Just after Thanksgiving break on November 29, we were introduced to Giany Guedjo, our guest speaker for Open Forum. He is currently the executive director at Carolina Human Reinvestment, a non-profit organization that specializes in promoting healthy lifestyles for kids in Georgetown County. He is also a talented linguist and speaks over 10 different languages. When he was a recent immigrant to the US, he learned to speak English in one year and three months at his first job over here, making sandwiches at Subway.

Giany was born in Bénin, a French-speaking country in West Africa between Ghana and Nigeria. Before emigrating from Bénin to the United States with his wife, Giany overcame very difficult conditions to get an education in Africa. For example, at his university in Bénin there were 2500 students in some classes. “Students broke windows to get in and get a good seat,” he said. “There were only 100 books for all those students.” After graduating as valedictorian, he worked at an orphanage and taught farmers how to market crops. Fourteen years ago, his wife won the US Immigration Lottery and they decided to move here.

Life is not easy for immigrants and Giany and his wife were no exception. The job at Subway allowed them to survive until Giany could get enough English to go back to school. He then got a Masters of Business Administration from Webster University. Even then, it wasn’t easy to find work. Giany learned of the job at CHR almost by accident but it is a great fit for him and he is now the proud executive director of this community nonprofit in both Georgetown and Pawleys Island.

One of CHR’s projects is community gardening. There are gardens in Georgetown, Pawleys Island, and at several area schools. People from the community and students can take home fresh produce and eat healthier, better-tasting food.  “Food is medicine,” said Giany. CHR also sponsors comprehensive after-school programs where elementary students can do their homework and practice their reading. Giany invited us to come read with kids as community service. CHR also has helped older kids find after-school and summer jobs in the community and managed the FoodShare program to help food-insecure families.

Giany told us that you should have fun in life, but you should get your work done first. He has a particular philosophy to conquering life, which is “when you do something, do it the hard way.” This is accompanied by a list of four rules: sleep hard, eat hard, play hard, and most importantly work hard. We would like to thank Giany for being our guest speaker for Wednesday and giving us the opportunity to do more community service with the CHR.

By Larson