Reaching the ten-year mark is a formidable milestone, and I am eternally grateful to all the wonderful donors who have walked this journey with us. To commemorate this decade of impact, I wanted to share a tribute that I have been contemplating for a while.
Following this milestone anniversary of Yohan's passing, I embarked on multiple motorcycle journeys totaling more than 5,000 miles. I rode country roads from Chicago to Maine via Canada, down to Virginia, back through West Virginia and Ohio, and later traveled up and down the Mississippi River Valley. While riding along highways named after illustrious service members, I experienced a moment of extreme clarity. I realized that the Yohan Abraham Foundation is, in essence, Yohan’s Highway.
This inspiration led me to put my emotions into a song written in a 4/4 meter. Knowing that many of our newsletter recipients and donors are amateur musicians like myself, I want to encourage you to record your own musical interpretation of this song and send it to me! I will process and post the top submissions on this website.
To get you started, you can listen to my recorded version here: YAF is Yohans Highway
🎶 Yohan’s Highway
Verse 1
Down in Elmwood, Tennessee, the morning mist is thick and gray. But there's a porch light burning bright to help students find their way. Losing someone that you love can break a good man right in two. But they took that heavy heartache and they built it into something new
Chorus
Yeah, Yohan’s highway runs right through these hills
Wiping away the dust and the winter chills
From a small-town classroom to a kid across the sea
That’s how a legacy lives on in a piece of Tennessee
Verse 2
It don't take a million dollars or a fancy organization
Just a few dollars and a promise to the folks further down the line
Giving local kids a chance to catch their dreams up on the wing
While a sponsored child a world away begins to smile and sing
Chorus
Yeah, Yohan’s highway runs right through these hills
Wiping away the dust and the winter chills
From a small-town classroom to a kid across the sea
That’s how a legacy lives on in a piece of Tennessee
Bridge
Every dollar goes straight to the fight, no heavy corporate gears
Just neighbors helping neighbors through the passing of the years
Keeping that young man's memory as steady as the pines
Written in the margins of a scholar's history lines
(Guitar Solo - Acoustic and Steel Guitar)
Outro
So tip your hat to Elmwood, and the love they're passing down
It’s the biggest heart you’ll ever find inside a little town
Yeah, keep on rolling down that road.
Yohan’s highway.
