Name: 【TED】Christopher Ategeka: How adoption worked for me (How adoption worked for me | Christopher Ategeka)
Uploaded: 2018-01-22T17:15:48.000Z
Duration: 7 min 58 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

of seeing celebrities adopting kids from the African continent?

lost both my parents when I was very, very young.

I experienced all the negative effects of poverty,

Through one of those sponsor-an-orphan programs,

I was sponsored and given an opportunity to acquire an education.

I went through school, and the way this particular program worked,

you finished high school and after high school,

you go learn a trade -- to become a carpenter, a mechanic

The sponsor family that was sending these 25 dollars a month

we would like to send you to college instead."

And they said, "If you get the paperwork,

we'll send you to school in America instead."

I went to the embassy and applied for the visa.

I remember this day like it was yesterday.

I walked out of the embassy with this piece of paper in my hand,

because I was afraid that someone might steal it.

I was like, "OK, I'm going to put it in a plastic bag,

and take it outside and dig a hole, and put it in there."

I could not fall asleep. I was like, "Maybe someone saw me."

I pulled it out, and I put it with me the entire night --

all to say that it was an anxiety-filled night.

Going to the US was, just like another speaker said,

be on one, let alone sit on it to fly to another country.

One of the most gorgeous, beautiful women I've ever seen walked up,

I'm looking terrified, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I don't know what to do with my life, let alone with this damn towel --

you know, anything anyone could do in that situation:

look around, see what everyone else is doing.

Mind you, I drove about seven hours from my village to the airport that day.

wipe my face just like everyone else is doing,

I remember being so embarrassed that when she came by to pick it up,

to live up to my full God-given potential.

and they literally had to teach me everything from scratch:

this is a microwave, that's a refrigerator --

I got immersed into a new and different culture.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

【TED】Christopher Ategeka: How adoption worked for me (How adoption worked for me | Christopher Ategeka)

literally

anxiety

empathy

grab