The little boy in a Tanzanian refugee camp, born to Burundian parents fleeing genocide, struggled to find confidence, creativity and happiness, then help came in the surprising form of a teacher, algebra and a Swahili dictionary.
That little boy was Shaban Athuman who arrived in the Salem ten years ago. At twelve, he spoke no English. But his math teacher, Tammy McPeake at Andrew Lewis Middle School in Salem, with hardly a pause, got a Swahili dictionary, and taught him the algebra he needed to know to pass tests, persevere and graduate.
“They came in, shut the door and told me to sit down,” she said. “They told me I’d be getting a new student. And I thought, well, that’s all right, I’ve had kids that spoke only Spanish. I can handle that. They said, “It’s not Spanish.” And I said, “Swahili? Well, I’ll do the best I can.”
She had been teaching about six years. There were no translators, and even Google Translate was erratic, but another teacher had been on a mission to Tanzania and knew a little Swahili.
“She said, Go get a Swahili dictionary, so I did,” McPeake said.
“The kid was incredible,” she said, “He was so sweet and he couldn’t communicate. His family couldn’t communicate. They couldn’t get to know anybody because they couldn’t communicate. It was so sad. So, that really pushed me to help.”
Now, a decade and a degree in fine arts from Western Kentucky University later, Athuman came back to thank McPeake, tell her about his new job at the Dallas Morning News and to tell other eighth grade students at her new school, Dalton Intermediate, about hard work, perseverance and helping others.
Tammy McPeake is now Tammy Dye teaching math at Dalton. Her new husband, Brian Dye teaches physical science there. Shaban kept in touch.
“Thank you for everything you did for me. I wouldn’t be where I am now. You were the only one. You were always there. I can’t go to Dallas and not tell you thank you,” Athuman said.
She invited him to come visit her students, many who struggle with math and life, and have a hard time embracing that struggle and persisting in the face of setbacks.
“They just really believe they can’t do it. As soon as they hit a wall, they just quit. But he motivated the heck out of them,” Dye said. “This culture and the instant gratification, even to cook something, a microwave and it’s done, a text, this generation struggles with waiting. The school system is working on that, but Athuman is from a different culture and he just kept working.”
While the circumstances that had brought Shaban to where he was as an eighth grader were worlds away from the Radford kids he was talking to, Brian Dye wrote in an email that one of the main reasons Shaban came to share his time with JDIS students was to speak on what he did have in common with them.
“The first thing that he spoke about was that everyone has obstacles in the way. They tend to block us from doing what we want and can do,” he said.
HIs life is a testament of how determination and dedication can help anyone overcome even the biggest obstacles, Dye wrote.
Talking to these eighth-graders, Athuman described the obstacles that he faced very early on in his life.
“In 1994, my parents fled the political unrest in their homeland of Burundi, and soon thereafter, I was born in a refugee camp in Kanembwa, Tanzania. For twelve years, this was home. In 2008, my family and I were accepted into the United States as refugees,” Shaban told the class.
But the thing they had in common was a specific teacher, who he gives total credit to for helping him be who and where he is today.
“I would not have succeeded in school, or in life for that matter, if it had not been for my pre-algebra teacher, Mrs. Dye. When I came to Salem, I didn’t speak English. Mrs. Dye took the time to create notes and work in my native language of Swahili, so that I could learn. She did this because she cared, not because she had to,” he said. “Thank you for everything you did for me. I wouldn’t be where I am now. You were the only one. You were always there. I can’t go to Dallas and not tell you thank you.”
Athuman studied photojournalism at WKU, and completed internships at The Richmond Herald and The Denver Post.
“As I learned English, I was learning photography. Often I practiced interactions with others from behind the comfort of a camera. As I grew more comfortable, I found that I could use photography to help others just as much as it helped me,” Athuman said.
Each JDIS class Athuman visited ended with a question and answer period, and students took the time to shake his hand and to thank him personally.
“Since hearing [Athuman’s] story, students have reflected on what was shared. They have been moved and wanted to share their thoughts with the community and with Shaban himself,” Dye wrote.
Many wrote about inspiration and how their perspectives had changed.
“I find everything he went through very inspiring. It made me realize that life isn’t always easy for everyone,” eighth-grader Maddison Graham wrote. “He had an amazing story that I think more people should hear.“
“I find it very inspiring how he came to an unfamiliar place where he didn’t know anyone. He is now working at his dream newspaper. He went through so many struggles and is so successful. We take it for granted how easy we have it,” classmate Erin Wilson wrote. I think Shaban was really cool and he inspired me not to give up no matter what.”
“The more I did, the more he wanted to do,” Dye recalls. “I would circle a word and say it the best I could from the Swahili dictionary and I wondered, ‘Is he understanding anything?’ It took forever before I saw him grasp it. If he had stopped…I like to think I’d keep going, but I don’t know if I would have,” she said.
In the end, I won’t say it was me. He won’t say it was him. We just say it was us.”
