Supporting is as Simple as Understanding
By Aaron Phan
Born and raised in the metropolis of Kinshasa, Congo, Myriam enjoyed a comfortable childhood and a prestigious education. Her privilege served not to blind her, but open her eyes to the difficulties outside the city, traveling and bearing witness to the war in East Congo and the misery in West Congo.
“I always dreamed of becoming a chemist,” says Myriam. She followed that dream all the way to the U.S. to continue studying biochemical engineering in Puyallup and Des Moines. Her new start wasn’t easy, battling language barriers and transportation systems, but connecting to Washington’s Congolese community online and through college roommates kept her with a sense of belonging and on track to her chemistry ambitions.
That all came undone, however, when Myriam suddenly lost both her parents back home. Unable to return home, she now found herself without family, without resources, and without any choice but to abandon her education in an unfamiliar new home.
“Losing my mom was really devastating,” Myriam recounts. “It happened so fast, and I couldn’t even find out if it was true or not. Plus, I could not go back for the funeral, so it was really hard for me.”
What kept Myriam going was, again, the Congolese community. In 2015, she found a calling as an interpreter for not-yet-English-fluent friends in the community, fulfilling the needs of a growing community with a few Lingala interpreters. Motherhood kept her career on-and-off, but in 2023, Myriam resumed medical and legal interpreting, and found herself working with the asylee community being served by SeaTac airport.
That very same community was the one she would come to serve at Thrive International, where Myriam got the chance to learn about King County and Thrive International and meet King County Project Director Anna Bondarenko.
“Myriam was always gonna be a part of my team,” says Anna. After getting to know Myriam on a personal level and encountering Myriam’s multilingual mastery of even French and Portuguese, Anna didn’t hesitate to offer her full-time employment.
Their chance meeting wasn’t just a blessing for Thrive and for our residents, but for Myriam herself. “I had almost lost everything,” Myriam recollects, having met Anna in the midst of loss, motherhood, and divorce. Her transition from a contracted interpreter to a full-time Resource Coordinator at Thrive International reaffirmed the purpose of her life in helping and speaking up for her community.
“Thrive actually helped me thrive,” she smiles.
At Thrive International, Myriam thanks especially to the smiles she gets when residents find out she speaks their more familiar French and Lingala.“I like to help people by nature,” says Myriam, “It gives me a lot of joy.”
As a resource coordinator, Myriam not only connects residents to the services like medical appointments, but also connects with residents about the stories that have led them to Thrive. Myriam says, “I’ve witnessed the injustices and the unending war. I’ve seen children being killed; whole households being killed. And when I see people coming here, I understand why they take the risk to walk by foot through Brazil to come here.”
Myriam with the Thrive International Seattle Team.
Myriam hopes to be a voice for them, defend them, support them, and to help them to thrive: to actually find a place to find purpose in life. “To show them that there is still hope in life, and to try and connect them to different resources to push them and help them move forward,” says Myriam.
To any readers of her story, Myriam first and foremost offers thanks for taking the time to welcome her story with an open mind. She encourages that same open-mindedness to be extended to the stories of all asylum-seekers, who have all endured hardships so testing she feels privileged just to stand in the same building as them.
“People here need love and support,” Myriam urges, “If you understand where they come from, you will view them differently.”