“Josh, my friend Roger mentioned about you. I thought I will call you and introduce myself.”
“Yes, sir! He mentioned about you. How are you?”
“Good, Josh. You know, we used to live in Dallas area too. Where exactly do you live?”
His answer dropped my jaw!
Noticing my silence, he piped up “Are you there, sir?”
“Oh, yes! yes!!”
Allow me to back up here. Two weeks back, when in Dallas, Roger had told me about this young gentleman standing behind him in a barbecue queue and he had struck up a conversation with him. The gentleman – Josh – was there DoorDashing an order. Roger thought it might be a good idea for me to get to know Josh.
“Josh, so tell me your life story. Where are you from?”
“Well, I was born in Ethiopia. I lived with my dad and step-mom. But my dad died when I was seven years. And that is when my life took a sudden change. I stayed with my step mom for some time but then I was sent off to my biological mom’s place.”
“Ok.”
“I do not know how to put this. But let’s just say, she was not the best person. My only way to escape from abuse was to run away.”
“You ran away?”
“Yes, sir.”
“To where?”
“Oh! I lived on the streets with other kids.”
“This is in Adis Ababa?”
“Among other places. We would jump onto trains and go to different cities and live on the streets there.”
“Well, then how did you land up in Texas?”
“One day, while jumping from train to train, I missed a step and got hit by a running train”
“What? Then?”
“There was an Australian doctor in the charitable hospital I was taken to who operated on me and was very kind to me. He helped me a lot. He even tried to adopt me. But Australian rules won’t let him do that since he was over a certain age. He then helped me find an American couple from Washington state to adopt me. Without that, with no legs and only one arm, I would have died by now.”
“Yes, Roger mentioned that you have only one limb. That is a fascinating story.”
His adoptive mother and sister had come to Ethiopia, picked him up and brought him to America. His parents did everything parents can do, as he said. He had never been to elementary school. Went straight to middle school in a foreign country and then graduated for high school.
Determined to make the best of his luck, he applied to a lot of colleges but could not get thru. He then tried the athletic route. Joined a wheelchair basketball program in Oregon. Trained very hard. Apparently, the coach was very supportive and helpful. With his coach’s guidance, he tried wheelchair rugby and excelled in it. Apparently, played at international level. In Team USA!
“You were in Team USA?”
“Yes sir! I played for USA in Under-17”.
“Wow!”
Eventually though, there was no career in that . He went back to studying. This time, got a break in University of Arizona. From scholarships, donations and working part time, put himself thru college. Two years into college, he transferred to UT, Arlington and finished his degree in Business a few months back.
But no jobs have been forthcoming. So, to make ends meet, he has started Doordashing. And that is how he met Roger.
“So, what do you want to do?”
“I want to be in investment banking. But I need to build up a lot of career capital – like Roger guided me. So, I would like to do anything in finance. But, of course, I will have a lot of learning to do. I just need a break.”
“I will see what I can do to help.”
-x- -x- -x-
Oh! By the way, I forgot to tell you folks why my jaw had dropped earlier in the story. Let’s roll back…
“Good, Josh. You know, we used to live in Dallas area too. Where exactly do you live?”
“Everywhere,” he said with a chuckle.
“How do you mean?”
“I cannot afford a place.”
“Huh?”
“I live in my car, sir!”
“Wow!”
If you notice in the Zoom call I had with him, he has blurred his background, but you can see he took the call from his car. And he wore a tie to put his best self forward!!
-x- -x- -x-
As an epilogue, I wanted to add this part.
I was checking in on him yesterday after a gap of two weeks. I was trying to get a feel for what his skills are.
“How good are your computer skills?” (I was a bit afraid of asking that. I was not even sure he had a laptop in his car)
“I think I am good, sir!
“How about Excel?”
“Sir, I think I am good. But I do not know how to compare with others. The other day Roger had asked me how I am in advanced Pivot Tables. I told him that I thought could do well. But then, I came back and looked up advanced pivot tables in Youtube. I went back and told him, I do not think I am as good. At least not as good as those Youtube videos”
I have to say, driving back from office, I kept the phone down after the call marveling at this young gentleman’s intellectual curiosity and intellectual honesty.
I have no doubt if he has come all this way, he will go a long way in his life. He does need a break here or there though.
So, that is the story I wanted to tell you. Would any of you folks be willing and able to help this gentleman? He is obviously not asking for charity nor money. Just somebody who is willing to take him under his or her wing to guide him in life and perhaps see if there are some starter jobs/tasks that gets him in his way to be an investment banker some day.
His expectations from the job is de minimis. He just wants to work hard and learn.
