Ororo's mother was the daughter of a Chieftain in Kenya, while her father was a white American photographer. That was why her skin was not especially dark; instead, her mixed heritage gave her beautiful features.
When she was young, her family planned to move to Egypt. Cairo's social environment was better than Kenya's, after all, and Egypt held an inexplicable attraction for Mutants.
But a plane crash occurred during the move. Both her parents died, while she alone miraculously survived.
The surviving little girl had no useful skills. To make a living, she eventually became a thief under the control of Cairo's Mutant crime lord, Ahmed el-Gibar. That lasted until she tried stealing on the streets one day and picked Charles as her target.
At the time, Charles was still traveling the world, witnessing the hardships of ordinary people and searching for a nonviolent way to save Mutants.
In the end, he still had to use violence to deal with Ahmed before taking Ororo away. It couldn't be helped; sometimes, people simply could not come to an agreement.
Charles lived with Ororo in Egypt for several years, investigating legends concerning Apocalypse. Afterward, he took her back to the United States and began teaching her at his school how to become a good person.
After Raven, the girl Charles regarded as a younger sister, ran off with Magneto, Charles became obsessed with teaching students. He hoped that Ororo would one day inherit his mantle.
Incidentally, the girl was not yet called Storm at the time. She was called Electro-Magnetic Girl, and her Mutant ability was controlling electromagnetic fields. Charles believed she could restrain Magneto to some extent as he grew increasingly obsessive.
But when Ororo turned fifteen, she began having all sorts of strange dreams. In them, her parents' voices constantly