WHEN SURVIVAL BECAME A LIFE is a raw and deeply personal journey through loss, fear, loneliness, and the struggle to belong. After losing his parents at seven, Andualem grows up moving through other people's homes, learning early that survival means watching, adapting, and staying invisible. But the habits that once protected him begin to follow him into adulthood—turning ordinary eyes, conversations, and rooms into battles he cannot easily escape. Brilliant yet trapped by fear, he begins a difficult search for answers: What shaped him? Why does his body react before his mind can? And who can he become when survival is no longer enough? This is not a story about escaping the past. It is about learning how to live beyond i
