Onesmo Balemba Item Info
Onesmo Balemba
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Onesmo Balemba:
Interviewer:Please state your name and your title or role at UI.
OB:Which you know, right? Onesmo Balemba. I’m faculty here in the department of Biological Sciences (Biology) and in Idaho WWAMI medical education program. So, I teach in the medical school for this university. So, Associate Professor, is the official title. I am the Director for the Optical Imaging Center, which is a center with microscopes and other things to help strengthen research in biology and other disciplines. We'll get to other things later on.
IN:What is your ethnicity or race? Do you identify as African-American, African, Caribbean, etc.?
OB:Ethnicity and race? Well, I'm African. You may not know my ethnic group because it’s such a small place in the world. My tribe is called Wanyambo and we are on the west side of Lake Victoria. We could be around 1,000,000 people or a little more.
IN:Where are you from?
OB:I’m from Tanzania. Do you want to know when I came here? Yeah. I came here in the United States of America in 2002. Have you been teaching here that whole time? No, I was hired as a postdoc, so it was way after my PhD. I went to the University of Wyoming. I stayed there for one year. Then I moved to the University of Vermont and I lived there for five years. So after a six year duration of post-doc, I decided it was time to do something else. Though looking for different opportunities, I came here. How long have you been teaching here? Ten years.
IN:What brought you to UI? Have you had any previous experiences that you feel prepared you for UI?
OB:Yeah, first you can see I'm a very old person. I began teaching in 1986, but not in college. It was in a high school. And then I was employed to teach in college in 1992, August. I taught at Sokoine University of Agriculture, in the department of Veterinary Anatomy (College of Veterinary Medicine) for about twelve years before coming to America.
IN:Was it a tough transition moving to Moscow since it’s predominantly white?
OB:It wasn't that tough and things happen for reasons because when I came here to interview for a position, people Vermont asked me whether I knew where I was going. They were more concerned than me. Idaho doesn't have a good reputation on the outside. People consider Idaho to be a redneck state, and I don't know what that means, and so people know that in the US. But I came here to interview and this single incident that changed my attitude about Idaho were two things. When the search committee called me to give me the first interview they were friendly, they were laughing, they were making jokes, they were happy.
So I said I would just go find out. Then, after I arrived here I saw people were friendly and everyone was just nice to me. That was encouraging. And lastly, I stayed at Best Western and one evening after the interview, I think maybe around 6:30 I decided to go for a walk. As I was walking near WinCo, I saw a black girl walking. I looked at this girl and she looked at me. I decided to say Hello and she said Hello to me. I stood and asked her a few questions because I was very surprised to see another black person here and so I said to myself that if a person of color survives here, then I can survive.
But that was a coincidence that helped me to strengthen my belief that I could live here. What kind of questions did you ask her? I don't precisely remember all the things. But she was from Kenya and we started a conversation in Swahili and everything changed. I asked what she was doing and she was a Master student somewhere in Agriculture.
IN:Were you nervous to move here or about being here since it’s called the South of the North? Do you feel like you'll stay in this community for a long time? Why or why not?
OB:So far I like being here. I like Moscow. People in the University and people in Moscow are good, good people. It’s a nice place to raise a family, safe and friendly. I've never encountered any issues since I moved here. The department likes me, WWAMI likes me, the best of Washington likes me. Everyone is supportive. That is what keeps me here, otherwise I would've left.
IN:Did you bring family with you?
OB:Yes, my wife works for the College of Natural Resources. Her name is Dorah Mtui.
IN:Have you built any strong relationships with any other black people or faculty at UI?
OB:People come and go. So sometimes you have relationship with people and then they leave. I tend to work too much “I leave it at work”, so I don't socialize very much. I have very good relationship with Mr. John Paul from Rwanda and a wife Dr. Jacqueline Maxmillian from Tanzania as well as Dr. Romuald Afatchao, a professor at U of I and his family. Who else, I mean, I don't really have many very close friends. I don't have any close friend who is African-American, but there’s several of them and we socialize and get together, but a close friend is more different than how I would consider just a friend. And two, I think it’s just because we aren't in same disciplines, and we don't meet very often. There has to be something uniting you. Ah, you have just reminded me. There’s a group of African-Americans, we are very close because our kids play together, especially basketball. So, we see each other very often, but we aren't very close friends.
IN:Have you had positive experiences related to your race at UI?
OB:I have had positive experiences perhaps not because of my race but rather because of who I am as person and an expert in my fields. I don't think I have been favored because of who I am. I think this is a work-based relationship. Everything that comes to you, you have to earn it. No favors because of my color. I don't think I have benefited because of my color.
IN:Have you had negative experiences related to your race at UI?
OB:You know, I don't pay attention to much attention to these things. You see more if you pay attention to them. I've lived in so many places and so my mindset is very different. I don't think though that there has been a clear incident where people have ever mistreated me because of what I am. However, I have to say, I noticed when I was brand new, students were somehow be scared of me. They not to believe I was their professor! Yeah, that’s true. They see you and they don't think that you're the professor that should be there. It happens, but then they recognize that you are the professor, you are delivering to their expectation-- they trust you and you become good friends.
I can’t blame them because sometimes you’ve got to learn by experience. This is especially true perhaps because they don’t learn about good things from others races in during childhood and as youths. I’ll tell you one thing: when white people come to Africa, I’m not surprised to see a kid do this on thinking that these people different from me. The same thing happened to me when I went to Denmark. The kids would try and scratch on my skin to see if there was dust or something. Was I be upset? No, because they were curious and likely, they had been taught about other races. Yeah, I can’t think of any other incidents.
IN:Have you noticed any differences in people’s treatment of you since Donald Trump has been in office?
OB:Not quite. I mean it’s the same group of people that I have been with for ten years. My life is here. Home. So, because of that I don't experience most of the things that other people see. You have a limited interaction, you’re in a “microenvironment”, but once you go get into a “macroenvironment” you are likely to experience mistreatments. I think when we were brand Moscow, maybe after four months, my daughter was running cross country in high school. She had a terrible racist experience. Someone said to her, “You're black. Go home,” and shot a gun in the air.
She came home crying, she was really scared. That’s the only single incident that hit me and my family hard. I almost left, but because of the support from school and other things that happened we stayed and since then we have been okay. So, I can't say that these aren't there, I know they're there. That can’t be the only isolated incident, but like I said because I think of my lifestyle and the school in a very narrow reach of people I haven't experienced many incidences.
IN:What do feel you have contributed to your department at UI?
OB:Well, as a teacher maybe and by teaching, it’s what I do. Somehow in research, but not to the level I would like to be so I'm still working my way through. I think I have met what they expect me to do in teaching, research and service and leadership. I think as teachers we always enjoy to see students you've taught move from this level to higher levels. So, when I see students leave from here and go get good positions or move to do PhDs and to medical schools. And, lots of students that head out are medical doctors, accomplished scientists it makes me happy and proud.
IN:Do you bring anything different to the table?
OB:My own expertise. My own expertise is somehow very different from other people’s in this department. It complements what other people are doing. My background is in veterinary medicine which gives me a lot of strength in the medical field. For example, I work with many people around here to collaborate and helping them in terms of studying disease processes, pathology. I think that’s a good thing, a good addition to the department. Also, I'm now the Director of the Optical Imaging Center because of my training in microscopy while pursuing PhD, and my research which uses microscopes. That’s an example of another addition.
IN:Are there any other Black people that have left the institution that I should know about that would be helpful to this project?
OB:Hassell Morrison-Associate Dean. It was really unfortunate when he left because I never said goodbye to him, and I'm always haunted by that because I feel very bad. Dr. Jacqueline Maximilian was an employee in CNR. Priscilla Nyamai- now faculty in Illinois. Dr. Simbah Tirima- left after graduating with his PhD. You know, I will remember other after you leave. This is not a good time for interview because I can't remember names. You see, I could not remember, a family friend, Dr.Julia Nkantha, she moved to Kansas. Oh my God, I can't believe I could not remember her!
IN:Is there anything I should have asked you?
OB:I don’t know. Maybe you if you had sent the objectives before, that could have got me in the right mindset. Like one sentence that says this is my objective. But I think that you asked the most important ones.
- Title:
- Onesmo Balemba
- Type:
- text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Preferred Citation:
- "Onesmo Balemba", Black History at the University of Idaho, Black History Research Lab, University of Idaho
- Reference Link:
- https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/blackhistory/items/onesmo_balemba.html
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