Jean-Aime Mbiyabondo, a page from the Congo, takes a couple of cups from Sen. John Nelson of Omaha to be refilled. / Photo by Demetria Stephens
By Joseph Moore / Nebraska News Service
An immigrant from Central Africa hopes to bring the democracy lessons he learns inside the Nebraska Legislature back to his home country where he plans to run for president.
Jean-Aime Mbiyabondo works as a page in the Legislature, preparing documents for senators and fetching their morning coffee. Like the other pages, Mbiyabondo performs his duties wearing a white-collared shirt underneath a black vest with black trousers. Unlike the other pages, mostly younger students from local colleges, he is 43 years old and an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Mbiyabondo came to the United States seven years ago through the Diversity Visa program. The program grants about 50,000 visas every year to citizens from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. Visa recipients are randomly selected from a pool of applicants who must meet certain requirements, like having a high school diploma or work experience in a high-demand field. In 2012, more than 14 million qualified entries applied, of which only 50,000 were chosen.
“Everyone in the world dreams of being in the U.S.A.,” Mbiyabondo said. “I was very lucky.”
Mbiyabondo lived in Columbus, Ohio, for one month before a friend told him he would be better off leaving the big city and settling in a quieter place like Nebraska. He took the advice.
While he was an employee in the Ministry of Budget in the DRC, Mbiyabondo started his own nonprofit organization to help poor children living in the streets. After settling in Lincoln, he started another nonprofit, International American Solidarity in Bigheartedness Work, to help French-speaking immigrants from Central and West Africa adjust to life in America.
“We work with French-speaking immigrants to provide them with basic needs,” Mbiyabondo said. He added that there are many organizations for Spanish and Arabic speakers but few that cater to Central and West Africans, of which he estimates there are a few thousand in Lincoln. “People from Central and West Africa often have problems connecting with American culture when they first arrive,” he said.
Working in the Legislature has given Mbiyabondo the opportunity to experience American politics and government firsthand.
“I like the American political system,” he said, adding that he is especially interested in Nebraska’s system because it’s the only non-partisan, unicameral legislature in the country. “Everyone leaves their politics behind,” he said.
Mbiyabondo also enjoys the occasional chat with a senator, recalling a conversation about American politics with Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln.
Coash remembers their talk. “I was explaining the bill process to him and how you really have to get both sides of the story and you can’t always trust the media,” he said. Coash met Mbiyabondo for the first time when speaking at Doane College in Lincoln where Mbiyabondo attends classes.
Mbiyabondo hopes to take these lessons in democracy back with him to the DRC where he plans to run for president in 2016.
He says the DRC is a dictatorship. “We say it’s democratic, but we don’t really have a democracy,” Mbiyabondo said.
The DRC experienced a brutal civil war between 1998 and 2003 that resulted in the deaths of 5.4 million people, earning it the morbid distinction of deadliest conflict since World War II. Violence continues in some parts of the country and the current president, Joseph Kabila, has been accused of corruption and vote rigging.
“I will apply what I’ve learned in the DRC,” Mbiyabondo said. He says he is confident that he can win the election.
Mbiyabondo plans to leave his four young children, three of whom were born in the U.S., when he goes back to run for president.
“After my term, I will come back to the U.S.,” he said, “because I cannot live without my family.”
