My Student, My Friend, My Fellow American

 

 By Dr. Gilbert Thompson Huffman

 

There can be no two people more different than a white American who never knew black people and his Gambian student who not only became his friend, but also his fellow American. I am that American.

I was born and raised in the segregated South and never knew a black person. Of course blacks were required to attend separate (and inferior schools) and be taught by black teachers (many who were not properly trained). In fact, I do not think I ever even spoke to a black person until I was in college. In my early years in education, I never taught a black student. At that time there was one black student in the student body of approximately 600 students in an urban area of North Carolina, and he was a star athlete and one of the most popular boys in the middle school.

My first real contact with blacks came when I became Principal of a small rural elementary school in my home county, which had recently been integrated. Even then, fewer than ten percent of the students in the school were black, and there was only one black teacher (who had previously served as Principal of a segregated school).

How could someone with such a background become very good friends with a black man from Africa and be invited to the most important events in his life? The credit for that goes to our son who came home one day from another city where he had a good job and announced he was joining the Peace Corps and going to Africa. My wife and I thought he had lost his mind. However, we knew he was a young adult and was capable of making his own decisions. (At least that is what we said.) During his three-year stay in Malawi, where he taught science and math in an elementary school in a remote rural village, we went to visit him. It was then that I felt that I should one day be as brave as he was and in some ways to assist the Africans who are less fortunate than we are. I fought that feeling to go and never told anyone, because I knew they would think I was crazy.

Mellie Huffman & husband, Dr. Gilbert T. Huffman

     

         However, that changed following my long career as a teacher and administrator in American public schools.  I was still fairly young and not ready to sit down and do nothing.  Then, as if a sign from the Almighty everything changed.

One day a publication came in the mail, and it had an article about Teachers for Africa, a new program recruiting experienced teachers to teach and to train teachers in Africa. I knew nothing about the program or the sponsoring Foundation. After some research, I applied with the thought that I would never be chosen from all the educators throughout the United States.

Imagine my surprise when I was notified that I had been selected and was invited to the training session. I did not know where I would teach or what I would teach. However, I went to the training session and met more than thirty other educators (two other whites) from throughout the United States who knew no more about the program than I did. When we were given our assignments, thirteen of us learned that we would be teaching in the West African state of The Gambia. The majority did not even know where The Gambia was. However, there was a Gambian at the orientation session that told us about the country and the dire need for more and better qualified; trained teachers in the country. Soon we were on our way to the former British colony, “The Smiling Coast of Africa.”

My assignment was to teach English Language and English Methodologies at The Gambia College and to supervise “Teaching Practices” (student teaching).

On the day of my first class there, I did not know who was more nervous - the anxious students who were having an American white teacher and a foreigner for the first time or me. The Gambia being a British colony, The Gambia College has had British professors from Bristol University in the UK and they were highly respected. I very well remember that day and the young Gambian student who nervously asked, “What qualifies you to come to teach us?” Later that man came to me and said he knew why I came and thanked me for coming. Over and over I have told people that my Gambian students taught me more than I could ever have taught them. I may have taught them English and English Methodologies, but they taught me lessons on human nature and showed me how people, regardless of race, creed, educational level, social standing, etc. are basically the same. They also taught me that it is what is on the inside that counts and not outward appearance.

All my students were special to me, but one has become extra special since he came to North Carolina, my home state, to live. That man is Ebrima G. Sankareh, one of my HTC II (Second Year Higher Teachers’ Certification) English students.

Ebrima came to the College with a journalism background after completing Sixth Form. He had also taught previously and was at the College to increase his teaching skills and to earn certification, which would mean a higher salary than he had earned as an “unqualified”(non certified) teacher. At first I thought him to have a chip on his shoulder and felt his resentment to a white American trying to teach the class of Gambians. He was a man who did not hesitate to question anything said in class and or express his opinions. Ebrima was a rara avis; a good student who expressed himself well verbally and in writing.

Since he was on campus only the second Semester (due to teaching practice during the first one), I did not get to know him (nor his HTC II classmates) as well I did the first-year students. It was on the remaining two Semesters at the College when I began to get to know him. The HTC I students had arranged a farewell party for me, and Ebrima was there as a reporter for one of the newspapers in the country.

I stayed in touch with some of my students after returning home, and Ebrima was one of those. He sent me the newspaper article he wrote as well as news from his classmates and his family. I always was impressed by his writing skills and the command of the English Language. However, it was only after he arrived in North Carolina that I really got to know him well.

About a year after I came home, he was teaching at the St.Augustine’s High School in Banjul when some soldiers (including some of his “friends”) entered his classroom, accused him of writing articles critical of the military junta, later mistreated him, and carried him to jail.  Even when he was released, he was harassed and told to report to the police station which he did every morning until he left. At one moment, the junta had mistaken him for a foreigner (or that was what a jealous journalist told a Council member) and he narrowly escaped being deported to war torn Sierra Leone. Luckily, he was able to flee to neighboring Senegal leaving his elderly mother, pregnant wife, and son behind. Eventually, he arrived in North Carolina, my home state.

Upon his arrival in the capital city of Raleigh, he called me and we reminisced about times in The Gambia. Then my wife and I invited him to our home to spend a week. During that week, I came to appreciate his high level of intellect, his intense desire to get a college degree, and his dream of returning to his homeland to help others.

I also learned of his difficult life, which resulted from his father dying in an automobile accident the same day Ebrima was born and how his mother raised him and instilled in him the value of an education. Also, that trip gave him the opportunity to learn more about our culture. At that time I was working part-time in a small elementary school, which had only one black student. Ebrima went to school with me one day and talked to the students about life and education in his homeland. He revealed a special talent to relate to the elementary students and demonstrated his ability to adapt to new and different situations. Three days later, he was invited to give a lecture on AFRICA to a Senior Class at Mount Airy High School in Surry County, NC where he exhibited the best in him and left me grateful for the accolade. Ebrima is an orator per excellence!

Since that time, I have been amazed at his accomplishments. Fleeing to America with only the clothes on his back, he has earned dual degrees while working fulltime jobs, and sent money and needed articles back home to his family. If his funds for tuition and books ran out, he stayed out a term or two to earn money for another semester - often two jobs with very little time to rest or sleep.

My wife and I were much honored to attend his graduation from North Carolina State University.  It was a very special day for me to be there to show my support, but it was even more special to Ebrima. Later I made a comment about the graduation speaker, a well-known television personality, and he told me that he did not hear a word of the speech. Ebrima was so overcome with emotions in knowing that after long years of struggle, he had earned something, which was not possible to attain in The Gambia.

                Ebrima and a few other friends who live in Raleigh came to my mother’s funeral and sat with my family. Many people there were surprised to see Black Muslim men in a white Christian church. To me it was a great honor to have them there.

  Binta G. Sankareh

                 Another great occasion, which my wife and I participated, was the naming ceremony for his fourth child and second daughter, Yamala G. Sankareh. I had attended one during my stay in The Gambia, but it was a new experience for my wife who greatly enjoyed it. It was well worth the two-hour drive to Raleigh when I saw my wife eating Benachin with her hand and feeling at ease in a large crowd of which we were the only whites. Ebrima’s humble wife and Nusrat high schoolmate, Binta G. Sankareh is an expert in Benachin and always makes us feel home with her impressive African robes and beautiful face. Binta is too shy and apolitical.

Ebrima has had a long hard struggle to get where he is today, and I am proud of each of his accomplishments. However, the highlight of my association with him was being able to attend the naturalization of my former student. It was a very moving time to see people from throughout the world becoming American citizens, but not one of them was more proud to be an American as Ebrima was. Most of the others were giving up citizenship in their homelands to become Americans, but Ebrima was not doing that. He was merely adding an additional citizenship. He is now a citizen of both The Gambia (which he would never give up) and of his adopted county- THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  He is proud of both. At the end of the solemn naturalization ceremony held in Charlotte, North Carolina, I called him by the podium and said: make sure you vote for the right presidential candidate! “You bet” he said with precision. We later talked about American politics, immigration and the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

Ebrima is an example of what a person who is willing to work hard and has the determination and perseverance can achieve. I am proud to call him my student, my Gambian friend, and my fellow American.

Taking The Oath of Allegiance 

Editor’s Note: Reading Professor Huffman’s narrative makes me feel like listening to my own funeral oration and I am not too sure if I deserve all of it. That said, I must confess that Dr. Huffman is probably the humblest academic and most generous person I have ever encountered. He graduated with a BA degree from the prestigious University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Double Masters and a Doctorate from the same school. He was a schoolteacher, a college lecturer and a Superintended of Schools before he retired and took up his assignment in The Gambia. Being a former British colony, most Gambians have been made to believe that America has an inferior education system such that in the past, American graduates were sent to England for Refresher courses. So when news reached us that our British Professor Michael Burke’s contract had ended and an American was his replacement, we were all jittery that we may not have a person of Burke’s calibre. However, within one week, it was evident that in fact, we had always, needed a Dr. Huffman and so he became the darling of the English students. As for his contributions towards my American journey, that has to come in a book probably titled: My American Odyssey. He loved Africa and Africans, Gambia and Gambians. He is author of Under The Mango, A Toubab’s Life in The Gambia. His wife Mellie Huffman is my American mom for without her cooperation, Dr. Huffman could not have done all the great things he did and continues to do for my numerous friends and I. Binta and I wish the Huffmans longevity and good health so they would continue to shepherd their African children. 

To comment on this article please write to gthuffman@hotmail.com