Arefany Wynn – Tragic death of young Ethiopian-American Studnet and Santa Clara athlete

Arefany Wynn

01/21/2011  

By Patty Fisher

Source: Mercury News Columnist

The first time Arefany Wynn traveled the 9,000 miles from California to Ethiopia, he loved the country and received such a warm welcome from the people of his mother's homeland that he promised to return.

But on his second visit, the 20-year-old Santa Clara athlete and student got a very different welcome. One night, an uncle was showing his American nephew the night life in the upscale Bole Road district of Addis Ababa. But when they walked into a club and a fight broke out, the two men decided to leave.

As they started to drive away, a police officer came out of the club after them. Young Arefany, riding in the back seat, turned around to see what was happening -- just as the officer fired his AK-47 at the car, sending a bullet into the young man's side and through his body. He died on the way to the hospital.

Now Arefany's anguished family is observing the Ethiopian 40-day mourning period, and they are desperately in search of answers. They want to know whether the police officer, whom witnesses say shot the young man, will be charged with a crime. They want to know why the body was shipped home without being embalmed, and where they will find money for funeral expenses.

But, most of all, they want to know why this gentle young man, a San Jose City College student who journeyed halfway around the world to immerse himself in Ethiopian culture, was taken from them so suddenly, so tragically.

Search for self

How many people in Silicon Valley, home to so many proud immigrants, urge their children to go to the homeland and experience their culture of origin? It is a rite of passage, a way for young people like Arefany who need to understand who they are.

"Arefany was a guy who was just beginning to find himself," said his father, Brunet Lux. "The hardest part is that I never got to say goodbye."

Lux was born and raised in Arizona. His wife, Sarah Belay, was born in Ethiopia and grew up in the Bay Area. When they met, he was at Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay); she had a 3-year-old son, Arefany.

"The first time I saw him, I said 'Whassup?" and that was it," Lux recalled about the little boy "He liked me right away."

Arefany loved sports -- football, basketball and track. Lux, a track star at De Anza College and San Francisco State, cofounded the Umoja Track Club in 2001 so he could coach him. The club grew through the years, and Arefany became a mentor to the younger kids. "We kinda grew together," Lux said.

In college, Arefany played basketball for a while, but then, inspired by his first trip to Ethiopia in 2009, decided to take a break from school and live in Ethiopia for a while.

He arrived in Addis Ababa on New Year's Eve with gifts of baby clothes and chocolate for his mother's relatives. He spent the next several days meeting family members and trying to pick up a few phrases in the local Amharic language.

Terrible loss

Details about what happened on the night of Jan. 10 are sketchy. His uncle, Rafael Geremew, wanted to show Arefany one of his favorite clubs. Geremew has told the family that people in the club started calling the young man and his uncle "hamburger-eaters" and making other anti-American comments, so they left.

A story in a local newspaper reported that a fight broke out.

According to the U.S. Embassy there, the police officer is in custody and the case is still being investigated. Sen. Barbara Boxer's spokeswoman, Kate Folmar, assured me that their office would be trying to get some answers.

Arefany's body was shipped home Jan. 12 without having been embalmed, which is highly unusual, according to folks at Lima Family Mortuary in Santa Clara. The family says the transportation and funeral, which drew more than 700 people, is costing them more than $19,000.

The loss of the oldest of their four children was the latest in a series of terrible blows to Lux and Belay. He has worked only sporadically since he was laid off from a job in shipping and receiving two years ago. In June, their San Jose home burned down and they lost everything. They are now living in a Santa Clara house furnished with donations from relatives and from members of the Umoja Track Club, the nonprofit that Lux runs.

The local Ethiopian community is comforting the grieving parents with visits and food.

When I stopped by the house earlier this week, women in long dresses and colorful shawls were bustling in the kitchen. The whole house smelled deliciously of cumin, ginger and garlic.

As I listened to the story and felt the family's utter bewilderment, I thought of all the families I know who send their kids off to visit relatives abroad, hoping they will come home with closer ties to their heritage. But never for a moment thinking that they might not come home at all.