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Civil war between Eritrea and Ethiopia began
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Haileab fled their home in Adi Wahla
The family lived for a year without the father before leaving for Sudan. -
The Asgedom family set out to find safety in a Sudanese refugee camp
Page 2 Mawi recalls what it was like to cross in to the Sudanese border and arrive in the city of Awad at the age of three.
https://socialhistory.org/en/exhibitions/eisenloeffel/sudan-1980-1985 -
The Asgedom family prepared to leave for Ameria.
World Relief, a U.S. - based Christian organization agreed to resettle the family in America. The oldest daughter Mulu met up with the family before their departure, and Haileab refused to leave her behind. So, the family waited a whole year to depart for America in order that she would be able to come as well. -
The family says good bey to their home.
The family waited several months in Gedariff, then a week in the capital city Khartoum. Then they finally hopped a plane, and headed for Chicago. -
The family felt home sick for a while.
The sponsor from World Relief named Beth worked hard to find them a home. At first the family had to live in a motel for a while. They were a bit frightened by their surroundings in america. The city was a lot different from their dusty desert village back home. Even thought hey were happy to be here they desperately longed for something familiar from home. -
Little brotherTemesgen is born
Tsege gave birth to Temesgen shortly after settling in to their new house in Wheaton. He was conceived in Sudan and born in America he was a child of both the old and new worlds. -
God's Angels
Haileab told the children that angels were given to us by God to test the deepest sentiments of our hearts. And, that they should never mistreat people even if they resemble beetles because they might be angels sent by God. -
The children start school
Haileab tells the children that they can do anything if they worked hard and treated others with respect. When Mawi and Tewolde get bullied and start fighting to defend them selves, Haileab forbids them to fight back because they would ruin their chances on getting scholarships to college. -
Days of mischief
At age 11 Mawi and his brother almost get caught trying to break in to a broken parking meter to steel the change. The fear of getting caught reminded them of the values their father had tried to teach them through stories. He told them that steeling starts small with a tiny egg, and before you know it the egg becomes a chicken, then the chicken becomes a cow. Then you will find yourself in the house of imprisonment. -
The boys helped a brother under the stair well
Tewolde ans Mawi give their lunches to help a homeless man in the cold weather. Tewolde made friends with the man and helped him in huge ways later on. -
English became their second language
The boys worked hard and graduated from ESL classes from Longfellow Elementary and entered regular classes full-time. -
Tewolde started his cleaning business
At age seventeen Tewolde began to understand the ways of business and aspired to be an entrepreneur in order to make more money with his cleaning business. -
Tewolde dies
Tewolde was killed by a drunk driver midway though his senior year. -
Tsege recalls how how the children became sick on the way to Sudan.
While traveling the kids became sick with a cold they called tekh-tekh-ta. Along the way God had provided people to help them in Deke Dasheem where they stayed for seven weeks. The people all around them feared helping because the kids were so sick. Tsege found some Habesha people that knew Haileab and that he was was looking for her. Haileab meet up with them and administered the medicine they needed to heal. -
Selamawi recalls hearing how Haileab left them in Adi.
Tsege would entertain the other women by serving them coffee in their home. The ladies would then tell each other about their pasts and how they cam to America. That's when Mawi heard about the great life his parents had back in their home of Adi before the war broke out. And, that his father had fled to Sudan out of fear that the enemy would capture him and kill him because he was a doctor. Haileab was trying to protect the rest of the family by leaving their home alone. -
Tsege tells the women how she traveled to Sudan alone with three sick kids
Tsege did not want to leave the life her and her husband had built in Adi. But it became to dangerous for them to stay. Tsege sold their livestock, gathered what she could, sugar medicine, clothes and what little money they had and left for Sudan. With two small donkeys and a camel loaded with food she traveled on foot from Adi through the wilderness. -
Mawi explains how Haileab became the kind man he was.
Mawi tells us about how Haileab was a highly respected man back in their home land. His father had lived as an orphan in a monetary until he was nine years old. He moved around from relative to relative mostly finding for himself. -
Haileab worked hard and became a great leader in his home land.
Haileab struggled with temptations as any young man would, that had grown up without constant parents in their lives. But he had a tremendous work ethic. He begged for a cleaning job in a clinic. There he began to lend a hand and help out more and more. This enabled him to learn certain skills that would lead him to secure a valuable place in society, by eventually opening his own clinic. -
Mawi describes how the people admired his father for being so generous.
Haileab used his medical skills to help many people who suffered from desperate times of war, famine, and deathly epidemics. Mawi tells how his father had grown wealthy with many livestock, a pharmacy, a general store, and his own clinic. For as many people that there were that loved and respected him there were that many that hated and feared him for his influence. The fear of someone hurting them is what ultimately lead to Haileab fleeing from his home to the refugee camp. -
Haileab continued his generosity in America.
Despite having very little money in America he always sought out to help anyone who was in need. He would give people a warm place to sleep or food to eat. He would offer prayer and companionship to the lonely. And he would always stand up to give an account for someone who had nobody else in their corner. -
After Tewolde' death Mawi Submerges himself in his school work.
Mawi knew the best way to honor his brother's legacy. was to strive to be the best person he could be academically and spiritually. He took all of the hardest classes and aced them every time. Mawi played many sports and became very good at them. But he always made sure to treat everyone he meet like angels. Because of this and the help of some great influential people in his life Mawi applied and was excepted by many colleges including Harvard. -
Haileab gets killed by a drunk driver.
While Mawi attended college his father died. There were so many people that came and spoke of how he had helped them in some way. Haileab was respected and honored by everyone he meet. Mawi says that he wondered sometimes if God had sent his father to test the truest sentiments of the churches heart, because he was such an angel even though he may have looked like a beetle to others. -
Selamawi graduates from Harvard University
Mawi. gives his commencement speech at his graduation in front of 30,000 people. He imagines what his father and brother would have said if they had been there to see this dream come to pass. He encourages us to be inspired by the beetles and angels of the world. And, to look for ways to be blessed by being a giver rather than a receiver.
