An African immigrant's parents set their only daughter on a course for a better life by escaping their war-torn country and eventually finding their way to Idaho.

They succeeded. Their 5-year-old who fled the Republic of Congo with them just graduated with honors and plans to take their dreams a step further.

Nice Loufoua is charting her own course now with plans to help other refugees transition to America by earning a degree in social work earlier this month from Northwest Nazarene University.

Despite not knowing English until she was in fifth grade, the 21-year-old is the first in her family to go to college and graduated in just 3 1/2 years.

Her journey began in the capital of Congo, continuing along dusty roads to Gabon while fleeing a country rife with problems into a five-year-long resettlement process, a new home in another foreign country and eventually becoming a naturalized American citizen.

It culminates with a diploma in December and a walk across the stage in Johnson Sports Center in May with the rest of her peers.

"As a first-generation student there is definitely a pressure to not fail because your parents went through so much," said Loufoua, who was on the NNU track and field team the last two seasons. "If you don't have a better future, you feel like you disappointed your parents and that you let them down."

Loufoua's parents both graduated from high school but did not progress further because of war in their homeland.

"When you are fleeing for your life, safety is much more of a concern than education," Loufoua said. "You prioritize staying alive as opposed to becoming a college graduate."

Her parents have worked long hours to help put her through school, which is one reason she is graduating early – to lessen the financial burden on her family.

"She has worked very hard to get where she is," said LeAnn Stensgaard, the social work bachelor's program director. "She wanted to finish early so she could save money for her family. I think that reflects well on her to be thinking about that."

Her education is at the heart of why she is in America.

"Coming to the U.S. was a means of safety," said Albert Loufoua, Nice's dad. "However, having your first child attend college as an honors student and graduate early is a cause for celebration, too. We are incredibly proud."

Africa

Nice Loufoua doesn't remember much about leaving the Congo and her parents don't like to talk about it – with her or anyone else.

Over the years she has picked up bits and pieces of the story but feels it would be disrespectful to outright ask her parents to share what obviously was a painful decision.

"I can't even imagine how difficult it was for my parents," she said. "They are both very family-orientated. Growing up in a family environment like that, you don't just leave that unless you have to."

The country was being ripped apart by war and political scandals, and while the violence was distant and didn't directly affect the family it also was a reminder that it wasn't the best place to raise a family.

The Loufouas left the Congo with their 5-year-old daughter and made their way to Gabon, a country to the northwest. They walked, hitchhiked and rode with other families seeking asylum.

Upon arrival, they applied for resettlement to America through an agency called World Relief.

The process took half a decade. In that time, a younger brother was born and their faith was relied on.
 
"For five years as we waited for resettlement, we had no sense of security," Loufoua said. "The only thing that was consistent was our faith.
 
"We found comfort in praying as a family and confiding in members of our church. They arranged a carpool system with volunteer drivers to make sure we never missed any meetings with our agency."

The family attended assimilation trainings on the weekends, learning with other refugees about American culture, how to make small talk and other situations they would face abroad.

New faces in new places

Less than 1 percent of Idaho's population is black.

Imagine coming to Boise from Africa as a fifth grader, speaking no English and being thrust into the public school system.

Despite all the trainings the Loufouas went through in Gabon, despite the support of World Relief and of other refugees, the transition was rough.

"Everyone looks for people who are similar to them," Loufoua said. "For example, when you are younger you are like, 'Oh, me and Stacy both have blonde hair. We are going to be best friends.' So, I did struggle with that in fifth grade. I didn't really have a friend until sixth grade.

"I didn't know how to approach people and if people approached me, I didn't have the English to respond properly."

Loufoua struggled in school initially because of the difference not only in language but in her inability to ask for help. In Africa, teachers teach and students listen. In America, teachers interact with students and if the kids are falling behind they can ask for help.

Slowly but surely, Loufoua found a group of friends and started to do better in school.

In high school, she joined a program called Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). It is designed to help students develop the skills they need to be successful in college.

One of her teachers in the program at Capital High in Boise was Paul Rush, who now is the head men's basketball coach at NNU.

"She had a lot of motivation and an intrinsic drive to succeed," Rush said. "She was definitely one of the top performers in the AVID program intelligence-wise and preparation-wise."



College

Loufoua holds an outsized role in her family.

Her parents speak good English, but if they aren't sure about a document they call their daughter to help.

She helps translate at appointments, with applications for jobs or even permission slips from school.

Going out of state for college wasn't possible because that meant traveling and with limited local options, Northwest Nazarene seemed like the right fit. Not only because of the small size, but because of its strong social work program.

"My parents did not discourage me or insist I attend a cheaper school," she said. "I wanted to stay close to home and they wanted the same. I was much more likely to be focused at a school where tuition was too high not to be."

Here at NNU, her professors describe her with words like driven, academically rigorous and hard worker.

"She is a natural," said David Blowers, director of the Cross Cultural Program and head of the Cultural Anthropology Major. "She is almost a step ahead of me in some of the things she has tried.

"She's having a cross-cultural experience by being here of course, but she has an awareness of culture and an ability to process it in an academically rigorous way."

Athletics

Every week after her homework was complete her freshman year, Loufoua would send letters pursuing grants and scholarships to help pay for her schooling.

Her sophomore year, she took a different path – track and field.

She ran track in middle school when she needed something to do for three hours after class while waiting for a ride. After competing at Capital with mixed results, she planned to give up the sport to focus on academics.

But she changed her mind after her freshman year at NNU and emailed associate head coach Nick Collins to see if she could walk on to the team. He said yes and the decision altered how the rest of her college days played out.

After a strong sophomore season, she received a scholarship for her junior year.

"I went from being bored and needing something to do," she said, "to having track pay a good chunk of my tuition. I was very fortunate."

In the final jump of her career at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, she jumped the second best triple jump in program history to land second place.

Athletics also helped her make friends, including fellow African Ebu Camara. Camara is from Guinea and speaks French just like Loufoua.

"It was easier for me to get comfortable," he said. "To talk about stuff we did back in Africa with somebody who endured the same thing. She is really smart and likes to joke around, but she is always trying to help people out.

"It made me happy to see someone from Africa."

Moving forward

In the last two years as the political discourse in America has grown even more divided, Loufoua has heard many hurtful comments about refugees, immigrants and people of color.

She has chosen many times not to speak out about it because she figures people won't change their minds.

That doesn't mean she doesn't have strong feelings, though.

"I would say that being a refugee or an immigrant is not a choice – it is a fight. A fight for safety," she said. "You don't choose to be an intruder. You don't choose to be a 'bottom feeder' or a 'job stealer.' You don't choose any of that. It's a fight to seek out safety. That is your priority. And anything anyone has to say about it doesn't matter, because you know you're safe."

As she leaves NNU to pursue her dreams of helping other refugees and immigrants transition to America she offers a call to action to her community.

"Change your perspective," Loufoua said. "Be willing to listen to people who might have different views because of where they have come from – the trauma they have come through.

"It's OK to want to approach people who are different than you as opposed to just staying with your comfortable friends."
 
Loufoua certainly hasn't had a life of comfort, but through it all her family has survived by faith and the help of many people.
 
"I don't know when I became a Christian," she said. "But I know that my family did not survive by luck."