Laura Glesby Photos
Gladys Mwilelo reading to Clemente 6th graders Wednesday.
Jeremiah Pierce and classmates listen to Mwilelo's story.
After reciting a verse she composed herself, Gladys Mwilelo asked the class of curious Roberto Clemente sixth-graders peering back at her: “Do any of you write poems?”
“I share them with my little brother,” answered Yulianisse Féliciano with a wry smile. “He laughs at me.”
Mwilelo knows what it means to offer a voice that no one seems to know how to hear. When she first arrived in New Haven as a refugee, she didn’t know a word of English — and none of her classmates could speak Swahili.
So she responded to Féliciano with encouragement: “I promise you, one day I will be glad to read your poem.”
Mwilelo, who coordinates an afterschool program at Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), was one of about 10 guest readers to appear at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy at 360 Columbus Ave. in honor of World Read-Aloud Day on Wednesday morning.
She was joined by other local leaders, from Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez to New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Office of Youth, Family & Community Supervisor Principal Kermit Carolina, to read books selected from the school’s library to Clemente students and answer questions about their lives.
Literacy Coach Cara Cuticello assigned Mwilelo to read to Nancy Bonilla and Nancy Wattnem’s sixth grade classes, who squished together in one room to meet their guest. Mwilelo selected two picture books — My Voice Is A Trumpet, by Jimmie Allen, and Kindness Makes Us Strong, by Sophie Beer. She also came prepared with a poem she wrote a year ago about the different meanings of “running” that have woven through her own life.
Mwilelo didn’t just read the words out loud. She paused on every page to ask the sixth graders a relevant question, transforming the act of reading into a dialogue.
“Kindness is offering comfort,” Mwilelo narrated from Beer’s book. She looked up and asked the students if they’d ever approached a friend who wasn’t feeling well and asked them, “How are you?”
Khtema Mohammad raised her hand. “Miss, my friends, they don’t talk. They put their head down.”
“That’s O.K.,” said Mwilelo. “When they get home, they’ll remember you asked.”
Delante Harris, hand raised.
Later, in the middle of My Voice Is A Trumpet, Mwilelo read, “Some have a voice, sunny and light.” She asked the classroom: “Do you know someone whose voice can lighten your day?”
“Yes!” called out Delante Harris. “Michael Jackson.”
Mwilelo smiled. “That was a beautiful voice.”
From A Refugee Camp To C-Town
Khtema Mohammad.
After reading the library books, Mwilelo told her own story to the sixth graders.
“I came to this country as a refugee,” Mwilelo began. She explained that a refugee is someone who’s forced to flee their country. Her family comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which erupted in war when she was a toddler. Mwilelo’s family fled to Burundi for over a decade before receiving admission to the United States in 2013.
Mwilelo didn’t know how to pronounce the word “Connecticut” when she first moved here, she said, explaining how she got stuck on the Ts and Cs of the word. “I was 13. I knew zero English. I came with my entire family,” including 12 siblings.
Before arriving in New Haven, she didn’t realize that the weather here would be cold. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, it’s always warm, Mwilelo explained. “We did not bring jackets.”
“How did you get a jacket?” asked Mohammad.
“We were received by an organization called IRIS” — the very organization where she now works, Mwilelo said. At IRIS, a community of fellow refugees embraced her family and helped them obtain the resources they would need for life in New Haven.
“What did you think of snow?” asked Jeremiah Pierce.
“My dad calls snow ‘white sand,’ ” responded Mwilelo, to laughter from the students.
Mwilelo entered high school at age 14, just a few months after moving to the U.S. “I cried a lot because everyone knew what they were doing,” she said. “When I first came, I spoke Swahili. Nobody else spoke Swahili.”
“If you didn’t know how to speak English, how did you get friends?” asked one student softly.
“I didn’t have friends my first two years,” Mwilelo said.
“From when you moved until now, did you meet anybody who spoke your language?” another student asked.
Yes, Mwilelo said, but not until she was older. “I’m proud of my language,” she added.
Mwilelo eventually graduated from college and began working at IRIS, where she runs an afterschool program that serves third through eighth graders who migrated to New Haven from all across the world. Her students are from Guatemala, Afghanistan, Iraq, Venezuela, Colombia, and other countries. The building overflows with different languages.
“Culture differences can be a big tension,” Mwilelo said outside the classroom. “My job is to make everyone feel safe. A lot of our kids have been through so much.”
The kids get homework help in the afterschool program, but Mwilelo’s favorite part of the program is the social-emotional learning component. “I learn to appreciate who they are as children.”
It’s been ten years since Mwilelo first moved to New Haven. She’s now 24 years old.
As her classroom visit went on, the sixth graders — initially shy — began to bubble with questions about Mwilelo’s life.
They learned that she’s not only a reader but an author. She co-wrote a book called Each of Us a Universe with Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo, a middle-grade book about two girls who have each gone through their own difficult life experiences and who learn to become friends.
Teacher Nancy Bonilla pulled up an image of Mwilelo's co-authored book.
They learned that she spent three weeks of her life in a refugee camp. They learned that she’s a big fan of K‑Pop. They learned that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mwilelo’s family frequently ate rice, beans, and chicken — all foods she’s able to find at C‑Town, which was the first store she ever went to in New Haven.
They learned that she’s never gone back to Congo, which is a 24-hour flight away. That she doesn’t feel ready to visit the country yet, although she wants to someday.
And they heard another retelling of Mwilelo’s experience, refracted through the words of a poem she wrote last year: “I ran with little to carry, with no memory of home.”
Guest readers and school readers along with Principal Mia Duff (third from right) in the Clemente library.
See below for other recent Independent articles about teaching, reading, and working inside New Haven Public Schools classrooms.
• Middle-School GSA Finds Its Way
• Student Council Gets Down To Governing
• In Class, High-Schoolers Learn To Lead
• High-Schoolers Get Tips From Future Selves
• TAG Turns Into“Wellness Wednesday”
• Volcano Pose Helps Students Erupt, Cool Off
• Gateway Chief Uncovers Student Superpowers
• New Tutoring Site Focuses On Phonics
• Race Finds A Place In The Classroom
• “Little Engineers” Build Boats For Pirate Pete
• Seeking Stability, Cross Principal Hits The Halls
• Hispanic Heritage Takes Center Stage At Career High Fest
• Teacher Tim Takes To TikTok
• Amid Shortage, Teachers Cite Disrespect
Beautiful!
Reading should be fun and rewarding (and writing too). Well done!!