Personal Statement

It was in 2001 the last time I saw my father before he left for exile to Europe from Eritrea. I and
my younger sister were raised by single mother without a father figure in our house until we
come to see our father after 14 years of separation. Many Eritreans risked their lives to get in to
Europe crossing the Mediterranean Sea by rubber raft, and many drowned when their boat
capsized off the Libyan coast. This and other horrifying stories used to make us worried as we
were not hearing from our father for the first couple of years. We have been hearing disturbing
stories about refugees passing through dangerous environments to reach Europe however in early
2005 that first call from my father knowing being he is alive was the most exciting thing in my
life. That first call changed my personality as a young boy, the hopes and excitement of seeing
him in the future grew so much inside me. He started calling us often and boosting my moral to
study hard and to focus on my academics. The calls from my father emphasizing on schooling
and the technical lessons I took in my school initiated my interest for technical and mechanical
lessons, I installed telephone and electrical lines, lumps, plugs and replacing blown fuses inside
our house. I become the technical person in our house who fixes most of the technical problems
from a flat iron to the washing machine.
In August, 2014 my father informed us that he has started processing a paperwork to get us into
The USA. Taking in to account the indefinite military service and dictatorial rule in Eritrea, we
were extremely excited upon getting this great news from our father. We therefore had to arrange
for someone to take us out into the neighboring country Ethiopia and stay in a refugee camp until
our paperwork process is completed. In March, 2015 I and my sister determined to get out of the
country through the southern border to Ethiopia by foot and started our journey at night and slept

during day time. We walked for two consecutive days interrupted and terrorized by hyenas and
other wild life animals and we reached into northern Ethiopia Refugee Camp. Like most Refugee
camps the one we were accepted never had any shelter, drinking water and the place were
infested with malaria and other water borne diseases. Using my previous technical experience I
started to erect a shelter by cutting trees and grasses from the surrounding area.
After 6 months of staying in the refugee camp our paperwork process were completed and
arrived to the USA in August 2015 and saw my father for the first time in almost 14 years, the
feelings were overwhelming and we started our senior class at Butler High school. We then
started to face the cultural difference and the hardship of communicating with fellow students,
some failed to understand our accent and lost in communication. After two months, we moved to
Garinger High School and started all over again making new school friends.
In the end although I have had the hardest life experience my love for mechanical and technical
courses reinvigorated upon studying more and more at school and felt more alive. I have always
dreamed of studying HAVC (heat, air, ventilation and cooling) technician in the future. To me
HAVC is the future and through it I seek another permanent opportunity to follow my passion.