Brolin Mawejje

Brolin Mawejje is not your average snowboarder. He was born on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda and emigrated to a sleepy suburb outside Boston, Massachusetts as a 12 year old. Barely able to speak the language and living with a mother whom he barely knew, Brolin felt like a cat tossed into water and had to figure out how to swim quickly. His sanctuary came through the unlikely sport of snowboarding. In 7th grade Brolin joined a program that would take kids to a local ski hill after school. On the slopes, Brolin discovered a place where his background and past ceased to exist and all that mattered was the present moment. For the first time in his life he felt like he discovered the sense of belonging and community he had been searching for his whole life.

Brolin found a group of friends through snowboarding that accepted him as a brother. At 17 years old, Brolin was given the opportunity to move out to Jackson Hole with the Hessler family and join the Jackson Hole Snowboard Team under the coaching of Jeff Moran. Riding in Jackson gave Brolin the opportunity to take his snowboarding to the next level as he started competing all over the northwest. As Brolin’s skills improved, a dream materialized to pursue snowboarding in the Olympics for his home country of Uganda. Now 23 years old, Brolin is in his final semester of a pre-med degree at Westminster College and well on his way to become the first African to ever snowboard in the Winter Olympics in the coming 2018 Games.

Check out the award winning documentary "Far From Home" to learn more about Brolin's journey. Watch the trailer below.

Far From Home from Galen Knowles on Vimeo.