[Music]
why not snow chess everybody my name is
Mesfin Hodes
I’m from Ethiopia but I live in New York
City now today I’m here to share with
you a story about my unexpected journey
life was a road filled with roses but
paved with thorns I know we don’t need
to know each other but I want you guys
to close your eyes for a moment because
I want to paint a picture for you guys
Oh close your eyes I want to take you
back and time to when you guys were
seven years old what do you see do you
see your neighborhood are there trees a
nice paved road can you imagine your
bedroom can you think about your
breakfast lunch and dinner and how
fortunate you were to have that were you
mad are you siblings for not playing
with you were you angry at your parents
because they forced you to eat
vegetables I want you guys to open your
eyes now I’m gonna paint you a different
picture so this is the street life of
Addis Ababa as you can see there’s about
five kids we’re sleeping next to each
other
on the side of a busy road with nothing
to wear and Ethiopia is it gets pretty
cold at night and this is as you can see
is what they have there’s no there’s no
blanket there’s nothing you just have
your t-shirt or you know whatever you’re
wearing that day
imagine walking around for hours to find
the spot to sleep in imagine not knowing
if you’re gonna eat that day or not even
even worse imagine if you’re not gonna
make it the next day imagine you’re
dying on the streets we walked for hours
we were hungry for days without food
without parents without anyone giving us
and guiding us that’s a tough tough life
and had this Allah on the streets I want
to take you back again to one of my
hardest days I remember this day like it
was yesterday so clear in my memory was
a beautiful day and I was sitting beside
a busy road begging for money but
unfortunately not a single person gave
me as little as a penny we went around
to restaurants to see if they have
leftover foods
nothing nothing nothing so I decided to
go to one of my favorite spots which was
a park by a busy road I loved that Park
so much because there’s so many flowers
and I love flowers but the reason I went
to the park was because I was hungry I
haven’t eaten for two days
and I just gave up when I thought this
was it this was my life and I wanna I
guess die in a better place looking at
flowers instead of just on a busy side
of a road
so I said laid down on a bench even the
flowers looked as if they too were dying
and dying was
I think new to us we saw kids die
because of the pain of hunger took over
them you’ve seen kids die because of the
disease that we were exposed on the
streets and I know eventually my mind–a
would come too and I was okay I I had
hoped that there was something better
but if this is it this is it so I saw I
laid down on a bench thinking this is it
I’m gonna die and a few minutes later I
hear a man of a voice that said you
don’t look well son and hands me less
than a quarter think about it less than
a quarter okay I took that quarter I
went out bought some food and life kind
of restarted now imagine a quarter
changing your life just a quarter from
that day on I was back to the streets
again back to begging for money begging
for food so the life was extremely
extremely extremely tough I want to tell
you a short story about these two young
fish by David Foster so there’s these
two young fish were swimming and they
happened to me an older fish that was
swimming on the other way who looks at
them and says morning boys how’s the
water and the two fish swim on and
eventually one of them goes to the other
what the hell is water the point of the
water story is because that poverty was
like my water that’s all I know that’s
all we know on the street there was
nothing else there was no future there’s
no dreams
there’s no goals you don’t know you
don’t know the next day you don’t know
if you’re gonna live the next day and
this is what we had and this was my
reality
a future with no hope no dreams thinking
you’re gonna die the next day but you
hope you hope that you know if there’s a
god that you’ll pick you up until one
day this amazing man is my father he is
the reason I came out of the water he’s
the reason I I started going to school I
I started seeing new things that I’ve
never seen a car a house yeah it was my
first time in a car was so shocking
cuz I’ve never been in one but he gave
me a new opportunity gave me a new
purpose for for a life now I know I have
a future I can go to school now
and everything kind of was a new journey
this is my dad trying to attempt a
selfie huh I think he did a good job let
me tell you a little about him so he is
from New York City moved to Africa about
30 years ago okay and the reason he went
to Africa was to teach at a university
for a year or two had not planned to
live in Africa whatsoever doesn’t know
the language doesn’t know the culture
but he was still willing to go and see
and help and do whatever he can he could
have easily stayed in America as a
doctor and made a lot of money but that
wasn’t the life you wanted that was just
easy to sit in America become a doctor
hard work but you have a good life you
can have your own family none of that he
dropped everything because you knew
there were people in need any Theo P
especially and he’s been he saved maybe
5,000 people change their life I mean
these are people that would have died if
they have never met my dad he works for
an American Jewish distribution
committee he was the doctor for all the
Jews that left from Ethiopia to go to
Israel but that wasn’t enough he needed
to help more people he started adopting
so he has five adopted kids have four
brothers I’m the youngest and we have a
huge family even though we’re just five
adopted kids there’s kids that need
place after surgery after whatever and
his house is just open so at one time we
had maybe 25 people living in our house
this is a family I’m on the left side
my daddy’s to say that was when I used
to be cute but this gave me a reason to
see the value of family and how
important it is to have people who love
you who support you in anything and
everything you need now this is a huge
turn of my life coming to America as a
freshman it’s the most shocking country
in the world I was just shocked by
everything the people the culture the
food just everything was so shocking and
I was also alone and I didn’t have
anybody I came left my family my dad
lives in Ethiopia most of my brothers
live in Ethiopia and it was extremely
hard I was extremely hard but this gave
me a new reality America has amazing
education and led my life to be a bit
better even though it was sad I was only
living in America without my family I
was still it’s better so after I came to
America I saw that I was in a great
position to give so I started by simply
collecting clothes
clothes that people didn’t need and
taking it back to Ethiopia and so forth
and then we organized our own piece for
points and raised money to build a
school and a water well in Ethiopia and
I’ve been working with different kind of
nonprofits to give back as much as I can
they say that when you give you get and
I truly believe in that right the kind
that you are the more kindness will come
your way so therefore I was very lucky
and fortunate to open my own business in
New York City called Ethio art
collection and what it is is basically
we’re a platform to raise awareness
about Ethiopian art and show the
beautiful artwork and showcase their
stories and talents to the world market
so we buy art and sell it
internationally again as as a new
company we also want to give back so
we’ve you’ve decided to partner up with
a nonprofit to build a school so more
people and more children can have a
better education and have a better life
this is one of my favorite quote never
give up today’s hard tomorrow will be
worse but the day after tomorrow will be
sunshine living on the street you had no
hope nothing I mean there’s no all you
think about where you gonna sleep and
where you gonna eat that’s it that’s all
we had but moving to America being
adopted having an amazing father gave me
more hope gave me a better lifestyle
better made me a better person I can now
take all the thorns that were on my way
and take them as a lesson and I can
finally stop and appreciate the rose
thank you all for listening
amazing my friend amazing
you
[Music]
why not snow chess everybody my name is
Mesfin Hodes
I’m from Ethiopia but I live in New York
City now today I’m here to share with
you a story about my unexpected journey
life was a road filled with roses but
paved with thorns I know we don’t need
to know each other but I want you guys
to close your eyes for a moment because
I want to paint a picture for you guys
Oh close your eyes I want to take you
back and time to when you guys were
seven years old what do you see do you
see your neighborhood are there trees a
nice paved road can you imagine your
bedroom can you think about your
breakfast lunch and dinner and how
fortunate you were to have that were you
mad are you siblings for not playing
with you were you angry at your parents
because they forced you to eat
vegetables I want you guys to open your
eyes now I’m gonna paint you a different
picture so this is the street life of
Addis Ababa as you can see there’s about
five kids we’re sleeping next to each
other
on the side of a busy road with nothing
to wear and Ethiopia is it gets pretty
cold at night and this is as you can see
is what they have there’s no there’s no
blanket there’s nothing you just have
your t-shirt or you know whatever you’re
wearing that day
imagine walking around for hours to find
the spot to sleep in imagine not knowing
if you’re gonna eat that day or not even
even worse imagine if you’re not gonna
make it the next day imagine you’re
dying on the streets we walked for hours
we were hungry for days without food
without parents without anyone giving us
and guiding us that’s a tough tough life
and had this Allah on the streets I want
to take you back again to one of my
hardest days I remember this day like it
was yesterday so clear in my memory was
a beautiful day and I was sitting beside
a busy road begging for money but
unfortunately not a single person gave
me as little as a penny we went around
to restaurants to see if they have
leftover foods
nothing nothing nothing so I decided to
go to one of my favorite spots which was
a park by a busy road I loved that Park
so much because there’s so many flowers
and I love flowers but the reason I went
to the park was because I was hungry I
haven’t eaten for two days
and I just gave up when I thought this
was it this was my life and I wanna I
guess die in a better place looking at
flowers instead of just on a busy side
of a road
so I said laid down on a bench even the
flowers looked as if they too were dying
and dying was
I think new to us we saw kids die
because of the pain of hunger took over
them you’ve seen kids die because of the
disease that we were exposed on the
streets and I know eventually my mind–a
would come too and I was okay I I had
hoped that there was something better
but if this is it this is it so I saw I
laid down on a bench thinking this is it
I’m gonna die and a few minutes later I
hear a man of a voice that said you
don’t look well son and hands me less
than a quarter think about it less than
a quarter okay I took that quarter I
went out bought some food and life kind
of restarted now imagine a quarter
changing your life just a quarter from
that day on I was back to the streets
again back to begging for money begging
for food so the life was extremely
extremely extremely tough I want to tell
you a short story about these two young
fish by David Foster so there’s these
two young fish were swimming and they
happened to me an older fish that was
swimming on the other way who looks at
them and says morning boys how’s the
water and the two fish swim on and
eventually one of them goes to the other
what the hell is water the point of the
water story is because that poverty was
like my water that’s all I know that’s
all we know on the street there was
nothing else there was no future there’s
no dreams
there’s no goals you don’t know you
don’t know the next day you don’t know
if you’re gonna live the next day and
this is what we had and this was my
reality
a future with no hope no dreams thinking
you’re gonna die the next day but you
hope you hope that you know if there’s a
god that you’ll pick you up until one
day this amazing man is my father he is
the reason I came out of the water he’s
the reason I I started going to school I
I started seeing new things that I’ve
never seen a car a house yeah it was my
first time in a car was so shocking
cuz I’ve never been in one but he gave
me a new opportunity gave me a new
purpose for for a life now I know I have
a future I can go to school now
and everything kind of was a new journey
this is my dad trying to attempt a
selfie huh I think he did a good job let
me tell you a little about him so he is
from New York City moved to Africa about
30 years ago okay and the reason he went
to Africa was to teach at a university
for a year or two had not planned to
live in Africa whatsoever doesn’t know
the language doesn’t know the culture
but he was still willing to go and see
and help and do whatever he can he could
have easily stayed in America as a
doctor and made a lot of money but that
wasn’t the life you wanted that was just
easy to sit in America become a doctor
hard work but you have a good life you
can have your own family none of that he
dropped everything because you knew
there were people in need any Theo P
especially and he’s been he saved maybe
5,000 people change their life I mean
these are people that would have died if
they have never met my dad he works for
an American Jewish distribution
committee he was the doctor for all the
Jews that left from Ethiopia to go to
Israel but that wasn’t enough he needed
to help more people he started adopting
so he has five adopted kids have four
brothers I’m the youngest and we have a
huge family even though we’re just five
adopted kids there’s kids that need
place after surgery after whatever and
his house is just open so at one time we
had maybe 25 people living in our house
this is a family I’m on the left side
my daddy’s to say that was when I used
to be cute but this gave me a reason to
see the value of family and how
important it is to have people who love
you who support you in anything and
everything you need now this is a huge
turn of my life coming to America as a
freshman it’s the most shocking country
in the world I was just shocked by
everything the people the culture the
food just everything was so shocking and
I was also alone and I didn’t have
anybody I came left my family my dad
lives in Ethiopia most of my brothers
live in Ethiopia and it was extremely
hard I was extremely hard but this gave
me a new reality America has amazing
education and led my life to be a bit
better even though it was sad I was only
living in America without my family I
was still it’s better so after I came to
America I saw that I was in a great
position to give so I started by simply
collecting clothes
clothes that people didn’t need and
taking it back to Ethiopia and so forth
and then we organized our own piece for
points and raised money to build a
school and a water well in Ethiopia and
I’ve been working with different kind of
nonprofits to give back as much as I can
they say that when you give you get and
I truly believe in that right the kind
that you are the more kindness will come
your way so therefore I was very lucky
and fortunate to open my own business in
New York City called Ethio art
collection and what it is is basically
we’re a platform to raise awareness
about Ethiopian art and show the
beautiful artwork and showcase their
stories and talents to the world market
so we buy art and sell it
internationally again as as a new
company we also want to give back so
we’ve you’ve decided to partner up with
a nonprofit to build a school so more
people and more children can have a
better education and have a better life
this is one of my favorite quote never
give up today’s hard tomorrow will be
worse but the day after tomorrow will be
sunshine living on the street you had no
hope nothing I mean there’s no all you
think about where you gonna sleep and
where you gonna eat that’s it that’s all
we had but moving to America being
adopted having an amazing father gave me
more hope gave me a better lifestyle
better made me a better person I can now
take all the thorns that were on my way
and take them as a lesson and I can
finally stop and appreciate the rose
thank you all for listening
amazing my friend amazing
you
[Music]
Please follow and like us: