and now do you feel welcome? do you feel the community is happier here? gertrude: wonderful. constant: the first challenge was the language. gertrude: it wasn t easy. even now, it s not easy. anthony: but you already speak how many languages? gertrude: in congo, principal, we have three languages. anthony: of course. gertrude: we have french, lingala, and munukutuba. anthony: so don t feel too bad. most americans struggle with one. it s okay. i m a refugee from drc. anthony: what did you do in kinshasa? i did electrician and construction too. anthony: and here? i was machine operator. after that, i decide to be farmer. it was my dream that god help me to be farmer here. my dream was to get my own garden.
gertrude. i m from congo, brazzaville. i m married to albert, and we have four children. albert: it s my dream, my dream, i need to be boss, i need to have my land. gertrude: for sure, we like the weather because we don t have snow here. in summer, i know it s very hot here, but it s good for planting. and people are nice in houston. anthony: many of the more recent arrivals in houston come from places where life is unbelievably hard and often dangerous. many come from agrarian backgrounds, arriving here without the skill set needed to compete for jobs in an urban situation. plant it forward, a non-profit urban farming program, provides refugees like gertrude and albert lombo access to land where they can make a living from the ground. so here we are, middle of
malabar spinach over fufu. then texas beef brochettes marinated in chilies and cilantro and maggi bouillon with a ratatouille made from produce grown right here. what did you all think when, when you heard that you were going to be resettled in texas? constant: in, in in my country when people are talking about texas, they know that is where many farmer is. anthony: really? and now do you feel welcome? do you feel the community is happier here? gertrude: wonderful. constant: the first challenge was, eh, the language. gertrude: it wasn t easy. even now, it s not easy. anthony: but you already speak how many languages? gertrude: in congo, principal, we have three languages. anthony: of course. gertrude: we have french, lingala, and munukutuba. anthony: so don t feel too bad. most americans struggle with one. it s okay.
i m a refugee from drc. anthony: what did you do in kinshasa? i did electrician and construction too. anthony: and here? i was machine operator. after that, i decide to be farmer. it was my dream. my dream it was to get my own garden, and what i harvest, i need to cook. anthony: where are you cooking now? i work at the four seasons hotel. anthony: oh that s not a bad gig. yeah, yeah. anthony: how african will houston be in twenty years? a lot, right? gertrude: i want, all my family still over there. my mom, my sister anthony: and you d like them to come. gertrude: i want them to come. anthony: a lot of first generation and second generation african babies are going to be happening here. albert: yeah. anthony: houston is going to look real different. you ll hear lingala at the 7-eleven? no problem? gertrude: no problem. anthony: in 10 years?