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Story August 22, 2009

The friends Bill Clinton left behind in Africa

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English

When Bill Clinton Hadam's refugee family was approved for resettlement in the U.S., the boy's...

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Until they were 6, Bill and his friends Emmanuel and Jean-Jacques lived together in Mkugwa, a camp of 2,000 Central African refugees in Northwest Tanzania. Their parents were close friends, and the boys grew up sharing meals, soccer games, wheelbarrow rides. Then, in October 2006, everything changed.

First, Bill's family won the "resettlement lottery"and were granted visas to the United States. Then Mkugwa closed, and Emma's and Jean-Jacques's families were sent on to different camps, different probable futures. Gulfs started to yawn among the three boys' experiences. Today, the onetime soccer buddies are nearly 10. For a glimpse of their lives now, click above

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