The first time I shook Mr. Jerman Disasa’s hand, his grip was so strong, I thought he might crack a knuckle. But then, he released. His eyes sparkled. And he welcomed me in. Turns out, I had just experienced Mr. Disasa’s trademark. That handshake. It was a showstopper.

On a recent Facebook post, Laurens County Sheriff’s Deputy Courtney Snow wrote this about seeing Mr. Disasa in the grocery store: “I am 11 years old again, every time I see Jerman Disasa…,” Snow wrote. “He is still the most interesting person I know and by far, the kindest. And good news: the handshake is still bone crushing.” Truth is, that handshake is so firm because Mr. Disasa is a fighter. He’s shaped a life around fighting for the Laurens County community and its children.

He was the leader of CHAMPS – a two-week youth summer program held at Presbyterian College for more than 25 years. Snow, herself, was one of hundreds of local children who went through that program. And now, Mr. Disasa is one of the beloved tutors at the Bridging the Gap tutoring center in Laurens. “He is such a blessing to us,” said Calvin Whitmire, the founder of the tutoring center. “He has such a passion for education and for helping children.”

That passion comes from personal experience. A native son of Ethiopia, Mr. Disasa lost his father when he was a toddler. He lived in poverty so deep that even shoes were a luxury item. Yet, there was always someone who would help pick him up.

He was born in 1949 in Gidami, Ethiopia. And for a while, he stayed in the village where he was born, even as his mother remarried and moved away. “I was so angry,” Mr. Disasa recalled. “I wanted to stay on the land where my ancestors were from.” But then, a teacher, Mr. Endeshow Ghana, saw potential in Mr. Disasa. He pushed him to go beyond his native village. He would take the chance when he was in the third grade.

Mr. Disasa was given the opportunity to continue his education at Bethel Evangelical Secondary School. The first school he attended, Berhane Yesus (The Light of Jesus) Elementary School, and Bethel Evangelical Secondary School were both Presbyterian Church (USA)-funded mission schools in western Ethiopia.

It was at these schools that Mr. Disasa would learn about Jesus. “I would not have gone beyond the third grade in school if it were not for these mission schools,” Mr. Disasa said. “They gave me hope.” As he leaned on his teachers and his classmates, he found that he was part of an even larger family than the one he was born into. The community of Bethel Evangelical Secondary School became his anchor. Later, it would be the place where he would teach for eight years and he would meet his wife, Nigatwa.

During holiday breaks at the school, he would walk 75 miles barefoot, for two days across Ethiopia’s mountainous landscape to get home. But he was never alone. He always had one or two classmates with him. Those walks became a lasting lesson on the power of community. “I can still walk that route in my mind,” Mr. Disasa said. “I learned that if you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk with others.”

He became part of the first graduating class at the Bethel Evangelical Secondary School. It would also be the school that would train leaders for the national stage in Ethiopia. One of their students ended up serving as the president of the country.

After Mr. Disasa graduated high school, he attended a university in Ethiopia’s capital city and then finished his studies at Sterling College in Kansas. There, he earned his bachelor’s degree – this time with the help of the women of Eastminster Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Penn. With a scholarship from First Presbyterian Church in Leoti, Kansas, he was able to complete his master’s degree at Emporia State University in 1974.

Then he went back to the mission school that educated him and became a teacher. While he served as a teacher at Bethel Evangelical Secondary School, he met and married his wife. They have been married now for 46 years, and have four grown sons, Amos, Raaji, Siega, and Philipos.

In the 1970s and the 1980s, Ethiopia began experiencing political and social upheaval because of a Communist take-over of the country’s political system. Many leaders lost their lives, and others were imprisoned, including Mr. Disasa.

“I was a threat because I was teaching at a Christian school, and I had been educated in the West,” Mr. Disasa said. “I was not the only one. Those were tough times.”

After the birth of their first son, Amos, in 1979, the Disasas left Ethiopia and came back to the United States – this time to Columbia, S.C. Mr. Disasa became a doctoral student at the University of South Carolina while he taught at the university’s Byrnes International Center. Upon graduating with a doctorate in education administration, he went to work at the University of South Carolina’s College of Education.

By 1994, the Disasas called Laurens County home and Mr. Disasa led the creation of the CHAMPS (Communities Helping Assisting Motivating Promising Students) program at Presbyterian College. CHAMPS was a collaboration between Presbyterian College, the county’s schools – from both districts – and the 180-plus churches in the community. Middle school and high school students from across Laurens County would converge on the Clinton college’s campus to grow academically, emotionally and spiritually.

In the first CHAMPS camp, there were 32 students, Mr. Disasa said. By 2002, the program expanded into nearby Richland County. In 20 years, more than 800 students finished the CHAMPS program in the two counties, according to a resolution passed by the South Carolina House of Representatives. More than 90 percent of the CHAMPS graduates went on to attend a college or university. “We recognize and honor Dr. Jerman Disasa and commend his godly impact on the lives of young people in his community and the Palmetto State,” the South Carolina resolution stated.

A lack of funding and the fallout of the pandemic in 2020 ended the CHAMPS summer camp in Laurens County. But Mr. Disasa’s belief in his mission has not faded. All four of his sons graduated from Laurens High School, and pursued higher education as well. Now, they serve their own communities – as a pastor, a computer engineer, a business leader, and a worker within the federal government.

And for three hours, four days week, you will find Mr. Disasa at a table in the old church-turned tutoring center near Sanders Middle School in Laurens. He will be there, reading a storybook or helping a child work through math problems. “I’m in my 70s, but the fight is still there,” Mr. Disasa said. “Why? I am a teacher. This is what God calls me to do. It is about the need to love the community that you are in. And I am not alone; I am more than one when I extend my mind and heart beyond here and now. While I live, I will wiggle, knowing that in America, if you learn to wiggle, you can get somewhere.”