After Becoming a Mom, Djunga Continues Forward at Sandburg to Honor Hers
Aaron Frey
Friday, April 9, 2021 3:05 PM
Campus News
Galesburg, IL
Nana Djunga first enrolled at Carl Sandburg College to support and set an example for her daughter. She’s continuing her educational path to honor her late mother.
A native of Congo, Djunga moved to Galesburg in 2011 as part of the United States’ Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. Only 22 at the time, she came to the US with her parents and four siblings, speaking little English.
“Oh my goodness, it was frightening,” Djunga said. “In the Congo, we spoke French and a few other languages. It was a big change, coping with the weather, the food here. It wasn’t easy at all.”
When she wasn’t working, Djunga spent hours at a time at the Galesburg Public Library, devouring everything she could to help her learn English. She soon earned her high school equivalency.
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“I pretty much taught myself English,” said Djunga, who became a naturalized citizen in 2016. “I just kept going to the library. I’d spend hours and hours reading. I had my own dictionary.”
Djunga first learned about Sandburg when she saw a flyer for a class at the library. She had gone to nursing school in Congo before coming to the US, but she still questioned her readiness for college here and thought her accent would make it difficult for others to communicate with her. That changed when her daughter, Therena, was born in 2016.
“I was scared. I wasn’t sure if I could do it,” Djunga said. “But I couldn’t support myself for long doing the kinds of jobs I did. I said, ‘I went to school back home in the Congo. Why can’t I empower myself and go to school and at least get a certificate?’ I decided to better myself. I just didn’t want to stay home and do nothing.”
She signed up for a certified nursing assistant course that fall and soon had a job working in a nursing home as a CNA. But she didn’t stop there. She kept attending Sandburg, this time in the medical assisting program. She credited academic advisors Vicki McMullin and Jennifer Holmes for helping guide her, and she worked with a tutor in the Tutoring Center.
“To see that I was surrounded by positive people really helped,” Djunga said. “When I try, I really don’t like to fail. I’m really hard on myself when it comes to school. The Tutoring Center was there for me. I just had a great support system.”
Her hard work has paid off. Djunga has made the Dean’s List or Honors List for seven consecutive semesters and graduated with her medical assisting certificate last fall. The only thing missing from that moment of celebration was her mother, Therese, who died of cancer in June 2019.
“I wanted my mom to see me wearing that gown and take pictures with her,” Djunga said, tearing up at the thought. “I’m still emotional because I wish my mom was here to see it. Graduating, it’s a big thing.”
Djunga works as a medical assistant at OSF PromptCare in Galesburg, but she has her sights set on a new goal. With financial assistance from the Carl Sandburg College Foundation’s Discover Scholarship, which is offered to nontraditional students who enroll in certain academic programs, Djunga continues to take classes at Sandburg and plans to apply for the College’s licensed practical nurse (LPN) program followed by its associate degree nursing (ADN) program.
“I kept going because that was my mother’s wish before she passed away. She told me she really wants me to be a nurse in America,” Djunga said. “That moment will mean a lot. I’m really going to dedicate that moment to my mom, and I’m also going to try to help out young mothers like me, because I will have been there and done it. I want my daughter to know that everything is possible if you put your mind to it. Everything is possible.”
Sandburg has been her vehicle to make that possibility a reality.
“Without Sandburg, I would have been like this,” Djunga said, pointing her thumb down. “I would have been pretty much a nobody without Sandburg. Carl Sandburg College is a life-changer. It’s just been an amazing place to be.”
