Yonas Mekonnon – “The Runner”
Yonas Mekonnon, a young track and field athlete from Ethiopia, received his asylum in the United States in the summer of 2007. Two months shy of his 18th birthday, Yonas was the first unaccompanied minor to come to the IRC seeking assistance on his own.
Until recently Yonas was a high school graduate and athlete living at home with his family, and was even successful enough to be sent abroad to countries like Turkey to compete in races. However, Yonas decided he had to leave Ethiopia after a painful run-in with the police.
Around the same time, a fellow athlete returning from a race in Japan offered to use contacts in the United States to get Yonas a visa for the Green Bay Marathon. In the end that friend did not get a visa but Yonas did, and once he reached the United States he asked for asylum.
Yonas’ parents were unhappy when they heard he was leaving Ethiopia, and even suspected he would not come back; “They told me, ‘as you like,” he says. “My mom told me to fear God, not to go the way of drugs and things like that.” He chats online, emails or calls his parents and two younger brothers at least once or twice a week to keep in touch with them. “They want me to be one of the best athletes in the world,” he says with a smile.
Yonas runs the 5K and the10K as well as the ½ marathon. Since his arrival in the United States he has been doing daily intensive training with a local group of Ethiopian athletes and attending weekend competitions to continuously improve his running times. The same group of Ethiopian athletes also has offers to work with professional American athletes to help them train.
Yonas’s dream is to qualify for a full scholarship to an American university, where he wants to study physical education, athletic sciences, coaching and athletic management. He says he would be happy to study in any university in the United States that would give him the opportunity to contribute to their team. Says Yonas, “That is what my heart desires.”
If you would like to help Yonas with his college search, please contact Kate Evans at katherine.evans@theirc.org. We offer many volunteer opportunities for you to help new Americans like Yonas, who have escaped harm, to build a home in the United States.
