Firew recently came to GFI looking for help. “all I want to do is stay in school and learn,” He told us.
Here’s his story.
My name is Firew Alemayehu. I was born in a small city called Mojio which is found 65 km away from Addis. My mom’s name is Eyerus. I don’t really know her father’s name. She used to work in a hotel as a bar lady. That’s how she meets my father, Semeneh. Then after a while I was born. Then my father gets mad and starts hitting me and my mother coming home drunk every night. Then my mom gave me for some rich folks when I was three and run away. I never saw her after that.
Firew Alemayehyu
Then I stayed there until I was 7 years old. Then my father starts accusing them that he needs his son back. Then they gave me back to him. He used to live with my stepmom and his kid, where they sell chat* also. I was really suffering living there. I couldn’t stay for too long. I ran away and start living in the street. I started working in a taxi in Nazret. After one year I came to Addis, living in the street. Also, I was working in a taxi by that age. I was a kid. Life was hell for me. I was starved and cold in the street. The taxi driver I was working with felt sad and asked me to go to school and gave me a small room in his house he was using as a store. Then in 2010 when I was 8 years old, I started school in grade 1. By the help of my teachers and the guy I was staying with I got into grade 9. But when I was grade 9 and ½ semester of grade nine, the guy I was staying with wants to rent the room I was in and kicked me out from his house. I don’t have a choice but to go back to the street again. But my teachers agreed to collect money and rent me a house. When I was in 10th grade I heard my mom died in HIV. I couldn’t even be at her funeral, because I don’t have money to go to her city. I also couldn’t pay my rent for 2 months now. Life has been hell for me again. This is what my life looked like for 18 years.
* Chat is a popular mildly hallucinogenic leaf users chew. It’s legal in Ethiopia.