Help Joe'l Get a Used Car to Get to Work

PLEASE HELP JOE'L RAISE ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY A USED CAR. This will help her get to and from work and enable a her to move to a cleaner and safer apartment. We (Kaeli and Naama) share how we met Joe'l after her introduction below.

Hello, my name is Joe'l B Gemani.

I grew up in DRC (Congo), and would probably still be there if not for the war. The war changed everything for me. I lost my family. I became a refugee, and after many years I was resettled by the UNHCR to America. I am working very hard to make my life here, and I tell more of my story after the note from Naama and Kaeli.

It is my dream to become a business owner. I am a hard worker and have many experiences that have been very difficult, but they also have made me strong and with a strong focus. My goal is to help people who are suffering in Africa with experiences like to my own -- like children in orphanages who have lost their parents due to war, and those suffering a hard life due to other bad situations.

To reach my goals, I very much need a car and that is why my friends Naama and Kaeli are helping me with this fundraiser. It is very difficult for me to get to work and be able to live in a clean and safe place without my own transportation. I work at Edesia in North Kingston and have to rely on colleagues to get there. I hope you will help me take the steps needed to reach my goals. If I am able to make more than I need for a car, I will use the other money to help me  start my cleaning business. I thank you very much.

A note from Naama and Kaeli about Joe'l :

We hope you will read more of Joe'l's story below. We first met Joe'l soon after she came to Providence in 2016.  We were immediately impressed and struck by her. Despite working long hours, in her free time Joe'l was always helping with Women's Refugee Care, a non-profit for Refugees from the DRC, Rwanda and Lake's Region of Africa. She regularly organized and supervised their clothing pantry, prepared meals for new families, and organized picnics and beach trips for the community. When tragedy struck the community and a beloved community member was killed by her estranged husband, Joe'l moved in with the woman's 4 children and took care of them for over a month while arrangements were made for the children to move in with an Uncle. She has often worked 2 jobs, and now works the 3rd shift at Edesia from 11-7pm, regularly taking overtime shifts. Having a car will open up many possibilities for Joe'l. She will be able to get herself to and from her work in North Kingston. She will be able to move new area and get a safe, quiet and clean apartment. And she can start working on her own business for which she will need her own transportation. Joe'l has been a good friend to us and to the community. We hope we can now collectively give her the support she needs. 

More from Joe'l about her journey to America:  

I the beginning of 2012 I was 16 living a safe and privileged life cared for by my grandparents. I lost my parents at age of 6 year, due to the war.

I can't forget the day I left my city and my family. My grandma ran a small Business. There was an old man who came all the time to buy things, and this man asked my family for my hand in marriage. My family said no, but he said if I refused to get married to him, he will kill me one day, so I was forced to marry him. .

My family reported to the police, but the man was rich and able to bribe the police. So I didn’t win the case. My family, trying to help me get away, decided to send me to another town closer to Uganda.

I was only in the town for two days before the war started. I was so terribly confused. I didn’t know where to go or run, so I decided to follow people as they, too, were running.  We were directed to go to Uganda, and I stayed in Uganda for two weeks, sleeping outside like a homeless person. 

There I met three Good Samaritans (they were 3 woman). I talked to them and they told me they going to help me, so I decided to stay with them and they brought me to Nairobi, Kenya. In Kenya I didn’t know anyone at all, so they brought me to the offices of the UNHCR for refugees. I continued to live in Kenya for another three years. Life there was not easy at all. Eventually, after three years, the UNHCR give me a resettlement to America. It took a year to get my acceptance and come to America.  

When you are resettled as a refugee, you don’t have a choice where you go; you are just sent to the place they have decided for you. First, I flew to New York, and from there I went to Providence, RI. I was welcomed and helped here in Rhode Island by Dorcas International. (Year?)

My first job in America I worked at a restaurant in Providence, and at the same time I had a part-time job at Marriott Hotel working in the Bistro. After that I got a job in East Providence, working at Proud Mary where we made doughnuts. Last year I got a full time job at Edesia, where I work the night shift.