From an African shepherd to Australia's marathon record holder

Australia's men's marathon record holder, Haftu Strintzos, thrives on hard work, but still finds it hard to believe where life has taken him.

Born in eastern Tigray in northern Ethiopia, he grew up standing barefoot in fields for hours, helping provide for his family from dawn to dusk.

"I feel as though I have lived a double life in a way," he said after celebrating his 27th birthday in Melbourne.

In his remote community, 2,300 metres above sea level, the only source of information he had until age 10 was a mobile phone.

Haftu lost both biological parents by the time he was six, and was taken in by his maternal grandmother, living with his aunt and cousins.

A Greek-Australian aid worker by the name of Maria Strintzos came calling, meeting Haftu in 2007 at the age of eight.

After decades working across Ethiopia, she asked him if he'd like to be her son, adopted him and helped him migrate to Melbourne in 2011 — more than 12,000 kilometres from the mountains of Tigray.

Today, Haftu speaks five languages, Tigrinya, Amharic, Greek, Japanese and English, holds a Master of Electrical Engineering from Villanova University in the USA, and recently broke the national marathon record.

Maria always felt compelled to help others. Growing up in South Melbourne in the 1960s, she found strength in the local Greek community, even while migrant families faced racism.

"We had absolutely everybody there. As much as I loved growing up there, it built a strength in me," she said.

Her aid work took her through Indonesia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan, supporting famine relief, water schemes, food security, women's empowerment, and communities affected by conflict, spending 35 years around wars and disease, but also hope, in the Horn of Africa.

He would walk barefoot through dry riverbeds, guiding his almost blind grandmother, Shifta, through the mountains to meet Maria.

"And he would sit there really quietly … didn't muck around like the other kids.

"He always had this sort of sad and serious look about him. It's like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.