Mrs. B.C.'s Story
Six years is a very long time not to see your family. For Mrs. B.C. of Gambia, it seemed an eternity. An opposition party candidate and campaigner for women's rights, Mrs. B.C. fled her native country, on the west coast of Africa, after years of government abuse and harassment for her political activities. She fled for her life, arriving in the United States without her family, facing the long, wearying process of seeking asylum, which required her to prove she had a well-founded fear of persecution, should she be returned to her homeland.
She eventually prevailed in her case, and was granted asylum, along with the right to bring the rest of her family to the United States. The biggest problem was money; air fares from Africa are extremely expensive, and she had a husband and five children to bring over. Another problem was time: family-reunification visas expire after six months, and are granted on a “use-or-lose” basis. If she failed to get her family here within this time, the window of opportunity would slam shut. Family members who stayed behind could wait many more years before having another chance to escape. It boiled down to: could they get enough money to get everyone out in time?
On the advice of another refugee-resettlement agency, Mrs. B.C. asked about ERICA’s family reunification program, which provides interest-free loans to refugee and asylee families, to bring them back together before their travel visas run out. The day after Christmas, with help from ERICA, Mrs. B.C. was reunited with her three sons at Kennedy airport. They had escaped their native Gambia under cover of darkness, crossing a river and making their way to Dakar, Senegal, eventually to New York, and ultimately to Baltimore. They were exhausted and stressed, but elated to be with their mother again, in the safety of the United States.
In early January, Mrs. B.C. visited the ERICA Office with her sons, who were settling in to their adopted country, and looking forward to continuing their education in the United States. Her oldest son plans to begin his biochemistry studies as soon as family finances permit; the middle son wants to be an engineer. The youngest son -- not yet a teenager -- is still considering his options. Despite these bright hopes, their plans for the future were still clouded: their father and sisters were still in Gambia, waiting to escape. Time was running out, and money was even tighter now.
An anonymous ERICA donor came to the rescue, and provided the funds to get Mrs. B.C.’s husband and daughters to Baltimore. A month after her sons arrived, the entire family was back together again, for the first time in six years. On January 26, Mrs. B.C. took a bus to New York, and was met at the station by an ERICA volunteer, who drove her to JFK to meet her family. After a joyful reunion, the volunteer took the family to a Senegalese restaurant, where they had their first meal together in the United States – surrounded by the sounds of their native Wolof language and the aromas and flavors of their homeland. After a brief stay with friends in the Bronx, the family arrived in Baltimore the following day, to start their new lives together.
She eventually prevailed in her case, and was granted asylum, along with the right to bring the rest of her family to the United States. The biggest problem was money; air fares from Africa are extremely expensive, and she had a husband and five children to bring over. Another problem was time: family-reunification visas expire after six months, and are granted on a “use-or-lose” basis. If she failed to get her family here within this time, the window of opportunity would slam shut. Family members who stayed behind could wait many more years before having another chance to escape. It boiled down to: could they get enough money to get everyone out in time?
On the advice of another refugee-resettlement agency, Mrs. B.C. asked about ERICA’s family reunification program, which provides interest-free loans to refugee and asylee families, to bring them back together before their travel visas run out. The day after Christmas, with help from ERICA, Mrs. B.C. was reunited with her three sons at Kennedy airport. They had escaped their native Gambia under cover of darkness, crossing a river and making their way to Dakar, Senegal, eventually to New York, and ultimately to Baltimore. They were exhausted and stressed, but elated to be with their mother again, in the safety of the United States.
In early January, Mrs. B.C. visited the ERICA Office with her sons, who were settling in to their adopted country, and looking forward to continuing their education in the United States. Her oldest son plans to begin his biochemistry studies as soon as family finances permit; the middle son wants to be an engineer. The youngest son -- not yet a teenager -- is still considering his options. Despite these bright hopes, their plans for the future were still clouded: their father and sisters were still in Gambia, waiting to escape. Time was running out, and money was even tighter now.
An anonymous ERICA donor came to the rescue, and provided the funds to get Mrs. B.C.’s husband and daughters to Baltimore. A month after her sons arrived, the entire family was back together again, for the first time in six years. On January 26, Mrs. B.C. took a bus to New York, and was met at the station by an ERICA volunteer, who drove her to JFK to meet her family. After a joyful reunion, the volunteer took the family to a Senegalese restaurant, where they had their first meal together in the United States – surrounded by the sounds of their native Wolof language and the aromas and flavors of their homeland. After a brief stay with friends in the Bronx, the family arrived in Baltimore the following day, to start their new lives together.
