(pensive music) (crowd indistinctly murmuring) - Most of the refugees here have never heard or known Rhode Island, the word "Rhode Island," until the day before they came, right?

The same thing happened to me the day before I came, and I was asking, "Where am I going to in America?"

They said, "Oh, you're going to Providence."

To Providence.

Providence.

It sounded like a church organization, but I was happy because I thought churches help people.

I mean, you know, they help.

They do community work.

And I said, "Oh, that's great."

You know, it's a church, right?

They said, "No, no, it's not a church.

It's the capital city of Rhode Island."

I said, "Okay, now you're causing trouble, because the US embassy has been helping me for this past year.

They told me that I'm going to America, not an island."

So you have to- - [Bob] People in America still ask that question.

(Omar chuckles) - The guy was so confused that he took me to a map, showed me the map of the United States, and showed me that small spot that said Rhode Island, but I was comfortable that at least I'm going to the United States, not an island, 'cause I wanted to be free, to be safe, and that is exactly what I found in this state here, in Rhode Island.

- Omar Bah is the founder and executive director of the Refugee Dream Center, which provides a myriad of support services for refugees.

Omar, let's go back to Gambia.

- Yes.

- Where you were serving as a journalist.

How did that become the start of this amazing journey?

- Well, I grew up in rural Gambia, and the reason why I became a journalist was because of my own background, my childhood.

I go to high school in the city.

I see people in power, especially the government.

You know, we had a warlord that just took over the government, and he was living in so much luxury and some sort of bourgeois life, driving past people, people begging in the streets.

I couldn't live in a country and then think that is normal.

So, for me, my work as a journalist was born out of that.

I just wanted to be an advocate and an activist, to speak out against injustice, to speak out against corruption and brutality.

So, one day, I walked into the office of a small newspaper in Gambia, and it is a biweekly newspaper, and I say, "I want to see the editor."

So, a small, young, young-faced, you know, 21-year-old guy asking for the editor, because the editor is usually very busy.

You don't just walk in and ask for him.

I read a lot about him.

I read his blogs, his editorials.

He's very popular.

I said, you know, "It's an honor to sit with you."

I go to the courts all the time and I see a lot of cases, people will be tortured and paraded in the courts, in kangaroo courts, and I don't see that in the papers.

I want to offer.

I'm not trained in anything, but I'm a young guy, you know, just finishing high school.

If I can offer anything, let me write, and probably you can see if I can try.

They said, "I have never had a young man say that to me.

If you write, we will publish it and we'll pay you for that."

So, because I started reporting that, the regime was not happy.

They were not happy that somebody's now writing about these things, torture.

Who is this young guy writing about torture and killings in this country?

I was arrested and tortured on several occasions, just like all the journalists who've been either killed or gone missing.

I got a tip-off that there was an order from the president to kill me.

I had to leave the country or be killed.

(solemn music) There was so much traffic at the bridge that, you know, we knew something was wrong.

The regime had dispatched soldiers and paramilitary officers to search every vehicle that was crossing the bridge.

When the vehicle I was in, the bus I was in, arrived at the bridge, a soldier pounded their gun butt on the vehicle and asked that everybody show their ID.

I had nowhere to escape.

All I would do was to stand up and raise my hands up and then surrender myself, hoping they would not kill, they would not shoot and kill me, but luckily for me, the soldier who was pointing his gun and torchlight at me was a soldier who was a schoolmate of mine 10 years earlier.

So, when he recognized me, he let the car go instead of arresting me.

(solemn music continues) (solemn music continues) (birds chirping) So it's Refugee Development Center that's registered with the Secretary of State and IRS, and then we realized that there is a lot of organizations with the same name.

So we wanted to stand out.

So I always wanted to refugees to have a dream, so we listed a DBA as Refugee Dream Center.

So it has both at the Secretary of State.

So we're working as Refugee Dream Center, but in the IRS documentation, you will see both, yeah.

A lot of refugees do interpreting as jobs here, and so you go to the hospital.

The people that interpret for them are former refugees and they get re-traumatized because you sit in the doctor's office.

You hear all these trauma stories, a rape victim, a torture victim, and the patient gets taken care of.

The interpreter, you are seen as a provider.

Probably, you are also a survival of torture or a survival of rape, and then you are sitting down here, seeing all the stories that trigger you, and then nobody takes care of you.

So, Tess has been working on this.

She did a needs assessment and all those things, and the Department of Health gave us $4,500.

So she's starting, the first week of July, she's gonna be doing training here.

It's just once a week, not to make it too busy, because we don't have the resources and the money to make it like twice or three times a week.

So hopefully, that once a week will build up something for the future to make it effective, more sustainable.

I came here as a refugee.

I walked into TF Green at night, and there was one gentleman that came to pick me up from an agency as a case worker, and that was it for me.

So it was difficult, you know, just applying for jobs, getting a job, even the cultural adjustment, and I was able to read and write English.

There's going to be a wedding.

He's gonna do a wedding.

(group chuckles) He's going to a wedding, this one?

So I was thinking, if I went through this, I was basically single here and I didn't have any family to take care of, so it should have been easier for me.

What about the big families, like families of six, seven, eight that come here, probably have never seen a city in their own countries, do not read and write English, no probably work skills apart from community gardening?

It must be much more challenging for them.

Because I saw a lot of toothpaste, I want to share it equally to everybody.

So I did a lot of advocacy, promoting better resettlement services for refugees.

So I thought we could devise something for post after that.

What happens to these people after one year, two years, three years?

But, at some point, I decided to launch the Refugee Dream Center to just build it out of a model of former refugees supporting newly arriving refugees.

(door squeaks) Oh, this is better.

It's hot inside.

Or maybe I was struggling.

(traffic rumbling) You see?

- [Interviewer] Is giving the donations always that much fun?

- Yeah, I know.

That's usually how it is, right?

(Omar chuckles) When it's a few people, it's okay, but if it's a lot, it's always that a fight.

You are still here.

- [Client] Yes.

- That's good.

So call me tomorrow if you have time.

I'm here most of the time.

I can come pick you up.

We'll come and look at the stuff, okay?

- [Client] Okay.

- Or maybe I'll bring, because I want you to have more.

(Omar murmurs) Oh!

It's all breaking.

My hope is at least refugees give back, but the best way you can give back is to offer them the services, give them the services and the skills.

What floor?

First, second?

First floor or second floor?

(thumping on window) Abel, open!

- Abel, open!

- Open the door.

(Omar chuckles) - [Client] Open!

- [Abel] Mama, Muzungu!

- Muzungu?

- Hi, Mama!

- Muzungu?

I'm not Muzungu!

- Hi, Mama!

- How are you?

Good to see you.

(Omar chuckles) - Hi!

- You don't come to my office.

I don't see you, huh?

Why you don't come to my office?

How are you?

(Omar chuckles) They've been to my office, so I just brought some stuff for your mom, but give me your number, man.

So, tomorrow, if you have time just after school and stuff, what time do you get out of school?

- Tomorrow, I have to stay at school, to escort her across the street.

We got something else to do back here.

- Any time, just stop by.

I'm at the office.

You're in 12th grade, right?

- No.

I'm in 10th grade.

- 10th?

10th grade.

Okay.

He's a good boy.

I like him a lot.

- You?

You?

- You, you don't come to my office.

What happened?

I don't see you.

(Omar chuckles) - [Son] Omar, maybe after tomorrow, I will come.

- Yeah.

You know that we have the youth program that started.

(family indistinctly chattering) We started our youth program on Monday.

Maybe you know some of them.

This one.

It started on Monday.

You know some of them, yeah?

- Yeah, yeah.

- They're all there.

American students also, so it's a mix, so, you know, you can have new friends.

- All right.

- And then they'll be giving transportation or coming, so I want you to be part of it.

- Oh, okay.

(traffic faintly rumbling) - Hi there.

- How are you?

- [Interviewer 1] Great.

How are you?

- Great.

- [Interviewer 2] Omar, you're gonna sit on the left.

- Okay.

Wow.

- [Teddi] I was in school that day.

You didn't call me all day and I knew something is wrong.

I was calling you and I didn't get you, and that's how I know something is wrong.

- [Omar] You know, we were married for just two months.

I could not call my wife.

It was the most difficult decision to do.

- [Teddi] When they came to my house to ask me all those questions, like, they knew I didn't talk to you.

- [Omar] That's the soldiers.

The soldiers.

- The soldiers.

They know I didn't talk to you the whole day and they never captured me or tortured me.

I was lucky.

(solemn music) - [Omar] When I was in that vehicle passing our village, you know, this is a place I grew up in.

Playing on the sand, wrestling with village boys, herding cattle as a little shepherd, walking for kilometers back and forth to school.

This time, I was not thinking about the likely death that was going to happen to me right now.

The soldiers that were pushing me, I was thinking about the family, everybody.

You know, I will never see these people again.

I will never have the chance to probably even see my village until I die.

(solemn music continues) (Omar chuckles) - Did I see him?

(group chuckles) All right.

Let's get going.

- [Teacher] Bye, Barry!

- No, get your stuff!

- Goodbye!

- [Teacher] You're so silly.

(Omar chuckles) - All right.

Come in.

Where is he?

When we get Samba, then we can decide on a deal, right?

You need that?

- Take that, Pop.

- Inside.

Okay.

- Good.

So you had a good time?

- Yeah.

- All right.

- Because half was canceled.

(Omar chuckles) - We want to take a picture of what you did.

(car rumbling) All right.

(children indistinctly chattering) (kids cheering) Hello.

- Baba!

Baba, I made that!

- That?

Yeah, let's go.

Okay, let's go.

(Omar speaking in Pulaar) What is that?

Okay.

- We can put some two jack-o-lanterns at the door.

- Yeah, I think we'll need two here.

One, and we'll need a second one.

And maybe we need two.

- Baba, where's my- - Hey, but Halloween!

(group indistinctly chatters) - [Barry] Then, then, then, then there.

- They are just in the yard, playing.

- [Family Member] There?

- Yup.

(family member speaks in Pulaar) - Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Samba is very athletic.

All right.

Let's eat.

I think it's time for us to eat, right?

All right.

Get down.

And change that.

You know, I have to watch my politics too, so.

What is Trump saying today?

Sometimes, he tweets, and I tweet and criticize him.

I cannot do that over there.

(Omar chuckles) And he's tweeting all the time!

I have the notification, because whenever he tweets, I see it.

He's always tweeting and saying, "I'm punishing myself."

He's always doing that.

Somebody told me, "No, he's not the one.

It's his communications person."

I say, no, he's the one doing it!

The biggest fear for me was, you know, thinking about banning Muslims from coming to America or negativity about refugees and immigrants.

- You ask Barry about Donald Trump, it's like, please, Donald trump is destroying our kids.

Like, they know.

- [Barry] Donald Trump!

- They're scared of him.

Yeah.

- Don't listen to the TV.

(Omar chuckles) Trump is Trump.

Don't mind him.

- It's only cleaning up the beads.

- Okay, then let's go.

Then, when you finish, make sure you clean up.

(Omar speaks in Pulaar) It's good to do the homework, right?

No, no, no, Samba.

Don't distract yourself.

You must do this homework, okay?

Okay, yes.

Betty and Jim.

- It's time for Betty and Jim to play.

And then it'll... - Eight o'clock.

- And then it was eight o'clock.

It's time for Betty to go to nap time.

- Sleep.

No, sleep.

It is night.

Good job!

(Barry indistinctly murmurs) - He is smart!

- Yup, very smart.

He read the whole book.

Good job.

- [Interviewer] Is the regimen that you're on, is it more intense than the one that was before?

- No, it's more intense because it's every week, but it's more, like... Not making me sick than the one before.

The one before is horrible.

I don't compare that with anything.

This one is much better.

It's actually, I'm more tired, but at least I'm not sick.

(family faintly murmuring) (family excitedly chattering) - Come in.

- Oh, thank you.

So, no school for the kids?

- Yeah, this week, yeah.

- Yeah.

It's holiday.

(family indistinctly chattering) - [Omar] So, today, Kara and I, we were talking about Ramadan.

- Ramadan?

- Oh, yeah.

Ramadan, yeah?

Yeah.

- No eating.

- No eating!

- No eating, yes.

- You fast on Ramadan.

- Yeah.

- The whole month.

- Only the kids don't fast.

- Yeah.

- Me, my wife, my mother, no food.

- No food.

- Yeah.

Ramadan, yeah.

- Mahmoud and Hamad, no food.

- Oh, good.

- Oh, you too?

- Yeah.

- Good job!

Wow.

I'm proud of you.

- [Family Member] That's good.

- Friend, good.

Friend, good.

Good.

- Well, we are happy to be part of your family.

That's good.

- You understand?

- Yes.

- Yeah?

- Yes.

- Thank you.

- So, what should we do now, guys?

With the house.

- Um, I don't think there's anything we can do right now, outside of waiting for legal advice from Andrew.

I feel like, at this point, we kind of have to just look into all options of that.

- Yeah.

Let me call Andrew, actually.

Hey, Andrew, I had a question about the house that was donated to us a couple of months ago.

You remember where we placed a Syrian family?

- [Kara] Just explain to her we're doing everything we can to find this family a home, but we need to make sure they can afford it.

We need to make sure that they're in a safe home.

- But the fact that she maybe unintentionally stepped on their vulnerability, it's just not fair.

That's not really fair.

- If we can get this house for them and we can avoid telling them that this landlord's kicking them out and keep them removed from that- - [Coworker] No.

Let's leave it like that.

(group speaking over each other) We just got the house for them.

- Right.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Good timing, hopefully.

- Good timing, yeah.

- Yeah.

- All right.

- All right, bye, everybody.

- [Client] Bye.

Thank you.

- Have a wonderful weekend.

- Hi, Omar.

- Hi, Mahmoud.

How are you?

(group indistinctly chatters) - She talk to you.

- She spoke to us, the landlord.

- Yes, she's coming to visit to do some stuff in the house.

So we don't know what she's going to do.

We don't know when she will need anything.

So we are looking.

We look for house, just to make sure.

(family member speaking in Arabic) - Just to make sure it's... (family indistinctly speaking over each other) Yeah.

Yeah, because we don't know We don't know the situation.

We don't.

We are not sure.

So we are looking right now.

(family member speaking in Arabic) - That's right, because she didn't come for a long time, like three months.

Now she comes.

She's here.

She's coming.

So, yeah, we just want to, yeah.

- Yeah.

- So what we are doing, we look, so that when she says leave, we have something.

(family member speaking in Arabic) - Marwa, you speak English.

Yeah, you speak good English now.

Very good English.

The first time we told them that the landlord was coming to visit, they came here crying because they thought they were going to be kicked out.

So what we are doing is we are doing a plan B. That's why my biggest press here now, what I'm pressing everybody in the staff to do is for us to get the apartment, because at least then we are sure we've covered one aspect of how we can protect the family, The whole family has no income, is dislocated.

There's high levels of trauma become of the fire, because of their past experiences.

We are trying to get them calmed down as much as possible, so moving from one place to the other was not part of the plan, because our hope is even if they have to stay there for a year, at least they save in rental money.

They get jobs.

They're more stable because it's their house.

There's no plan of having to kick them out.

And then, all of a sudden, that changes.

The house is not donated any longer.

They have to move it in three days.

She is, the owner of this house, as unpredictable as this, then she can do anything.

I don't think she cares about what is legal or what is not legal.

Like her or hate her, she has made a tremendous difference to this center, but most importantly for the family, because they've lived in a place for three months without paying a dime.

So that has saved them from homelessness, from being displaced.

What I don't want is this action to wipe out the three months of goodness she's done.

(pensive music) (crowd chattering) (pensive music continues) (crowd faintly cheering) - I hereby announce to all Gambians my total rejection of the election results, and thereby annulling the election in its entirety.

(pensive music continues) (crowd faintly chanting) - [Reporter] After days of negotiations with West African heads of state, the man who said he would rule Gambia for a billion years was finally forced into exile, bringing to an end his 22-year rule.

(crowd faintly chanting) - [Interviewer] What effect do you think ending your exile is gonna have on you as a person, on your family, and on the RDC?

- I think the sense of closer is really what I'll focus on, that there is closure to it.

So, even if I feel like I've moved on, I've told my story in a book.

I've developed a refugee center.

I've got an education.

I'm doing things within the community.

I'm still stuck somewhere in a way, because it's still revolving around my mind, that lack of sense of closure.

So, basically, that's what I like about this, because at least that chapter is done for me.

So we submitted our visa applications at the embassy, and because of my outspoken criticism of the government, a top official at the embassy wrote an email to me and said, "Oh, we see that you are going to Gambia, and you've been criticizing us, so you better be careful because, when you get there, you'll see what will happen."

So I felt threatened by a top official of a government, a foreign government can say that to an American citizen traveling.

So, I didn't take that lightly.

That's why we started taking security around Teddi, and when I go too, there will be more security around me.

There's no way I'm canceling that trip because even the president, the current president in Gambia, I fought for this democracy more than him.

So that guy cannot exile me in that country.

It's not possible.

He can either kill me or jail me, but I'm not gonna be exiled.

I'll visit the country any time I want.

(gentle music) - B-H-A?

- No, B-A-H.

Is that A?

Yeah.

- A, yeah.

- Yup.

79, at gmail.com.

(crowd indistinctly singing) (gentle music continues) - [Interviewer] So how many of these things do you do?

- A lot of them.

A lot.

So I spent most of my afternoon at the Crown Plaza yesterday and then I had a board strategic planning meeting afterwards that ended probably at nine o'clock.

(Omar chuckles) And it was like repeating the same thing, going over and over, and then doing the program budget and all that stuff for each of the four programs, but it was very productive, and there was a lot of food, you know?

Different people brought food, so that was good.

It helped.

- [Interviewer] If you get that grant, what will it mean?

- Oh, that will make a big difference, because that would really enhance all the programs that we are doing.

You know, I'm all over the place.

I do everything.

I do finance.

I do grants.

I do case management.

I do everything.

So my input cannot really make much of a difference than a full-time case manager.

We don't have much, but any time you think we can help in any way, let us know.

Okay?

You see, as I told you, the first time you came here, I'm like your son, okay?

You can literally spend a whole day from nine to five, really like hands-on one-on-one with refugees.

That's why, you know, if I strengthen case management, at least two or three people, and this grant can do that for me.

It's a great grant that will really take chunk of our budget, at least maybe 50 or 60% of our budget, and then that's really just a path to permanent stability.

(Omar humming) - He's only going to speak for a few minutes.

I know I put him on the second part of the program, but I would like to include him in the first half right now.

And so I spoke with our guest speaker on the phone and I'm just so privileged that he's here and he wrote the book "The Ordeal of an African Journalist."

Let's give it up for Omar Bah!

(crowd applauds) - Thank you.

- Nice to meet you.

- Great, thanks.

- Nice to have you.

- Thank you so much, Ms.

Johnson, and thank you, Central High, for inviting me here.

All of you have either heard the story of an immigrant or a refugee, or either are first generation, you're just coming, or you've heard these stories from your parents.

Now, the challenge is, how do you overcome that?

When does resilience come into being?

I was 27 years old, highly isolated and lonely and traumatized.

Then I thought, "Should I start smoking so that I can cope?"

"Should I start taking drugs so that I can cope?"

But I said, no, I'm not gonna do that to myself, because I think I can affect change.

I can inspire and change other people.

I basically had two full-time jobs, one that paid the bills and the one that I did in the evenings, going into communities, helping refugees.

That's why, when a refugee mentions their name or speaks, I can easily tell what country they're from.

That's why I could easily guess where Prince's family is from.

When he talked about the privileges or the challenges that you guys have, don't worry about Moses Brown.

Don't worry about the schools that have all the resources.

Just remember.

You are in America.

You have clean water.

You have electricity 24/7.

I'm not even giving you an option.

Make sure you finish high school and go to college.

Whether you came through the immigrant process or whether you are a refugee, whether you parents came and you were born here, there is no alternative for you.

What you need to continue to do is to be determined not to give up and to know that you have any opportunity in this country.

10 years later, a bachelor's degree, two master's degrees.

I went to Harvard for six months, and I'm doing a doctorate program.

(audience applauding) And all of you have the potential to do, so all you need to do is to go for it, okay?

Thank you.

And I think you have the power to tell a powerful message, so keep doing it, okay?

Don't give up.

You going to college?

- Yeah.

- When?

- I'm going to URI.

- This year.

- Yeah, this year.

I'm a senior right now, so I'm graduating soon.

- Make sure you go to college, okay?

- Okay.

- Don't give up, okay?

- Okay.

- All right.

(footsteps echoing) - One of the reasons why I made sure I finished writing this story and published the book before they grow up was I wanted them to grow up with the story.

So, you know, this is part of the things that would have happened.

You know, they would have to process it in a very difficult way, but unless they grow up, part of their memory growing up is with the story, so that it is not 10 years or 15 years of age and they start hearing this, so they let it be part of their life.

So let them grow up.

So, it's difficult, but then they have to at least grasp it, because that's there.

So, yeah, so, and Barry started reading.

He reads very fast.

He started reading the book, actually, and then he'll be discussing some of it, but he does it, like- - But we don't want him to read the entire book.

- The topic of discussion here is trauma, today, and trauma basically means injury, literally injury, but our complex experiences, our trauma that we are talking about is the psychological trauma.

It is injury.

There's injury in the brain or in the heart, and that's what they call the thought, the mind and the heart, and then the body, the behavior.

So these are a combination of different stuff that I thought would, you know, cover what we need as interpreters and as community leaders, because we need to know most of these things.

The two of us that are doing this training is me and Tess.

So Tess comes from nursing, which is a medical background, and I come from a counseling, a therapist, a psychological background.

The reason why I am also able to do it is because I was a refugee.

I experienced this, and all of us have experienced something in our lifetimes.

If people experience torture or rape or war or see bombs coming down, or people beating up or killing their loved ones, there is health impairment.

There is mental health impairment completely There's people that are affected.

The reason why we're doing this training, this is one of the reasons for you to understand, "Okay, I'm an interpreter.

I go to the hospital every day.

I hear trauma stories and I don't know how to handle it.

I'm re-traumatizing myself."

So, when I came, I was still very traumatized.

Very, very, very traumatized.

Every night, my landlord will come and knock at my door and say, "Oh, Omar, you're disturbing people.

Nobody's sleeping in the whole building.

I said, "What is going on?"

He said, "You are shouting.

You keep shouting.

Why are you shouting?"

So I didn't know, when I sleep, I'd be dreaming about soldiers chasing me with AK-47s, and this is exactly how I escaped from my country, soldiers chasing me with AK-47s, wanting to kill me.

That was a price on my head by the dictator of my country.

I was afraid.

I was paranoid.

I didn't want to see Gambians.

I didn't want to even know any Gambian because I was scared.

I didn't know who knows me, who knows the dictator.

I didn't know!

I didn't know that there was something called PTSD.

I didn't know that there was even something called trauma, and I didn't know that I could seek help, but at least we all have the opportunity to understand these things now so that we know how to help ourselves and others, okay?

I think this group is, we are the pioneer that can make things happen here.

Bernard, that's for you.

That's a donation for you.

I'm cleaning up for Nicolas Kristof, you know.

You know, Teddi has his book, "Half the Sky," but, you know, I forgot to bring it.

Thank you, Mae.

(Omar chuckles) You are good.

You are good.

Bernard, let's go, man.

Yeah.

- [Bernard] All done.

- Your zip.

(Omar chuckles) Hey, you don't run too.

- Yeah.

Hi.

- Nice meeting you.

Omar.

- Oh, Omar.

Okay, yeah, good to meet you, from Gambia.

- No, yeah, I get to meet you!

(Omar chuckles) - You're from Gambia, as I recall?

- Yes, from Gambia.

So, actually- - You're a journalist.

- Yeah, actually, I'm thinking about going back.

- Yeah, now, it's a new day in Gambia!

- Yeah, it's a new day and opportunity to see the country again for the first time in 11 years ago.

- When did you leave?

11 years?

- 11 years.

Now, the dictator is gone, so.

- Yeah.

And since the government changed, is Gambia doing okay now?

- No, I mean, minus the killings, but there's literally, there's no leadership yet, you know.

There's a new government, but it's not direction, so sometimes ethnic groups clash in the streets and security is not the best, and- - [Nicolas] I see.

- And there's no vice president for like six months, almost six months, - Okay.

- So it's like, you know, we are sitting on an edge.

We don't really know what is going on.

- Right.

- So I run a nonprofit here called the Refugee Dream Center.

- Okay.

- That supports new recently arriving refugees, you know, out of my own experience to help new coming refugees, and I wrote a book.

It's not as popular as "Half the Sky," but I also am a former journalist.

Well, I'll give you my card, so you can have it.

- Great, thank you, Omar.

- And thank you.

I know you're busy, but- - [Nicolas] Great.

(Omar indistinctly murmurs) - You grew up on a sheep farm?

- I did.

- [Omar] Yeah, also.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, I grew up as a farmer too.

- [Nicolas] Outside Banjul?

- [Omar] Yeah, in rural Gambia.

- Really?

- In the northern side, but herding cattle.

That was the difference.

- Oh, is that right?

- [Omar] That was the difference.

- [MC] We have room for one more brief question.

- Thank you so much, Mr.

Kristof.

Great meeting you earlier and talking about journalism issues.

I'm from Gambia.

I'm a former refugee.

So I wanted to ask, I run a refugee foundation that I founded myself.

We support refugees that are recently coming to this country.

I always grapple with this question as a former refugee, and as somebody supporting people newly coming, what should refugees do in this country, both within here but also outside, to change the narrative, to change the lack of information about refugee issues?

Like, for example, currently, everybody thinks refugees are Syrians, like what you clearly articulated.

What can we do as former refugees or as refugees to contribute to that information flow, to share but also change the narrative?

- Well, Omar, I think you've been exemplary in providing sort of an answer in, you know, your own efforts to start an organization to deal with refugees, Your efforts in this community, I think, you know, are important in reminding people that refugees aren't a drain on a society, but ultimately enrich it.

Anything we can do to build bridges between immigrant and refugee communities, and I would indeed take your own example, Omar, as a fine example of that.

(birds chirping) - [Interviewer] Well, what did you tell the boys, Teddi?

- I told them that, today, I'm going to the hospital with Dad, and the doctors will look at my stomach and see what's wrong.

I didn't tell them exactly what's going on.

Somebody's always sad when I bring up sad topics, so I try to minimize it.

Barry is easy to get things.

Like, I know when I explain it to him, he will get it, but I really don't wanna disappoint him this time that I may be... The worst may happen, being diagnosed again with another cancer.

- [Interviewer] Are you nervous?

Are you tired?

Are you bored?

Are you annoyed with this?

- No, actually, I'm okay now with everything.

I am not nervous.

Maybe I am anxious.

I cannot wait to have the surgery and... At least to have an idea what's going on.

That, yes, I cannot wait, but the rest, I'm used to it, so I'm not nervous.

I just leave everything in the hands of God.

(hospital crowd faintly murmurs) - [Employee] Okay, you're all set to have a seat in the waiting room.

They're gonna come get you shortly.

- [Interviewer] How many of these have you done?

- [Omar] This is the second one.

Second major one.

I'm tense but I'm optimistic.

- Uh-huh.

- So, like, this side or the other side?

- I don't know.

Don't ask me that, Omar.

Can you please pass me that?

(hospital crowd indistinctly chattering) - [Nurse 1] And then your shoes too.

- [Nurse 2] Can you open real wide and say "ah"?

- Ah.

(hospital crowd chattering) (monitor beeping) - Any metal in your hips and knees from previous surgeries?

Okay.

Now, I'm gonna do some pelvic washing because I'm gonna have pathology look at the specimen while you're asleep.

I may not know the final result, okay?

- Okay.

- [Doctor] Any questions?

- How long will it take again?

- [Doctor] Well, I'm hoping less than an hour.

- Okay.

- [Doctor] The set-up is a lot more than the surgery.

- Okay.

- You'll have three little incisions like we talked about.

All right, Omar.

I'll take good care of her.

- Thank you.

- [Nurse 3] Are you going home today?

- I hope so.

Okay.

Bye.

(Omar indistinctly murmurs) (birds chirping) - Sorry, I just closed it.

I just have to open it up again.

- Should I bring my laptop?

- No, you can look at mine.

It'll be easier.

- I didn't sleep until like 2:00 AM.

I'm sick, sleep-starved.

I have so much to do.

- You're gonna be sick if you go travel like that.

- I know.

I will be though.

I even have to collect my malaria medication.

I haven't done that.

If one mosquito bites me, I'm gonna get sick.

I have to go to the pharmacy tomorrow, because you have to drink it one week before going.

- Oh, you do the liquid?

- No, the pill.

One pill a day.

- Yeah.

- I haven't started it.

Everybody in my family has theirs.

I will have to go to the pharmacy.

I mean, it's a lot.

This is a lot.

This is a home-going that I didn't plan, you know, so it's a lot of stuff.

Let's see what happened.

What's going on here?

- One thing that we really want to make clear within all of these approaches- - Emerging.

- Is that we're emerging, and we are doing what we're doing now, but with this funding, we could do it better.

- Okay.

The idea is to take it to the next level.

- Right, which I think fits into that emerging, right?

- Yeah, emerging.

Yeah.

The emerging like a small, but could be better, or looking forward to growth.

- Right, that's why I feel like, this grant, perfect for us.

- It's perfect.

- So I took a survey of which languages are spoken between Isabel, Hayek, and you.

- Wow.

- I'm so not included, 'cause I'm not special, but isn't that awesome?

- No.

We'll make you special.

I'll teach you Fulla if you want.

(Omar chuckles) - Actually, she started teaching me Swahili!

(both speak in Swahili) - Wow.

How many?

That's a lot.

- Isn't it?

It's so cool.

- That's the staff capacity.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

I'm nervous.

I'm going to Gambia.

- But you're allowed to be nervous.

- Yeah.

- Do you know that you're allowed to be nervous?

- I'm just like, you know, the journey part.

It's not like the political part, just the journey.

- Right.

- Ending my exile and everything.

- But you're allowed to feel those emotions and you have to let yourself feel those emotions.

- Wow.

- And not feel guilty that you feel that way.

- I know It's not easy.

- And I can't imagine at all.

- But it has to be done.

At least everything has to end.

This is the end of it, 11 years later.

- [Colleague] I'm sure, if that government wants to do anything, they'll figure it out.

- Yeah, because I traveled to Gambia.

- But in the scope of things, if they kick you out of the country, that's the best case scenario for things like this.

- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you saw the congressman's email, right?

Yeah, yeah, that said I should make sure to report to the embassy.

- [Colleague] You should, like, have that with you.

You should print them so you have that documentation on you.

- With the congressman's email?

- I would.

I would just take it just to be sure.

Just to have, like, an added layer of protection.

All right.

You stay safe, please.

- Yeah.

- I feel like I'm saying bye.

- I will be safe.

- [Colleague] Promise?

- I will stay out of trouble in Gambia.

(Omar chuckles) - [Interviewer] How excited are you?

- Excited.

(Omar chuckles) - But, you know, with low energy, because of the mixed feelings, you know?

- [Interviewer] Have you thought about, while you're there, having a reading in your village?

- I think I may.

- I may visit my primary school where I went in the village, and the nearby village, and I may.

I will probably even go to the university to speak with them, so I'll see.

(pensive music) I can't believe I'm going to Gambia, man.

When reality kicks in, you know, and I'm stepping out of this place, heading to Gambia, it's not easy, man.

Front pocket.

It's safer there.

(gentle music) God, take me in peace.

Bring me back in peace.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) After fighting for a decade to remove dictatorship and install democracy, there is no human being that can ever exile me again.

You see, there are people who are afraid to die and there are people who are not afraid, and maybe these people who are not afraid to die are a few.

If they believe there's a cause for what they're doing, if I feel what I'm doing, whether it is Trump or whether it is a dictator in Gambia, I'm doing it for the right reason, for humanity.

I'm not bothered.

I'm really not bothered.

I'll not be silence there.

In the next two weeks, I cannot be silenced there, no.

No, what happened to me, what happened to Teddi, the surgery and all this cancer treatment, it was a tough past year for her, for us.

I mean, I'm not really afraid of anything in this world now.

(crowd chattering) (birds chirping) (Omar speaks in foreign language) I kissed Gambian soil.

Thank God.

(Omar speaks in foreign language) - [Cameraman] Can you tell them you are from here?

(group indistinctly chatters) - [Cameraman] Yeah.

Tell them you are from here.

Tell them you are from here.

- Yeah, yeah.

This is my home.

(group indistinctly chattering) - [Cameraman] Omar, what do you have to say?

- Well, I'm gonna be 37, 38 years old tomorrow, but I'm not bothered about the number.

I'm never distressed about getting too old or being a young man.

I'm not bothered about it.

I'm just bothered about what I can do, or really, looking back, what I have done so far, and that is... So this birthday is a moment of renewal and re-energizing me for the pushing of my dreams in life.

- [Cameraman] Thank you very much.

(gentle music continues) (group speaking in Pulaar) (group continues speaking in Pulaar) (group continues speaking in Pulaar) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - [Interviewer] You had talked about running for office.

- Oh my goodness.

- What happened?

- And now I'm a candidate for Congress.

I looked at what is happening and I realized that it is time to step up rather than being a spectator of.

I stepped up not only to put up my voice, but to be a voice for people and communities that often do not get representation or do not have voices, their voices are not often heard, and I think this is the best time for our democracy, even what happened on January 6th.

After living under a dictatorship, I can tell that democracy is being threatened in this country.

So that's one of the things that motivated me to step up, and to say this is the right time.

I have lived the American dream here.

I've been offering and extending that to others, maybe thousands of people a year.

So it is about those three things for me.

(peaceful music) (group distantly chattering) - [Omar] Oh, Carlos, Carlos, Carlos!

Good to see you!

- [Carlos] My friend!

- Good to see you.

Good to see you, Carlos.

- What about me?

How are you doing, people?

- Good, good, good.

- How's it going?

- This guy is amazing, man.

- Omar, I'm here to fight for you.

- I know, man!

- I'm here to fight.

- Wow.

- I'm gonna show you a picture.

- Okay.

- See?

Omar Bah.

I voted for you.

- He did a vote for me!

(Omar chuckles) - See that?

Right there.

- Well, I hope this works.

(peaceful music continues) Well, I think this will survive the day.

- [Teddi] Yes, we are here, at the entranceway.

- Maybe here after that.

No, after that.

(peaceful music continueS) Sometimes, in my culture, they say... (Omar speaking in Pulaar) I think this was the good that came out of the evil that happened to me.

- [Leader] Tell me what democracy looks like!

- [Crowd] This is what democracy looks like!

- [Leader] Tell me what democracy looks like!

- [Crowd] This is what democracy looks like!

- [Leader] Tell me what democracy looks like!

- [Crowd] This is what democracy looks like!

- This is good, a good turn-out.

- What is happening with the refugees?

Are people- - Still the same thing.

They're saying nobody's coming now, but everything is shut down.

- [Speaker] We don't need kings!

We don't need tyranny!

We don't need injustice!

We need each other!

(crowd cheers) (pensive music) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues)