Photo By Louis Briscese | U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Michael Mwelwa, assigned to the 60th Comptroller Squadron...... read more read more
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TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – While being an American citizen may seem ordinary for most, for some airman, the path to citizenship is much different. Take for example Senior Airman Michael Mwelwa, 60th Comptroller Squadron military pay technician who recently was awarded U.S. citizenship at the age of 23. Mwelwa was born in The Republic of Zambia, a country in South Africa. He lived there until the age of five when his parents decided to leave in hopes of a better life.
“Life was pretty normal in Zambia but my parents wanted something better for us,” said Michael.
Mwelwa, his parents, and four siblings left Zambia in 1997 and found themselves in Pittsburgh PA. During the initial transition things were somewhat difficult due to the change in location, schools, and his parents looking for work.
“We didn’t live the same type of way we did back in Zambia, but once we got some traction things got much better,” said Mwelwa.
Unfortunately, that traction wasn’t enough to keep his parents from separating just a few years after arriving in Pittsburgh. Mwelma’s family dynamics changed drastically when he no longer lived with his father and three of his siblings.
“My Father moved around a lot to places like Connecticut and Wisconsin so I would only see him every once and a while,” said Mwelwa.
While Mwelwa was in middle school his mother joined the Army National Guard, which put him on a course to citizenship.
According to the Department of Homeland Security “Members of the U.S. armed forces and their dependents (spouses and children) may be eligible for citizenship, to include expedited and overseas processing, under special provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).”
Although Mwelwa was proud of his mother, he had no intensions of joining the military; he was planning on pursuing a football career. Ranked as the best running back in his conference, Mwelwa had plans of receiving a scholarship to a division 1 school and playing football. In his senior year, Mwelwa suffered a horrific ankle injury that derailed those plans.
“Playing football was definitely a reality for me because the next ranked running back in the conference got a full scholarship and my stats were much better than his,” said Mwelwa.
Mwelwa’s next option was to attend college on his own; he tried that for a year and realized that it was too expensive. Having taken the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) exam in his senior year in high school, Mwelwa knew that another option was for him to join the service and have them pay for his education. He decided to join the Air Force because of the variety of occupations they offered and that his mother once told him the “Air Force takes care of its people.”
“The Air Force had a lot to offer that I was interested in, it seemed like it had more opportunities for me because of my ASVAB scores,” said Mwelwa.
Mwelwa had no apprehensions serving in the Air Force despite not being a U.S. citizen because he feels more like an American than a Zambian. He has relished the attention he’s gotten since joining because people seem very interested in his story and where he is from.
Since joining the Air Force in May 2013, Mwelwa has excelled. He made Staff Sgt. his first time testing, won Warrior of the Week, and was a squadron Airman of the Quarter. His Officer in-charge 2nd Lt. Christopher Larsen, flight commander financial services says “he has an un-ending drive towards excellence, and embodies our core values”. Larsen also goes on to say that “we can trust him with any job and we’ll know he’ll get it done right, he’s somebody that we wouldn’t have to micro-manage”.
Mwelwa is looking forward to becoming a supervisor and mentoring fellow airman. He’s also looking forward to the opportunity to vote in the upcoming presidential election, an opportunity to exercise that right for the first time ever. But what Mwelwa really cherishes the most is the simple fact that he can now call himself an “American”.
| Date Taken: | 10.28.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 12.22.2016 11:49 |
| Story ID: | 218557 |
| Location: | TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, A Different Path to Citizenship, by Louis Briscese, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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