this point you pulled your little trick so you'd fit in? I think you told me about this. Yeah, so I think it was like the first week of school. Of course, I watched a lot of TV back home in Africa. So I understand how it'll hold. No school system kind of worked out to fit in. So one of my survival tactics was just not to speak English at all because that's what they expected. Somebody who left back home came here. You have to relearn everything. So that first whole week, I didn't even speak English at all. So I kind of gave it a chance to see who was the good person, who was the bad person. And it actually did work. Right. So you sort of went undercover. Yeah, sort of. No, I mean, really, you did. And undercover linguistically. Someone who changed schools eight times before I graduated from high school. I wish I had learned that technique, because I couldn't have faked that I didn't speak English. But if I had learned maybe to keep my mouth shut when I arrived in a new community, I might have been more prepared for who to make friends with, but I always plunged in. So then you said, you told me before that you ended up spending two years in the fifth grade. Yes. So fifth grade in Highlandtown, 215, went to school there. And actually, it was another trigger I also pulled as well, too. We also had ESOL. So of course, they gave you the pre-exam. I didn't flunk it or anything, but I just did the best of my ability. Of course you did. Of course you did. And they just thought it was just a good idea just to be in ESOL because there's a lot of Latino kids. Right. So it kind of just made me... It was a convenient placement. Yeah. Yeah. It was a very convenient placement, so. Yeah. But then they ended up keeping you there a second year. Yes. And I think you said that had something to do with testing and possibly some mistakes. Yes. So fifth grade went well. Sixth grade, first year was survival a little bit. Sixth grade, I started to get acclimated a little bit. It was kind of just falling off a little bit in terms of grades and things that I needed. I think that was right around the time when George W. Butch had no child left behind program. So thank God that came in good timing. But yes, I was kind of like flunk it out of my grades a little bit. Sixth grade. So, oh, I know that series of tests. Yeah. Because I was teaching at that point. And they did say, oh, oh, why is he here? Boom. Why is he here? So you got shot down because of the testing system. Yeah. And you didn't really think that was necessary, right? Well, yeah. You know, I hate to say, but like sometimes, you know, like I wish sometimes school system couldn't really just show the importance of, you know, what tests like, you know, SATs, you know, fast forward actually being a high. I have another story for that, too. Like things like such as SATs, you know, all the little tests, perhaps that, you know, we have that helps people, you know, get aligned to, you know, move forward with education. I wish sometimes they could put more, you know, emphasis on that. Because I mean, with my situation, again, sixth grade, it was kind of a turbulent year for me in terms of grade, grade-wise. And right around the time that no child left behind program was there, it was just that it was kind of like summertime. It was cool. It was like just like two weeks before school was almost over. And I got in trouble that day. And I vividly remember that teacher. I'm not going to say her name. That day we were supposed to have a meeting with my parents to make that decision whether I should go to, you know, to seventh grade or, you know, stay behind. Ah, okay. And I was so afraid that day that I got in trouble that I didn't even bring my mom to school. And so they just decided, okay, maybe he just wants to, you know, do the sixth grade all over again. Ah, so a sixth grade you repeated. Yeah. Okay. And I've got a comment here because as a teacher, I've also talked to a lot of other teachers dealing with families from other countries. And I think it would be a good idea at some point if someone sat down with American teachers and explained to them that African parents treat school very differently. Oh, yeah. I mean, I was a teacher for over 40 years. I found, especially towards the end of my teaching career, that parents were American parents, pretty casual. You know, if the teacher said, you know, little Emily did a lousy job this year, they'd say, oh, well, that's the teacher's opinion. We think little Emily's just fine. And they would go little Emily. And I wanted to say, wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm seeing your child every day, every school day. For a whole year, I've assessed her performance. I think little Emily needs some help with X, Y, or Z. American parents don't accept that. African parents, on the other hand, when I've talked to them, tend to almost overreact. And I bet you were scared when you knew that they wanted to meet with your mother. Not even that. I mean, my parents were, I mean, they weren't like, like, they were very open and very understanding. But they still put that great expectation on me to perform good in school. As me being an international kid, they had that expectation of, like, he should be doing good in school. So just that whole, like, misfit where, like, I'm kind of failing people somewhere. Somehow I really just put a little, you know, a gill to myself. But after that, sixth grade, next school year came, and again, I actually went there with, like, in that school system, like, every grade, they have different color shirts. Oh, yeah, you told me about that. So it was like, it was like, yes, it was like, I guess I was expecting to go in the seventh grade, because, you know, I... So you had a seventh grade shirt. I had a seventh grade shirt in the sixth grade, you know. So first day of school, you know, everybody had their color shirt on. I'm like, hey, you know, I'm going through it. I bought, like, the seventh grade school material, the books I needed. And then I'm... You were ready. I was ready. I was like, I escaped that meeting. It is all good. You school year, let's go. So I went there, and then the teacher was like, oh, no, you know, you weren't supposed to be in the seventh grade, you weren't supposed to be in the sixth grade. I was like, what? It was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life as a young kid. You know, I'm like, imagine being among sixth grade, you know, you're like the only one with, like, a bird in each shirt, everybody. Oh, and that's... Oh, I feel for you. I feel for you, because I'm telling you, adolescents in sixth and seventh grade, you're approaching adolescents. Oh, my God, they're so aware of what other people are thinking, while they're thinking the worst to me, and I just want to disappear. So how did you end up, however, out of the regular public school system in Baltimore? You told me you went to a charter school. Yeah, so that time, so me and my sister did start school together at 2.15. She attended there for one year and got transferred to a charter school, which was just like few minutes from where my school was. And then my sister was doing pretty good in school. She was always doing good in school, but the teacher, the atmosphere was a bit different. Because sometimes my mom would pick me up from my school in our school. She just knew the atmosphere was a bit different. So she's like, you know what, now the fact that you're doing sixth grade all over again, just to save yourself from that embarrassment, and why don't you go to a charter school? Exactly. And then when I went to that charter school, it was a total different ball game. I made good friends. And it was just like, that was when I was actually living that elementary, middle school, American dream, if I should say, good teachers, good friends, and the good thing about that charter school was, you know, they were very small and very intimate. So like all those kids, they pretty much grew up together. So it wasn't really hard fitting in, you know. Yeah, America is starting to understand the value of charter schools. I don't know if you know that in Portland, there are basically three public high schools, and there's very different atmospheres in each one of them. And to me, the Casco Bay is sort of like the charter school. It's intended for the arts, people with the arts and musical and all that ability. But I've talked to kids who went there, and there's a... I'm not saying the other schools are bad. They're not. But Portland High is very conventional, and Deering has a focus on the trades and learning skills, which are, of course, very practical. But Casco Bay, and you can choose, by the way, in Portland, which one you want to go to. Well, it doesn't matter. They give you everybody a bus pass. They're on the regular transit system. So if you want to go to Casco Bay and you live on the other side in the West End, go for it. But Casco Bay, I've talked to kids who went there, and there's an excitement that they felt from the teachers. And I think it's because certain atmospheres attract a certain kind of teacher. Personally, I'm biased. I think the teachers make the schools. I think without good teachers, you don't have a good school. No, I can definitely relate to that. So you finished high school eventually, and you went to college, and you got a degree in... Business management. Business management. Any highlights along the way? Well, so just to kind of piggyback on what you said about kids picking pathway, actually, when I went to the charter school, all grades picked up pretty well and made great friends. And then I went to Dizio Harbor High School. And then one of the things about it, they had different pathways as well, too. You can pick, you know, it was media, which I picked. It was media network. I think it was like ISS. I think they had four different pathways. And out of those four, I definitely picked media. Okay, and your high school experience was a pretty good one. Oh, yeah, it was great. Played sports, MVP soccer, ranked track. We had the best sport program in the whole entire city and around the region as well, too. So then you went to college, and at that point, you were still in the Baltimore area? Yeah, so, again, our school had a very good sport program, and I was actually going for a scholarship. And a lot of the kids actually graduated when they went to Texas, you know, because we had a very good program and a lot of coaches would give us call. And I wasn't really too sure to move across state, go to Texas, all those programs that wanted to recruit us. I actually ended up just going to Howard Community College, which wasn't too far from home, you know, it was very close by. Was that in Baltimore? No, that's in Maryland, but Howard County. Oh, okay, okay. And you were at that point thinking along the lines of doing what with your life? Well, so, again, high school was really... I mean, anybody can attest to that. High school was really that, that really shapes you, you know? That really gives you, like, an insight of who you want to be. For me, I was kind of like a different kid, you know? Like, I did a lot of researches, you know? I was just, like, I was very friendly with a lot of people, but at the same time, I was just, like, I was just thinking way ahead, way ahead of a lot of my peers. And, again, my high school, we had a very good, strong community of international kids. That's one thing our school was well-known for. So just kind of being around people saying, you know, you should do entrepreneurship. You're very good with people. So just hearing those feedback and just knowing me who I am, I just went up, you know, I'll just go ahead and just hone on to, you know, well, I'm going to sound like an old fogey, but I think if anybody listens to this show, or when they listen to the show, they're going to look back at your parents and what they did and the whole life you had leading up to arriving in the United States. And to me, your family was probably all involved in everything, every time you said, oh, Sweden, oh, no, no, it's not Sweden. Oh, Canada. But when those conversations were held, they weren't held by your parents behind closed doors. They shared, you know, so your family was close-knit and your parents were very supportive of every single one of you. Any opportunity they had to get you more education, more opportunity, they would take it. And those are enormous strengths. Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, my family dynamic is very different. I'm even glad you said that because, you know, regarding college and school, you know, right around that time when I actually graduated out of high school, I got introduced, you know, to a business which I very felt very passionate about. You know, the mentorship was great. And right around that time, you know, people, especially like a lot of millennials can definitely relate and it got to that point where, like, you know, it's still going on until today where, like, people are like, oh, I don't think I need, like, a college degree, you know, because a lot of people, you know, spent so much money on school and don't end up getting, you know, into the profession they did. Yeah, this is one of the big splits in the past. Yeah, so I kind of did. Well, I don't want to say I fell for that trap. It was like a good, it was like, it was a bittersweet kind of moment. I actually said that with my family, with my parents, that's what I think for right now, you know, give school a break. I really want to focus on my business and, surprisingly, they support it, you know. They back to you. They back me up, they say, you know, we support you just as long as you're happy, which I vividly remember. Now, that didn't work out, though, that plan. And we don't need to go as to where it didn't work out. But you also, I think a mistake many people make, I know in my family, the belief was, if it hasn't got a guarantee written right across the top of it, don't try it. Don't try it. Don't try it, okay. Now, I don't think your family was that way. Your family, as a group, had been constantly engaged in taking chances. And I sometimes wish that my parents, this sounds silly, but I think it would have been nice if they had let some of us make a mistake once in a while, because really, and there's three in my family, we didn't learn to be able to bounce back from a catastrophe until we got out of the house, because we never made any mistakes, because our parents made sure we didn't make any mistakes. So, your present career, so the source of your strengths would be, you know, your family, your experience with many different people. Oh, yes. And vouch for that, because I bounced around as a kid, and you bounced around the world. But then you now have a career path that you're going on, where you want to just get things started. Yes. Why don't you tell your audience what you do to make money, what your business is? So, for right now, I'm currently, you know, a partner of African United. I'm actually the youth ambassador. We actually want to create a path for them in the state of Maine, where we want youth, you know, from the age of eight until, you know, 30, to create a safe space where they can come, you know, discuss about, you know, home topics, you know, what's going on in the world, and definitely provide them, you know, school opportunity, you know, work opportunity, and again, just creating that safe space, you know, for kids, you know, to come discuss about, you know, just matters. And I like to tell, you know, my partner Mr. Vizier, like we want to be the GA of, you know, the teenagers and like the young adults of, like, you know, Mainers. When we were planning this interview, you said something I really liked. You said, you don't know what you don't know. And that this may be, while everybody's in that situation, when you're a refugee, it's much bigger. Because you're now in a country where your closest people, your family and your siblings are in the same position you are. You don't have anybody close by to deal, to turn to and say, what do I do about this? What do I do about this? You can find people in the community you're living in, agencies, but all too often, and you and I have also talked about this, all too often some of the community services that are provided are there just to deal with maybe one specific problem, or to tell you to go here for this or there for that. And there's nothing wrong with that. But when do you get the opportunity to sit down with other people like yourself in your approximate age group and say, man, that was really tough. Or, gee, I don't know if I can do this. Because if you can do that in a room full of 10, 12 or more of your peers, there's going to be somebody in that room who's going to have gone through the same thing you're either looking at or thinking about. And I'm even glad you brought that up. Even one thing I forgot to mention also, that's also gotten in the financial industry as well, too, because I felt like a lot of people around my age group didn't want to take that traditional route again. They were looking for other platforms to generate income, not only generate income, but actually learn about how income works because at the end of the day in the United States of America, one of the most important things you have to learn is how to make money. Absolutely. I'm sorry to say, sometimes I think it's God and money. But I mean, you can't do much of anything in this country if you don't know how the whole money system works. And then that's part of it. So you're an ambassador for Africans United. But at the same time, your money-making career plan involves finance. And in particular, you told me there's one thing to promote the use of and that's insurance. Yes. And this would be, why? Why insurance? Well, just growing up, again, from high school, college and just networking with different people, insurance is everything. This table, depending on how much the value is, it has insurance, airing has insurance, everything has insurance. But one of the most important topics, one of the most important things is that even one of my main motivations is moving here to Maine as well, too. Besides being a youth ambassador, there's a huge congregation of, again, Congolese people, South Sudan, many people from different countries. But one thing that really hurts me the most is when people pass away, they pass around that golden bucket. And it wasn't until that one, and that's how she connected with the whole insurance aspect of profession because it was that one moment where I'm very involved in the community. I'm usually the youngest guy talking about, you know, policy and this and that, but it was that one moment that just shifted everything from me. It was this one individual, he passed away and they were having that same meeting to pass around that golden bucket. Well, let's stop here so that Americans listening to this can know what you mean. This is a practice in an African community that doesn't happen in an American community very often. I mean, when somebody passes away, friends and relatives may help, but it would be unusual for the family to say, oh, we need $20,000 to bury Simon. Everybody throw money in the hat. This happens in the African community every time someone does. Primarily because the family wants to send the body where? Back home. Back home. They want that body buried in Congo. So families can't afford that. No. Not when the breadwinner's been removed. So we're going to talk about this and other parts of the difficulty of being a refugee in our next program. Simon is going to be a guest again on my show. Thank you for having me again. We're going to also talk possibly on that show we're going to add some film clips of other people in his age bracket and how they've solved problems. Thank you. Thank you Simon. Thank you for having me again.