A Memorable North Dakota Refugee

Every once in a great while when you travel on a plane you get the pleasure of sitting next to someone who is really special, someone who you will never forget.  I had that experience recently on a flight from Baltimore to Chicago.

I met Laetitia Mizero.  She is the North Dakota State Refugee Coordinator and 15 years ago she was a refugee herself.  She grew up in Burundi in a family that had six children.  Burundi is a central African country sandwiched between Rwanda to the north and Tanzania to the south.  Like Rwanda, there are Hutus and Tutsis.  The Hutus make up a majority of the population and the Tutsis dominated politics and the military.  On October 21, 1993, Burundi's first democratically elected Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, was assassinated by Tutsi extremists. As a result of the murder, violence broke out between the two groups, and an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people died within a year, and over the next twelve years the death toll rose to 300,000, with another 250,000 leaving the country as refugees.  A nightmare.  Not a unique nightmare, but a catastrophe none-the-less.   Laetitia is the perfect person to help new refugees adjust, because she has been there herself.  

Laetitia left Burundi first for Burkina Faso, and then for the United States--she traveled with her then 3 year old son, as well as three younger sisters and a younger brother.  She and one of her sisters were adults, and they were primarily responsible for the welfare of their family--more on that in a future post.  Our conversation that afternoon was like a pendulum.  It veered in many directions.  The things we focused on were the ways we were alike and the ways that we were not.  Laetitia has left her home, her country, her family and friends behind, coming to the United States to find a new life--I know nothing of that.  Yet we share values.  We did not shy away from discussing social justice, immigration, the importance of education, and how all these things are key ingredients in what makes our country great.  It was a joy to be with her, even if for just a few moments, because she is exactly what I think of when I talk about how important having open doors is to our success as a nation.  We are a richer people because we have diverse cultures within our borders.  We haven't exactly melted together yet, but we are slowly but surely getting there.  It is just so wonderful to be reminded of that.