OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- For more than half his life, Airman Francis Attipoe and 12 of his relatives called the cramped quarters of an inner-city apartment in Ghana, Africa, home.
Space was tight and money was scarce, but the family’s matriarch had high hopes for Attipoe.
“There was two things my grandmom always told me,” he said. “One: no condition is permanent. Two: what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”
Attipoe was born in the capital city of Accra in 1994. His father left when he was very young to work in the U.S. and in order to help financially, his mother left a few years later to work for the Ghana government.
He and his younger sister were raised by his grandmom. As is custom, Attipoe was sent to high school at a boarding school, using what little money they had.
“It is a tough life,” he said. “There are teachers there, but they are there to teach in the classroom. At the end of the day, the seniors are the head of the dorms.”
It was common practice for the upper classman to haze the freshman. Attipoe would go to sleep at 11 p.m. and be required to be back up at 3 a.m. to sweep the compound. Every day, he and the other lower classmen would be forced to fetch water in 10-gallon buckets from the nearby river. Plumbing at the school rarely worked and the water from the river was used for bathing and washing dishes.
“You carry it up on your head,” Attipoe said. “Usually we would go in pairs in case someone fell into the water. It is a manmade river so it is very deep.”
On top of forced manual labor, name calling was a favorite past time for the senior class. Attipoe said it was common for the lower classman to quickly forget what they went through as they moved up grades and the cycle constantly repeated itself.
However, he had no complaints about the education he received. He proudly revealed that he learned to speak six languages. After graduating from boarding school, Attipoe was unable to obtain higher education. He said colleges were available but there was no funding.
The option to return home looked bleak. His grandmom wasn’t working, she had multiple grandchildren to look after and food was becoming an issue. Attipoe moved to Jamaica in hopes of continuing his education. He had an uncle there who said he would take care of him. He later found out it was a hollow promise made out of obligation – his uncle was barely scraping by. Attipoe said he was basically living on the streets.
“[There were] bullets flying over our heads because we were living in the ghetto,” Attipoe said. “It got crazy sometimes. I was just trying to survive each day. I ended up doing stuff I knew I wasn’t supposed to do, and I knew it wasn’t the life for me.”
After a year in Jamaica, Attipoe reached out to his father, a man he had only seen three times his whole life. His father came through and sent him some money and a green card to come to the U.S.
At age 19, Attipoe landed at an Airport in Virginia. He was told someone would meet him, but no one showed.
He spent two days in the airport, scared to leave in fear of getting lost. His accent was strong and no one understood him and the people he spoke to spoke too fast for him to understand. Even the food was foreign to him. He said he survived on French fries, the one food he recognized. Attipoe was terrified and confused.
Finally, a man from Ghana spotted him and said he was headed to Maryland and would help find him a place.
“He asked me how much I had and I got scared,” Attipoe said. “Even though he was from the same place as me, I could tell he had been in this country for a long time, so I just hopped into his car. I didn’t know him but I knew it was better than where I was. I was literally crying and I didn’t know who to talk to.”
The man brought him to a woman’s house. She said he could stay in the basement but would have to pay the first month’s rent on the spot. That left Attipoe with $20 and an empty stomach. Luckily, he had some rice on him and asked another tenant of the basement to borrow cookware. He was about half way through when the tenant asked for it back.
“The guy‘s girlfriend came over and she wanted to cook, so I had to pour the rice out and wash the dish for the girlfriend to use,” Attipoe said. “That was one of the moments that struck me so much because it was so inhuman that I am cooking and they wouldn’t let me to finish.”
He said it was time to find a job.
“I didn’t know the bus system, so I came out and I walked about a mile down to a 7-Eleven,” Attipoe said. “I spoke to the guy and he ended up hiring me at minimum wage. I had to study the currency like you study for an exam in order to work the register. I know that the first couple of weeks I messed up but he was patient with me.”
With his first paycheck, Attipoe said he bought cookware for himself from a store about a mile and a half down the road. He was able to fit some of it in his backpack but was left with a large box to carry on his shoulder.
“It was in the summer and it was 101 degrees and so humid,” Attipoe said. “One thing that I still remember is as I was walking, I saw a group of guys taking pictures of me as I was struggling to get home. They were laughing at me. I felt broken at the time.”
After working a year at the convenience store, he got a job as a restaurant dishwasher.
“People come and throw the plates at you and they don’t care,” Attipoe said. “I was the only black person there and I felt even more stressed. I couldn’t really communicate to people and they didn’t understand me so I kept to myself.”
He was later promoted to waiter, but communication was still an issue.
“People said to me, ‘I don’t want you serving me. If you are bringing me the food, I am not eating,’” Attipoe said. “So they had to put me back as a dishwasher.”
He had enough. Someone told him about the military and after some online research he decide the Air Force was for him. Attipoe had hopes of becoming a military photographer but without a citizenship his job options were limited. He was selected to work in services.
In December 2015, Attipoe left for basic training.
“I didn’t know when you join the military, you get your citizenship too,” he said. “So at basic training when they called and told me, I was so happy. They had a ceremony with me and four other guys where they recognized us. It was a nice feeling.”
After technical school, Attipoe was assigned to Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
“So far it is good,” he said. “Where I work, the people are very friendly. My supervisor is the best person I have known so far.”
The fondness was reciprocated by his leadership.
“If I had been put in his position I would have probably packed it up and moved back home,” said Staff Sgt. Nicholas Green, 55th Force Support Squadron. “But for him to come to this country alone, leaving his family, friends and everything he know behind; to come to a strange new place where he know absolutely no one is incredible. Attipoe is a quick learner. He’s excelling and proving himself to be a valuable team member.”
Attipoe said he plans to stay in the Air Force until retirement, which is a minimum of 20 years.
“Based on his work habits, I can see him doing just that,” Green said. “He’s been through so much over the past four years living in America, and I’m excited for the opportunity to mold him as an Airman. I’m hoping he does great things in the Air Force, he deserves it.”
Attipoe is only 21 and has experienced so much in his lifetime.
“The last few years have been very rough,” Attipoe said. “I reflect on it most times. Joining the Air Force would have been the last thing I had ever would have thought would happen to me.”
Attipoe said he is happy for his new life but is still concerned for his little sister who is back home. He sends her money to help with her boarding school fees.
“I have been away so long that I am starting to lose the connection,” Attipoe said. “Sometimes I try to speak the language when I call back home and I begin to lose it if I don’t use it. I hope to go visit next year, I haven’t been back yet since I left.”
He hopes to be reunited with his family on his visit and to tell his grandmom his story so she knows her words of wisdom are what got him through it all.