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An interview with CRC alumnus Abdulai Swaray, one of the original 40 children rescued from the street during the Sierra Leone civil war.  Today, Abdulai is an IT professional who lives with his wife and children in Maryland.  He is currently searching for a job opportunity in information technology, cloud computing, cybersecurity, system analysis, or database administration. 

I was born during the 'Blood Diamond' war in Sierra Leone, West Africa, in a village in Pujehun district.  To escape the war, my parents took me into the jungle where we lived for several years. The rebels eventually found us in the jungle and I was separated from my parents.  I followed a convoy that led to the city, and I ended up in Bo city without my parents.  I struggled in the city without them. I even entered into child labor and began sleeping on the street and living off the food I found. 

I was rescued from the street by the Child Rescue Centre, and lived there until I graduated high school and went off to university.  In 2012, I got married to the love of my life.  God blessed us with a child, and I had the opportunity to travel to the United States on a full scholarship from Ramapo College where I earned my bachelor's degree in Information Technology Management.  In 2018, God blessed us with another child.  Juggling work as a dad and husband, I pursued a Master's degree at George Mason University in Applied Information Technology.  In 2020, I earned my MS degree with a concentration in cyber security.

During my senior year of high school, I founded an organization called Young Vision Africa to empower young leaders in developing nations to achieve sustainable change in their communities. YVA provided housing, education, clean water, and health services to vulnerable people in West Africa, and we recruited American sponsors to join in these efforts. My involvement with YVA provided me the opportunity to speak globally about issues and challenges in Africa, including the Ebola crisis, and I was a featured speaker at the opening ceremony for Ramapo College's 'Year of Sub-Saharan Africa.'