Part 1: The Road to Recognition

Timeline

2014 She filed her first refugee status application on June 30. Translation from French took a long time. She lived at a center for six months.

2015 She worked at a factory for ten months but had to stop due to health problems.

2016 She could not find work and was very frightened. In May she received her first refugee status rejection. She filed an appeal, and then received a second rejection on the grounds that she had added new details to her earlier account. She filed another appeal. From September she was able to work at a bag factory for eleven months (approximately September 2016 to July 2017).

2017 In January she received documents indicating she would need to proceed to court. At the time she was working at a factory in Mokdong and was struggling with asthma. During the court process her permitted stay was reduced from six months to three months.

In October she received word that she had won her case. Because Korea Immigration Service (KIS) could still appeal to the High Court, she had to wait quietly for three weeks. During that waiting period her permitted stay was reduced to one month, which meant she could not work.

November 2017: F-2 visa.

Key point: When a case moves to an appeal or to court proceedings, the permitted stay is progressively cut to three months, and then to one month while awaiting the outcome. During that final period, work is not permitted.

What made it hard

Dream to study She could not allow herself to dream of studying.

Finding a job With a G-1 status it was hard to find work. When her permitted stay shrank to three months it became even harder, and her movement was restricted because of her visa situation.

Low pay even when work was found

Health: asthma and pneumonia The poor air quality in factory work caused her asthma to worsen into pneumonia. The health problems meant she could not hold down long-term work, which is why she had to leave the factory after only ten months.

Financial issues Because she could not earn enough, she had to depend entirely on her then-husband for support. Having to rely on someone else just to get through each day was deeply difficult.

Insurance Without employment she had no health insurance. She had no insurance when she was treated for pneumonia.

Part 2: Life After the F-2 Visa

Timeline

2018-2019: Could not work due to asthma.

2019: Noah was born. (Until the divorce she appears to have depended on her husband.)

2021: Divorce. One year without seeing Noah.

2022-2023: No support received until September 2023, when support began.

2018 to 2023 in sum: she could not hold regular employment and survived on part-time work.

Late 2023 onward: MAP and honorary ambassador work.

Daily life

Support received Because of her chronic condition (asthma), she was eligible for Medical Benefit. She had to undergo assessments under very demanding conditions and obtain a diagnosis confirming the severity of her illness. She received three months of treatment. When she was not working she was eligible for livelihood support, and Dongjak-gu provided better support compared to other districts.

Childcare and work From receiving her visa through 2018-2019, her asthma worsened severely and she received support for seven months while unable to work. She then cut off support to look for work, but when she became pregnant she was told she needed to reapply, so she did. After giving birth she was told she should receive support from her husband.

About a year after Noah was born, she tried to find part-time work near Ansan, but the hours did not fit the daycare schedule. She went to Busan to look for work; the job itself was good, but she decided she could not live far from a hospital because of the risk of an asthma attack. She returned to Seoul and tried to find work close by, with fear of being far from a hospital always a factor.

After the divorce she moved to Wongok-dong and continued working to find both daycare and part-time employment at the same time.

As a single mother

  • No financial resources
  • Difficulty finding work whose hours matched daycare hours
  • Balancing Korean language study (KIIP), part-time work, and Noah’s needs

Because of all of this she was unable to study Korean for two years. She had not been able to study until the previous year, when she started again and reached Level 5.

Throughout this whole process, her guiding principle was: “I put Noah first!”

She believed that Noah’s stability and wellbeing had to come first, and that her own life would improve once Noah was settled. So finding the right daycare was her top priority.

At the time she was searching for a kindergarten, she had no work and no livelihood support. She had been dealing with plantar fasciitis since May 2022, and her husband was not paying child support.

Noah did not adjust well to the first daycare. At the new one he found friends from Burundi and settled in happily.

Only then could she begin to look at her own life again.

“Child in safe hands, then I can move on to my life.”

If work had been her priority, she would have had to keep moving around to wherever the job was. But once she set Noah as the priority, things began to fall into place. The combination of her child’s stability, her own persistence in seeking opportunities, and her positive mindset made the difference.

The biggest turning point

MAP

The joy of having an office job.

Through a “Participation for Diversity” event she attended with Director Younga, she connected with the Gyeonggi Province Center for Foreigners, and that connection led to her honorary ambassador role.

She applied by writing about her experience helping refugees, sharing needed information, and providing language support, and she was selected as the representative from Burundi. She became someone others needed. Having come to Korea alone and survived through so much hardship, she did not want others to go through the same experience; she wanted to help. She also loves researching and finding things out.

She believes that being grateful for the opportunities given to her serves as a driving force to live more diligently, and this mindset seems to have had a significant impact on her way of thinking.

Cynthia’s Story: Summary (Korean-language version)

A brief introduction

Hello, I am Umutesi Cynthia. I worked as a refugee intern at MAP for five months and am currently working as an honorary ambassador in Gyeonggi Province.

I am from Burundi and came to Korea to escape civil war. I applied for refugee status in 2014, was rejected twice, and had to take my case to court. Court proceedings began in January 2017, and I ultimately won; I received my refugee visa (F-2) in November 2017.

The journey to recognition involved many hardships. The biggest was the limited work permitted under G-1 status. On top of that, Korea Immigration Service (KIS) reduced my permitted stay further during the court process, making long-term employment contracts impossible. Even after receiving refugee recognition, my situation did not improve dramatically, because the poor factory environment caused my asthma to worsen into pneumonia, leaving me unable to work.

1. Life as a single mother: Noah before work

About a year after Noah was born in 2019, I tried to find part-time work near Ansan, but the daycare hours did not match. I went to Busan looking for work; there was a good opportunity there, but working far from a hospital felt like too great a risk given my asthma and the danger of a serious attack. In the end I had to return to Seoul, and the effort to find both work and daycare at the same time continued.

People advised me to find a job first. For financial stability, the thinking went, secure employment first and then look for daycare near the workplace. But for me, Noah came first. I believed my own life could only improve once Noah’s was stable. So instead of prioritizing finding a job, I focused on finding a daycare where Noah could settle well. Thankfully, at the new daycare Noah found a wonderful teacher and gets along well with friends from Burundi, and I am glad.

If work had been my standard, Noah would have had to keep moving wherever my job took us. But with Noah as the standard, his sense of security became the foundation from which I could go out and seek my own opportunities.

2. Self-development and work: preparing all along, and finally seeing it pay off

Once Noah had settled in, I felt I could start living my own life again. I was not content to live on support payments; I wanted to work. I kept supporting myself through part-time work, and then in late 2023 I learned about MAP, applied, and joined. That experience is what I would call the biggest turning point of my life.

I did many things at MAP. I was also a teacher at the Korean language school. Even during the periods when I could not work and was struggling financially while caring for Noah, I kept studying Korean. Because I had completed Korea Immigration and Integration Program (KIIP) up to Level 5, I was able to take hold of the opportunity at MAP.

Through an event I attended via MAP, I received a recommendation and a new job offer from an official at the Gyeonggi Province Center for Foreigners. The role was Burundian Ambassador. I was recommended for my ability to speak multiple languages and for my activities helping refugees and providing the information they need. Director Kim Younga also gave a strong recommendation, and as a result I am now active as an ambassador.

3. A future to dream of: stepping onto the path of helping refugees

Going forward, I want to be someone who helps refugees living through hardship in Korea. Over ten years of adapting, I had to get through it on my own without much support from others. Drawing on what I learned through that experience, I want to help other refugees adapt to Korean society more quickly and more smoothly. The ambassador work began from exactly that motivation. I represent Burundi, and I also want to help refugees from neighboring countries such as Uganda and Rwanda.

I want to keep studying too. Beyond continuing to learn Korean, I plan to enter university and study further. I want to be someone who works hard for a better life for refugees and raises her voice on their behalf.

4. The message she wants to share

“Fight for yourself.”

“If I show negative things in me, that will put me in a negative life. I choose to be positive.”

“Maintain an attitude of exploring and learning new things rather than staying in one place.”