{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcoming-to-america.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fe34-burundian-in-the-usa-XEuYMOKo","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"E34- Burundian in the USA","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/266f43e6-ed48-4020-a7d7-1002d55eeb59/05bb3ad7-ebc7-430e-b345-8774ecdc016d/cropped_1790719019730.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"In this episode of the “Coming to America” podcast, the host interviews Wilson Kubwayo, a Burundian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 2008 and now serves as a business faculty member at Portland Community College and founder of WK Social, a digital marketing agency. Wilson shares leaving Burundi as a toddler, growing up in a refugee camp in Tanzania until age 12, and how camp life, rations, and emerging self-sufficiency shaped his humility and resilience. He discusses colonial-era ethnic divisions affecting Burundi/Rwanda, then recounts resettling in Tucson, Arizona, facing language barriers, bullying, recession-era hardship, and learning that refugees repay travel loans. \n\nThe family moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for meatpacking work and stability, leading to homeownership. Wilson studied business and philosophy, started a youth nonprofit, left a job after being denied time off, earned an MBA, moved to Portland in 2018, bought a duplex in 2020, and created a quarterly Black professionals networking mixer centered on storytelling. \n\nHe advises newcomers to learn their history, refine their values, and build pathways for others."}