LEARNING TO THRIVE LIKE A seed from cement Anne

From Cuba to France and then the United States, honors and AP French teacher at Miami Palmetto Senior High School Anne Woungly-Massaga has prioritized education and taken advantage of her love for teaching, hard work and the arts by amplifying the voices of her students and loved ones throughout her life.

“I am French (my mother is French, and my father is Camerounaise). I have four siblings. When I was little, I moved to Cuba with my mom; I studied in Cuba. I did a lot of going back and forth from country to country but I was raised in Cuba,” WounglyMassaga said.

After completing her educational career in Cuba with a degree in mathematics, Woungly-Massaga began teaching at a pre-university institution, followed by a 14-yearlong career at the French embassy.

“It was an amazing experience. I worked at the school for 14 years. It was very different from the other schools I worked at because all the students were diplomats’ children. At the beginning, I was a bit scared because I was very young; I was about 25 or 26-years-old. I had never done that kind of job, and I had never taught in French, but I always say that if others can do it, I can do it too, with a little bit of determination and work. I learned a lot. The courses I taught allowed me to travel to other countries like Haiti and Venezuela,” WounglyMassaga said.

Following this, Woungly-Massaga made the decision to move her career to France in order to evade political unrest alongside her son, Saïd, in 2004. Despite challenges, WounglyMassaga prioritized Saïd’s educational opportunities and ensured that her son maintained access to reputable educational institutions across France

Woungly-Massaga

in order to prepare him for his future.

“We went to France, [Saïd] was able to finish his education in France, and he was very well prepared because it was a school with a high academic reputation,” Woungly-Massaga said. “In France, work became much more difficult to find. Here there are a lot more opportunities if you’ve done something with your life, and I decided that France was not the place for us, because to be able to work, I would’ve had to completely restart my career.”

Given the circumstances regarding work and her career, after two years, Woungly-Massaga chose to move to the U.S., with hopes of continuing her career as an educator and language teacher. Not without its challenges, restarting her career in the U.S. allowed Woungly-Massaga to pick up yet another skill — speaking English.

“Like the rest of the world, I had to work in what I could: in the supermarkets, odd jobs like that, but every day I looked at myself and thought, ‘I need to go back to what I do. I worked hard to become a teacher.’ So one day, I decided it was time to study English, because there was no other way for me to come to Miami and not speak English, but it was very hard to learn English because here everyone speaks Spanish, ” Woungly-Massaga said. “I went to school for three months, and even then people spoke Spanish in the classroom so I decided, ‘Nope this is not for me.I am going to learn English the same way I learned French.’ I started to study. I studied for months and months, maybe a year or two years of studying English for eight hours a day, coming home from work and studying. I presented myself to become a teacher, and I got my license in teaching French, Spanish and math,” Woungly-Massaga said.

Aside from her career as an educator, Woungly-Massaga has found a sense of comfort through the arts. Woungly-Massaga always liked art and was always drawn to it and the beauty that came from her work. She never took it seriously, it was just something on the side she did for fun.

“Well honestly, I did not choose art, art chose me. Art was something casual. I was doodling little things here and there, on napkins in meetings. Then, one day my son told me that he liked what I drew. ‘Why don’t you start to paint?’ He said. I really started to paint for him,” Woungly-Massaga said.

Woungly-Massaga did not even want to share her art; she did not think anyone would actually enjoy it. Until one day her son told her he wanted the world to see her art. She was hesitant at first, but he told her it would be a trial run, and if nothing comes of it, then they would not do anything with it. Now her page is very popular; she even has her work in some galleries. Saïd even says that now she loves to take and post the pictures herself.

“[The owner of a beauty salon] contacted us through Instagram. He basically saw the pictures and he wanted us to have some of her art in his salon and then eventually we had the courage to also talk to different galleries and make that connection with people and we’re able to have her art in? this gallery in New York,” Saïd said.

She describes her style as a “perfect chaos,” called Alywoungs. Her work can be found beyond Instagram, at Futurama Gallery in Little Havana, and she is currently working on a children’s book called “Bizarre,” a children’s coloring book for kids with disabilities. Find her on instagram: @annew_art.

For Saïd, his experiences in Cuba, France and the U.S. alongside his mother has allowed him to reflect on his childhood and his appreciation of her hard work and determination.

“In the back of my mind, I remember her saying things and the things she’s told me to protect me and her guidance. It’s something that I try to follow, especially when I moved to Orlando, that was the first time I left the house. I went to UCF and it’s crazy how when you’re far away from home, you remember all that little advice that your parents gave you; she’s a big inspiration. I think that her determination, her strength and every time that she sets her mind to something she goes for it, that’s something that I admire from her,” Saïd said. “She’s working on her second master’s now, after she’s 62, and she still pushes forward, that’s something that’s incredible.”

Woungly-Massaga’s impact reaches far beyond the classroom, leaving a mark on each of her students and their futures.

“I don’t think there’s any other teacher like Madame in school, outside of being a very dedicated teacher and having a different insight and opinion on everything. She kind of went against the flow but not in a bad way. She went against the flow with how she perceived some stuff like, ‘Okay, this is always done this way. But why? Why does no one question and go this way? This could be better or this could benefit the students more,’” MPSH alumni and former AP French student Rachelle Portes said.

Woungly-Massaga has devoted her career to ensuring that her students not only gain knowledge on their topic of study, but that each one leaves her classroom with a better understanding of themselves and the tools necessary to lead a life of kindness, hard work and dedication.

“Love yourself, love others, work for what you want and don’t fall down. If you fall down, you get right back up, like seeds that fall on the ground. As one of my old professors told me: ‘You are like a seed that falls into the cement and no matter what, finds a way to grow,’” Woungly-Massaga said.

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