Interview with Jose Kazadi Kazadi, February 5, 2015

Interview Summary

Son of a banker father and an unschooled but skilled mother of nine in the Congo, Kazadi describes the extraordinary emphasis on education by his father. He tells about his experiences during eight years in Russia, including marrying his Russian wife and developing a magazine which provided him "power but no money." He explains how an example in an article in the magazine and an encounter with a Congolese arms buyer led to threats on his life and subsequent UN refugee status. He discusses his first impressions of Kentucky in 2004, his efforts to further his education--including adding Spanish beyond French and English and Russian and three Congolese languages, and his ambitions to start an import business and publish a magazine in Kentucky. He graduated from the University of Kentucky as an Honors Foreign Language/Economics major. He worked at Amazon for eight years and in 2015 is working at Xerox.

Interview Keyword

Congolese Democratic Republic of Congo Family Kananga Kasai Language Lingala Luba Swahili Tshiluba Childhood Discrimination Families.

Interview LC Subject

Higher education Congo (Democratic Republic) Education Russia Immigrants Refugees Lexington (Ky.). Employment--Kentucky Emigration and immigration

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.