My Journey From Kenya to America And Graduating With MA in Nuclear Medicine
By Mukurima Muriuki
If you told John Gitau that his journey from Kenya to the United States would at one stage be marked with a momentous achievement, he would have perhaps, answered to possibility of such a dream, with wise words uttered by the famed English poet and playwright William Shakespeare: "Dreams are children of an idle brain, born from nothing except frivolous imaginations." Except in the case of John, a dream he never envisioned, has come true!
A few weeks ago, John, fondly known as "Gits" by friends, graduated with a Masters degree in Nuclear Medicine. He was the the only African, and first of the four graduates in this course in the United States. Good things come in double. John was also the best in the hospital clinical rotations, and he recently took the Nuclear Medicine certification Board examination, and passed!I talked to John about his journey, triumphs and challenges, and this is what he had to say:
What do you remember most about your childhood?
I was born in Karura Village, Kiambu County, Kenya. As the last born and the man of the house in our little family of four: My mother, my grandma, and my sister.
What I remember most is the love and support from the family and community. Single families back then were stigmatized. But for my case, it was different. I was likable, charming and that surpassed the single-mother paradigm. Still, our African culture leaves a lot to be desired, much as we have seen change in recent years.
What inspired you at an early age?
My mother. She used to do menial and casual jobs to raise us. I wanted to make her proud one day. My grandmother was very religious, always pushing us to do the right thing. I also had an aunt who went out of her way to help others. She is really my pillar. The love from the three would never allow me to fail them, even though it took me longer than I would have wanted.
In primary school, I topped my class, all the 8 years. That meant working harder, it paid off when I broke our village record with 532 marks.
When did you migrate to USA?
In 2005, three years after high school. I was quite young and didn’t know a lot of things about the Western way of life.
What was your first culture shock?
People minding their own business most of the time, for starters. It could take up to a year before your neighbor could say a word to you.
But the South will shock you. I was used to Hollywood movies and the media which are mostly from the North. Then I came to the US and went to the South. Shock on me, the Western accent I was used from the media was nowhere near what I heard when I first came to Alabama.
The southern accent is so much different, from what foreigners are used to in the media. The south has two dialects; African-American and the White-American accent. Imagine working all night at a gas station at an African-American neighborhood and going to class in the morning at an all-white college. It was shocking and confusing first year in America for me.
What else was different in America?
As a young man, I was used to receiving instructions and being reminded how to do things. But here, I was only oriented for a month by my hosts and was left to my own devices. Life is busy in America, especially for foreigners who pick up two or three jobs at a time to make ends meet. No one ‘babysits” a grown person, you have figure out everything on your own. But some things are easier here than in Kenya. Even so, there is no one to tell you what is wrong from what is right. You have to differentiate and integrate! If you missed that lesson from parents, you are doomed. Young folks here have access to money since getting a job is quite easy, but so is the access to drugs, and that is how some waste their lives away. What was shocking, friends and people around you, will not tell you while you are falling through the cracks, back to the principle of “minding your business”. People can only talk about it behind your back.
Yet you had to adjust?
It took me a year of getting fully adjusted to the American way of life and the south especially. In Kenya, we had the British system, which is different from the American system. Such small details, like how you switch off the lights, how the taps turn the other way, driving on the right, were challenge at first; but I’m a quick learner, so most things were and are easy to learn.
What career did you want to pursue when you landed in America?
I came on a student visa to study Automotive Manufacturing, but as soon as I was in the land of milk and honey, the only career that majority Kenyans will advise you is Nursing. Of course, Nursing is a great career, but one can still pursue engineering and medicine. People will discourage you, how hard it is to get in, or how you will not handle doing such a course doing two jobs or how you will get stuck with students’ loans forever. That is what happened to me.
Even worse, the manufacturing industry was falling as well, that is how I picked up some few nursing and healthcare classes while still enrolled in my program but by then I was almost confused and did not know what to pursue anymore.
To maintain my student visa status, I had to float in school and enroll in a course after course. At one point I had to enroll for a bowling class, just to have that 12-hour credit requirement. After much floating in college without a goal, things became too tough and I dropped out of school for almost three years. I always laugh remembering the things I have gone through to survive.
Tough, did you finally achieve the goal?
Yeah, it wasn’t easy. When I went back to college, I decided to consult a college advisor, what I should have done in the first place. I discovered I had so many pre-requisites to enroll to any program. I chose General Medicine. But I had an extensive background in Physics that would have gone to waste. We figured out Nuclear Medicine is a program that requires both a physics background and a healthcare course. Through research I knew right then that I wanted to help diagnose, stage, and treat diseases.
If I could make the world better for someone, I knew I was making it better for myself too. I graduated with an Associate degree and applied to enroll for Bachelor's degree in Nuclear Medicine. Since the year I sent in the application was the last year at the University of Alabama, I was gong to have that program at the Baccalaureate level. They made the cut-off point requirement so strict and I didn’t make the cut. I ended up enrolling in Public Health because there was a word going around that Nuclear Medicine would come back at Masters level. When it came back at Masters level I was a junior in college, and I applied, but the bar was still so high; no one qualified that year. After graduating with my Bachelors, I studied really hard for the GRE to be accepted in the program and I did quite well. I later found out three others made the cut into the program.
Now, tell us about your recent milestone
I received my Master’s in Nuclear Medicine and having the honor of being the only and first of the four in the United States. I was the best in the hospital clinical rotations. And on January 23, I sat for my boards certification examination which is offered by Nuclear Medicine certification Board and I passed. So technically, so far, I am the only one certified in the whole of United States of America in the Masters level. The rest of my former classmates haven’t done their certification yet. We are a team and I know they are working hard to get certified soon.
How easy is it for a minority to accomplish a fete like that?
In America, I have realized, you can achieve anything you want, if you put your mind and hard work to it. Patience and persistence will take anyone to great heights. We have a lot of scientists and scholars of Kenyan descent.
So what do you do currently?
During my last few years in school, I have been working night shifts at a children hospital in Birmingham as a unit support. I have also specialized in Computed Tomography (CT), so currently I am also doing my hospital rotation for that. I will sit for the board certification in April.
What has been your experience with racism in America?
The south is the racism capital of America, especially in Alabama, but it is not as much as we read about it in the civil rights era. That generation hasn’t really faded but things are getting better. People in the south are getting used to the new world, where we are all equal. Most people in America think having an accent is synonymous with less intelligent and sometimes I get “special treatment” for being African and having an accent, sometimes when people talk to foreigners, they try to slow down the speech and use a few hand gestures to make us understand what they are saying.
To think that someone is less intelligent based on how they look is racist. Moreover, in Alabama a Driver's license will have, “foreign national” title for all Green Card holders and visitors any type of Visa. I think that is racist, labeling of people, because it makes them easy target every time they have to produce their licenses or IDs
What do you think direct flights from Kenya to New York?
It is a great stride for all Kenyans for boosting the economy and especially for diaspora Kenyans who reside in the States. Hopefully the flights will be affordable. It is a faster way to get home! It is also a great boost for Kenyan export market. Now we can compete with the rest of the world exporting fresh products to the world’s greatest consumers in less than 24 hours.
However, I had hoped they would choose a destination that has more Kenyan population like Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, Seattle or Minnesota. We still have to make connecting flights which statistically, unless one resides in the New York area, the flight to Kenya might end up being the same when it comes down to costs and hours. But let’s hope more airlines open routes to travel to Kenya from other US cities in the future.
What has been the most important lesson for you in America
In America you can be and you will be anything you want to be. You don’t have to know someone at the top to pull you up. Hard work really pays.
Who do you look up to?
My mentors include my mother, aunty and my sister. Outside my family, Obama has really set the bar so high for minorities and proven that we can be what we want in life, so I look up to him as well.
What is your favorite Kenyan/African song and why
Mwema by Mercy Masika. I really feel like those lyrics were written with me in mind. The Lord has really pulled me from nowhere to somewhere and I cannot hesistate to boast his goodness and grace to me. God win by Korede bello is another song that I really love because after everything I go through, God always won for me.
What would you tell Kenyans yearning to migrate to America?
It is not what you hear or see on Facebook and Instagram about most people; it’s not true or that easy. Some Kenyans are really working three or four jobs to maintain that flashy life you see in pictures. My advice: if you are in Kenya and you have a nice job and after paying your bills and maintenance, you are left with Sh 5,000 as savings every month, know that you are doing much better than many Kenyans in America.
Another thing, don’t leave your comfortable life for America, you will be shocked. Here people budget for paychecks they haven’t earned yet. But if you plan to come for school, there is great opportunity only if you are ready to go through the struggle, it is not going to be easy. It happens to everyone, whether you win a green card lottery or not. Without focus and hard work, the struggle is very real.
Say something about Donald Trump
He is a great businessman, that is how he built his empire. I would use his business model if I was to venture into business, of course apart from the part where I get to name everything I own after myself.
By naming everything after himself, it is the biggest indicator that he was an egocentric person, but almost half of Americans have the same ideology and that is how is president now. Clearly, he is racist, and not very clever person. He says and does things that are out of bounds for a man who holds the most powerful position in the world. Many people expect him to be impeached, but it is unlikely, if you ask me.
But I believe he will be a one-term president, losing to Michelle Obama. That will be the greatest insult to his administration; losing to an African-American woman. He has made it so easy for whoever is going to run against him in the next election. He is a good example of that one mistake that we all like to learn from. But the greatest worry now is that America might end up voting for anyone just to get rid of him and that might be catastrophic. If Alabama voted Democrats in the just concluded unprecedented senate special elections, believe Trump days will be over after this term.
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