Aliens: Don't Jump over the Fence; Do What My Family Did--Get in Line

Aliens: Don’t Jump Over the Fence, Do What My Family Did—Get in Line



—W. K. Winn



I did not anticipate having any real chance of coming to the United States when I was growing up in my native Jarkaken, Liberia. So, it was a surprise to me when my father visited Liberia in 1989 from the USA and told me and other siblings that he had filed for us to come to the United States of America. It was a long process, though. In fact, it took almost four years before my dad was able to bring some of us to him.



As I said already, I always had some doubts about actually making the trip to the States. During the waiting period, I had to leave Liberia very late in1991 for the Tabou, Ivory Coast due to mysterious illness and the Charles Taylor war. I was a Liberian refugee on Camp Kablake, a sector of the town of Tabou. There, I stayed with a distant relative named Mr. Jenkins Adjafe Noranton.



Before I left my hometown, I was one of four “clever people” who attended a Grebo language seminar in Tienpo Japruke. We were taught how to read and write in Grebo, a tribal language. In Tabou, Bishop Amos Chea of AICA learned that I knew how to read and write Grebo. This was considered a talent because very few people in the entire Grebo tribe knew how to read or write this tribal language.   He invited me in his house, which was located in Tabou Trois, an area in Tabou where his church was situated. It was a big due to be invited by this very renowned religious figure. We had a short chat. The Bishop wanted to establish a Grebo Literacy Program. He wanted me to teach there for him. I agreed. I was considered a non-commoner after the visit with the Bishop.   Bishop Chea’s Grebo initiative started three weeks following our talk. I became the only instructor. Classes were scheduled for three days each week.  



While teaching, I enrolled at ADRA, a United Nation High Commissioned for Refugees education program, but I had...