“When I was 7 years old I flew to America, by myself, on a plane from Africa, to live with my grandparents in Houston, TX. I felt like I came to the future. I didn’t understand why I got in trouble when I immediately started doing karate moves (the ones I’d learned from all the Kung Fu movies I watched) with the first Asian kid I met at school. I was lost. It was a whole new world, with a new language and culture. I missed my family, and my pet monkey, but I knew I was lucky to be here, a new place of great opportunity. Eritrea, where I came from in Africa, unravelled — politically and socially — a few years after I left. I always hope it will improve, but I couldn’t be happier to be in my new home — all these years later.”
