Tefere Gebre is an Ethiopian immigrant who arrived in the United States as a teenage refugee. Today, he is the executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. (If you think of union members as white guys in construction helmets, broaden your vision!) With his immigrant experience freshly relevant in light of this year’s presidential election, he tells his story at Medium and in a video you can watch below:
I was joined by three friends and my nephew, and we hired a guide to lead us across the desert to the Sudanese border, which should have taken two-and-a-half weeks. Half way through our trip, our guide and his accomplices robbed us at gunpoint. We had to keep moving, but we had no idea which direction to take.
We survived by eating what we could find and walking at night, when it was cooler. Sometimes we found ourselves in the same place we were a week ago, but we couldn’t stay in the desert, we had to make it or we would die.
Some cattle herders helped us make it to the border on the 93rd day of our journey. I had lost 33 pounds.
I eventually made it to the United States but not without many more roadblocks. I want everyone to know that as an immigrant, living through these things, you are essentially on your second or third life by the time you make it here.
That’s why we need to continue to fight for the American ideal of welcoming those brave people who want to be free.
It doesn’t matter if you’re Muslim, Mexican or Ethiopian.
Watch him tell his story below.