From West Africa to the US 

I’m from Gambia, West Africa. I came to the US by myself when I was 24 years old, with a backpack and $300 in my pocket. It’s a story I like to share because it reminds me of where I came from and how far I have come – from getting here with nothing but a backpack to getting myself through school, working as a CNA at a nursing home, and going through the ADN program. When you come to the US, there is no orientation telling you how to live here – you have to navigate living here on your own. I didn’t know what resources were out there for someone like me, and you feel like the deck is set against you. But you keep going and pushing. To me, there was no other way – I knew I had to succeed. That is my livelihood. I came to the US for opportunities.  

So, I made my way through nursing school, got my ADN, then made my way through getting my BSN, and I went back to work. I became a nurse in 2007. The reason I decided to do gerontology is because I had experience working in a nursing home in Shoreline, WA. I worked with that population and realized the need for that population. I then worked in various hospitals in the area – most of my experience is in urban areas.  

I had been wanting to get my DNP for the longest time, but I couldn’t figure out how to pay for it. I got my BSN in 2011, and for the last decade, I’ve been wondering how to go back to school. I decided to take a leap of faith – I could take out loans and pay out of pocket – and so I did. I kept looking around for scholarships, and then your email came, and since then, the sky has been the limit. 

From nearly being a computer programmer to discovering his passion for nursing  

When I came to the US in 2004, I originally came to study at Johnson and Wales to become a computer programmer. When I got to the US, I realized I couldn’t go forward with that because the company that sent me went bankrupt right after I got here. So, I sent them a message saying that I would do any kind of work on campus that they need so I could learn and pay for my schooling. They wanted me to go back to Africa and re-apply, but I knew I wouldn’t be allowed back in. So, I decided to try something else.  

I lived in New York when I first got to the US and then moved out to WA. At the time, all my friends were working at a nursing home, and I figured I could do that, make some money, then go into computer programming. When I started working at the nursing home, one of my friends got sick, and I took them to the ER. When I was at the ER, I saw the nurses working there, how organized the chaos was, and how much they looked like they enjoyed their job, and it fascinated me. Until then, I thought I was going to be an IT person. After that experience, I started looking into nursing, and it just felt so right. I always cared about people and taking care of them, like my friend. So that is how it started: just sitting there, seeing the nurses do what they were doing, and seeing them get the satisfaction of seeing people get better – that’s what started it all. So, I started going to school, and the rest is history. I’ve been an ER nurse for 10 years now, and it’s been very fulfilling. 

How WSOS helped open doors 

I learned about the WSOS (Washington State Opportunity Scholarship) through the University of Washington. At the time, I think the scholarship was specific to primary care/mental health, and it said you get a certain amount of money to go to school. So, I clicked on the link and read about you.   

If you’re from Africa or from a different background where people depend on you, there’s a cycle of poverty that goes on, and it’s on you to break that cycle. There are generations and generations of poverty, and it is on you to kind of break that cycle. You take care of the family here and send money back home each month because otherwise, they don’t eat. Living here and sustaining that– it’s difficult. So having a scholarship that helps you not worry about that, not worry about tuition and all of that — it takes away a burden. I can’t express it enough. When the email for this interview came, I jumped because I really wanted to use this opportunity to talk about what this means to me.  

WSOS opened the doors. That’s the only way I can say it – it opened a lot of doors. Finally, knowing that I can do this without having to worry about 80k in loans means I don’t have to cut back on what I can give to people back home, I don’t have to cut back on certain things that would’ve been necessary – it means the world to me, really. To have this and to be able to go to school, concentrate on school – if you have to worry about where you’ll get tuition, how to pay for books, it makes it so you’re not concentrating on learning. With WSOS, I have the opportunity to focus on learning and make good use of it. 

The impact of getting an education 

Getting my education is the ultimate goal because if you’re a nurse, you’re not really doing it for yourself – you cannot be a nurse and think of yourself. Nurses have compassion and focus on putting people ahead of themselves. You’ve probably heard about nurses and assaults that often happen, especially in the ER. Being able to get this education means I can affect change. There are things that need to happen, people who need to advocate for those things to happen, and leaders who need to push this forward. There are minority, underserved people who need to push certain agendas. There are people who look up to someone like me, young black kids who are thinking they can’t do this. And they’ll see me and think, if he can do it with the little resources he had when he came here, I can also do that. This is what getting my education means – it means taking nursing to the next level and being able to advocate for people who deserve certain things. Being able to say, this is why we need primary care in Wenatchee, this is why we need to go to Yakima and establish this program, and this is the data. This is what education does – it teaches me how to say those things and how to implement those changes. Without this education, I couldn’t do it — it wouldn’t be credible. My education gives me that backing and the right to say these things. This gives me the right to say, “Yes, I have ‘DNP’ after my name.” 

Looking to the future 

In the future, I think I want to be somewhere leading a giant organization, affecting change, being a mentor, leading the next generation of nurses, and inspiring them. Again, you’re not in this for you – if you’re doing these things for yourself, you’re in the wrong place. You’re doing it for others. Yes, there’s some satisfaction, but it’s a selfless job. For me, really, in the next 10 years, I would like to be affecting change and advocating for it, and making sure the profession gets the recognition it deserves. Making sure that the changes they’re making are more equities in health care – making sure underserved populations are taken care of, making sure we’re having the conversation, because we all know there is some inequality going on, but the conversation needs to be heard. If we don’t talk about it, it does not get resolved. Rural areas are losing critical access to hospitals all the time. Places are losing primary care providers. A lot of people don’t know. People are losing care that is huge for them. People don’t know this is happening because we’re not talking about it enough. So, in 10 years, I hope my contribution will improve that.