Mawi I: A Refugee Inspires Americans

When the Ethiopian-American author and motivational speaker, Mawi Asgedom, spoke on September 26 at the Evanston Public Library, 170 people were hooked to his every word. It is not every day that you get the opportunity to see an African refugee who graduated from Harvard University and tours the U.S. to tell people to live against all odds.

Dressed in blue jeans and a traditional Ethiopian beige shirt, 30-year-old Mawi was very down to earth, saying hello to everyone and shaking hands with several kids and parents before his presentation. The crowd of middle-school students, teenagers and parents quickly took to him; many sat on the floor at his feet.

Twenty-four years ago, Mawi came to the United States as a refugee with his parents and siblings. He and his family had fled the civil war in Ethiopia by walking hundreds of miles to neighboring Sudan. He shared his refugee story with the audience.

“[My mother] chewed food and then gave it to the baby,” said Mawi, whose mother’s milk had dried up during their flight. “Raise your hand if you would do the same thing to save your brother and sister?”

Most of the children in the room raised their hands without hesitation. “We’re not as different as we might think we are,” he added.

He vividly described the experience of living through a 30-year-long civil war.

“Imagine the war starts today in 2007 and you all 8th graders can’t be in school. [Soldiers come and say] ‘Hey, join my army or I’ll kill all of your family right now’,” said Mawi, bringing the story home to his American audience. “By the time the war ends, you would be 43 or 44 years old.”

The children were silent as the storyteller’s words resonated in the room. The speaker had skillfully managed to show the loss that an entire generation experienced in East Africa.

However, the children were not always pensive, especially when the charismatic speaker asked for their opinion.

“What do you think was the best thing about the States for us [refugees]?” asked Mawi whose best-selling memoir, Of Beetles and Angels, is being read in hundreds of schools.

The room became electrified as children yelled: Clothes! Shoes! Basketball! Cell phones!

“Cell phones? Even people in America didn’t have cell phones in 1983,” said Mawi. When the laughter in the room quieted down, he added softly: “The best part of coming to the U.S. was peace, knowing that no one will come after you with a gun.”