The War between
Eritrea and Ethiopia
It was in
1998 when I was in second grade and this unforgettable moment happened. I was
in school when Ethiopian plane came to our school in Eritrea, so we had to
leave the school because it was an Ethiopian plane and we were scared they
would drop bombs, because they fought before. I had to run for three miles to
go home because the school was far from the place we lived. When I got home my
parents were not at home and I just ran to the church by myself. However, after
a while, I found my parents. We stayed in the church for a few hours until a
plane left. And the next day I had to go to school, but I was very scared
because if a plane comes again, I thought I wouldn’t be able to find my parents
because I was lucky to find them the first time. Thus, I didn’t want it to
happen again. The war between Eritrea and Ethiopia affected my family and me
both negatively and positively.
As a child,
I moved to many places in just year; in fact, the first time we left our home
town, we walked for two days going somewhere we didn’t know. The next morning we
walked again for a week, and then we ended up in the jungle. It was an unforgettable
moment in my life because I was too young to be in the jungle; it was very
scary because there were many snakes and other animals. And also we didn’t have
enough blankets, food, and water for everyone. After six months of staying in
the jungle, we went to the city, and I was in the hospital for two weeks
because I had gotten sick in the jungle. Later we rented house in the city, but
we couldn’t stay there for long because we didn’t had enough money to pay the
rent, so we had to go back to the jungle. After a while, we went to the refugee
camp in Eritrea. Finally, we got a small house to live in, and we lived there
for about two years. Then the plane came again to the camp in Eritrea, so we
had to move to a different location. As a kid this moving thing affected me
very negatively, because I wanted to go to school, make friends and be like a
normal child, but instead I was moving from place to place, and never had the
chance to act like a kid.
My family had never dreamed of going to
Ethiopia, but when they saw Eritrean people from the camp going to Ethiopia, they
decided to go with them. Due the war we ended up in an Ethiopian refugee camp. My
family thought it would be better there, but it wasn’t because we didn’t have
enough the foods to eat, however, it was better than the jungle because there
were many people and no more snakes. Also, we got help from UNCHR it stand for (United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) However it wasn’t enough at all because we are
a big family and we finished eating the foods so quickly. It was e especially
hard to get water. We had to walk for almost four miles to get water, and it was
not even clean, but we kept drinking it because we had no choice. We didn’t
even have money, so we couldn’t eat healthy food In addition; I am the oldest
daughter in my family, so I had to bring the water for them. Therefore, I had
to walk for miles to bring the water every single day and sometimes twice a
day. I thought living in the jungle was an unforgettable moment in my life, but
this one is worse than that. And not only did I have to bring the water, I had to
cook, and wash my family’s clothes. Being a teenager in the camp was also a
difficult part of my life. I still wanted to go to school, but I never had the
chance because I was the oldest, so I had to help my mother with the chores and
had to take care of my little brothers and sisters. We stayed in Ethiopia refugee
camp for seven years and I never had the chance to go to school. This made me
feel not smart and unhappy, and I thought I would never go to school again.
Finally,
after staying seven years in the camp, we had the opportunity to come to the
United States. This was the most positive effect on my family and I because I
knew that coming to the U.S. would change our lives for the better. When we got
to Pennsylvania, it was the greatest day ever because we were given a four
bedroom house and everyone got their own room. This was the most wonderful
thing that ever happened to us because when we were in Africa, we only had one
small house that we all slept in. After a couple weeks my brothers, sisters,
and I started school. When I first started going to school I was extremely
excited, when I first stepped into the school I felt my dream coming true. The
dream that I thought would never come true was coming true. That dream of being
educated and being someone important and professional. For I was the luckiest
girl in the world and everything around me felt happy, I knew right then and
there that my life would never be the same ever again.
In
conclusion, the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia had impacted my family and me
in both negative and positive ways. The reason that war affected me in a bad
way was I moved to many places as a kid and never got the chance to go to
school. Also, as a teenager I had to take care of my little brothers and
sisters, which resulted me not going to school. Also the bad effect of the war
on my family was that they had to take care of one another in such harsh times
instead of living a regular life. On the other hand, the war between Eritrea
and Ethiopia meant that my family and I were coming to the U.S., which was the
greatest effect in our lives. If the war had not resulted for my family and I
coming to the United States than everything would have been a flunk and nothing
would ever be the same.
