I Survived: With humility, kindness, and love - we can change the world

By Yoni W Mesafint

The story of an Ethiopian immigrant who, through his struggles and experiences, develops a strong urge to not only help the people of his home country through diversity, empathy, and understanding, but to do so throughout the U.S. and the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: Jul 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638377597

Yoni W Mesafint

Yohannes Wolde is an Ethiopian native who survived from cancer & experiences which include triumphs, trials, and everything in between. He received his bachelor of arts in Public Policy & Social Worker from Georgia State University and his master of business from IU Independence University. He believes that book can change the world, and he uses it to inspire and empower young people through his writing."

Book preview

Chapter 1

I

can still smell the dirt, the grass, and the leather of the ball. To this day, every time I see a soccer net, I cannot help but get a little excited inside. I want to immediately run out onto the field, no matter who is out there, and kick the ball.

I love soccer.

I have loved the game for as long as I can remember.

For me, soccer is a metaphor for my existence. No matter what is going on, no matter the many tribulations of modern life, I can always grab a soccer ball and go play. For that period, no matter how long or short it is, I am able to forget all the bad and just be one with myself and those around me.

Playing soccer can be a way of strengthening relationships with people you already know and love, but it can also be a beautiful way to meet and connect with new people. People who are vastly different from you or people who you have much in common with. This fact is true, both on a small or local scale as well as on a massive scale, that soccer is a game that is enjoyed by people across the world. In many cases, a group of people will agree on little to nothing but the game of soccer itself.

My purpose, as I see it, is to always bring the positive out of everyone and every situation. Though a quite detailed story, I believe the story of how this became my purpose is a quite important one. Initially, I learned how to find the positive in everything from soccer, or rather, from the absence of soccer.

Like everyone, my story includes triumphs, trials, and everything in between. Each person has a unique path that leads them to their own personal destination. The beginning of my life was not exceedingly bad, nor was it exceptionally good. To me, I lived a normal life. I woke up in the morning each day, got ready with my siblings, and went to school. Only later would I realize and fully understand the circumstances of my childhood in Ethiopia.

The important context to this early part of my story is the circumstances my parents were living with in Ethiopia. Ethiopia was deeply entrenched in a civil war from 1974 to 1991, beginning just one year before I was born. Essentially, in September of 1974, the Soviet-backed Derg overthrew the Ethiopian empire in a coup. This would ultimately lead to the decades-long civil war between this communist regime and anticommunist opposition groups.

The war would have devastating consequences for the Ethiopian people, including intense economic decline and an extreme two-year famine between 1983 and 1985. At its end, more than an estimated 1.4 million people were dead with one million of those deaths coming from the famine and the rest from combat and other consequences of war. Ethiopia was a volatile place for quite some time after this as well. Though this story is not at all about that.

However, this story does provide important pretext for why my parents made the choices that they did. Shortly after I was born, my mom moved away to another country, forced to leave my father in Ethiopia with her three children. Though a seemingly benign move on the surface, this was in fact the first step to what would ultimately save my life and rejuvenate my family. The move was for economic opportunity. My mother was searching for a new life for our family, so she was away in a new country during much of my early childhood.

I never really understood the situation, as I was too young to fully understand. My mother would call often to talk to me, but I did not really understand fully what she was to me. My aunt played a motherly role for me during the early part of my childhood while my mom was doing what she had to do for the good of the family. I am sure this impacted me psychologically,