By CHELSEA CONABOY
Concord Monitor staff

Ayite D'Almeida looked under the hood of his new 2003 Ford Windstar with a look of puzzlement last week. Kevin Hampton, a vehicle processor with Good News Garage showed him around the engine. He pointed out where to put the coolant and the washer fluid and how to use the dipstick. Check the oil at every fill-up, Hampton said.

D'Almeida, 38, nodded. This was his first car - the pinnacle of many firsts in recent months - and unfamiliar territory.

No one owned a car in Aneho, Togo, where D'Almeida is from originally. The same was true for the refugee camps in Ghana, where he lived for 14 years before moving to Concord last year through a resettlement program with his wife, Dora, 35, and their three kids.

For many refugees, transportation is one of the biggest obstacles to living a successful life in New Hampshire. Thanks to Good News Garage, a program of Lutheran Social Services that repairs and distributes donated cars to people who need them, D'Almeida's family has a leg up.

Many refugees arrive with limited to no financial resources. They start in jobs that pay meager wages. Public transportation is limited, and taxis are often beyond their means. Buses in Concord don't run after 6:30 p.m. or on weekends.
As is true with other low-income people in the city, getting to doctors appointments, teacher conferences and the grocery store is a challenge.

"Lack of reliable transportation is an enormous barrier to economic success and the ability to survive in many, many cases," said Susan Swain, the garage's marketing

and development manager. "For someone who has come here to the United States, they are playing catch-up with someone who at least has an understanding of our customs, our laws, our language."

D'Almeida and his wife have depended on friends and members of their church, First Congregational in Hopkinton, for rides to Sunday services and appointments.

Getting their two youngest children, 5-year-old Albertine and 3-year-old Albert, on the city bus along with a load of groceries has been a challenge.

Some of the church members taught D'Almeida to drive and helped him study for the driver's exam, something he said required "peace of mind."

"If you are afraid, you can't learn," he said.

One church member, Lisa Maria-Booth, connected the family with the garage's Jump Start program. Candidates must make no more than $44,100 a year, have a driver's license and a sponsor, have no other vehicle in their household, and show that they wouldn't be able to purchase the car outright.

D'Almeida paid about $1,600 to cover the cost of repairs, a 72-point safety check and registration.

"This is huge independence," Maria-Booth said as she stood with D'Almeida last week in the Manchester office of Good News Garage waiting for the final paperwork.

D'Almeida beamed.

He said he used to ride to work with a neighbor who was also on the nightshift at Atlantic Air Products in Bow, a manufacturer of sheet metal components for heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems.

Then D'Almeida switched to days. The same neighbor gave him a ride most days. Others, he had to ask around for help.

"For me to go to work, the bus not reach that place," said D'Almeida, who hopes to take up evening language classes at Second Start now that he has means of getting there.

Kevin Hampton, a vehicle processor with Good News Garage, showed D'Almeida around his new ride, pointing out the hooks in the back of the van for grocery bags, the jack and spare tire, the button that moves the gas and break pedals in and out to adjust for height, the lever for folding the seats down. Hampton explained the owner's manual and pointed out the switch for the headlights.

There would be more to get used to later: regulating speed, maneuvering the interstate and watching for pedestrians outside the family's Meadow Brook apartment.

"Okay, she's all yours," Hampton said, handing over the keys. "Good luck."

D'Almeida thanked him and posed for pictures to add to a bulletin board in the office covered with photos of other recipients. He took the driver's seat and buckled in. With the deliberateness of a new driver, he put the car in gear and inched away from the curb toward home.

For more information, go to goodnewsgarage.org. Also, watch The Oprah Winfrey Show in the coming weeks for an interview with program founder Hal Colston.
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