Jacob Mach, and his son, were all smiles for his first day at the Atlanta Police Department Wednesday but his past trauma as a child is something that many can’t even imagine.

Mach was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, a group of 20,000 boys who were displaced or orphaned during a Sudanese civil war from 1983 to 2005. Thousands of the children were settled across dozens of cities in the United States.

In 2001, The U.S. granted refugee status to Mach, and he was shipped to Clarkston, Georgia at the age of 21. He told the New York Times that he only had one change of clothes and a three-month guarantee of government support.

He worked many jobs leading up to his police career, unpacking produce at Publix, working the nightshift at a hotel, and other jobs making just a few dollars an hour, WSB TV reports.

After saving money, he was able to bring his wife from Kenya and they later had a son. Along the way, Mach told the New York Times he gained American citizenship, earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University and began supporting family members in Africa.