When Shimirimana 'Shim' Eliya gets his degree at Texas A&M University Department of Dental Hygiene on Friday, it will be the end of a long road that started half a world away in Africa.
"I was born in Tanzania in a refugee camp," Eliya said. "Most people look at me and they see the perfect smile. They don't know the pain behind it."
Eliya said without knowledge about dental health or access to care, he developed gum disease and tooth decay as a child.
'I would be staring at the sky in my bed wondering, does everybody feel this way? Does everybody go through this pain," Eliya recalled. "Like needles in the skin!"
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
When Eliya's family moved to Forth Worth, he said he noticed there wasn't education in his community about dental health or how to prevent problems before they required a dentist.
"So when Shim goes out into the profession, he brings a very unique perspective to the underrepresented and underserved refugees in our country," TAMU Executive Director of Dental Hygiene Leigh Ann Nuric said
Last year, Eliya was part of a mission trip to Africa to bring free dental care to refugees, like he once was.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"When you go back and just see the red dirt and kids playing around, you think to yourself, that was me," Eliya said. "I just want to give them the tools I wasn't given when I was younger."
"It's a full circle moment," Nuric said. "Because he was one of the people who came for dental care, who stood in line and waited for the American dentist...to be one of the healthcare professionals that provided care for the people in that country that came and stood in line really hit my heart."
Eliya wants to work in public dental health, helping underserved communities.
