LEXINGTON, Ky. — Over 1,000 immigrants from 2015 to 2019 came from the Democratic Republic of Congo to live in Lexington, according to www.kentuckyrefugees.org.
Elisha Mutayongwa, a Congo refugee and owner of Lexington's Chui's Ice Cream and Soda Pop Shop, is building a legacy in the Bluegrass while inspiring a sense of community.
What You Need To Know
- Elisha Mutayongwa is the owner of Chui’s Ice Cream & Soda Pop Shop
- Mutayongwa is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo
- He's lived in Lexington for nearly 10 ten years with his brothers and father
- Mutayongwa founded the Rafiki Center in 2019 for Swahili speakers in central Kentucky
Scooping up Chui’s ice cream represents a legacy, but it’s something Elisha Mutayongwa never imagined having to do without his brother Chubaka by his side. Mutayongwa has been running Chui’s Ice Cream & Soda Pop Shop inside Julietta Market since his brother Cubaka "Chui" Mutayongwa passed away in July 2020 from a drowning accident.
Since facing the ulitmate devastation, Mutayongwa has been scooping up sweets with the help of his brothers to continue Cubaka's legacy, while taping into his passion of teaching Swahili.
“Security is very important and it’s food you want to make sure it’s safe and secure. When I’m getting everything ready, I still want to sell, so I try to do this fast,” Mutayongwa said while working behind the counter.
Everything Mutayongwa does impacts his family. He’s proud to be African refugee whose roots are in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He’s called Lexington home for nearly 10 years, and is happy to do so.
“You want to make it happen, you want to make it work, you are passionate about your business. You put a lot of hours, countless hours here,” said Mutayongwa.
According to the U.S Census Data Bureau, more than 2 million immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa lived in the United States in 2018. Sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United States are up dramatically from 1980 when the number was only 130,000.
Immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa make up nearly 5% of America’s total population.
“When you finally get [to America], you feel a sense of home. We gain all that but we lose so much, we lose our community, our culture,” said Mutayongwa.
Mutayongwa founded the Rafiki Center in 2019 for Swahili speakers in central Kentucky. Swahili happens to be the third most spoken language in Lexington behind English and Spanish.
During the school year, Mutayongwa makes sure to have home lessons for Swahili with the Bahati family. The Bahati family are frequent attendees of the summer camps. Blessing Bahati likes counting in Swahili during his lessons with Mutayongwa.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,” said Blessing Bahati.
Mutayongwa helps the Bahati family hold onto their roots, something they are thankful to him for.
“Learning Swahili to [Blessing] also means a lot because he can communicate with [grandma]. How do you talk to your grandma? Does grandma in San Diego speak English? So grandma speaks a little bit of English,” said Mutayongwa.
The Bahati family keeps Swahili close to their hearts, it’s a piece of their culture they won’t ever let go. Happiness Bahati is the sister to Blessing and she’s thankful to have a place like the Rafiki Center to call home in Lexington.
“I feel like I belong and that I have a lot of friends that care about me,” said Happiness Bahati.
The Rafiki Center says they are already starting to plan summer programming and are hopeful more kids will come learn Swahili and the culture that comes with the language.