Where Peter Gafa is from, green horning is the term used when someone is, as he put it, “about to get macho.” More generally speaking, the expression refers to an advance toward new beginnings or prosperity. Now in his second semester in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, the Ghana native feels his horns beginning to take shape and is determined to nurture them to full growth before returning home and fulfilling his longtime dreams.
At age 9, Gafa suffered from a Malaria attack that caused him to be hospitalized. Throughout his treatment, he was amazed at how kind and compassionate the nurses were during his illness, and that never left his memory. He, too, wanted to help people in such a way.
Come time for college, Gafa was ready to kick start his pre-med studies, but his mother believed a career in teaching was more fitting. “She told me I was a good problem-solver and could explain things to others really well,” he says. Gafa’s father was not opposed to his son’s career choice, but without approval from both parents, who helped pay for his education, Gafa felt obligated to listen to his mother.
He spent three years working toward his diploma in education at a teachers’ training college in Peki, Ghana, approximately five hours southwest of his hometown, Dzodze. During this time, he taught math, English and Ewe—a Niger–Congo language spoken in southeastern Ghana—for the Ghana Educational Services in a remote village named Vume and laughs as he recalls the taxing commute he made each day on his bicycle. “I crossed three rivers one way and had to remove my pants because the water was so high.” A spare change of clothes often helped get Gafa through the day, but it was his earnest heart that got him noticed.
Within Gafa’s first year of teaching at Vume, the school’s headmaster announced he was retiring and asked Gafa to take his place. “They look at your impact on the school and the community and how well you’ve been able to educate and counsel the villagers about the need and the benefits of their children’s education,” Gafa says. Taking all of this into consideration, the headmaster trusted Gafa would steer the school in a positive direction, and he was not mistaken. Enrollment at Vume was around 100 students when Gafa started. When his contract with the school expired three years later, that number had more than tripled.
Now equipped with adequate field experience, Gafa qualified for federal study and chose to pursue an Associate’s degree in Tourism, Rural Development and Accounting from Cape Coast Polytechnic. Upon graduating in 2007, he began his career in banking, working as a loan officer, but he still hadn’t quite let go of teaching. For more than two years, he left the office for one hour each day to teach English, math and science at a nearby high school.
Then, he received an e-mail that changed everything.
The U.S. Embassy notified Gafa that he had been selected as a winner of the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery Program. “I could not believe it,” Gafa says. “I had applied to that program three years earlier while working on my associate’s degree and completely forgot about it.” Gafa was one of 5.5 million people worldwide who submitted an entry to seek greener pastures in the U.S. Of that pool, 50,000 applicants were randomly to move on to the second stage of the program.
What’s more is that one of the most significant people in Gafa’s life was also selected. “I met a beautiful lady in college,” says Gafa of his now wife, Rejoice. Unknowingly, the two applied for the lottery program within the 60-day entry period. Together, they made the decision to complete the final stage of the applications process, which entailed several in-depth interviews. Nearly a year later, they became two of the 3,088 Ghanaians approved to embark on their transatlantic journey to the U.S.
Gafa’s mission was clear. “This was my chance to get back into the health sector,” he says fervidly. Not long after arriving to Omaha in February 2010, he and his wife enrolled at Metro Community College (MCC) to complete some pre-requisite courses. Gafa’s ultimate goal was to earn a Master’s degree in Nursing Administration while Rejoice hoped to augment her marketing background.
Within a year, the couple had to put their studies on hold. Rejoice suffered from serious medical complications and underwent an intense surgical procedure.
Along with the hardship of his wife’s poor health, Gafa struggled to find suitable employment. “Imagine working for years as a loan officer and coming to the U.S. and applying for jobs at banks and they say, ‘we are sorry, we’re unable to contact your bank and verify your employment,’” he says begrudgingly. He eventually settled for a job in environmental services at Nebraska Medicine—a stepping stone to the CNA position he received at the hospital two years later.
Things were looking up for Gafa. He felt secure in his job, had completed his general studies and began researching area BSN programs. He narrowed his options down to UNMC and Clarkson College, and the higher acceptance of transfer credits finalized his decision.
Gafa enrolled at Clarkson College in fall 2015. For his required Core I course service experience, he volunteered at the Refugee Empowerment Center, formerly the Southern Sudan Community Association, were he had a profound effect on immigrant couples from Southern Sudan, Burma and southern Asia. “He listened as they talked about the deplorable conditions they lived in while in refugee camps, the challenge of adjusting to American culture, and the pain of losing touch with their loved ones,” says Core I instructor Dr. Daniel Aksamit.
Being fluent in five languages, Gafa was able to translate lessons given at the Center into the refugees’ native tongue and explained the way the North American health care system differs from that of their home country.
He worked the closest with a Sudanese couple that did not know any English. “I started with the basics,” says Gafa. “Little by little, they caught on and can now speak some words and spell their names.” Their long-term sustainability was Gafa’s primary concern. “They talked about their bad moments in the refugee camps, losing touch with their culture and daily routines and how learning to adjust to the new culture in the U.S. was hard for them. What I have learned from my best experience [is] that people go through difficult moments in life, and there is the need to show them care and love.”
Although he did not directly speak with the refugee couples Gafa worked with, Aksamit says he is sure each found him to be a ray of hope in a land far from their home. “He purposely sought out a service site where his skills could be most beneficial to the population it served, [and] I believe [he] changed people’s lives by lending a sympathetic ear and providing advice so they could get the aid they needed.”
While enrolled in Core I, something very ironic happened during one of Gafa’s work shifts at Nebraska Medicine. “I was checking the blood pressure of a patient when his [the patient’s] wife (who knew of Gafa’s enrollment at Clarkson College) asked me if I knew Dr. Aksamit. I told her yes, yes I know him. He is a nice man, and a very good teacher.” It turns out that nice man—Aksamit— was the woman’s son and patient’s step-son. “That’s how life is,” states Gafa. “Wherever you are, you never know who you will cross paths with, so I always do the best I can and show respect.”
No different than in Ghana, Gafa maintains a humble and judicious character. “This is me; this is my position,” he says. “I grew up to be a very calm, quiet guy. People don’t like me, but I don’t take it personally. I remain focused on what I came here to do.”
Gafa is most grateful for his wife, Rejoice. “She is my best friend and encouragement,” he says, describing her as sweet, kind, calm and slow to anger. Residents in Gafa’s apartment complex are captivated by his and Rejoice’s civility. “They’re like, ‘these guys are amazing; they are just different. You do not quarrel, you are always holding hands and nice to each other. What is our secret?’” Gafa’s answer: “We respect each other—always.”
Although Gafa has not had the opportunity to visit his mother and six siblings in Ghana since arriving to Omaha in 2010 (his father passed away while he was earning his associate’s degree), Rejoice was able to visit her family while attending a conference in Nigeria in 2014.
Gafa hopes to graduate from Clarkson College in spring 2018 and then begin working on his nursing administration degree. Though a date to return home is uncertain for the couple, Gafa knows when it comes he is going to feel as “macho” as ever.
