Unless you don’t know Faila Mbukani. She is 16 years old and she is about to be 17 in a couple months.  She was born on March 14, 2005.  She is in her Junior year At Hancock High School. Her parents come from Congo but she and her siblings were born in Tanzania.

On January 25, 2016 she came to America as a refugee. She came straight to Hancock at the end of 5th grade and she will continue her journey in this school and she will graduate from Hancock High School. 

She has been in this school for six years. She likes it and nothing in this school bothers her. She learned English so fast in this school and helped her to communicate with people who speak English out of this school, because she only speaks three languages Swahili, Kibembe and a little bit of French.

“It’s important to hold on to your education.” 

Her life in America is crazy because she spent half of her life here and until this point she didn’t understand the rules in America because it’s different from where she came from. She likes her life here but also she misses her home country. 

“Home is home no matter what,” Faila said.

She likes America because she can get more water easily rather than walking miles to get water to drink or take a shower. She was allowed to meet too many people because America has millions of people.

”Be thankful for what you have,” Faila said.

Her first day here was so weird for her and her family, she couldn’t speak English because it is a new language and also a new place for everyone in her family in a place where  everyone was just speaking English. 

It was hard for her to go to places or anywhere because they didn’t know what to do and it was a new place that they didn’t know where to go. She was feeling bad because they have zero English and they didn’t know how to speak with other people or have any help so they could get their needs met. 

She moved to America because she needed a better life for her and her family, she also wanted to have good education and good English so she can speak with other people around the world 

So she decided to move and have a new life.

Her first day of school was weird at the beginning but it got better because the day went well for her. Because when the students and the teacher came to her and welcomed her and tried to talk to her and know where she is from.  Also they were trying to speak her language and make her feel comfortable.

“People can make it easier on you,” Faila said.

Her greatest challenge for her and her siblings during school time was the language, also when she went out with her family. She was struggling a lot with the people who were speaking English. Now when she remembers how she was spelling the words she laughs a lot. Because now her English is better than before.