Meet Torbertha - Former Refugee Transitions Student and Current Summer Intern!

Introducing Torbertha, a former student in our after-school program, and now our summer intern. Torbertha recently passed her citizenship exam, along with her mother and sister! (Torbertha is pictured below on the left holding a flag in the second row with her family and a Refugee Transitions volunteer.)

Hi everyone! My name is Torbertha Torborn. I was born and raised in West Africa, Liberia. I came to the United States in 2004 with my family because there were wars in my country.

I am currently a 4^th year student at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Social Welfare with a concentration in Public Health and an intended major or minor in Anthropology. I am also a current intern at Refugee Transitions and feel fortunate to be in this position because their programs are what equipped me for college and helped my family and me adjust to American culture and society.            

In addition to helping my family adjust to American society, a Refugee Transitions volunteer also assisted my mother in studying for the naturalization test. Very recently, my mom, my older sister, and I passed the test together and we’re now citizens of the United States! During the citizenship ceremony, I was very emotional - both sad and happy at the same time. Sad because my family and I had come a very long way and had experienced many hardships on our journeys. Happy because, despite these hardships, we all have become well-rounded people and are very focused on pursuing the great opportunities and overcoming any challenges in store for us in the United States.       

It is a great opportunity and a privilege to become a U.S. citizen because with this title we can obtain numerous opportunities such as scholarships and internships, and obtain higher job positions. Being a U.S. citizen is also a great opportunity because we can now travel the world and return to the U.S. without dealing with immigration barriers that sometimes delay a non-U.S. citizen from entering the country.

Overall, I am very grateful to be here, and also glad to be an intern at Refugee Transitions.  Refugee Transitions exposed me to a field that I am greatly interested in. As a refugee myself, I would like to work and help other refugees around the world – right now,  either in the nursing filed or the social work filed.                 

- Torbertha Torbon, Refugee Transitions Summer Intern