Rehema's Journey Back To Purpose
In August 2023, Rehema Athman left Kenya and moved to the United States to join her husband in Greenville, South Carolina, where he worked as a nurse. She arrived as a mother of two leaving a full life and her professional identity behind her. Back home, she was an economist. In the United States, that title, and the education credentials that went with it, didn’t transfer the way she expected.
If she was going to find a job, she was going to have to start from scratch with her schooling and her profession.
But there were other challenges too.
Adjusting to her new life and a new culture were often confusing and disheartening.
Even simple routines demanded extra mental effort like remembering that in the U.S. you drive on the opposite side of the road.
And then there was the invisible weight:
The exhaustion of being misunderstood
Repeating herself
Trying to listen and translate at the same time
The heartbreak of having her kids look at her like she had the answers, when in truth she was just as new as they were
Rehema describes that early season with a heartbreaking clarity you can feel. She was trying to be strong, but desperately needed a way to navigate the maze of her new world.
“What I’ve realized is that when you don’t have enough information, it is easy to get lost.”
So when a friend suggested she go to Greenville Technical College to get advice, she acted on it. Once on campus, Rehema met with someone who immediately recognized that she was smart and capable but needed additional support to navigate the system. That person referred her to Benedicte Axboe, the director of TalentRiseGVL, a program at the Greenville Chamber of Commerce that helps adults engage with meaningful education that puts them on a path to a career in demand.
The first meeting between Benedicte and Rehema started with a kindness that Rehema will never forget. Benedicte asked where SHE would feel comfortable meeting. So Rehema chose a spot close to home.
Benedicte came and listened, and in that meeting, Rehema felt something shift. She was no longer alone in the maze. She had a guide who helped her find a new career path.
Rehema was going to become a nurse.
Her first step towards that goal was completing a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program in November 2023. Soon afterwards, she landed her first job.
The following spring she started pre-requisite courses at Greenville Technical College for the Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program, and also passed the TEAS (Test of Essential Academic Skills, a standardized exam for students applying to nursing programs to gauge readiness for college-level coursework).
Along the way, Benedicte became more than a trusted advisor. Rehema describes her as providing consistent, sisterly support.
One particular example stands out.
With only one week before the application deadline for the ADN program she wanted to enter, Rehema found herself stumbling over form instructions and other administrative hurdles.
How was she ever going to submit the application by the deadline?
Her fear and frustration mounted.
That’s when she reached out, once again, to Benedicte.
Benedicte acted decisively, “Take a photo of what you’re seeing on the screen and send it to me.”
Rehema did, and Benedicte was able to help her interpret what she couldn’t yet comprehend quickly enough to keep the ADN/RN opportunity from slipping away.
Fast forward to today.
She didn’t expect to love this work so deeply. In nursing, she meets people when they are scared, in pain, and often helpless. Standing beside them, she sees her own early days as a new immigrant reflected back in their uncertainty and vulnerability. In nursing, she gets to show up for others the way she once needed someone to show up for her.
“That’s when you see the mask fall,” she says, “That’s when you see the real human being.”
She is currently continuing her studies in the Registered Nursing (RN) program at Greenville Tech with dreams of possibly becoming a Nurse Practitioner.
When asked what she’d tell her younger self, the girl growing up in Kenya who would one day find herself a U.S. immigrant.
Don’t let stress convince you you’re powerless.
Gather information. Seek help. There are good people out there.
Don’t talk yourself out of starting school because it will take time because the years are coming either way.
“It starts with you,” she says. “We’re never too old to dream. If you dream to do something, just go for it.”
Rehema knows first-hand that life is unpredictable. But she firmly believes that you don’t have to stay stuck in confusion.
“If you want your life to change, you have to take the next step, even when you can’t see the whole path.”
That’s Rehema’s comeback.
Center for Academic Innovation team member Bridgett Strickler interviewed Rehema Athman and authored this narrative. To explore additional adult learner stories, follow Bridgett on LinkedIn, where she regularly writes about adult learner comebacks. To learn about Bridgett’s deeply personal connection to this work, be sure to watch her TEDx talk, “If you’re going back to school, community may be the medicine.”