Ethiopian soldiers break into the Kelo home and threaten to kill them for being a multiethnic family.

Alem wakes in their London hotel to find his father gone, with a letter explaining why he was left behind.

Two women from the Refugee Council arrive at Alem's hotel to help him apply for asylum.

Alem is placed in a children's home where a bully named Sweeney threatens and physically attacks him.

Alem undergoes a dehumanizing Home Office screening where officials photograph and fingerprint him like a criminal.

Mariam places Alem with the Fitzgerald foster family, an Irish couple who welcome him into their home.

Alem starts school and befriends Robert after being accidentally knocked over by him on his first day.

The Home Office rejects Alem's asylum application, and Mariam tells him he must appeal the decision in court.

At his first court hearing, the adjudicator adjourns the case so both sides can prepare their arguments.

Mr. Kelo arrives unexpectedly at the Fitzgeralds' house and is joyfully reunited with Alem.

When Mr. Kelo visits the Home Office to apply for asylum, officers arrest him and send him to a detention center.

At the second court hearing, the adjudicator denies the asylum application for both Mr. Kelo and Alem.

Hundreds of people join a protest march through town in support of Alem and Mr. Kelo.

Mariam arrives at the hotel to tell Alem that his father has been shot and killed outside the EAST office.

At his final appeal hearing, the adjudicator grants Alem asylum after considering his father's murder.

This pool follows the central arc of Alem Kelo's story, from the moment soldiers threaten his family in Ethiopia to his final asylum hearing in England. After being left alone in London by his father, Alem navigates the British asylum system with help from the Refugee Council, the Fitzgerald foster family, and his lawyer Nicholas. He attends two court hearings where the system repeatedly fails him, denying his application despite clear evidence of the danger he faces at home. When his father arrives in England, the two are briefly reunited before the Home Office arrests Mr. Kelo and a public protest march draws hundreds of supporters to their cause. The pool ends with both the tragic murder of Mr. Kelo and the final court ruling that grants Alem asylum, showing how the system only responds to irreplaceable loss.

The core events of Alem's journey from war refugee to asylum seeker in England.

Eritrean soldiers raid the Kelo home and threaten to kill the family for being multiethnic.

Alem and his father explore London together, taking the train into the city and eating Italian food for dinner.

Alem tells Mariam and Pamela the full story of his family's persecution in both Ethiopia and Eritrea.

When Sweeney attacks Alem over lunch at the children's home, Alem fights back until staff separate them.

Alem escapes the children's home by climbing out a window and scaling the barbed wire fence.

Alem receives a letter from his father saying that his mother has gone missing during the war.

Mariam gives Alem newspaper clippings revealing how the British press portrays refugees as criminals and burdens.

At the first hearing, the state representative claims Alem would face no personal threat if returned home.

Ruth comforts Alem in his room after news of his mother's murder and tells him she is like his sister.

Ruth scans Alem's worn family photograph and uploads it as his computer wallpaper so he will not lose it.

Mr. Kelo takes Alem to the EAST office in London, where Alem sees Eritreans and Ethiopians working together.

Two boys ambush Alem on his bicycle after school and steal the bike he bought with Christmas money.

Nicholas secures bail for Mr. Kelo, who is released from the detention center and moved into a hotel with Alem.

Alem's friends organize a school rally where Robert speaks about equality and Alem addresses the crowd.

The school headmaster awards Alem the Positive Pupil Certificate at assembly for his relentless dedication to learning.

This pool captures the significant but less central events that fill out Alem's experience as a refugee in England. Beginning with the soldiers' raid in Eritrea and Alem's last tourist days with his father, it traces his difficult life at the children's home including his fight with Sweeney and his escape attempt. As Alem settles with the Fitzgeralds, he faces fresh blows when his mother disappears and newspaper clippings reveal deep anti-refugee bias running through British society. Key relationship moments unfold as Ruth comforts Alem after his mother's murder and works to preserve his precious family photograph, while friends Robert and Asher deepen his sense of cultural identity. The pool ends with the successful protest rally and the Positive Pupil Certificate, small but meaningful victories that sustain Alem through his ordeal.

The supporting moments that shaped Alem's relationships and daily life in England.

On the night before he disappears, Mr. Kelo sits on Alem's bed and urges him above all else to be a good person.

Alem reads the letter left by his father and learns that both parents planned together to leave him in England.

Mustafa quietly warns Alem in the bathroom of the children's home to watch out for Sweeney's violence.

After wandering all night, Alem returns to the children's home and tells Mariam he refuses to keep living in fear.

Alem receives a letter from his father confirming his mother was murdered and her body found near the border.

Nicholas asks Alem's permission to use his father's letter about Mrs. Kelo's murder as evidence in court.

Alem and Robert visit their friend Asher, a Jamaican who passionately argues that Africa must unite as one homeland.

Alem faints in court when Nicholas reveals that his mother was found hacked to death near the border.

After the asylum denial, Nicholas tells the Kelos he will immediately file an appeal for a new hearing.

Robert, Buck, and Asher come to the Fitzgeralds to propose a public campaign to fight the court's decision.

Mr. Kelo initially argues against the campaign but agrees after hearing Alem's friends speak passionately about equality.

At the protest march, Mr. Kelo addresses the crowd about his wife's death and declares that only love conquers war.

Alem watches his father feel humiliated at a supermarket when they are forced to pay using government food vouchers.

Ethiopia and Eritrea sign a peace treaty, ending the war that forced the Kelo family to flee.

In a first-person epilogue, Alem reflects that he will always be seen as a refugee but vows to make good from bad.

This pool focuses on the emotional and moral turning points that drive Alem's coming-of-age story from beginning to end. It opens with Mr. Kelo's quiet farewell message urging Alem to be a good person, followed by the revelation that both parents had deliberately planned to leave him behind for his own safety. Key discoveries mount across the story, from Mustafa's warning about the dangers of the children's home to the devastating confirmation of Mrs. Kelo's murder and Alem's collapse in court when he hears the graphic details read aloud. Moments of decisive action shape the second half, including Mr. Kelo reluctantly agreeing to the protest campaign after hearing Alem's friends speak, and his powerful speech at the march declaring that only love conquers war. The pool closes with the peace treaty that ends the war the Kelos fled and Alem's first-person reflection on his identity, marking his resolution to make something good out of everything bad that has happened to him.

The decisions and discoveries that defined Alem's transformation from frightened boy to determined survivor.