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Names
Selamawi "Mawi" - author/main character
Haileab - Father
Tsege - Mother
Mulu - Mawi's half sister
Tewolde - Older brother
Mehret - Younger sister
Hntsa - Baby brother -
Haileab's History
Haileab (Mawi's father) was born in 1934 in Seraye, Eritrea. His father died shortly after his birth and his mother become very ill. Haileab was sent to a monastery to live. When Haileab was fourteen years old, he ran away to live on his own. He traveled to Ethiopia and worked inside a government clinic doing housecleaning. Over time, he learned the practice but watching, and helping, and reading books. When he was old enough, he took a standardized examination to become a physician and passed. -
Haileab's Business
Haileab opened up his own clinic in Sudan, where he treated many people from his village and others. He always had his own general store. Haileab worked at his own business for 20 years and earned a lot of respect from every one. There also were people who threatened him and his business as well who didn't want certain patients to be treated. As the war in Ethiopia escalated, Haileab had to leave his practice and run too Sudan due to fear of the Dergue regime capturing Haileab. -
Haileab's Work Ethics
Once in America, Haileab tried to train his children to be hard working and honorable with their actions, similar to how Haileab once was in his homeland. He'd make his children rake their neighbors lawn to earn respect. He believed that earning your neighbor's respect will pay off in the future.
Haileab was so hard working, that he would rake the leaves and pick up litter from the lake in the town's park. Once, he burned the leaves at the park and police the police let him off with a warning. -
Leaving Adi Wahla
Mawi and his family left Adi Wahla and walked to Sudan where his father was located. -
Arrived in Awad, Sudan
Awad, Sudan is a refugee town with such few resources. Most refugees lived on goat milk, eggs, U.N. Rations, and whatever grew in their small gardens. -
World Relief
Haileab signed up through "World Relief" (Christian organization) to help get to America. -
Mulu's Back
Mulu returned to the family after being away for a long period of time. And Tsege refused to leave Sudan without bringing Mulu as well. World Relief designated a trip for a family of 5, not for 6. This held the family back one additional year before leaving to America. -
Leaving Sudan
A truck pulled up to their village packed with other families to pick them up.
Tsege's friends supported her move, but some warned her of the dangers of America. -
Before America
After leaving the refugee camp, the family stayed in Godariff for several months, 1 week in Khartoum, and then left on a plane to Athens. -
Haileab Became Sick
Haileab caught malaria once entering America. They couldn't afford doctors and medicines, so the World Reliefs case worker's friend treated him. -
Walk Through Chicago
Haileab, Tewolde, and Mawi walked through the streets of Chicago and noticed so many cars. They were surprised how big the cars were and how many they seen. They were also shocked that people drove even during the night. -
More Sudanese people
A Sudan family from the area knocked on their door and brought Sudanese food, and also taught them how to cook injera bread and sebhi stew using american utensils.
They soon became friends with this family. -
A New Home
Bethel sponsored their family and supplied them a 2 story house with a yard that was too big for them. And so expensive they rented out the whole upstairs. But were very grateful and thankful for the help. -
New Baby
Hntsa-Eyesus (Temesgen) was born. -
Warning From Father
Haileab warned the children to be nice to strangers, that they may be angels in disguise. They are disguised as the lowliest beetles: beggars, vagrants, and misfits.
When they were new to their home, they welcomed an "angel" into their home who had foul odor, nasty & dirty clothes, and a muddy body. When he left, he insisted on giving the family a gift and the gift was rainbow-colored address book that stores phone numbers and addresses that would be useful to them. -
Another Angel
Another "angel" visited them often named Charlene. She would sing to and with the children, and play soccer with them at the Wheaton College. -
Advice From Haileab
Haileab told the children to work hard for their futures. That they could be successful in America and go to college paid through scholarships. -
The Playground
Kids at school often ignored Tewolde and Mawi, treated them nicely, or despised them by calling them names and harassing them.
A kid named Sam from the 3rd grade was their biggest bully. He often cornered Tewolde and Mawi against the fence in the corner of the playground when the supervisors weren't looking. And often had fights between each other. -
Mulu At School
Mulu gotten into a fight at school as well and had gotten suspended from High School. -
Frank & Mbago
Frank & Mbago are two Nigerian students in the same grade as Mawi. They didn't get along despite their similarities. Both groups of kids fought on the playground as well. Tewolde and Mawi found out that they live right down the street from each other, and waited in the bushes with large sticks waiting for them to come by. Once Frank and Mbago came close, the boys busted out of the bushes and beat them with the sticks. Frank and Mbago ran away crying. -
New Friends
After the confrontation with Frank and Mbago, the Nigerian boys along with their parents knocked on Mawi's door. When Haileab & Tsege answered the door, they yelled at Mawi and Tewolde about what they had done. And soon enough, both families seen interests in each other and became very close family friends. -
No More Fighting
Mawi's father yelled at Tewolde and Mawi about their fighting after receiving a letter from the school's principal threatening to expel them from school.
Haileab warned his children that a criminal record will ruin their futures since America is ran on computers and these computers remember every crime they commit. -
Jake
A new bully named Jake who had more than 80 lbs. and was a foot taller than Tewolde began threatening them. Jake was a white kid who was labelled as a burnout, did drugs, and struck fear into other children with his knives. Jake also had a posse of white friends who also wielded knives. -
The Fight With Jake
One day after school, Jake and his friends cornered Tewolde on his walk home and were threatening to beat him up. Before anything happened, a group of older Nigerian boys pulled up in their car, gotten out, and threatened Jake. They warned him that if he ever laid a hand on Tewolde or Mawi, that they would be after him. Jake walked away from the crowd and never bothered them again. -
Bedtime Stories
Tewolde used to create stories before bed and tell them to Mawi. Before bed, he commonly expressed a story about 5 Chinese brothers who knew karate. With any problem or situation that arose, these 5 brothers would fight to fix the problem. No matter who they fought they always won, whether it was a few people, or the whole town.
Mawi currently believes that these stories were their childhood ways of coping with the stresses and fights they dealt with on a daily basis. -
Halloween
In Sudan, the families would celebrate a holiday each year that they called Hoyo. They would run adobe to adobe yelling out hoyo, hoyo! Some but not all Sundanese people would hand out candy, money, alcohol, as presents.
The boys related this holiday to a day American's follow named Halloween. Tewolde and Mawi grew familiar with Halloween and went trick-or-treating every year for more candy. They even found more ways to get more candy, even stealing candy from other neighborhood children. -
Kiros
Their friend Kiros came from Sudan to live in America and lived with Mawi’s family for a few weeks. After their stay, Kiros’ family moved over onto Route 38. Kiro still visited their house often, especially on Halloween.
One Halloween, the three of them stood on an elderly lady’s porch and tipped her candy dish over. They bent over to pick up the candy and Kiro was smashed in the head by the dish. They darted away as fast as they could as the elderly lady cursed them as they ran. -
The Parking Meter
Soon Tewolde and Mawi became fascinated with basketball over soccer. They would travel over to Triangle Park to watch and to play basketball. A basketball player named Bo hit a parking meter over and Tewolde & Mawi began to wonder how much money the meter could hold. The two of them knew of a hiding spot down the street inside a tunnel where they thought of taking the meter. -
Running From the Law
Tewolde & Mawi brought the parking meter to their hiding spot and tried to find ways to break open the change compartment inside the meter. They heard a radio approaching them outside the tunnel's end. As the boys looked up, they saw a police officer out the end of the tunnel. Both boys ran towards the other opening of the tunnel and darted home as fast as they could. Once home and away from the police officer, the boys went into their room and changed their clothes to alter their appearance. -
A Sandwich For A Stranger
When Tewolde and Mawi went to the library, they seen a white man outside braving the cold weather. They wondered if he was the address book man they had met years before, but it wasn't. They offered the man their ham sandwiches and left the library after they finished up. Years later, they never forgotten about this man that they chose to help. -
A Weight Set Gift
A year after giving the stranger the sandwiches, Tewolde secretly kept a friendship with this man. Tewolde and Mawi would look in the Dumpsters of Wheaton College and find items to pick up for themselves and for gifts. They found an extra weight set and Tewolde told Mawi he had a friend who needed one. Tewolde walked Mawi to his friend’s house to drop off the weight set and Mawi learned that his friend was the homeless looking man outside the library from a year earlier. -
Tewolde and Mawi’s First Jobs
There was a season in Tewolde and Mawi’s lives where they could work but weren’t legally able to. Both boys chose to work cash jobs repairing driveways and then also working through a cleaning service for a check. Soon enough Tewolde was cleaning car dealerships overnight and Mawi was flipping burgers during the day at a restaurant. -
Tewolde’s Business
At age 17, Tewolde began his own cleaning business. He explained that he would make seven dollars an hour working elsewhere, compared to making twenty-five dollars an hour by himself. His business grew by the help of his teacher who helped him market his business. His business expanded and was getting more clients! Tewolde was determined to talk to the management at the library to see if they would be interested in his business. -
Tewolde’s Death
Tewolde never gotten to speak to the library or finish high school because his was struck by a drunk driver. Tewolde never completed high school. Over the next few years, friends of the family continuously reflected on his life and how sweet of a kid he was. As they discovered more of what Tewolde done secretly, Mawi became amazed with everything they uncovered. Even how he sponsored a child through Compassion International despite he himself struggled to save for college. -
A Flashback in Sudan
In Sudan, Haileab practiced in a small clinic and had his own pharmacy as well. With the Woyane or Jebha taking over towns and villages against the Ethiopian Dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. With the civil war in Sudan, many people fled including Haileab. Haileab fled because he feared the Woyane or Jebha Regime would force him to practice medicine for them. -
Booksmart
Mawi began focusing on his own responsibilities in order to help himself and his family. He would read thousands of pages a week and sometimes buried himself in his room with books. Mawi graduated ESL in the second grade, and was on the honor role in the 6th grade! -
Sports
During school, Mawi joined the basketball team and the track team. When he wasn't performing sports, Mawi focused on his studies. Coach Martin would buy Mawi's training shoes and racing spikes for track since Mawi and his family couldn't afford the $50 shoes. -
Class President
During Mawi's senior year in high school, he was elected class president. This choice was made due to him being nice to everyone in his school, rather than labeling others depending on which group they were in (cool kids, normal kids, or nerds). -
The College Search
Mawi's counselor Mrs. Martin convinced Mawi to apply for many colleges, even the ones he had doubted. By doing so, Mawi applied for Taylor, Miami of Ohio, Illinois, Duke, Wake Forest, Washington University in St. Louis, Yale, and Harvard.
All colleges offered Mawi scholarships if he would attend the school, but Harvard offered him a full-tuition scholarship! -
Haileab's Death
Haileab was killed by a drunk driver one night while he was riding his bike near his home. -
References
1) goodreads.com - Of Beetles & Angels photo for timeline.