Learning to fly: Former refugee earns scholarship for Big Bend flight training.

MOSES LAKE — Victoire Wilondja is learning to fly because he wants to do something big with his life.

“The freedom of dreaming big,” said Wilondja as he sat in the Flight Training Center at Big Bend Community College. “Something that I never thought I could do.”

A native of Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Lake Kivu along the Congo-Rwanda border, the 23-year-old Wilondja said his family fled civil war in the DRC. They then lived for years in a refugee camp in Uganda’s capital of Kampala. Growing up in that camp, he barely saw automobiles, much less airplanes.

In fact, he said, as a child he dreamt of learning to drive and then being to paid to be a truck driver.

“That was my goal,” he said.

Being granted refugee status in the United States, and a long series of airplane rides that eventually landed the family in Spokane, changed all that, Wilondja said.

“I just remember the way it was, how amazing it was, like my first time in a plane coming here,” he said. “So, I want to be a pilot. I think I want to travel more. I think I want to do something big.”

Wilondja is doing something big. He just completed his first solo flight at BBCC. He’s also one of 108 recipients at high schools and colleges statewide of the Washington Workforce Training & Education Coordination Board’s Washington Award for Vocation Excellence (WAVE) scholarship for 2023.

According to Gary Chandler, vice president of strategic development for the Association of Washington Business, a member of the BBCC Board of Directors, co-chair of the Washington State Workforce Board and a BBCC graduate himself, the scholarship provides up to $5,200 per year for as many as two years for students and young people pursuing technical and vocational education, whether it be in advanced manufacturing, automotive repair, nursing, aircraft maintenance or even pilot training.

Wilondja is one of three recipients locally of this year’s WAVE scholarships, along with Moses Lake High School graduate Kyia Hunter-Kanoff and Ephrata High School graduate Noah Sandberg.

“One of the things about this scholarship is it’s the best-kept secret. Not a lot of people know about it,” Chandler said. “The Workforce Board is trying to promote the scholarship more.”

This year, the board handed out $1.1 million in scholarships, Chandler said, though the board is seeking more money from the state legislature to award more scholarships in the future. Because the need for skilled technical workers is critical, especially in aerospace, which is so important to the state’s economy.

“We need pilots. Pilots are in big demand,” Chandler said.

BBCC offers two-year degree programs in aircraft maintenance and technology and commercial aircraft piloting, as well as a drone certification program. Chandler said the program is well-known for producing skilled and qualified pilots.

“So I’m glad Victoire found Big Bend,” Chandler said.

Wilondja, who sat with his flight log book, said the program at BBCC has been tough but it was well worth it the first time he flew solo.

“I was crying. I cried, really, because it was so amazing. I was so proud of myself, knowing how I came here,” he said.

When prompted about that big thing he wants to do, Wilondja said he wants to become an airline pilot, see more of the world himself and help others — perhaps other refugees — be able to see more of the world and even dream their own big dreams.

“I feel like if I become a pilot, I’ll be able to help other people too,” he said.

“And I’m going to follow you now. I want to make sure you make it up there,” Chandler said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.