Transcript Of Beetles and Angels

Of Beetles and Angels
by Mawi Asgedom
Background to his
memoir…
Mawi was born on September 29, 1976
in Adi Wahla,
Ethiopia.
This is a
small town
on the
border of
Eritrea and
Sudan.
In 1980 his family was “relocated” to a
refugee camp in Sudan.
Fighting between Ethiopian soldiers
and Eritrean guerillas forced many
families into Sudanese refugee camps.
He fled the fighting in Ethiopia with his
family when he was three years old.
are
and
donkeys,
"And the way
you do it is that
you just pack your
stuff up and if you
lucky to have some
camels and mules,
maybe some
you ride on
them."
Sudan is host to many refugee caps
because of its size and location.
For the next
three years,
1980-1983,
the Umsagata
refugee camp
in Sudan
became his
family's home.
“The refugee
camp was in
Umsagata,
Sudan. I don’t
know if it would
come up on any
map. Another
name it’s
known by is
Semsem.”
Refugee Camp Statistics:
- 100% said they had been captured by government troops and
forced to resettle.
- 10% reported that they witnessed people being killed who tried
to escape.
- More than 40% said they were beaten.
- More than 70% were separated from all members of their
immediate family.
According to Mawi
“It was safe to assume that 25 percent--or
125,000--of the settlers had died.”
By mid 1980, the refugee crisis in
the Horn of Africa was the world’s
worst.
 2.5 million people abandoned their homes
and sought asylum in neighboring countries.
Causes of the Refugee Crises:
 Mengistu Regime killed thousands while
fighting Eritrean insurgents
 Famine -- by 1973, famine had killed 300,000
 Drought -- In 1987, drought threatened 5 million
More than 1 million Ethiopian
Refugees relocated to Sudan,
Somalia, and Djibouti in the 1980s.
Life in a Refugee Camp:

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Absence of sanitation
Inadequate medical assistance
Food shortages
Lack of clean water
Disease
Overcrowding
Mawi's family came to the U.S on a World
Relief ticket. World Relief sponsors
refugees from different countries to
America.
http://www.wr.org/whatwedo/refugeecare.asp
- Every year, World Relief helps up to
10,000 refugees fleeing persecution and war in
their homelands.
- Since 1979,
World Relief has
embraced over
200,000 refugees,
welcoming them
at the airport,
helping them find
jobs, and
extending the
hands of
friendship.
His family
settled in
Wheaton, IL.
Wheaton is
located 30
miles west of
Chicago.
Now you will read Of Beetles and
Angels and learn more about
Mawi’s experiences in America.