Corpsmember Connection
Featuring: Manhal Jajju
Corpsmember Connection
Featuring: Manhal Jajju
Meet Manhal.
His favorite food? Dolma.
Favorite school subject? Math.
Favorite activity? Being outside, specifically amongst trees.
Manhal Jajju will be graduating from the Urban Corps of San Diego County this December and could not contain his excitement when asked about this achievement.
“I’m very excited and so is my family. I’m excited to follow my dreams,” he said with a wide smile.
Here’s a little bit of his story.
Manhal was born in Iraq and after spending time as a refugee in the country of Jordan, left to come to the United States. “I came with zero experience, no dreams, no nothing.”
Through Urban Corps, Manhal received the opportunity to earn his education as well as paid job training; along the way discovering a deep passion for serving people and the environment through planting trees.
“I love planting trees. It’s my favorite. Trees give oxygen and energy to people and it’s not just for me – it’s for my kids. It’s for the future.”
Currently, Manhal serves as a crew leader at Urban Corps, where not only has he been tasked with training and developing current Corpsmembers (students) and future leaders, he’s also responsible for planting trees across our county.
Manhal is responsible for planting hundreds of trees across San Diego County over the last few years.
“Manhal is a great leader,” said Nallely Lopez, Urban Corps’ Urban Forestry manager. “He’s willing to train Corpsmembers and takes on a variety of tasks. He’s always looking to expand his experience.”
Hope for the future
Dreaming about the future was once a luxury for Manhal, but as graduation approaches, he finds himself full of plans, ideas and hopes.
“Now I have plans for 20 years,” he says excitedly, but in all seriousness.
“I need to help other people, so first I need to graduate. Then I’d like to become a supervisor to gain more skills and to teach others what I know. In the future, I want to open my own environmental business where I can work alongside others and treat them with dignity.”
Wrapping up our time with Manhal, we asked about Urban Corps’ impact on his life. He responded saying, “I became better. When you’re done with Urban Corps, you’ll have received a better life.”
“Thank you everyone in Urban Corps.”
