As a child growing up in Sri Lanka, Christopher Francis was fascinated with America.  After reading books about America at his local library, his dream was to make it to the United States. "I looked at the pictures or read about it and everything was just fascination about America," he tells NPR. "I knew that…in America, sky's the limit and you are welcomed and you are given every opportunity to succeed in this country." Francis grew up Tamil, a persecuted ethnic minority in Sri Lanka, during a time when there was great tension and deadly encounters between Tamils and the Sinhalese government. “It’s a very tough times we went through. Almost everyone got burnt and killed, they escaped and ran,” Francis says. He knew he had to leave the country.