New American Of The Month - Gerald Francis Bargie Brewah, Facilitator, CFNA

My name Is Gerald Francis Bargie Brewah and I have been the CFNA Facilitator for West African families since 2007. The year 2007 seemed not too long ago but a lot has happened in the lives of our CFNA families since. Some have moved out of state or to other parts of the city, while a lot of new ones have joined us. Therefore it is always a blessing to have the opportunity to reintroduce oneself to our CFNA and Christian families and friends. To keep abreast of the fast growing CFNA family, especially new arrivals in St. Louis, there must be a time to regularly tell our story about who we are and what we stand for.

My life story starts from a humble but lucky beginning. Born in the small village of Kommende in Bonthe District, Southern Province of Sierra Leone, I regard myself lucky in the sense that both of my parents were Christians and on top of that I grew up in a village that had the only church and school among some other villages in the chiefdom. My village was and is still predominantly Muslim, but the introduction of church-and-school ministry by missionaries in many parts of Sierra Leone gave some of us a new lease on life. The name of my first primary school was Evangelical United Brethren School (EUB) Kommende, which later became known as the United Methodist Church (UMC) School. I had to leave the UMC Church School and completed my primary education in Sierra Leone Church School (previously know as Church of England School in Blama, Eastern Province) because UMC School ended in class three only. My secondary school education was at Centennial Secondary School Mattru Jong, the first co-educational boarding home school founded by United Brethren in Christ (UBC) missionaries marking a hundred years of missionary work in Sierra Leone. I then went to read for my Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Education that qualified me as a secondary school Agricultural Science teacher. I taught in Sierra Leone for about a decade and then, at the height of the civil war in 1994, I moved to Bostwana, Southern Africa where I also taught in secondary schools.

I arrived in the US on December 24, 2003 to study social work at Washington University and my wife, Yeawa and son David (now in Sierra Leone) followed in February of 2004. As an F1 visa holder and wife and kid on F2 visas, life was tough not only because I was not allowed to work off campus but my wife was not eligible to work at all. Through the grace of God and social networking  we were able make it. I completed my MSW in 2006 and gained fulltime employment at ALM Hopewell Center, a community mental health agency. During this same period I joined the CFNA family as a Facilitator when Pastor John Loum introduced us to the Lutheran Church. The role of facilitator was key to the success of the CFNA scholarship program that had just been designed. Working with kids and in the helping profession has always been my passion so for me to have had the opportunity to work with the CFNA kids and their families seemed to be a nice fit.

As a facilitator I have had a number of challenges. One of the challenges has been how to positively change the mindset of our people and align it with the mainstream American values in regard to effectively managing a balance between time, family roles, work, unemployment  and religious beliefs. The most satisfying and rewarding aspect of my work with CFNA has been the inner satisfaction derived from making a difference in the lives of the people and being a part of their holistic development. For most immigrant and refugee families, the  parents have very few choices to make in the US whereas for  the kids the sky is the limit. It is paramount therefore for us to continue helping these kids in their quest to achieve quality Christian education not only for their own uplifting but as our tradition says, when you help a child you have helped the whole family.