Can you live a day in poverty? Growing up in
poverty is one of the toughest things a child must go through. On top of that
living in poverty in Ethiopia in a little house with eleven brothers and
sisters is even harder. Asmare Atalay lived part of his life in Ethiopia. Life
was not always so easy for him and his family, but he still made it. Dr. Atalay
grew up during the first Somalia war. He was only a little boy during the war
so he hardly remembers anything about it. The war between Ethiopia and Somalia
began in 1977 and ended in 1978. The fight between the two lands was about who
had control over the Ogaden territory, which is a Somali Regional State in
Ethiopia. Even though Ethiopia won the war an armistice was declared between
the two lands. The war did have an effect on his family since his older brother
was a technician for the military, and there is always a chance at war that a
person can get hurt no matter what their duty may be. Also, during a war whenever
the government suffered so did everyone in the country. A person would think
going through many struggles one would be hopeless and dreamless, but that is
not the case for Dr. Atalay.
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When asked what he wanted to be growing up he
replied, “I wanted to be in the military and fight to keep peace in my
country.” (Asmare Atalay, September 8, 2008). As a child Dr. Atalay was extremely
positive and self motivated. He was a very sociable and cheerful person. Even
though his family was in poverty, he felt as if he should have had a job to at
least support them. His parents’ only main goal for him was not working, but
encouraging him to do well in school in hopes that someday he will use his
knowledge to escape poverty. Learning was without a doubt his main priority in
life. He always felt sorry for his family; he did not want to be just another
uneducated man in the world with no money or an unstable family. Dr. Atalay was
the first in his family to graduate from both high school and college. He
served as a role model for his whole family and he encouraged his younger
siblings to follow in his footsteps. |