A Refugee Transman's Moment of Triumph

Earlier this month, I was invited to an incredible Friday evening open mic event 英国牛津大学 's Refugee Lead Research Hub (RLRH )? in Nairobi. It was undoubtedly the highlight of my month. The evening offered an opportunity for staff and participants to celebrate their artistic talents and relax after the workday.?Open mic at RLRH was remarkable not only because of the talents of the group on display, but also because it was a shining moment for Adrian Edmundson (He/Him) , one of many learners I've had the honor of serving.

Nyayow Deng and Adrian Edmunson, an AA alumni of SNHU's Global Education Movement , served as MCs of the event. Aside from his MCing skills, Adrian is also currently engaged in research training?at RLRH. As I enjoyed the expressions of poetry about displacement, I felt equally alive because of Adrian's confidence and joy, which was at a level I had never witnessed. As I watched him, I reflected on the intense journey we are on together, along with a village of supportive organizations and individuals.

Adrian identifies as a transman, and as a refugee living in Kenya this posed incredible challenges and also enabled him to display acts of courage, intelligence, and stick-with-it-ness. Since I've met Adrian, he's allowed me to partner with him in tackling the countless severe beatings he has endured, bouts of homelessness, rehabilitation treatment to address numbing pain through substances, and trying to educate his fellow classmates about diversity and inclusion—sometimes receiving incredible acceptance and at other times excruciating exclusion. While handling all of this, Adrian also fastidiously tackled earning an AA degree from the United States through SNHU GEM.

Throughout this journey, Adrian understandably would suffer from bouts of insecurity, feelings of hate from others, hopelessness, and questions about his own self-worth. He approached these complex issues the best he could, sharing with others, trying to educate those around him, attending rehab, engaging in counseling, and doing his best to build a network of support around him while tapping into incomprehensible levels of bravery.

His hard work has paid off. As nightfall arrived on the cool Nairobi open mic evening, Adrian facilitated an event with utmost inclusivity, focused on making all feel comfortable, introducing guests, including Meshack Mwololo from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency 's Nairobi offices who personally attended the event. As people passed around a basket of pins to identify their pronouns, snacks were shared, and poems were recited, music was played, and conversation shared, the open mic was filled with jubilance. Adrian supported his fellow Oxford colleagues by celebrating their poetry and talents, and during his own reading he shared, "I had to learn that the only real important thing is how I feel about myself, and the rest will fall into place. For those that hate me, I still feel confident in myself and will continue to work to educate others."?His words were spoken with such passion that the audience was glued together in his newly found self love.

When learners and academic mentors take challenging journeys together, predicting the outcome can be riddled with uncertainty. Tackling refugee status is one thing, adding the myriad of challenges that come along with being a transman in the East African context often left me wondering where we might land and if the challenges were surmountable. Despite the doubt that often came over us, alongside Adrian, I decided to approach each obstacle as if it could and would be solved.

We're still in the thick of the journey together, but there was also a pause and landing in a place of celebration in Adrian's journey at the open mic. He was cloaked in a new level of self-acceptance, and it was a moment of huge payoff for Adrian's hard work and the village around him that continues to offer support. To our anonymous funder (you know who you are!) thank you for funding (and re-fundning) SNHU for Adrian's extra treatment and believing in his potential as much as me; Justine Mukamwezi and the whole Solid Minds team that served Adrian, thank you for the counseling support; Southern New Hampshire University finance and SNHU GEM team for approving and working through the challenges of urgent, emergency payments arriving for treatment from the US to Nairobi rehab centers; the SNHU DEI team and especially Helena Iaquinta for countless hours listening and learning from Adrian along the way, and to the leadership of Andonis M. , Ruth Nyabuto , Foni Vuni and the whole Oxford team that continues to recognize and embrace Adrian's intelligence and what an asset he is to any learning community. Additional thanks to friends and colleagues that connected with Adrian over coffee or a call to explore professional opportunities, support emergency transportation, remind Adrian of his intelligence, and pinch hit for anything else Adrian needed: Barrett Nash , Oten Biko Diane Umutoni amongst many. Above all Adrian congratulations for the seismic shifts you continue to make in life as you build a network of countless supporters (too many to name here!) as you navigate your way forward.?

Sometimes people ask about "investing so much in one student" and "can this scale?". There are many answers to these questions, and differing perspectives. At the Oxford RLRH open mic night, witnessing one refugee transman living in the African context as a higher education graduate, Oxford research trainee employee, and open mic MC couched me in the realization that this is both about one person and scale simultaneously. Adrian is a single story, yet his success as a role model transman in a landscape where there are no to few others, Adrian's story lives at a degree of magnitude that tips the community towards scale because he has proven that, for diverse genders, anything is possible. Imagination, hope and new possible futures have already massively scaled due to this life story: there are thousands if not millions inspired to tackle a new version of the future for themselves through witnessing Adrian's journey.?

**This piece was pre-read, edited, and approved by Adrian before posting.