New York Yankees bring HOPE to 18-year-old Sierra Leone native Mohamed Kamara
Mohamed Kamara hugs New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada after throwing out the first pitch (below) prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers at the Stadium.
Nearly half of Mohamed Kamara’s 18 years have been spent witnessing unimaginable horror in his native Sierra Leone.
Before he turned 10, Kamara saw people murdered before his eyes, or strangers’ hands hacked off in the streets of his country, all gruesome snapshots of the civil war that raged in the tiny West African nation between 1991 and ended in 2002.
“During the war, I’ve seen a lot of things. The killing – people getting killed right in front of my face, hands getting cut off,” Kamara said Wednesday while standing near home plate at Yankee Stadium. “I had a chance to come over here. And I took that chance. I said to myself, ‘If I have a great opportunity to come to America, I’m going to make good use of it. I’m here for a better education and to better my life.’ “
Mohamed Kamara throws out first pitch!
Kamara was sporting shorts and plaid boat shoes at the Stadium before Wednesday night’s game against the Tigers, but 7-1/2 hours earlier, the Bronx Leadership Academy High School graduate was channeling his best Bud Fox from the movie “Wall Street” while roaming the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The third day of the Yankees’ HOPE (Helping Others Persevere and Excel) week produced another Ruthian surprise when Kamara thought he was going to the NYSE for a regular tour.
Kamara, who was joined by his older sister Fatmata, 25, was escorted to a side room where he was greeted by Yankees ace CC Sabathia, Brian Cashman and Mr. October, Reggie Jackson. Kamara had to rub his eyes several times when the mammoth Sabathia extended his hand.
“Today is going to be about you,” Cashman said. “Is that cool?”
Kamara put his head in his hands and closed his eyes. “I feel overwhelmed,” he mustered.
Next up was a visit to City Hall, where Mohamed had a sit-down with Mayor Bloomberg, Yankee captain Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Marcus Thames, Sabathia, Cashman and Jackson. Jeter joked, “This is who you need to know if you get in trouble.” Last was a visit to the United Nations building. Kamara was not the only first-time visitor to the famed New York City landmark.
“That was fun,” Jeter said. “He’s a remarkable kid. He’s wise beyond his years, I guess, is the best way to put it.”
Kamara said he survived his violent childhood by constantly being on the move. The conflict, he said, was centered around rebel soldiers wanting control of the country’s diamond industry.
“You don’t stay in the same spot. Just keep moving,” Kamara said of his childhood. “You find food in the forest, climb mango trees. Sleep on the ground. Sometimes you don’t sleep, because you feel they might sneak behind you, do something crazy.”
He eventually came to live with an uncle and aunt in the Bronx in 2000 and through one of his high school teachers, Joe King, got a job caddying at Montammy Golf Club in Alpine, N.J. He took two buses and two trains each way to get to the club, and he would send all of the money he earned to his family back home. His mother, Isatu, died last year from heart problems.
Now he is headed to Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island and hopes to study international business.
When he threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night, Mohamed Kamara was a long way from his bleak beginning.
“My dream was never like this. My dream was just to go to school, become a better man,” he said.
BY Christian Red, USA
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