Publisher's Synopsis
I was born in 1999 to a humble family living in the capital city of Ethiopia. My father comes from a peasant family in a region called Kaffa. This is the land where coffee was first naturalized and then introduced all over the world. He feels lucky to be born as one of the coffee people, but life as a peasant was hard. Most of the products of farming went to landlords and government officials, who together subjugated peasants. My grandfather was pro education, and he wanted all his children to go to school. After a long struggle for economic survival, my father was able to attend the only university in the country. He survived the turmoil of the Ethiopian socialist revolution and was assigned to the northern region of the country where there was full-fledged war. This resulted in my father losing his job. A new door opened when he was offered freelance work doing word processing, editing a Bible translation for the Kaffa people. His work continued as a freelancer, and he has been lucky to be on the team which translated the New Testament into the Kaffa tongue. He is still involved in the translation team for Kaffa to translate the Old Testament. It's been an uncertain means of survival, but God has enabled my father to sustain our family. A miracle happened when I was able to study abroad in the USA in 2015. My friend heard about a program where Ethiopian teens could apply to be exchange students in America for a school year. We applied, and both accepted into the program. This is how I came to be with a host family in Iowa. I had a wonderful time with them during the year. I was surprised when I saw how supportive the teachers were when I came to Davenport Central High School. It wasn't like that in my country. I was sad to return to the education system back in Ethiopia. I've had a dream to attend a university in America. My father always encouraged me to dream big. My dream is to become an attorney so I can fight for women's rights in my country. As a child, I saw four small girls placed on a table and circumcised with the same blade. This was a ceremony in a small village when my family was visiting. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a horrible tradition, and we need education to help stop this mistreatment of women. Many girls and women have problems the rest of their lives. Some have difficulties giving birth and many have died in childbirth as a result of this procedure. I wrote about this experience in a "Letters About Literature" state essay contest in Iowa. Much to my surprise, I won first place. My exchange program ended in the spring of 2016. At that time, I shared my desire to study for my senior year and study at a university in America. My exchange coordinator had a heart for helping me and endorsed my dreams. Together we visited a boarding school called Scattergood Friends School in Iowa, and she encouraged me to apply. After returning home to Ethiopia, I waited for the school's admission decision on my application. I was accepted, but there was still a question that God alone could answer. The school asked that I cover 25% of the tuition. Deb assured me that we might raise funds through speaking in churches in the U.S. if I could show the school a bank statement of $13,000.00. The problem is, my parents don't earn that much money within a year, let alone have a bank account with such a large amount of money. So we prayed and looked for loans and grants. Another miracle happened when Scattergood notified me that an anonymous donor had come forward and paid my tuition in full. Now I'm studying in a college preparatory school and applying at American universities. I need yet another miracle: a four year scholarship to a good college in the United States.
