Interviewing Nyamal Wal by Nyabel Thot
What is success? Who has the ability to be successful? What is the measurement of success? Through the interview I had the honor to conduct, Nyamal Wal is someone who…
What is success? Who has the ability to be successful? What is the measurement of success? Through the interview I had the honor to conduct, Nyamal Wal is someone who is inviting change into this melting pot that we call America. Nyamal Wal means ‘With Peace' and she was told that when she was born, she came with a few complications but was born and everything around her became peaceful. While interviewing her, she was able to give me an insight on who she is and what she would like the world to know about her.
She is a first generation Sudanese American and is enabling change in her community by providing resources for the people of the global majority. As a child of a single mom, she had to learn to translate for her mother, learn to file unemployment, EBT, medical, etc. at a young age and be that cultural filler for her mom and America. Her mother and her two autistic younger brothers are her biggest motivators, her mom being a non-english speaker and still finding a way to provide for seven kids. Her brothers pushed her to go into Psychology at San Diego State University and graduated with honors during a pandemic a year early.
She now is working at CalHOPE Crisis Counseling Program where they provide resources for people of the global majority; vaccines for COVID, translators, unemployment, medical/medicaid, adult school and so much more. CalHOPE Crisis Counseling is operated by United Women of East Africa Support Team and serves people from predominantly refugee and new immigrant communities. The past year they have been helping individuals and communities process their reactions to the pandemic by providing emotional support, helping develop coping strategies, and connecting people with immediate and long-term supportive services as well. As she continues her journey with life, she plans on getting her Masters in Speech Pathology to not only help her two autistic brothers but to also help other people of the global majority with mental health and also breaking language barriers in autism. That is when she believes she is successful, when others of the global majority get the same resources and the global minority get; equity. Everyone has the ability or obtain success Nyamal says, everyone just has a different version of what success is to them so focus on what YOU deem success to be and aim for it, no one persons’ walk is the same as another. Love yourself enough to respect your journey to success, stop switching lanes and allow your path to guide you to your happiness/success.
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