Adolphus is a Liberian who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1998. He served in the Liberian army as a ROTC instructor in the late 1980s and left his country when civil unrest made life dangerous. He won a scholarship from the United Nations to pursue his university studies in Sierra Leone. When civil war broke out there in turn, Adolphus left for neighboring Guinea where conditions were better. He applied for and was granted a tourist visa from the American embassy in Conakry, Guinea. Upon arrival in Philadelphia, he applied for and was granted political asylum. Adolphus is a Health and Physical Education instructor at Preparatory Charter High School in South Philadelphia, where he also coaches the basketball team. Adolphus lives in Upper Darby, not far from many of his Liberian friends and his brother. Many of his other family members are still in a refugee camp in Ghana.