The Washington Post’s feature story on Yohannes Michael Tekle’s journey to the United States is a captivating tale of a young school student who, seeing rampant injustice around him and officials abusing members of his family, decided to speak up against what he was seeing around him.

Unfortunately, his classmates cheered the army officers that dragged him to his punishment. However, Tekle managed to flee and make a remarkable 17-month-long journey to the United States through a very unlikely route that brought him from Eritrea to his new home.

The article, apart from detailing Tekle’s story, also sheds light on the concerns of Western, and in particular American, officials about the complex routes that human traffickers provide for their customers, who pay thousands of dollars in order to escape their homeland for a better and safer tomorrow.

Read the article here.