Entwined Blood Lines
A Child of Ethiopia and Eritrea
By Belen Tegen

Silicon Valley is the land of immigrants. People come here for job opportunities, school, and to live with family who set up homes before them. Sometimes, people come because their homelands no longer feel like home.

Back home in Ethiopia, everything was settled and smooth. We had different cultures within our boundaries, but each was like different fingers of the same hand, even with the neighboring country of Eritrea. Ethiopians and Eritreans lived together, got married, had kids. My parents are one of those couples.

As time went on, the different nations' blood became one. Even though the roots were different, the branches became entwined. Like a tree, we can't say only the root is a full tree

or only the branch is the full tree -- it is the combination of root, trunk, and branches that make the whole natural tree. It was the same thing with Ethiopia and Eritrea.

With an Ethiopian father and an Eritrean mother, I am one of those branches.

But in 1998 that big, old, strong tree started to crack badly. The two countries' governments disagreed on one place of the border. Without any hesitation, they started fighting.

The Ethiopian government began deporting Eritreans as fast as they could. They would pick them up wherever -- at work, on the street, or at home. They would be taken to prison for a day, then deported to Eritrea.

The families who had even some Eritrean blood were deported. Sometimes they took the parent but they didn't take the kids or the couples separated because someone was Eritrean.

The coldness of the governments spread throughout the people. The people used to live together for a long time with peace and love, but it seemed liked they forgot what they were like yesterday, and friends became enemies.They didn't deport my family, but we weren't allowed to get a green card. My mother got fired from her job and we could not buy a car or house. No one would sell to Eritreans.

The Ethiopian government wanted Eritrean people out, and the Eritrean government didn't want anybody with Ethiopian blood. Times were tougher because my family are Jehovah's Witnesses. Generally, Jehovah Witnesses do not participate in politics, so we didn't vote for the freedom of Eritrea. So they didn't want Jehovah's Witnesses even if they were Eritrean.

The questions were always flying through my mind. Which side am I on? Do I have to deny my mom's side or my dad's? Which half is my part? Can a branch live without its roots?

We eventually came to the US two years ago, and things feel very different here.

Where I live now in Santa Clara, California, there are so many different ethnicities, so nobody cares where I'm from or why I am here. No one makes trouble for worshiping my God. Everything is good, and I am slowly recovering from homesickness and a broken heart from my homeland.