Meet The Fugees

After escaping war zones in their homelands, many refugee children need to fight to assimilate to their new homes here in the United States. One group does so through soccer. In her continuing series, "Extraordinary People", Early Show contributor Flavia Colgan, introduces us to a special team.

It all started when a woman left a privileged a life in Jordan to embark on a mission halfway around the world.

Some teams just need a good coach. This one has a modern saint. Meet the Fugees from Clarkston, Ga. - a team of refugee kids from war zones all over the world. Their coach is Luma Mufleh.

"A lot of the kids played soccer in their camps. Some bundled up T-shirts and plastic bags to make a soccer ball," Mufleh says. "They all escaped war, they've all escaped violence."

"My name is Grace Baligamir. I'm from Congo."

"I'm Safi. I'm from Afghanistan and we left because of Taliban."

"I'm Muarmer, I'm from Bosnia and my parents left because of the war."

"We have children on the team who were child soldiers, kids who worked in diamond mines," Mufleh says "They are strong individuals and they need a chance."

One 11-year-old from Afghanistan really needed a chance. Safi Mohammadullah came to the United States three years ago. He joined the Fugees to play soccer and forget about his problems at school.

"I didn't speak English and I felt people were teasing me," Safi said.

To escape the bullying, he skipped a whole month of classes. Coach Luma benched him. She said if he wanted back on the team he would have to bring up his grades.

How's Safi doing in school now?

"I'm doing good," he says. "I'm having some good grades."

"Assimilating and succeeding in their school is their biggest obstacle," Mufleh says

And to help them win the assimilation battle, she uses very strict rules and lots of tough love. It all starts with every kid signing a contract.

"We go over it together and if you can't do it you will have to leave," Mufleh says. "You earn your spot on the team, then you have to earn your jersey and your cleats by reading a certain amount of books and passing a math test."

Grace joined the Fugees four years ago.

"Have you ever gotten in trouble with Coach Luma?" Colgan asked.

"Yeah, I did a couple times," Grace said. "She really, really tough on us. She want us to be the best soccer, school."

From a handful of kids, the Fugees grew to over 100 players. They know that being a Fugee means more than just playing the game. During the summer, they have to attend literacy camps.

And every day they walk to after-school tutoring to do their homework with volunteer teachers.

All of this hard work earned them their biggest victory last year - Shamsoun, an 18-year-old from Sudan, went to college with a full scholarship.

"I didn't believe it. I was just in shock," Mufleh says. "Like it was actually going to happen. The number one was going to go -- and now all of the kids look up to him. Now he is their role model."

But such good news can be hard to come by.

"My system doesn't work for everyone," Mufleh says. "When they are 13 or 15 and they are reading on the second grade level, I can't get them ready for college in three years."

Despite the challenges, Luma's focused on beating the odds.

"I hope that most of our kids end up going to college," she says. "They have every excuse in the world to quit, and they keep going, they have such strong faith that everything will be OK. And I can't quit for that reason."

Some of the Fugees visited the Early Show and shared some recipes from their native lands.

RECIPES

POULET DE L'AIL: Sauteed Chicken in tomato sauce from Congo

6 chicken drumsticks (season with salt and pepper)
1 teaspoon onion powder
5 cloves minced garlic
vegetable oil - enough to cover bottom of pan
1 large yellow onion
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 habanero (optional) chopped

Wash the chicken in cool water. Put the chicken on a plate and rub with the spices and 3 cloves of the garlic. Cover the bottom of a heavy pan with a generous amount of vegetable oil.
Once the oil is very hot, carefully place the chicken in the pan and cook for about 10-12 minutes.
When chicken turns brown lower the heat. Allow to simmer. In another pan heat vegetable oil, and saute onion and 2 cloves of the garlic and habanero pepper (to taste) until brown , add tomato sauce and simmer until reduced, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of water and stir. Let sauce come to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Serve over prepared jasmine rice.

ASHAQ: Dumplings from Afghanistan

1 cup chopped chives
one package small wonton wrappers 3"x3"
1 cup of plain yogurt
vegetable oil
chopped tomato (2 medium tomatoes)
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the chives and put the chives in a bowl and wash. Add salt and pepper to taste. Use the small size wonton wrappers, (available at Asian food marts). There are many ways to fill the wonton wrappers. All methods use water and pinching to seal the edges of the wonton wrapper together. Put a spoon full of chives on each little square, take one of your little square, and touch the water with 2 fingers, and slide your finger on the edge of the square (this helps to close the sides). After you have closed all your squares, Boil water in a big pan, carefully slide your little squares into the boiling water in the pan, and keep a slow boil. After 5-10 min. the square is ready to be pulled out of water. Before you take your little squares out of boiling water, you need a big plate with plain yogurt as its first thin layer. Now, take your little square out of the boiling water and place it on the yogurt layer. Place the plate aside. In a separate small pan add some oil and over medium heat cook the tomatoes and cover the pan, let simmer for about 3-4 minutes. When your sauce is ready, take a clean spoon and add some sauce on the top of the little squares.