Eight years ago, Cynthia Mandjila got off an airplane in Washington. Her family, refugees from war-torn Congo, in Central Africa, sought asylum in America.

A French speaker who didn’t know a word of English , Cynthia had never seen snow or eaten American fast food.  And who was this Harry Potter fellow everyone was talking about?

As a student at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Cynthia was a stranger in the strange land of American teenagers.

Months later, she heard about the African Club. Cynthia found her way to the room of Blair faculty adviser David Ngbea, where immigrants from Africa gathered on Wednesday afternoons after school.“It’s crucial for these kids to meet others who have been through the same thing, to feel they’re not alone,” said Dr. Wanjiru Kamau. founder and President of the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation (AIRF), parent organization of the African Clubs.

Continued at: http://voicenewspapers.com/2010/12/01/eight_years_ago_cynthia_mandji/