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Refugee Camp
This was he home from 1980-83 -
Leaving Home
Mawi and his family left their home of Adi Wahla, Ethiopia to go the refugee camp in a city called Awad. He was just a young boy and had to walk in the desert because there was war where he lived. To survive his family had to leave all they new to go to a place that wasn't any better then where they were. -
Teacher Beatings
When he was in school the teacher were allowed to beat the kids. He had one teach strike his knuckles, and another beat him senseless just because he answered more questions then the teacher own kid. Parents did not stand up for their kids there like they do in the U.S. One thing that was the same was that kids bullied each other. He had to fight a lot. -
Mischief
Him and his brother like to get into things. Like one time they had heard that you could let air out of tires, so one day when a truck came to the camp, they tried it and it worked. They were so surprised. They also would use homemade sling shots to shoot things. They used it to kill a bird and they use the bird to feed their family. -
Dancing
They would have dances in the camp, and the best dancers would get money stuck to their heads. Mawi's dad was on of the best dancers. The entire camp would stop what they were doing to watch him dance. He would make a lot of money for his family. -
Coming to America
In 1983 his family finally got to leave and come to America. They had to go through test before they could come here. His half-sister showed up at the camp when they were able to leave, so they had to wait another year to leave. His parents were not going to leave her in the camp. -
Chicago
When they come to America the stayed in a hotel in Chicago. They met Beth who was their caseworker. She was to find a church to sponsor the family. Soon after coming his dad became very ill. -
Angel number one
They met two angels shortly after coming to the states. The first one was a lady that was from where they were from. She had brought them food from their homeland, and taught his mom how to cook native food with what they had in the states. -
Angel number two
The second person that had an impact on his life at a young age was a college student. She would come by their house and take him and his siblings out to play soccer, and to the parks to play. She did this when his parents were to scared to let them play out in their yard. -
Longfellow Elementary
This is where he went to school. He and his brother had to fight a lot because the students made fun of them. They could fight well from fighting in the refugee camp. The brothers looked out for one another. One time his brother beat a kid up, the kid had Mawi pined up to the fence and he couldn't breath. -
Kid Things
He and his brother learned quickly that on Halloween to go before all the kids got home to look for houses that had the candy bowls outside and take the candy. Then they would go trick or treating when all the other kids were going for their first time. -
Note Home
The boys fought everyday and the principal had to send a not home. The boys were on the verge of being kick out of school. -
First visits to the public library
On his first trip he and his brother ran into their first homeless man. They were kind a gave him their lunches. A year later he and his brother gave weights to a guy, and he realized it was the guy that they hard seen at the library. He found out that his brother had help this guy get a job, and a place to live. -
School
Impressed that him and his brother missed fewer then ten days in the ten years they were in school. -
Coffee tales
This was a time that all the women set and drink a coffee that was not the same as American coffee. They say that it loosen the tongue, and all the women set and talk about their memories. The kids woulds hid and listen. They always wanted to know why their father left for the camp before they did. Listening to the stories in secret is how they found out about their father. -
Second trip to the library
On this trip his brother started to watch the janitors and he soon realized he could a better job and wanted to extend his business that he started. Sad that he never got to do that, he was killed by a drunk driver. -
Learning about his father
He learned a lot about his father when listing to the coffee tails, but as he got older his father told him more. His father was a orphan, he begged for a job to help in a hospital type place. He self taught and learned all that he could, and passed a test to work and learn to be a doctor. -
Fathers' eye site
After coming to the states his father got a job as janitor after being a doctor in there country. His father started losing his eye sight and could not work to support the family. -
Eviction
They got evicted when he was in 8th grade. Lucky for them a housing company moved them up on the list and put them in a new place. -
Brother died
During Christmas break his brother was killed by a drunk driver. His life changed for ever. -
Freshmen Year
In his freshmen year of high school he made the basketball team. He had to run three miles to practice, and on the cold winter days he would hardly be able to dribble the ball his hands were so cold. He also made the track team and was the fastest runner by the end of the season. -
Sophomore & Junior year
His track couch help him a lot with shoe and close for school when his parents couldn't afford it. He worked a job, lifted weights, and trained for track and by the end of his Junior year he was running six days a week. He competed in state track his Junior year. -
Senior Year
He was at a National Honor Society meeting, and he wanted run for president. He didn't think he was popular enough, but had his friend nominate him anyway. He won! -
Ranking
He was ranked in the top 1% of his class. -
College Applications
He applied to eight schools, Taylor, Miami of Ohio, Illinois, Duke, Wake Forest, and Washington University in St. Louis, Yale, and Harvard. Most school waved the application fees for him, and he had great letters of recommendation. He was accepted to 5 out of the 8 colleges and got a full ride to Harvard. -
Father's Death
His father passed away in his junior year at Harvard. -
College Graduation
He graduated from Harvard. He even gave the commencement speech.
