 My name is Ann Smith, and I'm here again with my friend, Anthony Bazia. Together we have worked on two non-profits, Project Bazia, that primarily produces books. And Africans United, which works with refugees in the main area, particularly greater Portland area, but Africans United of New England is going to eventually spread out and we're connected to every single New England state. Our last two shows talked about the hope that we had for a ten-year celebration for July 9th, which is the anniversary of the CPA, which is the official beginning of South Sudan as an independent nation. And here we are, July 13th. July 9th has come and gone, other than a few probably small local celebrations in families or we don't know about the whole country or the whole diaspora, there might have been some celebrations, but we saw no signs of it on social media. There was no celebration in South Sudan, and we're disappointed. I think that would be the best way to describe it, because to us ten years of independence should be recognized and perhaps accomplishments look at. Bazia, I do know that Salva Kier was interviewed on that day on the 9th and asked what kind of celebrations were going to be going on, and basically I think he said none. What else did he say about that? He really put it in a simple way. Personally, for me, I give him a credit. He was honest to say, we lost South Sudan for ten years, because the celebration alone when South Sudan became a nation had a high number in the history of the world, I can say, the level of the continent of Africa. But what happened after that, you can call it that, but in other way, I call it is good for other way to look at it, because almost there's a two-fight all the time. There's a gruella fight, and there's a fight for the power. And I think it started from Dr. Graham Pasaway, that's part of the beginning of the issue, I can put it in my understatement. Which happened even before the CPA. Yeah, and that telling me, when the head of the game started going early after, I mean it was pretty funny, their fight for 23 years, I don't want to talk about Nyan Nyan one, and they came, the man was only leave in the power, according to the official, the time he get back to the power, he was the vice president of Sudan, John Graham, Dr. John Graham. And 22 days or 21, he's gone. And that's the journey of the different idea of knowledge, of when there was the movement about it. And we never feel it in the right channel until we became a nation, we're happy for that, but it look like we don't have a plan after that in the good way. And I think that's the way I can describe it in my own opinion. I'm not saying everybody have to agree with me. Well, I think to me one of the most interesting things about the whole situation in South Sudan is the lack of communication between the different groups, the different tribes and the different powerful groups. And the lack of open communication between them and the rest of the world, the CPA would never have happened had it not been for Western interference. I think that there would have been a continued guerrilla war going on and on and on and on. You know, for many, many years, where it would have gone, I don't know. But I rather think that the North would not have said, oh, yeah, fine, let's just let these guys go and do their own thing. And I think it was just an ongoing war. That was the only thing that was happening for a long, long time. You said it started in 1955, right? I'm reminded some time of this whole business of no celebration and what's going on and one group not talking to another to a story. I read the, not too long ago about, it's an African fable. African fables are very different from the ones we have here in the U.S. They're subtle and this one is about a flood. There's a great flood and all of the animals are seeking higher ground or those who can go into trees are going there climbing mountains. And the monkeys as a group are going, they're aware this trouble coming. There's a great flood and they're charging away towards higher ground and some tall trees and they notice that in the stream beside them there's a lot of fish and the fish are leaping and jumping and in the water and up and down and seem to be very excited and suddenly the monkeys think, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, who's going to save the fish? The flood is coming and they can't climb trees. Very carefully in their efforts to be good neighbors, pick up each pick up a fish and carry it with them to a high tree or to a mountain and lay it down nearby so that the fish from their point of view will be in good shape. And the fish flop for a while and if they've ever caught a fish you know what happens next and then they start moving and the monkeys go, ah, we did a good job. They are resting now. And you might say, well what's the point of this? Well the point is that the monkeys had no clue what the fish needed which is often the case not only in a country like South Sudan where one tribe doesn't really understand what another tribe needs or the leaders don't understand what the people as a group need in order, excuse me, to survive and do well but you also have international powers coming in and saying, oh you should do this and this and this and this is what your constitution should look like and they're not asking the fish. I think John Görang, the loss of John Görang was key. It was pivotal. You said during our last show or conversation that John Görang had a plan. He had talked to everybody. He seemed to be knowledgeable about what everybody wanted and needed and he was very strongly opposed to having some other powers control what the South Sudanese people needed. He wanted South Sudan to take its greatest strength which is the land, the green land that shows up in the flag and make it the bread basket of Africa and possibly of a good portion of the world. And in order to do this, he planned his life around that. Yeah, this is one of the things he did in the United States in Iowa about farming and he educated. And one of the things, if Görang was still in the life after the CPA agreement and they became a nation he wanted the military to be part of the farming because he doesn't accept to be handing out all the time bringing food from the UN out of the organization in the world. He wanted the military to be dependent, to be feeding themselves and maybe after that they can be able to be part of right now we have an African Union by order to solve the issue of Africa. So maybe that time if he was still in the life he can be saying well South Sudan became a good farming good staff who can support African Union because the South African military already, if there's any issue they can step among themselves. And I like the one that was happening between Senegal and Gambia because one of the presidents was from Gambia he didn't want to step out and his time was over but the African Union stayed in and solved the issue. So when I look at it according to Görang's idea of South Sudan to be in the military, to be able to feed the nation of South Sudan that was a part of him, a part of his education. But he's gone and so now we wait another year to see what happens. We are going to continue this program and one of the things we'd like to do is bring in some people from different tribes and people from South Sudan who have considerable experience but our personal mission in Africans United is beyond just South Sudan. I mean South Sudan is very important enough so that we've written several books about it and encouraged several authors from that country to write for us but we also in Africans United are interested in the welfare of all African refugees. And one of the things we are aware of and this is also part of Görang's philosophy as I said with the agriculture is that we believe, Africans United believes that you don't just hand people money and you don't just hand them what they need to continue to live from day to day. It's the old idea of teaching a man to fish. So you need to help them get an education, start businesses and learn how to work in the system that they are living in now here in the United States. Which means a lot of things. So I'm shifting here to talking about our local mission with Africans United which we'll have some information on the screen several times during this program so that you can contact us. But why don't we start with... Bizia, why don't you tell us a little bit about your affiliation with the Welcome Center which is over on 24 Preble Street. Yeah, first thing we have to say thank you for Welcome Center and then we still have to remember your brother who passed away for last May, I believe. It was May, Elaine Nahimana, who was the founder, one of the founders. Who was the founder of Welcome Center and then he was the one who got his image. And one of the things I will still remind him and everybody who involved him in giving him a credit and while to be educated that to keep him legacy alive. So right now since we get back after all this time with the Corona we're getting some funding for the small business and African United and Welcome Center became part of the... like a partner, we're working together to establish the goal of Africa are the migrants because we're all migrants in the same umbrella of Welcome Center and that's the goal right now we try to educate everybody and the other thing through this discussion we tell everybody welcome to Welcome Center because the name is Welcome Center. So anybody listen to this show you're welcome anytime. We will offer advice, we offer a system for the business a migration issue, sometimes citizenship. During the Corona virus we support some small business. We're very very conscientious about making sure that all the health goals were being met you know people were getting the information they needed. That's correct. And I have to say that I think that's one of the most important functions of the Welcome Center is what you need when you come here when you're new here and this I've learned the hard ways you need to know how the system works. That's correct. I've been with you to Africa, to several different countries and I've talked to many people and it's really amazing how different Africa is from the United States in one simple thing there really isn't a system most of the time. You kind of like do what you think is right and nobody's going to come in and say well do you have a license for this do you have any pieces of paper do you even have a recognition if you're using a building that you own this building it's to an American it's mind boggling. Why don't you tell a little bit about what you've occasionally helped people who are already starting business deal with. The first thing we can give an example we have a good friend of us Lucy she has a store in Camelon I think Mariah store. We really help her a lot even through the help even now she's doing a lot of stuff better than in the beginning the store right now is more organized more open you can get to the store you can see the item you're looking for because the more you organize the level of the business according to the United States standard because everything has code that's why we have a legislation we have to go to city hall we have to get a license we have to make sure the food item is accurate it's not expired. So this is why we step in African United about those stuff and we start helping them even through the bank because they understand the loan and make sure you're not getting more than what you have or you're spending more than what you're not supposed to spend. So I think we're getting to the better way and we're still asking more people to be welcome to us to us and then the other thing I just came up with a new idea too through this MySQL gave me a chance to have a new company called BASIA BASIA Counseling and Surface because I feel like I've done a lot of stuff in the United States since I've been here long enough but to make the story short it's still African United welcome to give more help and more advice. We'll help you get started we'll direct you to the right people and if necessary we'll be able to connect you with other nonprofits which is another thing that the welcoming center is able to do if you don't know how to do this that or the other thing there are agencies for that. Education is a big piece of the welcoming center I know that there have been a number of programs they have a language lab there. That's correct. And they have a number of programs that have been designed for specific people going into specific careers who needed better communication skills. Yeah that's taking place even there's other things coming up in August that's going to be part of a mechanic, air condition, welding machine I feel like I'm going to sign even myself to the welding machine because if you've done this training I believe it's going to be between three months So you'll get trained in skills but you'll also get trained in how to deal with the skill or the business you're going to form in English so you'll know I mean you may have already been an automobile mechanic in Africa but if you can't talk to a customer he's going to go someplace else he or she is going to go someplace else I know I've learned a lot from this end of it and as a retired teacher I had very little knowledge about what was involved in founding a business and we have a friend who was a lawyer who frequently creates incorporations for people and I was there the day he was helping Lucy incorporate and he explained what an LLC is and why you want this I mean you may have seen this on the name of a company LLC, LLC this what the LLC does which is it's a legal document that protects you from being responsible for any huge expenses that come perhaps as a result of something in your business if you open a store for example and it's a bad day and there's ice on the stoop now you're probably going to have to carry some kind of insurance for this the bottom line is and we all know people get tremendous amounts of money sometimes from lawsuits do you want to lose everything else you've worked to obtain since you got here because you opened a business no, the LLC separates your personal property your car, your house, your lease on your apartment maybe a condo whatever you have managed to accrue financially it separates it from the business so that if something goes wrong with the business they can't take everything you own which is in Africa that's the reverse that's the downside I think of not having any system is when a business goes bust the guy loses everything right and he's got to start all over again here in the United States you can start a business it can succeed or it can fail but you're not going to lose anything more than what you personally put into it in other words your house will not be taken away from you because your store failed and that's something to think about I've been looking at the newsletter for the welcoming center they know their vision is very broad they have a language lab which as I said they use very well but they also use it to help people in the medical field in nursing I've talked to the new director the new executive director Reza Jalili and he has an enormous number of ideas one of them in particular is going to involve not just Project Busea but some other organizations but it's centered towards youth and by youth we mean the next generation of refugees maybe people who were born here but who families came from another country tell us a little bit about the leadership program the leadership program we have we're going to be picking according to what we're thinking between three high school one of them old and high school and we're looking between 10 and 12 young men and young girls to be in the level of how to understand the system and how to engage them's life in the system and then they can get back to their own community and they can do better because we live in the same umbrella the more we engage to understand the system the more women will live better and through this program we're talking about we need to make sure they can get a good job even when they're school in the summer time and engage them in the system in a different level of agonization but they will learn better when you say a good job okay I think everybody knows you can go to McDonald's or you can go to Burger King or you can go someplace and get a job where you're working with your hands and doing the same thing repetitively over and over and over again but that's not what you want to do the rest of your life I don't think so I'm talking about a good job it can be related to your education it can be bank that's going to request good English it's going to request math it's going to request part of your education that's what I mean an office job all this is going to request what you've done in school or what you're doing so you will feel better than just to go to work with McDonald's or Burger King or whatever you want to call it so maybe you let's just say I'm from Angola and I decided I want to be a nurse okay I may know an awful lot already and I found that Africans tend to be very sympathetic and compassionate people they've already in many families taken care of the elderly or the sick because there's not a lot of hospitals over there so they've got those people skills that may be lacking in some American kids but they don't have the language skills and they don't have the scientific knowledge or again how the system works so they come to the welcome center or they come to Africans United or both maybe Africans United is where they end up after they come to the welcome center and we sit down and say to them okay let's work out a plan for one how you're going to pay for your education where are you going to work when you're not going to class you're not going to work at McDonald's hopefully you're going to work at Maine Med or one of the other medical facilities even if you're just working in a doctor's office watching the kids of a pediatrician you're getting experience because when they ask you for your job resume they're going to want to know everything you did to learn the skills that you're claiming to have the leadership program talk a little bit more about that I think it's broader than just to high school kids right yeah it's going to be broader and then even we're thinking to add even other kids who born here or American because both of them they will help each other because if you're coming from different background and somebody born here you're still going to bring something from where you came from and the person who's here is going to give us what they've been doing or what they look at the leadership so we will be affiliated with through the welcoming center through to other organizations too I heard that Reza Jalili mentioned to me organizations involving the environment they'd like to get some young people but some young people from other countries to become concerned about taking care of the environment there's a lot to talk about there's a lot to do thank you for being my guest today we're going to try to make this regular monthly event and I would like to also remember the person that you mentioned about the welcome center Alayne Nahimana I think of him often whenever I go into the welcome center he was a very my favorite word for him is elegant and that's because he had that quality that made him so helpful for people from another country and for Americans he knew both worlds he was from Burundi he went to school there he graduated from college there but he also lived in Zurich his father was an ambassador from Burundi so this was a very sophisticated man and like John Guerin he's a great loss to this community because he had a lot to offer a particular part of the community thank you for our show today and for listening and we'll see you again soon thank you