Rooting for Team Abdoul Orphan's future in North Idaho jeopardized

When he was a little boy, Abdoul Akimana was an orphan, living on the war-ravaged streets of Burundi and running with other homeless children just to find food and shelter each day.

"It’s not like I grew up with a family. I had no mother or father," Abdoul said in his soft voice, his words tinged with an African accent. "We would sleep somewhere outside … We’d go out behind a store … We’d probably sleep anywhere."

An elderly woman in a ramshackle hut took pity on these children. Abdoul lived with her for a short time until the burden got to be too much. He was on his own again until he was picked up by the Asante Children's Choir when he was about 10. He toured 10 states, including Idaho, but not without fear of the unknown.

"Of course, I was scared. People say, where I’m from, that white people will eat us," he said with a soft laugh.

Abdoul was with the choir for several years before he was once again fending for himself. He reached out to a family that had sponsored him through the choir and they helped him acquire a student visa so he could go to school in North Idaho. He is now a senior at Genesis Preparatory Academy.

He escaped homelessness, hunger and the chaos, violence and instability of an impoverished nation long in the throes of civil war.

"When I got here, it was unbelievable," he said. 

Abdoul has since joined a new host family, and together they are working on building his future.

The student visa doesn't allow him to work, so he has no way to support himself while in high school.

"He can’t earn money for babysitting. He couldn't go shovel snow," said his host mom, Sarah Dunn. "He’s only here for student visa, that’s it. He’s fully dependent on everybody."

Dunn said they have also applied to Burundi's leadership to approve a new birth certificate for Abdoul, because the one he has may not be correct since he was assigned an age when he was a very young orphan. He is considered at least 18 but might be as young as 16.

“They’re on holiday, so when they get back, apparently, they’re supposed to hopefully file the new birth certificate,” she said of the Burundi government.

The visa requires Abdoul to stay enrolled in school, which may mean another year at Genesis (the visa requires a private school) or enrolling at North Idaho College. Without means to support himself, the financial burden goes to those who care about him.

Without that support, he could be sent back to Burundi. To nothing and no one.

"I want to stay because if I go back, I have no life there," Abdoul said. "It’s not like I have friends or family."

Abdoul has been very involved in soccer the three years he has been in Coeur d'Alene. He has made many friends in his athletic and church communities and was considered a family member even before he joined the Dunn household. He is best friends with Dunn's son, Carson Noordam, 18.

"He does everything with us," said Carson's sister, Violet Andrews, 12. "He’s like our brother. He lives here. On Christmas, he gave everybody a great gift. He was the first kid with a gift to someone else under the tree. He’s a part of the family. He’s not a guest."

“Even before we brought him in, he felt like a brother," said little brother James Dunn, 10.

Coeur d'Alene immigration attorney Alycia Moss, who represents Abdoul and the Dunn family, said she has encountered other kids who come to the States on student visas and find themselves in situations where it is not safe to return to their home countries.

"A lot of the explanations I hear of why they don't want to go back are because of humanitarian reasons," Moss said. "Their countries are destabilized in abject poverty, or they have real fears of going back and legitimate asylum claims based on those fears."

She said that in her opinion, immigrants are very vulnerable in any community, especially when they’re young. She said North Idaho is an amazing community that cares because the people here are giving and kind, and "when you lift up the most vulnerable here, we all get better."

The Dunn family — Sarah, Mike and their nine kids — is working on raising $15,000 to help Abdoul with legal fees, government fees, school fees and other expenses in his efforts to stay in North Idaho and continue his schooling and hopefully obtain his American citizenship. They want to connect with local nonprofits and plan to hold a few fundraising events in the near future.

"I want to stay here,” Abdoul said. "I want to be in international business. I want to do what they’re doing for me — take care of kids."

"As a teenager, that is when you start thinking, ‘What do I want to be? What do I want to do?’ and the last three years, all of that is included in the United States in his vision," Sarah said. "So to have to flip around and go, all of those dreams from the past three years are gone. I think that is why that’s such an impact on him. He’d have to start all over, with nothing."

Visit www.teamabdoul.com or email info@teamabdoul.com to help out or learn more about Team Abdoul.