My Name is Tani

Tani and his family lived in Nigeria. The Boko Haram came after his dad. Initially they wanted dad to print up some propaganda. When dad refused, they wanted to kill dad. The dad prayed as Boko Haram members came and tried to break down his front door. The door held. The family fled to a secret location in Nigeria. But Boko Haram found them. So they came overseas to Dallas, TX to stay with relatives.

After a few months, the family was surprised that they wore out their welcome in Dallas. This was contrary to their belief that family should support family for years. But Tani's great uncle was married to an American. So the family went to New York City. There they got cramped homeless shelter housing. Tani's dad worked a tough job in a kitchen for cash under the table. Then he decided to rent a Camry and do Uber while he studied for a real estate license.

Tani discovered the chess club at school. They waived the monthly fee that his family could not afford. Tani was diligent in doing chess exercises. He had early success at tournaments. He surprised his chess coaches by pulling some Paul Morphy level gambits in his tournament play. His coaches thought he would fare better in some real housing. They had an article written about him coupled with a Go Fund Me. It bought in hundreds of thousands of dollars. The rest is history.