KRA/DC-TEP Customer Co-Authors Book on Blessings and Lessons
Between 2001—when 19-year-old Carine Bikyara emigrated to the U.S. from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo—and 2018, she experienced many of life’s lessons and blessings, the greatest of which, she will tell you, is her 5-year old daughter.
However, in January 2019, crisis-level personal circumstances resulted in them moving into a shelter. Accustomed to self-sufficiency, this life’s lesson was emotionally, financially, and physically devastating.
Determined to recapture a normal, stable life, in February 2019, Ms. Bikyara enrolled in the Job Placement (JP) Program of the KRA/DC TANF Employment Program (TEP), operated for the DC Department of Human Services. However, in August 2019, she transferred to the Education & Occupational Training (EOT) Program to prepare for a career in office administration.
Ms. Bikyara enrolled in a Microsoft Office Suite (MOS) Certification Program at the Community College Preparatory Academy (CCPrep), which is free to eligible DC residents. Simultaneously, she studied for and received Customer Service, Front Desk Assistant, OSHA-10, and CPR Certifications through internal KRA/DC-TEP training programs.
Moving into her own apartment in October 2020, she settled in and began reflecting on her life of the past few years, which inspired her to co-author an e-book, Blessings and Lessons, published by Kindle in January 2021. In addition, she created a YouTube Channel that provides motivational and spiritual messaging for single mothers and women raised in single-parent households.
Brittany Switzer, KRA/DC-TEP Program Manager, concludes, “Ms. Bikyara has completed four components of the Microsoft program, including OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Word. When she completes two more, Excel and PowerPoint, she will be fully MOS-certified, and ready to work with the JP Program team when she graduates CCPrep in May.
We are excited about the knowledge and skills Ms. Bikyara has gained through our EOT Program, and look forward to supporting the realization of another blessing—employment on a career path that will provide her with many opportunities for advancement, fulfillment, and self-reliance.”
