« Cooperstown relics come to St. Paul | Main | Beyond the Bedroom: exotic expertise »
February 13, 2007
Found in the Crowd
Hannah Kuether/Oracle: What is your major?
Hana Tesfaye: I’m majoring in English and minoring in education and communication.
O: Have you lived in Minnesota your whole life?
HT: I was born in Ethiopia. I came here when I was five and have been here ever since.
O: Why did your parents choose Minnesota?
HT: I don’t know, I ask them that all the time. Honestly, how do we go from nice hot weather to freezing cold? My uncle has been here for almost 30 years, and he came here because his uncle was here. Now most of my family is here.
O: Do you go back and visit ever?
HT: Actually, I went this past summer for the first time since I was five. It was really eye-opening. It was fun, I loved it. Before [I went] I was like, “I don’t need to go back, all my family’s here, blah blah blah,” but when I went back I loved it.
O: That’d be incredible! What did you get to do and see?
HT: We lived in Addis, the capital of Ethiopia. I ate a lot; I can’t remember when I’ve had three meals every day. I visited close friends. We traveled to different places and went shopping and just walked around. I spent a lot of time with family.
O: Do you have family living there you were able to stay with?
HT: I stayed with my fiancÄ’s family and I have eight sisters [still in Ethiopia].
O: Is your fiance from Ethiopia, too?
HT: [nods yes]
O: That’s really cool he is from Ethiopia too, did he grow up near you?
HT: The funny thing is that his grandmother invited [my grandmother and I] over for lunch and I thought, “Oh, she wants to meet me,” and felt special, but when we got there, she opened the door and runs to my grandmother. They were hugging and I was like, “What is going on?” We found out they grew up together and had nicknames for each other, it was interesting. So I called him and was like “Did you know that my grandma and your grandma were homegirls back in the day?” [laughs]
O: Does he live in the Cities?
HT: Yes. He graduated from UW-Superior and is at divinity school at Luther. We met through church. I had the biggest crush on him a few years ago...
O: And now you’ve got him!
HT: Yeah! We go to an Ethiopian church. It’s the only Lutheran church where we speak our language. The two popular dialects are Amharic and Oromo. Our church is Oromo, everything is in Oromo.
O: Is the major religion in Ethiopia Christianity?
HT: It’s kind of a mix. Some would say a lot of people there are Muslim, but I think Christianity is growing.
O: Anything else we should know about you?
HT: I graduate in May. I’m excited. I hope I graduate in May. It’s really hard for me to keep a straight facečI laugh a lot.
Posted by dwright at February 13, 2007 11:23 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)