A Blessing to Be an American: The Real Life Story of an Immigrant Who Grew up in Chad, Central Africa
()
About this ebook
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!
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
Rags to Riches: A Guide to Bridging the Wealth Gap in the African American Community Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaving the African-American from Cradle to Grave: Instructions to the Black Man in the 21St Century (A Textbook for Success) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDear langston, It Explodes! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIt Is What It Is: Systematic Incarceration / Disguised Racism - The Autobiography of Gerald H. Duffy, Jr. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack African Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChildhood to Manhood: Ingredients for Young African American Men Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Save the Falling Nations: A Physical Task for Spiritual Leaders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sargasso Bridge: America Speaks, Africa Answers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Grit: Is It in You? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHey, White Man, How Much Longer? Hey, Black Man, Awake!: Overturning White Supremacy and Asserting Racial Equality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaving the African American Community from Violence: Growing up Tough in Chicago Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnlocking Africa's Potential Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prophet Amos Speaks to America: Ancient Wisdom for Contemporary Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAndean Adventures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCounterpunch: An Unlikely Alliance of Americans Fighting Back for Faith and Freedom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Place Left to Bury the Dead: Denial, Despair and Hope in the African AIDS Pandemic Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Saving the African American from Cradle to Grave: Instructions to the Blackman In the 21st Century a Textbook for Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsListen My Son: Wisdom to Help African American Fathers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFetal Beauty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIs It Always Fun to Travel Abroad? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHey White Man, How Much Longer? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoverty and Promise: One Volunteer's Experience of Kenya Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Journey Through Racism: No Blacks. No Irish. No Dogs: Being Bright but Not Clever Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRemnants of a Shattered Past: A Journey of Discovery and Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStill on Vacation: In the middle of a pandemic Revised Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom the Womb to the Plantation to the Penitentiary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrica: Rich but Poor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIce Black Black Ice: Chandochitemachiororopagomo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Race Against Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Africa Memoir: 50 Years, 54 Countries, One American Life (Algeria - Liberia) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biography & Memoir For You
A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher Reading Order: The Complete Lee Child’s Reading List Of Jack Reacher Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Taste: My Life Through Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wiseguy: The 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lakota Woman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for A Blessing to Be an American
0 ratings0 reviews
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