Evelyn Kinnah says SBU changed the trajectory of her life, allowing her to leave West Africa to study in the U.S.
Story by BETH EBERTH //// Photos by DANNY BUSH
Evelyn Kinnah, Class of 1997
Evelyn Kinnah, ’97, doesn’t just embrace the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child.” She’s lived it.
“For me, it took a village, with St. Bonaventure at the center of my proverbial village,” she said.
It was 30 years ago when Kinnah arrived at St. Bonaventure, her first time on campus. What little she knew about the Western New York school she had read in a brochure she’d swiped from a friend at secretarial school.
Kinnah was 5,000 miles from home and beyond grateful to the SBU admissions and financial aid staff who answered her prayers – and letters – begging for a chance to go to college in the United States.
Born in Ghana, West Africa, Kinnah was 5 when her parents and three siblings moved to Liberia. She had a typical childhood – until her senior year of high school when two momentous events changed the course of her life: Her father informed her she would attend a secretarial school instead of following her dream to continue her education at the University of Liberia, and the Liberian Civil War began.
Kinnah was sitting in class in secretarial school when she saw a classmate reading a viewbook from SBU’s Admissions Office. She borrowed it, took it home and immediately wrote a letter to the university asking for admission. As she waited to hear back, the civil war crept closer to the country’s capital, Monrovia, where she lived. Her family eventually fled their home with only what they could carry, making their way to a harbor and securing a spot on the deck of a ship headed to Ghana.
After settling in Ghana, Kinnah wrote to St. Bonaventure again, sharing the violence of the war that ripped through Liberia.
“It was probably the happiest day of my life when I got a letter from Admissions telling me that I would be attending St. Bonaventure on a full scholarship with room and board,” she said.
Kinnah didn’t tell classmates what her life was like in Liberia and Ghana.
She didn’t share the terror of soldiers threatening her family and their neighbors with execution. She didn’t share the desperation of having no food to eat, or clinging to a ship’s railing as it made its way to Ghana under pouring rain and scorching sun.
As a student at St. Bonaventure, Kinnah embraced the community. She found a strong support system with the journalism family, joined several organizations, worked multiple campus jobs, and made lifelong friends.
“Being at St. Bonaventure completely changed the trajectory of my life. I wouldn’t be where I am if they hadn’t given me that opportunity. I was so grateful in that moment. St. Bonaventure didn’t have to take a chance on me and they did. They did and look at me today,” she said.
By the time Kinnah was preparing to graduate from Bona’s with degrees in Political Science and Journalism and Mass Communication, she had developed an interest in the intersection between law and public policy. That led her to Cornell Law School and Cornell University School of Public Policy, where she obtained a joint juris doctor and Master of Public Administration.
When she was considering law school, her Bonaventure village came through again. Faculty member Fr. Gervase White, O.F.M., gave her the money to apply to Cornell.
“Every step of my journey, I have experienced the life-changing generosity of so many people,” Kinnah said. “I am the poster child of what an education can do.”
Today Kinnah is director of the Albany County Immigration Assistance Center. She has worked for Albany County since 2012 in various roles, including commissioner for human resources and assistant deputy county attorney. Prior to that she worked for the New York State Legislature and the law department of the city of Schenectady.
The immigration assistance center is one of six in New York state that train attorneys and judges about immigration consequences for noncitizens.
Her primary client is a conflict defender or public defender who represents a noncitizen in family or criminal court. “If the noncitizen is convicted, they could face immigration consequences, including deportation. My job is to make sure the attorney understands what those consequences are and see if we can come up with something immigration-safe for the client and, worse case, we preserve some kind of relief for that person when they get to immigration court.”
She also serves as a conduit, providing an immigration referral network and resources to Albany County residents.
Kinnah often feels like her life has come full circle.
“With the current humanitarian crisis that is unfolding at the southern border and spilling over into New York state, I hear some of the most incredible stories of survival and the perilous journey to get to America to seek asylum and a better life. And I understand completely what they went through,” she said.
Evelyn Kinnah speaks at the spring 2024 Woman of Promise event on campus.
One day she helped an asylum applicant who traveled through seven countries to get to the U.S.
“Sometimes I just want to say ‘I see you.’ They want someone to understand why they want to be here, why they fled their country,” Kinnah said.
That’s also why she is finding her own way to pay it forward. She has four children, including two adopted nieces from Ghana.
“They have both graduated from college and are working. I’ve changed the trajectory of their lives as well. It was always my intention to help my family,” she said.
In March, Kinnah returned to campus for the first time since 2014 to speak at the Jandoli School of Communication’s annual Woman of Promise event. She said it was comforting to be back on campus, and to finally share her story.
Lee Coppola, retired dean of the school, never had Kinnah in class, but knew her as a dedicated student who, via her smile, made many friends.
“Personally, I admired her and her gumption to come halfway across the world to a strange country for an education and a better life. I was not aware of the entire back story until the Woman of Promise event, but it only increased my admiration of her,” Coppola said.
Until now, Kinnah said, she has never talked about her “amazing, crazy journey.”
“I hope that perhaps my story of sheer determination, grit, some measure of luck, and lots of support might actually inspire our students here today to never, ever give up on their dreams,” she said. “If you have a dream and a will, no matter how steep the road may seem, it is possible to make it through sheer determination. I am a living testament to that.”
(Eberth is director of university communications at St. Bonaventure.)