One day, I walked several kms outside of the town I was staying in and found a village engulfed in greenery. While in the village I met a family who did not speak any English nor Amharic, except for their son, who was attending Hawassa University. He was working on the farm and because his family took so much pride in his education they called him away from the farm to talk with me. For many in these rural villages, English is an opportunity to lift themselves, and their families, out of poverty. What should have been a 5-10 minute conversation ended up being a half hour of stories filled with laughs and inquiries about the ethnic groups in America. Unlike many, they didn’t seem to have a toxic sense of pride and expressed how they wished Ethiopia could be like an America, a country of different groups of people who could live as one. At that moment I thought to myself, “Ya, I’d like that America too”, but the fact is there is much diversity and acceptance in America that it makes all the disagreements and pettiness seem minute. I have had many reservations about my time here, but the reality is I’m extremely privileged to be able to live and work here. The ability to uproot from any place with little worry, and not in spite of conflict, reminds me that I’m a guest who chose to bring his knowledge and enthusiasm for the betterment of at least one person’s life. The people were why I came here and the people are why I continue to stay positive...oh, and the doro wot!
