Friday March 16 meeting

Hello Folks,

It has already been two weeks since our last meeting. I have not written the summary of our discussion however. Here I will give a quick summary of what we did.

Our beloved sister Aissetu gave a wonderful presentation. She talked about her life journey and related it to an article she handed out at the meeting: resilience. Here I will try to say a bit about her; however the best way to know her is through spending time with her.

Aissetu was born and raised in Addis Abeba Ethiopia. Her father is from Guinea and her mother from Ethiopia. She is the oldest of three children.  Her father left her mom at young age and her mom whom she considers her hero raised the three kids in the farm.  Aissetu attended school in Addis Abeba. When she was young she loved reading and read many novels. Her mom believed in education and Assetu took that very road that her mom though her. 

At the age of 15 (in 11^th grade) Aissetu had a boyfriend who was 10 years older than her. At the age of 16 she got pregnant and gave birth to her daughter at the age of 17. Aissetu was 1^st year student at Addis Abeba university when she had her daughter and seven days after her birth she left her daughter with the dad and returned to school. Aissetue did not tell her situation to her mother and kept it secret until she graduated from Addis Aeba University (four years later). After graduation she started living with her boyfriend (her daughter’s father) and continued her master’s degree. After completing her masters she had her second child (a boy). Aissetu explains her transition from living with her mom to living with her husband as “going from everything to nothing.”  Until she got a job, they struggled financially.

Last year she reunited to her mom and moved to the US to pursue her PhD in social work. Aissetu has hit many brick walls, however never learned to give up, and all the complications in life have thought her to be the person she is today: resilient, compassionate, strong, and loving. She concluded her talk with “I have no surprises in life.”  

I know I did not include every little detail she mentioned in the meeting; however you got the highlights and please do set appointments on your own time with her and get to know her more individually at your and her convenient times. She truly is a great person.

I am blessed to be a part of this group. What a diverse group we have!

Thank you all for being there.

Aissetu, would you please upload/post the article you passed in class? Thanks and please feel free to add and or correct anything to this note. 

Tsige.

P.S.  I will not be in the meeting tomorrow, I am asking Bylul to take notes for me and post them on the blog. If she cannot please somebody take over.  Thanks guys and have fun. I will miss you :(