“Is my father starving like those in Sudan? I don’t know. Is he alive? I don’t know. What I do know is that not once in the past 30 years did he ever imagine he would be trapped again after working so hard to escape.”
From left, the author’s mother; the author next to her grandfather, and her father standing to their right; at a Sudanese refugee camp in 1989. Photo: Courtesy of Maebel Gebremedhin One of my earliest memories is of my grandfather’s attempt to rescue my family. We were living in a refugee camp in Sudan, where I was born, the first of four from parents who were nearly children themselves.
Thirty years later, on November 4, 2020, more than 6 million people living in the Tigray region were dispossessed of stability, normalcy, and basic necessities. While the rest of the world was engrossed in the United States presidential election, the Ethiopian government unleashed a gruesome genocide on its own citizens.
When I was younger, I fought off becoming a U.S. citizen; I wanted to keep my Ethiopian passport and Ethiopian identity so badly. Later, during Barack Obama’s presidency, I made the tough decision to become an American citizen. Perhaps I didn’t know it then, but letting go of Ethiopia was the best decision I ever made. I now have three sons who are witnessing their people become refugees. I wonder if they recognize that this is nothing new for their bloodline.
During these rare phone calls, I was comforted by the knowledge that my father was alive. Four months ago the Ethiopian government escalated its siege of Tigray, and we now have no way to check on our families. Millions are facing starvation because the military has blocked humanitarian aid. Is my father starving like those in Sudan? I don’t know. Is he alive? I don’t know.
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