Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Blessing to Be an American: The Real Life Story of an Immigrant Who Grew up in Chad, Central Africa
    A Blessing to Be an American: The Real Life Story of an Immigrant Who Grew up in Chad, Central Africa
    A Blessing to Be an American: The Real Life Story of an Immigrant Who Grew up in Chad, Central Africa
    Ebook112 pages1 hour

    A Blessing to Be an American: The Real Life Story of an Immigrant Who Grew up in Chad, Central Africa

    By Dr. Alain Mortha

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    When growing up in Africa, I did not have the privilege to live the simple life that most youngsters in the United States take for granted. This was not only because of the limited means of my parents but also because of the stronghold of my traditional schooling that dictated isolation between men, women, and children. I was a child of a polygamous family of 18 children. My dad had three official wives and several girlfriends. We were afraid of my unapproachable father and could not play with him when we were home. As a kid, I was not privileged to own toys. Together with my friends, we had to make toy cars, trains, trucks, and other things from discarded cans or corn sticks. Children usually see their parents as role models and follow in their path. Even though I was spiritually immature, I knew deep inside that I was heading in the wrong direction at age 16 and was afraid to follow my fathers footsteps when it came to women. You see, at age 16, I started to have girlfriends... many at the same time. My life became worse when I reached age 25.
    Although I had many girlfriends when growing up in Chad, I truly loved only one. My relationship with this girlfriend started in 1989 when I was a junior at the University of Chad. We both left Chad in 1992 to study abroad. We arranged to meet in Chad twice and in the United States twice but connections failed all four times; God did not allow it! As I am alive today, it is because of God. My view of God completely changed after the passing of my first wife in 2000. After living in America for 18 months, God revealed His plan for my life when I met Isabelle, THE woman who I truly believe God reserved for me.
    As an immigrant who had experienced mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering, I will be forever thankful to the United States of America. Knowing from where God has taken me to where and who I am today, His blessings are immeasurable. He protected me from disease even when I was living in sin. He brought me out of misery when I had no breakfast in the morning or...on a good day...just one meal a day. He made me a citizen of the most powerful nation on earth, the United States of America...the great land that I love and appreciate dearly. I have experienced love and hope in this country of opportunity. God blessed me with education: three masters degrees and a doctorate degree. He blessed me with a rewarding profession. He blessed me with four beautiful children and a beautiful and faithful wife. I cannot now nor will I ever be able to count Gods blessings.
    My fervent prayer is that my experiences chronicled in this memoire will encourage my fellow immigrants to study, get a degree from a U.S. college, dream big, and strive for a higher standard. My hope and prayer is that we always set good examples for our children to follow and help them accomplish more in their lives than what we have in ours. Apostle Paul claimed that he could do anything through God who strengthened him. We should claim the same!
    Please read this entire memoire for my story growing up as a youth in Africa and my love story with the woman who God has chosen for me. In writing this book, I thought about the millions of immigrants who also have the privilege of living in America. To fellow immigrants, let us embrace and uphold the values of this beautiful country, the United States of America. No, this country is not perfect, but I know from my experiences that we are at least FREE and can make our dreams come true if we work for them. In writing this book, I also thought about my fellow American citizens. My hope and prayer is that this book helps us all to realize just how blessed we are to live in this beautiful country.
    To God be the glory!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris US
    Release dateJul 24, 2015
    ISBN9781503586352
    A Blessing to Be an American: The Real Life Story of an Immigrant Who Grew up in Chad, Central Africa
    Author

    Dr. Alain Mortha

    Dr. Alain Mortha is originally from Chad and speaks French as his first language. He is an international marketing executive with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He manages foreign direct investment projects and provides consultative international economic development services to promote foreign investment in Pennsylvania. Prior to this position, Dr. Mortha was the director of global operations with the commonwealth, responsible for managing office budget and contracts with international representatives covering over sixty countries. He holds a doctorate in business administration from the University of Phoenix, an MBA from Penn State University, and a master in economic development and a master in business management both from the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

    Related to A Blessing to Be an American

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      MY Australian DREAM

      Aug 6, 2020

      MY Australian DREAM
      9 min read

    • Article

      Praise, Blame And All Points In Between? Give Us Your Feedback

      Sep 1, 2018

      I very much enjoyed NI 514 about the financial crisis. It was examined from many points of view and with many different opinions. I cannot say the same for the short Agenda piece about Gaza. There was no mention that Gaza has a border with Egypt and

      3 min read

    • Article

      WHO’S The In NEWS?

      May 20, 2022

      “The latest American Worldview Inventory 2022 report from Dr George Barna and the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University turns its focus to the worldview of American parents—and the consequences for the nation’s children. The resear

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letter To The Editor

      Mar 16, 2020

      My working environment is non-Christian and I work very hard with long hours every day. After a few months, through the mighty and powerful work of the Holy Spirit, I started a prayer group at our workplace, but I have been doubting if this is the pl

      6 min read

    • Article

      Where Was God?: The Millions Interviews Véronique Tadjo

      Mar 22, 2021

      It is very comforting for a writer to work from the premise of a universal genre. Tales are timeless therefore it is left to the storyteller to adapt them for a new audience. The post Where Was God?: The Millions Interviews Véronique Tadjo appeared f

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Angry Optimist

      Jan 22, 2018

      The Angry Optimist
      1 min read

    • Article

      American Dreams: Emigrating From China

      Aug 28, 2015

      Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared in a different format as part of The Atlantic’s Notes section, retired in 2021. Getting meta with lady liberty on the @SIferryNYC. #atlanticamericandream #generationZ pic.twitter.com/y2hbYTdlFL Atlanti

      3 min read

    • Article

      Building And Planting

      May 23, 2021

      Alan Bollard’s accounting of this country’s infrastructure problems does not invite much argument (“Digging deep”, May 22). The solutions are all built on vastly increasing New Zealand’s population to generate enough economic activity to pay for it a

      7 min read

    • Article

      Dr KUPE Pearl

      Apr 22, 2022

      Dr KUPE Pearl
      5 min read

    • Article

      Parenting Déjà Vu

      May 12, 2023

      Parenting Déjà Vu
      4 min read

    • Article

      Turning Points In Our Lives

      Jun 11, 2022

      Turning Points In Our Lives
      5 min read

    • Article

      Kat Taylor Is A Rebel Banker

      May 2, 2019

      Kat Taylor Is A Rebel Banker
      23 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: Surrendering Power To Reverence

      Aug 4, 2022

      “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.” So said Pope Francis last week, at a powwow in Alberta, at the start of his “apology tour” across Canada — for the participation of the Catholic C

      3 min read

    • Article

      Everything’s Coming Up Daisy

      Sep 25, 2020

      Everything’s Coming Up Daisy
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Blessing to Be an American

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Blessing to Be an American - Dr. Alain Mortha

      Copyright © 2015 by Dr. Alain Mortha.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

      Rev. date: 07/14/2015

      Xlibris

      1-888-795-4274

      www.Xlibris.com

      712087

      Contents

      Foreword

      Introduction

      Chapter 1 Chad, My Country of Origin

      Chapter 2 My Family Origin

      Chapter 3 My Youth Story

      Chapter 4 My Family Dining Habits

      Chapter 5 Bullied by my Own Siblings from Age 6 to 12

      Chapter 6 The Civil War Experience

      Chapter 7 The Death of my Father

      Chapter 8 How Money Can Tear Family Apart

      Chapter 9 My Middle and High School Story in Chad from 1983 to 1988

      Chapter 10 My Story as a University Student in Chad

      Chapter 11 Students Strike during the First Year of the Democratic Regime of President Déby

      Chapter 12 My First Trip Out of Country

      Chapter 13 My Deliverance that I did not Understand

      Chapter 14 My First Trip to America

      Chapter 15 Cultural Shock in America

      Chapter 16 My American Work Story

      Chapter 17 Getting an American Education was the Path to a Professional Job for Me

      Chapter 18 My First Professional Job in America

      Chapter 19 Setting the Bar High for my Kids to Follow

      Chapter 20 My Love Story in Africa

      Chapter 21 My Destiny that I did not Know

      Chapter 22 My Love Story with the Woman who God Reserved for Me

      Conclusion

      References

      A Blessing to be an American:

      The Real Life Story of an Immigrant

      Who Grew Up in Chad, Central Africa

      By

      Dr. Alain Mortha

      Foreword by Robert Jackson, PhD.

      For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

      Jeremiah 29:11

      FOREWORD

      Dr. Alain Mortha’s memoirs—with the heartfelt title A Blessing to be an American—is the true life autobiography of Dr. Mortha, a United States immigrant, who grew up in Chad, Central Africa. This work traces a young man’s life of abject poverty from the time of his birth in 1966 into a polygamist family to the American success story that he is now living with his beautiful family in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

      I met Alain in the summer of 2006 when he was accepted into the Pennsylvania Management Associate Program. As the former director of the program, I took pride in learning a lot about my charges. But as much as I thought I knew Alain, comparatively speaking, I knew only the highlights of the last ten years of his life. What I did not know about Alain’s life prior to 2006…until I edited these memoirs…shook me to the core.

      Within these pages, Alain writes simply, clearly, and with extreme candor about suffering through years of hunger, his unsavory experiences with many women fueled by much alcohol, the emotional tragedies of growing up in a home with an unfaithful father, and his early wrestling matches with the Lord Jesus Christ.

      Alain is an incredibly gifted student with a deep passion for lifelong learning. In Burkina Faso, he had the opportunity to earn two master’s degrees and several professional certifications. But not satisfied, Alain earned yet a third master’s degree…while simultaneously learning English…at an American university. After several heart-to-heart conversations with me about how to become successful in America through higher education, Alain enrolled in and completed a doctoral program.

      As I continued to work with Alain as the editor of his doctoral dissertation and later as the editor of these memoirs, I never knew the complete and utter despair that accompanied Alain through his younger life. But on the other hand, as presented in his true stories, it’s miraculous to learn how the Lord preserved Alain from life’s outright perils…even life-threatening health issues…to bring him to the United States and then maximize the opportunities God laid before him.

      You will read of the many personal and professional disappointments that beset Alain and how he overcame many of them and even accepted some heart-breaking circumstances as being the will of God. Although not always the fervent believer that he is now, Alain has always acknowledged and accepted the trials in his life that have made him stronger as he became even more faithful to his Heavenly Father.

      These memoirs are so intriguing that it will be difficult to lay down this book. Alain spares no personal embarrassment as he openly writes about his early encounters with women, alcohol, and pornography. Then, in your heart you’ll praise God for guiding Alain through years of advanced education, bringing him to America, putting him in the right spot to succeed in a professional position, and for providing a wonderful, loving, God-fearing wife and family. Praise be to God for what He has done in the precious life of Alain Mortha.

      Bob Jackson, Ph.D.

      Editor

      Middletown PA

      Bob Jackson is retired from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a former thirty-year member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. He earned his doctorate in Workforce Education and Development from Penn State University and served as an instructor at Penn State Harrisburg. He has also edited numerous master’s theses and doctoral dissertations including that of Dr. Alain Mortha, Sub-Sahara African Government Management Practices: Exploration of Two Government Regimes in Chad. Bob is a coauthor of the first and second editions of Career Planning and Succession Management: Developing Your Organization’s Talent—for Today and Tomorrow.

      INTRODUCTION

      A good number of Americans think of Africa as a country rather than as a continent with many countries and that Africans live together with animals. As a transplant from Chad, Central Africa, I am often asked by Americans—including coworkers—if Africans own cars, houses, or airplanes. Many Americans believe there are no cities in Africa. They may be right if all they know about Africa is the negative news of naked youngsters dying from hunger, wild animals, and war as seen on television and in newspapers. With today’s globalization, America will be at a competitive cultural and language disadvantages if we don’t learn as much as we can about the rest of the world. Cultural awareness helps people to better understand cultural differences and better accept each other. There is no superior culture—just different cultures—and each culture has its merits.

      Africa is a continent of 54 African countries. But with the 2014 Ebola epidemic, for example, some schools and hospitals in the United States considered people returning or coming from Africa a high risk of contracting Ebola even though many came from African countries where there was no Ebola epidemic.

      In 2012, I led a trade mission to Sub-Sahara Africa, specifically Gabon and Cameroon, for my employer. Sub-Sahara is a group of African countries that are located south of the Sahara Desert. Gabon is a French speaking country, and Cameroun is bilingual (French and English). The majority of people in the capital city of Yaoundé, Cameroon speak only French. The American businessmen who accompanied me did not speak French and anticipated that the people there would speak English. One of the Cameroon officials commented that when they come to the United States on business missions, they do their best to speak English and thought that my delegation should do the same and try to speak French when they are in Cameroon.

      People may change their views about Africa if they learn more about Africa or have the chance to travel to Africa and experience life there firsthand. Despite its struggles with government corruption and mismanagement of public resources, Africa is much more than the naked children as seen on TV. Unfortunately in most African countries particularly in Sub-Sahara, there is a serious lack of transformational and servant leadership in the public sector.

      CHAPTER 1

      Chad, My Country of Origin

      T HE COUNTRY OF Chad is little known around the world and particularly in America. According to the CIA World Fact Book, the area of my country of origin, Chad, is 1,284 million square kilometers which is a little more than three times the size of California. Although Chad gained independence from France in 1960, it is difficult to understand that, after years of independence, clean water and electricity remain a luxury for the majority of Chad’s

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1