Empowered for Life: The Thomas Awiapo Story

One of four orphaned brothers, Thomas Awiapo would go to bed at night crying from hunger.

Born into extreme poverty in northern Ghana, Thomas and his brothers would crouch over a single bowl to share what little food they had. Thomas' two younger brothers eventually died from malnutrition; his older brother walked off one day never to be seen again. "We'd wake up with no breakfast. We had no idea what lunch was. We cried for food," says Thomas.

One day, Thomas smelled lunch cooking at a CRS-supported school and it changed his life. Like millions of children who have received meals provided by CRS, a daily lunch lured Thomas into the classroom and kept him coming back.

Today Thomas is a field expert with Catholic Relief Services and travels every year to tell his story to American Catholics. As part of the CRS Operation Rice Bowl Hunger Awareness Speakers' Tour, Thomas will be visiting parishes, schools and communities across the United States from January 23 through April 4.

"I come from a family that knows nothing about education. I started to go to school simply to have lunch," says Thomas, who holds a master's degree from California State University. In this video, Thomas takes us to the mud hut of his childhood and to the school that he says "empowered me for life."