Living Life on Purpose

Besides the hurricanes, flooding, congestion, and heat, I still like Houston. Why? Its rich mix of people, for one thing. The late, great chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain made a special trip to Houston just to point that out back in his 2016 Parts Unknown series. 

My new friend, Michael Negussie, 25, was a student at Lee High School (now named Wisdom High School) in mid-west Houston when Bourdain visited the campus for his series. Lee originally opened in 1962 as an overflow school for students from Lamar and Bellaire High schools. In recent decades it has morphed into a school of immigrants where over 80 different languages are spoken. Michael was one of those students, born in Ethiopia. 

“I won the lottery when I was 2 years old.” That’s when Michael and his one-year-old brother arrived in Houston with their parents, who were awarded US visas through a Diversity and Inclusion program. It’s unofficially called the lottery since the odds of being selected are roughly 1.4 percent per year. 

Michael's understanding of Ethiopia came through his father’s own childhood stories of having to walk to get safe drinking water before dawn for his family before going to school. Despite their relatively stable life by Ethiopian standards, the risks of dying by simply drinking water was a huge motivation for his family’s move to America.

This thoughtful, understated young man sees his own story in three life-changing pillars of opportunity. Pillar one was a nonprofit debate league called Houston Urban Debate.  “I began competitive debate as soon as I entered high school. I was drawn to the clash of ideas,” he said. “Debate taught me how to organize my thoughts.”

This is not the kind of debate we hear daily on social media. “In competitive debate, you aren’t given a side to speak to until the last minute, so you better be prepared to study the facts on sides in which you don’t agree. It has given me a sense of compassion for sides I couldn’t see before,” Michael said.

By his sophomore year, Michael was enrolled in a program called Emerge, which fuels the dreams of exceptional students in low-income areas. The mission of Emerge is to match the student to the right university for a full-ride scholarship. “Through Emerge, I was mentored on taking the SAT, college applications, and writing my personal statement. Nick Feronti, my Emerge program manager, stayed with me until my QuestBridge application for a full-ride scholarship was due.” 

Michael’s college essay mentioned Bourdain’s visit to his high school. After reading Michael’s essay – and consequently watching the episode – the Director of Admissions at his first-choice school, the prestigious Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., emailed him, saying his description of his high school was spot-on. “I thought that was an omen,” said Michael.

It was. He was accepted, and double majored in art and politics there. 

I met Michael through my friend Natalie Hausman-Weiss, the director of The Woods Project, the third and final pillar of his life-changing events. Natalie spends her summer managing and monitoring 200 students on 21 separate two-week trips involving camping, hiking, and rowing in places like Olympic National Park and Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe for students like Michael who could not afford this otherwise. Glamping it is not. No phones, no shaving, no makeup, no porta-potties. (Though adult leaders are in constant communication with headquarters.)

They cover some 30 miles over six days carrying 40-50 pounds in their backpack, through streams, over rocky inclines, and up steep cliffs. Things happen. Ankles get sprained, feet get blistered, weather changes and yet, they stay together, problem-solving on the fly, while only going as fast as your slowest member. “It helped me see that there is a much bigger world out there than I imagined, and I found out I could do more than I ever imagined,” said Michael. 

As a student at Pomona, Michael met immigrants his own age who had stories similar to his father’s, who had to get up before dawn to bring water to their families before school. Some have lost siblings and desperately wanted to address this crisis in their homelands. Michael joined three students to co-found Didomi, with its trademark custom-designed water bottles. Through the sale of these bottles, and co-branding collaborations with universities, corporations, and nonprofits Didomi has brought safe water to over six different countries. The universities also use the bottles to promote the decrease of plastic on campuses. 

For Michael, the most meaningful project so far has been the construction of a reservoir and pipeline bringing water to hundreds of students at the rural Ayata Primary School in Ethiopia. “Now the students can just go to school and bring the water home,” Michael said. 

This fall, Michael is back in Ethiopia on a Fulbright fellowship helping to start the first international high school debate team in the country. “This opportunity is a stepping-stone to my larger life goal of creating the first liberal arts college in Ethiopia. The skills and experiences I gained through debate, Emerge, and The Woods Project have equipped me to see the possibilities,” Michael said. 

This reminds me of something else I like about Houston: the endless stories of great causes that come from Houston hearts and pocketbooks through nonprofits like Houston Urban Debate, Emerge, and The Woods Project, plus teachers and mentors who change lives every day. Way to go, Houston!