‘They make us feel at home’: Market brings Africa to Everett

EVERETT — If you haven’t heard of peanut stew, then you’re not from West Africa. There the dish is as prevalent as pizza is in the United States. And now, picking up the ingredients for the recipe in Snohomish County is easier than ever.

Dizayus African Market is an oasis for those looking for the foods and brands popular in their home countries. The shop at 35 SE Everett Mall Way in Everett opened February 2022 and sells plantain chips, palm oil, canned sardines, green teas, couscous and African brands of basic cooking ingredients, including everything needed to cook peanut stew. They even sell it canned.

Owner Yusupha Bojang, 37, is originally from The Gambia and has lived in Everett for eight years. He started the business to meet the needs of a growing African community in the area.

“I realized the demand was more than the supply,” Bojang said, “so I decided to jump in the market.”

Bojang also carries nonfood products like cosmetics, body lotions and wooden grinding bowls. His wife Khadiza Boye, 31, curates the shop’s selection of clothes and showcases their wares in TikTok and Facebook videos.

The name of the store Dizayus is a combination of the couple’s first names (Kha-DIZA and YUS-upha). Since opening, the shop has become a social hub for the African community. Bojang enjoys chatting with customers and learning about life in different countries.

“When I’m here, I’m happy,” Bojang said. “I’m able to talk to people all the time.”

Boye agrees, adding “it feels like home when you come here.”

Coming to America

Bojang and Boye immigrated to the U.S. from The Gambia, a predominantly Muslim country in West Africa of 2.5 million people. The former British colony gained its independence in 1965 and is the smallest nation on the African mainland.

Opportunities in The Gambia are limited. Half the population lives below the poverty line, according to The World Bank.

“There’s a lot of challenges in The Gambia,” Bojang said,” and that’s why a lot of us still move to the United States.”

In July 2009, Bojang arrived in the U.S. to attend school. During his studies, he said his sponsorship fell through and he was unable to continue his education at that time. To support himself, in April 2013 he enlisted in the U.S. Army.

“It was mostly to give back to this country, because I felt like America was good to me, but also I wanted the benefits,” Bojang said. “Being in the military was one of the best things that happened to me in this country. It taught me so much. I learned a lot.”

Bojang served for six years, including a 2016 tour in Iraq. Afterward, he found work as a nursing assistant. While visiting a friend who worked at another African market, he got the idea to open a shop of his own.

He marveled at the business’ success and wondered if he could replicate it. So he researched the industry and decided the need was big enough for Everett to support a similar enterprise. The first year Bojang worked a full-time job while managing the store in his free time.

“It wasn’t easy,” Bojang said. “It was very, very, very difficult in the beginning.”

He started out small and built up his inventory over time based on what customers asked about. Most of Bojang’s wares come from a distributor in New Jersey.

Dizayus grew faster than Bojang expected and he is now able to afford employees. Bojang and Boye married in 2019, but Boye only joined her husband in the U.S. a year ago. And they’re part of a growing community in the state.

A growing community

Washington is home to an estimated 20,000 West Africans, according to Pa Ousman Joof, founder and executive director of the Lynnwood-based Washington West African Center. And greater Seattle has one of the largest Gambian communities in the country.

Joof, 40, of Marysville, calls Washington an “immigrant friendly community” that offers opportunities to Africans like himself. He moved here from The Gambia more than 20 years ago, and recalls the difficulties of those early years in a new country.

Joof launched his nonprofit in 2017 to provide the kinds of resources he would have wanted upon arriving in the U.S.

Services offered by the center include weekly food drives, after school programs, summer camps, senior support groups, marriage counseling, a computer lab and an art gallery.

“This is the one stop hub for our community, where if they need anything they come to us,” Joof said. “If we don’t have it, we will find it.”

Years ago, if Joof wanted something from his home country, family would have to send it to him. But stores like Dizayus help meet demands of a community that Joof said is “growing very rapidly.”

Joof shops there, and he also knows the owners from Bojang’s work as vice president of the Northwest Seattle Gambian Association.

“He’s doing quite a bit in the community. And through their shop, definitely, they make us feel at home,” Joof said. “He’s also a very good soccer player.”

The dream

For Bojang, having his own store has led to financial independence. But he continues to look for new products or services to provide. One example is a machine to cut frozen meat that customers bring in. The service Bojang said is “a high demand for my community.”

And the couple’s ambitions don’t stop at the store. The two co-own Dizayus FC, a third-division soccer team back in their home country. They also recently unveiled a rentable indoor soccer field in The Gambia.

The ultimate dream for Bojang is to open a supermarket in Washington for African goods.

“I know the dream is crazy, but the dream is to have an African supermart,” Bojang said. “I don’t know where the dream is going to take us, but that is the dream.”

Eric Schucht: 425-339-3477; eric.schucht@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EricSchucht.