Margaret Bonareri Deana of Nairobi, Kenya, came to this country in 2005 in pursuit of “the American Dream.”

College educated and already experienced in operating her own internet business (it’s still running in Kenya), she got a job with Atlas Data Systems in New Jersey and also went back to school. She figured she was well on her way up the ladder of success. She got blown off course by the recession.

Margaret was among the employees Atlas Data Systems laid off.

She looked and looked for a new job but found dozens of others looking as well. No luck.

Margaret found the cost of living in Bayonne, N. J. quite high. Meanwhile, a niece, also from Nairobi, had come to the United States earlier and now lives in Willow Spring. Margaret came down for a visit. She flew and so left her car behind. She learned very quickly that public transportation is non-existent in southern Wake County.

One day Margaret needed to go to a shopping center. She thought she would call a cab. The closest one she found was in Raleigh. The taxi service charged $10 to come out to the Fuquay-Varina area. Her trip to the shopping center added another $6. Then the cabbie had to return to Raleigh.

The experience was costly, but it was also worthwhile in more ways than one for the enterprising Margaret.

“I saw a need for a taxicab service here,” she says. She knows something about starting a business as a result of her experience in Kenya.

That’s all it took for Margaret to get going. Two weeks ago the Town Board approved an application from her to operate a taxi company in Fuquay-Varina. The name of her company: Western Transit, LLC.

Police Chief Larry Smith told the board she had completed all the documentation necessary, that he had inspected her vehicle (she has since added a second), and he recommended she be issued the operator’s permit and the driver’s permit for her to start her business. Smith said she has also completed the documentation that will allow the State of North Carolina to issue her a “For Hire” license plate.

So today Margaret is in business. She’s been distributing cards to local businesses and she’s had some calls. The son-in-law of her friend Mellen Bota, also now of Willow Springs, formerly of Kenya, is Margaret’s second driver. The cabs operate Monday through Saturday from 5 a.m. till 11 p.m. (Phone 201-290-1427). Margaret foresees the cab service growing into a fleet of vehicles as the community grows.

The Kenyan native says she was living well in her home country when she decided to migrate to the U.S. She had a house, her own business. But she said everyone in Kenya thinks life is easier, better in America. She had to give it a try.

Asked if she ever considered returning to her homeland when jobs proved scarce here, she said, “Oh yes. Every day.” But she thinks her countrymen would look at her and think “So you couldn’t make it in America.”

Also, she has her children to think about. When she came to America in 2005, she left her two sons in Nairobi with her family. She brought them here in August of last year. Her oldest son, now 19, is in school at Rutgers, planning to be a doctor. Her five-year-old is a student at Banks Road Elementary. She doesn’t think it would be fair to the children to move them back to Kenya now.

She still expects to “make it” in America. She has even considered going into a new profession altogether, perhaps going to Wake Technical College for the nursing program.

Her parents and eight siblings still live in Nairobi. She hopes to bring her parents to visit sometime soon. She said when she talks on the phone to her father, whose health is not good, she always tells him, “Don’t die before you can come to America.” She predicts that her mother, who doesn’t speak English, might be a bit uncomfortable here because so many customs are different, but her father, who does speak English, will love it.

As for Margaret, she says, “I’m still chasing the American dream.”

She considers the recession a bump in the road.