Congratulations, Class of 2007, you have completed the journey, faced the obstacles and come to a place of challenge and hope. For me, it is a pleasure not only to be here to receive my high-school diploma, but also to talk to you about some crazy ideas I have about life, problems, and hope.

I was just fourteen years old and a teenager in Ethiopia, when the civil war broke out. I found myself all alone without my mother and father in a hot and dusty refugee camp stuck in the middle of Kenya, struggling to survive. Do you have any idea what life in a refugee camp is like? Let me tell you, it’s hell. Eighty thousand refugees crowded together and doing their best to stay alive survived on just one meal a day suffering in the heat and the dust. No matter how dusty the road, no matter how empty my stomach, I did what I thought was important for me at the time. And I had a crazy dream, but I never gave up hope.

On February 23, 2004, that crazy dream came true, and after a twenty-four hours flight from Nairobi, Kenya, I landed in Boston. After the living in the hottest, dustiest refugee camp imaginable, I landed in the coldest town in the world. I thought I needed to go to school, but I did not know how. I thought I needed to get to high school, but again I did not know how. Who would help me? Who would show me the right way? How would I pay the rent? How could work and go to school at the same time? My crazy dream had come true, and I was now living comfortably in the United States: but I still had questions and problems, and no one to help me.

Then, I heard about a school called Notre Dame Education Center. They called it “a place of hope.” That mental image was really big to me because I myself am a person who has hope. At Notre Dame Education Center, I found tutors and teachers who gave me direction and helped me reach my goal of a high-school diploma and graduation from high school. But I still have problems and questions about what I want to do next in life. Do I want to go on to college or do I want to continue working? Which college do I want to attend? What courses do I need to take to prepare? Problems always exist: life is full of problems. Now, at with the help of teachers at Notre Dame Education Center, I have achieved my goal and now face the questions and problems of my future with hope.

My teachers at Notre Dame Education Center say to me regularly, “Aim high.” That is a crazy idea, but it is a word of advice and a way of thinking that inspires me and propels me forward. So, although people may laugh, I still have hope and keep in my mind the craziest idea: I want to be educated. I want to continue improving my reading and writing skills. It has been a long and difficult road, and even today, after receiving my diploma, my life will become even more complicated and crazy. After I finish this six-month computer training and begin my internship at Harvard Law School, I still have plans to go to college and further my education. Will I succeed? Will I fail? These questions feed my hope. Meanwhile, God is smiling on me, the sun is shining, and the birds are singing. What a crazy idea!

Henok Mehari
February 9, 2007