Adversity In My Life

I was born on the third of March, 2000, three months before Eritrea merely broke away from Ethiopia. Ethiopia annexed Eritrea in the late 1960s. Long story short, those nations started to fight over land and sea. They had ongoing border fights for about 30 years until a major war broke out in 1998 which lasted 2 years. In May, 1991, Eritrea had gained its independence from Ethiopia; however, the fight didn't stop there. In May of 2000, Eritrea was officially separated from Ethiopia. Since then, Eritrea and Ethiopia government haven't reunited yet. During the war, villagers had to leave their land and flee to the urban areas. My farmer uncle had to move into our house with his kids and his wife who had just given birth to a baby girl. There, …show more content…
My friendship with some people were beyond the limit. I shared my secrets, problems, and they reciprocate the same. I also valued education since I was a kid. I was a one of the very competitive students in my schools. I wasn't the smartest; still, I always believed in myself, and worked harder. When I was ten, my oldest sister, who by then had settled in the U.S. for 8-9 years, decided to bring our dad there, through a special process for a better job opportunities. The Eritrean government extended the eighteen months law, a law where young adults had to serve the military for at least eighteen months, right after high school. So, my second oldest sibling who was serving the military couldn’t come home to exchange goodbyes with my dad. It was hard to say goodbye, but I knew that he knew that coming to the U.S. was a great opportunity; he had a purpose. He told me that he would not let me down, and would support me in everything. I didn't get to spend as much time hanging out with my dad; he was always busy with work, yet his words stay in my mind from that moment.

Every so often, my mom would meet up with her friends and close neighborhood for daily chit chats and gossips. One day, my mom had gathered them for ritual coffee ceremony, in my house. I was there, helping her, and I heard her mentioning my dad's name and his new plan. Curiosity arose in me. I asked her, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to …show more content…
It wasn't until my last year in middle school that my mom started to bring conversations about me and my family coming to America. I never had the thoughts of leaving my home. Along with the law about serving the military, I figured I was going to follow that after I finish eleventh grade; eleventh grade is the last year of high school in Eritrea. Therefore, I didn't think it was possible for me to leave my country at that age. Also, it complicated to leave Eritrea and move to other places. The government had developed and practiced its strict control over political, social, and economic systems since the war. It seems to me that the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia had affected the development, and economic growth of the country, mostly in a terrible way. Besides the President is awful, but that would be another topic to bring and talk about. People have a hard time traveling to other countries; it isn't even accessible to travel from city to city, in Eritrea, without a special ID. The government’s performance in managing the people and the country is very poor, so is the education system. This is why most Eritreans flee the country; to seek freedom, educational and economic opportunity, political persecution and etc. I am one of those