Displaced by war, a 20-year-old is earning worldwide praise for helping others

At only 20 years old, Nebiyou Timotewos has had quite a life journey so far.

“I have been through so much trauma, the road here wasn’t easy,” he told us from a Toronto apartment he now shares with his parents and siblings.

Born in Ethiopia, where he says his family was uprooted after experiencing political corruption and poverty, his father moved them to Yemen for a better life only to have another major setback.

“About a year after we moved there, the civil war broke out,” he said. “Homes and schools were bombed.”

Once again, the family had to escape, first relocating to Dublin, Ireland before immigrating to Canada, landing in Toronto when he was only 12 years old.

“We had to leave everything behind and had nothing,” he said.  “We had to go straight to a shelter where we were surviving off community donations for food, clothes, shelter, everything.”

However, clothing donations for kids his size were short that year.

“We had to spend out first Canadian winter in mostly t-shirts and shorts.” He said. “When we went to school, kids would ask ‘why are you wearing that?’ We were too embarrassed to say the reason so just told them we weren’t that cold—but we were!”

After seven months his family settled into a better life, finding alternative housing in a Toronto apartment complex where they now call home.

“As I was leaving the shelter I made a TikTok video saying ‘one day I am going to come back here to make sure that no youth goes through what I had to go through,’” Timotewos said.

He more than kept his promise.

Just three years later, he began social work at 15 with the Second Youth Council, aiding homeless individuals with food, clothing, and gardening services.

Now enrolled at York university, he founded 2 non-profit organizations: Brothers4Brothers, a mentorship program for young men’s mental health, and another which has supported over 1,500 youth in Canada and Ethiopia with essential items and workshops. He also launched a “Kindness Tour” where he travels the world, speaking to youth to help raise funds for orphans in Ethiopia.

Now on his “Stronger Together” world tour, he raises money for scholarships to help African street youth transition into classrooms.

He’s done all of this after only becoming a Canadian citizen just ten months ago.

“The drive I have is kindness,” he said. “My motto is there is a power in kindness, we were given so much when we came here, I must give back and I generally believe every youth has the same passion to create change, they just don’t know where to start.”

Which is why Timotewos’ various charities are run only by youth something he says will not change as he ages.

“Father Time is going to catch up to me. When the time comes, and I am no longer a youth, I will have to pass it down.” he said.

“The focus of our work is to help people of course but another main goal is to inspire other young people to get involved and be the change they want to see in the world but it only works because it is run by other young people, that cannot change.”

That mission statement earning Timotewos worldwide recognition. Earlier this month, he became a recipient of the prestigious Diana Award, set up in memory of the late Diana, Princess of Wales which is given to just 200 young people worldwide annually who demonstrate acts of social impact.

While the honor is something Timotewos will forever cherish, the spotlight he says, is not his drive.

“To do this work, your focus should not be on the awards. You need to be rooted in your own values,” he said.

Values learned along his tough journey, from Ethiopia, Yemen to his time in a shelter here in Toronto.

“I would not want to live through what we went through ever again but I will not change anything about it. Because if I do,  I’m erasing the person that I am today.”