As a teenager Makaya Revell was forced to flee the violence of his birthplace – the Democratic Republic of Congo – as a stowaway on a ship bound for the US. His journey eventually led him to York, where he was adopted and soon became a student at York College. He has since founded the Marie Mambu Makaya Foundation – named in honor of his birthmother – with a goal of building orphanages in the DRC. This video accompanied a story about Makaya in York College Magazine.