Refugees Find a New Chance Through Farming
Burst for Prosperity Stories - Serges Hakizimana
Born and raised in Burundian refugee camps, Serges Hakizimana came to the United States in July 2007, after a three-day journey from Tanzania to Kenya to Swaziland to Chicago to Denver and finally to Seattle. After working as a dishwasher at Seattle's W Hotel for two years, he now volunteers with refugee resettlement at the Refugee Women's Alliance (ReWA) and is an elected leader of the local Burundian community.
He has been instrumental in the establishment and operation of the Farm Incubator Project, a part of Burst for Prosperity's Economic Independence Initiative, which seeks to improve the self-sufficiency of refugee communities. Here's what Serges has to say about his experience:
"My goal is to see my community become self-sufficient."
Most of the Burundian community arrived here in the US from the end of 2007 through mid-2008. It was very tough to find jobs in the US, especially since more than 80 percent of the community members are not able to read and write English. Many of our members are jobless so sometimes they have problems like paying their electricity bills. Everybody who can is working to pay the different bills. I was really lucky to get hired by the W Hotel so soon after I arrived. It's not often you get hired in two months. Some of the other community members are also working in hotels, and two guys are working at Goodwill. Those of us who make money, we have to share what we have with others in the community.
We met Njambi Gishuru [Burst for Prosperity's community organizer] at the Church by the Side of the Road in Tukwila, and she was interested to talk to us because she speaks Swahili. Until we met Njambi we were unaware of the foundations that could help us with everything from clothes for the cold to jobs. Njambi brought in many different organizations until finally we found we were in the hands of Burst for Prosperity.
My goal is to see my community become self-sufficient. We as the Burundian community have been farmers for a long time where we have been living in Africa. Last year was a trial and error for the farming project. We currently have five families involved in the project, and right now the biggest challenge is finding a market for our products. Farming is a lot of work, but for someone who is familiar with the work, it is really good. Because of the modern equipment they enjoy it much more here than they did back home, where everything was done by hand. If God can bless the farming project and help us find markets, we hope that the community can become self-sufficient.
Serges Hakizimana is helping to improve the self-sufficiency of his community.
Farm Incubator Project workers help to harvest their crops.
