Meet #MAPYouth Donacian!

Hello my name is Donacian, age 17, and I am a junior at McKinley High School. I am not originally from Buffalo, or America, for that matter. I am from East Africa, in a village called Rukole, in Tanzania. I have been in America for about 7 or 8 years. I love it here except in the winter. 

I work at MAP because I needed money and also my friend Hamdou told me about working here. The next thing I know, I’m being recruited by the Buffalo Employment Training Center. My regular hours that I work per week are about 5. I love working inside during the winter time because it’s warm and I don’t like working outside during the winter time, it’s too cold for me. 

Working here at MAP is hard for me sometimes because of school work and I don’t get to go to my basketball and soccer practices or my regular league games. My goal is to go to college and reach the highest degree that I can reach. I want a good job after high school because I don’t ever want to struggle with my financial needs. I want to be able to buy all the things that I need and have enough money for all that I want. I want to live financial problems free. 

I play soccer and basketball. That is something I love and enjoy doing. When I play sports I forget about my problems and just feel better. I love that about the sports that I play. Giving back to the community is something I do often. Sometimes I do it without noticing it. I volunteer at my church a lot. I recycle a lot, also I offer my help whenever I can and it’s needed. I volunteered at MAP for a whole summer before I got hired and I didn't mind, I loved doing what I was doing. Helping is in my blood.

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