The Crossing: Voices from The Lighthouse
The Crossing: Voices from The Lighthouse, is a production of The Lighthouse, a resource and safe haven for asylum-seekers and their families as they engage in the process of pursuing their legal asylum in the United States.
To learn more, please visit lighthousenj.org.
The Crossing: Voices from The Lighthouse
When Faith Meets Freedom: Jessica's Journey from Burkina Faso to America
Jessica's voice carries the quiet power of someone who has walked through darkness and emerged with purpose. As our first house manager at The Lighthouse, she helped create a community for asylum seekers when her own journey was still unfolding. Nine years after we first met, Jessica now shares how a leap of faith brought her from Burkina Faso to an unexpected six months in U.S. immigration detention.
"I was the only French-speaking person there," Jessica recalls of her detention experience. Far from being defeated by isolation, she formed bonds with Spanish-speaking detainees as they learned English together by watching television and attending weekly religious services. This resilience foreshadowed her future role at The Lighthouse, where she would befriend those from Syria, Honduras, Ecuador, and Mexico, building lasting bonds despite language barriers.
Jessica's story illuminates the hidden workforce behind our everyday conveniences. Now a U.S. citizen balancing warehouse work with pursuit of a social work degree, she describes picking and packing online orders alongside fellow immigrants from Africa, Haiti, and Latin America. "It's only my boss who is white," she notes about the warehouse staff, offering a glimpse into the essential labor performed by those who've come seeking better lives. Despite the physical demands of this work, Jessica persists in her education, determined to serve refugees and immigrants once she completes her degree.
Faith remains Jessica's cornerstone. From her grandfather who served as a pastor to her unwavering commitment to attend church even when offered holiday overtime pay, Jessica's spiritual foundation guides her journey. "When you are a believer you have to have faith, because faith can do everything," she shares, her words a testament to finding meaning beyond hardship. Her story challenges us to recognize our shared humanity and responsibility toward those seeking refuge. How might our communities change if we all approached newcomers with Jessica's blend of compassion and clarity?
Please consider supporting The Lighthouse, a haven to those navigating our broken immigration system. We strive to ensure that those seeking safety never have to navigate their darkest moments alone.
For more information, please visit lighthousenj.org.
Welcome back to the Crossing Voices from the Lighthouse, where we share the powerful stories of asylum seekers who have journeyed far in search of safety, dignity and hope. In today's episode, I speak with someone very dear to the lighthouse Jessica, our very first house manager. Originally from Burkina Faso, jessica came to the US seeking asylum in a new beginning. In our conversation, she reflects on her experience in immigration, detention, her unexpected role in shaping the early days of the lighthouse and her ongoing journey toward building a life of purpose and service. Jessica's story is rooted in faith, shaped by resilience and filled with a deep desire to uplift others. Here's our conversation.
Jill:Hi, Jessica, how are you? It's so good to be able to have a chance to chat with you. How have you been? Hi, mommy, I'm doing good and you? I'm doing really well. Thank God, it's so good to hear your voice. Yes, it's been a long time. It's been a long time and we go way back. How long ago is it that we met? Now? It's nine years now. Nine years, that's really incredible. I know when I met you, you had actually been in this country for a little while, so you're a little bit different than the other asylum seekers who have been at the lighthouse because you came on board as our house manager, lived here for a little while and you, in fact, were our very first original house manager when the lighthouse first opened.
Jessica:Yes, because when you met me I was already two years in this country. Because when you met me I was already two years in this country and I was living in Sycocuse with the First Reformed Church and you opened the lighthouse and you gave me the chance to come stay there with you guys. So I stayed here one year, six months before the old lighthouse closed years, six months before the old lighthouse closed.
Jill:What was that like for you the experience to come there and to be the house manager in this project. That was really new. We didn't know what we were getting into or really what we were doing. Remember, we were really stepping out on faith. What was that like for you to have that responsibility and to be the house manager to people from all different parts of the world?
Jessica:It was a good opportunity and honor for me because when I got released from the detention center, our first friend gave me the temporary housing that was in Secaucus and when I stayed there they gave me permission to stay longer than the other people. So I stayed over there almost two years. They didn't tell me to move, but I was supposed to move because they are a newcomer, a new lady is getting released from detention center and they don't have a place to put them. So I said it's time for me to give my bedroom and this chance to another person. So I was ready to look for a bedroom and when I was chatting with my friend and asking them if they know anyone who wants to share a bedroom with me or rent me a bedroom, at that time it was like $500, $600.
Jessica:And that time I was working at H&M picking and packing the product. I was only getting minimum wage. That time it was $875. And for $875, I was getting barely 400 a week and with 400, I want to eat, I want to pay rent. I see that it was difficult for me and God made his way and spoke to you and you wanted to open the lighthouse and I came here. So I was very happy to stay here. So I got to save money to go back to school and the place was really safe, secure and for me that is a lady who likes to go to church and we live in the church at the same time it was a good opportunity for me and to see those females coming out from detention too. I was so happy to be there.
Jill:I remember when I met you for the first time and this opportunity, you know, was there and you were interested I said this is really the Holy Spirit in action, right? Yes, yes.
Jessica:So God works in different ways, because I would have like gone to somewhere that I would not like and paying all this money, and this was a blessing. For all of us who were there from Burkina Faso, syria, honduras, those Ecuadorians, coming Mexicans it was a really blessing to share the same house, the same food and talk in our different language and understand each other. It was so great because none of us was speaking English. I was the only one who can say a few words in English. All of them were blank, but we communicate.
Jill:So listen. So let's back up a minute, jessica, so that our listeners can just understand. Tell us you know what country you're from and really how you got here, because there's very few cases like yours, Jessica, where a woman came by herself that I have worked with at the lighthouse. Very often it was single men or families, but very rarely did I see women come through by themselves. To make that trip solo is not easy. Can you tell us a little bit about how Opak came about?
Jessica:I'm from Burkina Faso. I decided to come to ask for asylum and at the airport, they asked me why you want to stay here. I said I want to stay here because I'm Christian and I know that this country is a lot of Christian, and I'm coming here for opportunities. I stay a week after a week because then, in 2014, elizabeth Detention Center couldn't detain ladies, so it was only men, ladies, so it was only men. So they brought me to Delaney Hall. That was the ladies was there in Delaney Hall. When I arrived, I was the only French-speaking person there. It was too much trouble. And when I asked for a translator, they bring me Asian translator that he wasn't even the same French that we speak, so it was too much.
Jill:Okay, and how long did you stay in the Elizabeth Detention Center?
Jessica:I spent six months.
Jill:Wow, and what was that experience like day to day?
Jessica:Day to day. We were like chit-chatting, learning English, because most of us I was the only French speaking and the others were from the Central American Spanish speaking people, so none of us were speaking English. So we were learning English by watching the television. We were knitting some like bags and doing different kind of games. We became like family too, and we had our services. There was one pastor who was coming every Tuesday and Saturday for our service. What is your status now? Now I'm a citizen. When I came after the detention, I got my green card and after five years I got my citizenship. Now I'm a citizen, I'm working and I'm able to finish my bachelor degree.
Jill:And tell us a little bit about what you're studying. I'm studying social work, and what are your goals when you finish? What would you like to do with your social worker degree?
Jessica:When I finish, I want to work with local agencies and my population. I choose the refugees and immigrants. I want to give back to the communities, to help the French-speaking refugees and immigrants to know my story, to know that they are not the only one looking for freedom and peace, because you have to get the courage to walk out from violence, because some people want to stay and fight back and it has more consequences. So I want to tell them that they are not alone. We are standing with them and we will help them. And in this country it's not only us, even people who came here 200 years ago, 300 years ago, from Europe. They were looking for freedom, for peace, for a place to worship. So we have to welcome them, to give them the chance Some are very educated To give them those opportunities. So, yes, when I finish, I will find a local organization to work with this population, the newcomers.
Jill:That's really powerful. Jessica, I know you have been working really hard to make this schooling possible for yourself. You've been working while going to school, part-time. Tell us a little bit about the work that you do to pay the bills each month, okay.
Jessica:Since I came, I was working in the warehouse. Now I got another company in Seco, because that's where I'm working. I work five days a week and I'm a full-time student too. My Sunday, saturday, is for me to do my assignments and time to go to church.
Jessica:I noticed that in this country if you don't go to school, you cannot do nothing. You are stuck with this kind of work and for me, being like a bureaucrat, back in my country and come back like my first time when I came here, I went to H&M and I have to fold clothes, I have to unbox boxes. It was very hard for me because back home I was just working in my office. So it was really hard for me at the beginning. But I see too that I have to work because I don't have nobody to help me. In the beginning I have a lighthouse that I have to sleep free and was not paying rent. It was only my kitchen and some clothes. But now I have to pay my rent, I have to pay my t-shirt, so I have to work hard, and what does the work do in the warehouse?
Jessica:Some people order online. So when we go in the morning you pick your card and you pick the paperwork, you go to the warehouse, you pick all the stuff that the clients order and you pack them in the box and you ship them to you guys. So when you guys got your box from every company that you order, it's some people, ladies and men, who are picking and packing. Sometimes they even don't speak English. They speak French, Creole, Spanish. They go to the warehouse, they pick your product, they box it nicely, lovely, and the UPS or the post office come and pick them, or DHL, FedEx come and pick them to drop it in front of your gates.
Jill:There's a lot of immigrants working in this industry and in these picking packing warehouses yes, yeah, you're right.
Jessica:You don't know about this job because, like in my company, it's only my boss who is white. All of us are Blacks from Africa, haiti, jamaica, guyana and Spanish people. So, yeah, we are the one working there.
Jill:Wow.
Jessica:Thank you for doing that work. Yes, on Christmas time. It's really busy the holidays because people order a lot so we have to work. Sometimes they want us to come and work Christmas day, christmas Eve, but me, you know, I always put my religion first. So on Christmas day I never take the overtime. But you know.
Jill:I like it. Yeah Well, you've been doing it so long and so well and it's been able. You know you've been able to support yourself and pay your tuition, so that's admirable. Yes, thank you. So I was wondering just if you could tell us, jessica, you know, over this 9, 10, 11 year period, I guess that you have what have been some of the hardest things about the experience and what have been some of the unexpected joys and things that you've discovered along the way that maybe you wouldn't have otherwise experienced.
Jessica:Mostly it's the detention center, because I didn't know that you can just come from your country and go straight to detention center. Because for me I was thinking, when I tell them like this, they will say, okay, they will give me some paperwork to show up in the church place and give me a place to stay. I was not expecting that.
Jill:And how about some of the maybe more joyful or happy moments that you're just so grateful that you were able to experience?
Jessica:Thanksgiving's time when we were gathering at the lighthouse together. We are thankful because some people to get deported from the airport, from the detention center. So we are thankful and I'm really thankful to my church community.
Jill:Yeah, yeah. And I think my last question, Jessica, is really I know that faith is very important to you. Can you just tell us a little bit about what role faith has played in your journey and in helping you to maintain your strength and perspective, Because I'm sure there were times when maybe you wanted to give up or said I can't do this.
Jessica:You know. Tell us a little bit about how you leaned on your faith in those moments. I was born in the Christianity, in a Protestant household. My grandpa was a pastor, so we know that every time that you have something in your heart and you really need it, you have to pray. You have to believe and pray and ask God to guide you and help you. And when you are a believer you have to have faith, because faith can do everything. So you have to be faithful and patient, because some things, some good, good things, take a long time well, jessica, I really thank you for your time.
Jill:Your story is such a powerful one. How you have been able to transform something tragic that happened to you into what can really be a blessing for other people. That's really God at work, and it's something that I truly, truly admire. You are going to be in a position to really help women find their strength and their power, and that's a blessing.
Jessica:Thank you. I didn't want to miss this opportunity to share my story and to strengthen those people who are playing oppression, those kind of bad things, and I'm asking God to touch the heart of our residents and the government, because it's not easy. They are lucky to be here. Here is more peaceful. There are a lot of countries going bad right now. So to touch their heart, to don't be really harsh on us, because we are human beings too. We need freedom and help. They don't know the chance, the opportunity to be an American, because a lot of people don't have freedom right now in their countries, like my country, burkina Faso. Every day, a lot of millions of people are killed, every time in Haiti, palestine, israel. I'm asking God to touch their heart to accept them.
Jill:Please continue to pray for that. Pray for a way for us to be reminded that we are all brothers and sisters. We must care for each other, and let us continue to pray on that. Jessica's courage and clarity of purpose are deeply inspiring. Her story reminds us that faith can carry us through even the hardest of seasons and that our calling is often shaped by the challenges we've overcome. As Jessica said, we are all human beings seeking peace and opportunity, and it is our shared responsibility to welcome, support and pray for one another. If Jessica's story moved you, please share this episode and keep praying with us for compassion, for justice and for a world where everyone is treated with dignity. For more information about the Lighthouse, please visit us at lighthousenjorg. Until next time, may peace be with you.