The challenges she faced as an international student in the United States are what fuel her each day, says Gloria Mensah, co-founder and executive director of the GK Folks Foundation, on the foundation’s website.
She writes, “For several years, I could not look into the eyes of anyone, whether they were a stranger, acquaintance or even colleague at school/work. ... Also, I could not speak in public, and as a result, held myself back from fully exploring my potential and sharing my talents.”
Mensah, a former BYU–Hawaii student from Nigeria, said her time at BYUH inspired her to make decisions that led to the founding of GK Folks, a non-profit located in Utah, which works to support African immigrants and refugees.
“I can recall when I finally had the courage to step out of my fears, how disheartening it felt to be ridiculed because of my accent,” continues Mensah. “Surrounded by other Africans, and seeing I was not alone in this cultural dilemma, I wanted to do something. I wanted to serve. Hence the birth of the foundation.”
Inspired by Culture Night
Mensah said her experiences with the diversity at BYUH had a great impact on her. “All the Polynesian cultures and the diversity in Hawaii made me feel like there was a need for us to portray African culture as well,” she said.
When Mensah left BYUH to continue her studies at Utah Valley University (UVU), Mensah said she wanted to showcase her culture even though there weren’t a lot of African students on campus. She was nominated to be the president for UVU’s African Club, and said she was inspired by BYUH Culture Night to host an African culture night at UVU. “My goal was to do exactly what is done in BYUH Culture Night,” she explained.
Mensah said the event was huge, with more than 1,000 people in attendance. After receiving a lot of positive feedback in 2010 when they held their first event, the club presidency repeated it every year, Mensah added. “It was awesome. It became the biggest event on campus,” she said.
Expanding through outreach and Miss Africa Utah
Mensah explained she wanted to do more to help the African community, so she decided to take the next step to organize fundraising. “I had a lot of friends who were international students from Africa who could not afford school,” she said. “So, we [had the idea to] have the culture night and the fundraising event so we could raise money to help these international students.”
Mensah said this was the moment Miss Africa Utah was born. The pageant is focused on the heritage, talent and beauty of each woman participating, and Mensah said whoever won the competition received the money raised by their African culture night.
Because it was a student club and there were limits set in place by the school, Mensah said it became increasingly difficult to use the money for the Miss Africa scholarship. “We couldn’t really give full scholarships to the very first Miss Africa, or the second or third,” she said.
Mensah graduated from college in 2012, and said she decided to start her non-profit organization, GK Folks Foundation, because she had the time to raise money for African immigrants and refugees and give it out as scholarships. The Globe Salt Lake City website says Miss Africa Utah has been a huge success and gained national popularity with their “unforgettable nights.”
Mensah said over the course of 10 years, they have expanded to promote African culture in four U.S. states. She said the growth and support of the foundation over the last years has been immense.
The GK Folks Foundation website says, “The foundation has contributed to the progression of more than 200 young women and their communities. We have awarded over $50,000 in scholarship funds to women leaders in pursuit of a diverse range of educational, community development and professional goals.”
GK Folks is about more than just giving people money, Mensah said. “First and foremost, [refugees] … need mentorship.”
Seeing the people behind the stigma
Salisha Allard-Blaisdell, development director at GK Folks, said the misconceptions about refugees, such as thinking they are unfriendly or uneducated, stem from a place of not knowing the individual behind the stigma. “[People] would drop all those misconceptions if [they] would sit down with them and listen to their story.”
It is essential to give refugees an opportunity to express themselves for who they are and then treat them with respect and no judgment, she explained. “They are struggling. They are really trying hard to survive in a new world. They may not even want to be here.”
Gifty Boateng, people director and treasury director of the foundation, said people often forget about the “lottery of life,” or how people end up in different environments in different countries– meaning anybody could be a refugee at some point in their life. “If any of us were ever in trouble, we would like other people to help us out,” she said. “Why then wouldn’t we help others who seek refuge?”
"It blows my mind to hear the stories of these women. I thought I grew up hard, but I'm like, 'No, there's nothing hard about your life.'"
Allard-Blaisdell said giving refugees an opportunity to speak out and have a platform where they can voice their opinions, stories, culture and pride is something GK Folks has been working on for the past 10 years.
She shared the example of a former Miss Africa Utah contestant, Desange Kuenihira, who is now an inspirational speaker with her own non-profit called “unDEfeated.”
Allard-Blaisdell said Kuenihira came to the United States as a refugee and was drawn to the Miss Africa Utah competition. Seeing Kuenihira participate as a contestant and overcome her challenges is inspiring, she said. Allard-Blaisdell said Kuenihira was denied a childhood due to her having to flee her homeland to live in a refugee camp.
“It blows my mind to hear the stories of these women,” she said. “I thought I grew up hard, but I’m like, ‘No, there’s nothing hard about [my] life.’”
Allard-Blaisdell said because she grew up in an orphanage in Grenada, it was especially hard for her to listen to the stories of those refugees who saw their parents killed in front of them or who lived in a refugee camp with no food or water. “Now they come here and they are changing the world,” she said.
Normalizing mental health
Mensah said spreading awareness of the importance of mental health has also been an important part of GK Folks Foundation because a lot of immigrants, refugees and Africans don’t see the importance of mental health. “We provided over 150 therapy sessions,” she said. “We impacted a lot of people, especially with the pandemic. It was right on time to help many [people].”
Mensah said she is grateful for her very supportive husband, who gave her the room to grow the non-profit and helped her build it. “I have a huge team behind me, and there is no way I could do it myself,” she shared. “People volunteer their time and money. I want to give a shout out to them because there’s no way I would have been able to accomplish anything without their help.”
Allard-Blaisdell said, “The people behind GK are highly equipped with the skills, knowledge and passion necessary for the organization to provide the services we do.” She said there are people helping them from all over the world who have a doctorate or master’s in public health or social work.
She emphasized the huge blessing it is for the foundation to receive support from “this wonderful, exciting group of people who are coming together and sharing their skills and abilities to … support people who look like us.”
She said because of their service, the refugees, immigrants and Africans saw they could benefit from therapy because it was “attainable and accessible” and realized “There was no shame in going to therapy.”
Boateng said every member of the organization puts in a lot of volunteer work and is supportive of each other. She said, “The organization feels like a family, and that is rare to find.” She met Mensah and Allard-Blaisdell at BYUH in 2008 because they were all international students, she said.
Beauty in diversity
Mensah said the positive impact the GK Folks Foundation has on refugees is one thing that keeps her motivated. “They are growing into outspoken, very eloquent individuals who are speaking for themselves. They know what they want and attend school successfully. We help them connect with people from the community.”
“Now they come here and they are changing the world.”
“Look at how beautiful BYUH is because of its diversity. I believe there is beauty in diversity and that our differences make us unique,” she said. “My goal is to create an environment where people will not just tolerate diversity, but genuinely appreciate people that are diverse and different from them.” •