Fred Dee

My name is Fred Dweh knowing as "Fred Dee" by many, I was born in Liberia but raised in Ivory Coast. My family and I left Liberia when I was two years old because of a civil war which was one of Africa's bloodiest. It claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Liberians and further displaced a million others into refugee camps in neighboring countries. As a young boys, my brothers and I had to shine people's shoes in order to make ends meet. In 2000, the Ivory Coast civil war started, this which nearly killed my family and I. There was nowhere to run, and all the people who could return to their own country were all gone, including the UN. We couldn't go back to Liberia, it wasn't safe, therefore we were just there left with no hope. There was no more school, so I never went beyond fifth grade. By 2003, the UN came back and took us to the capital city of Ivory Coast in order to bring us here in the United States. I came in the United States on January 15, 2004 and started in ninth grade at Lincoln West High School in Cleveland Ohio. I took ESL in 9th and 10th grades, then moved into English speaking classes. I graduated in 2008 and immediately enrolled at Cuyahoga Community College. With hard work and determination, I have graduated. I am very bless to be here in the US. The only thing that worries me now are my two sisters and friends who left behind and never get a chance to experience this great nation.