Who has inspired your life?
My mother. I was taken away from her and put into an orphanage after she gave birth to me when she was 13. They told her that I was dead. She found out that this was not true, and she got the address of the orphanage. It was the first time I remember seeing tears in the eyes of an adult or knowing that an adult could even cry.
Did you then go to live with your mother?
No, they wouldn’t let her take me. They finally gave me to my father because he was Christian, while my mother was Jewish.
When did you leave Ethiopia?
I am not sure. Before I left, I had been in jail for a year for my political beliefs. In jail, you lose your sense of time…of day and night. What I know is that I landed in the United States on May 1, 1991 at 3:20 p.m. at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
How did you come to America?
When I was released from jail, I went to my father’s house. He had left me an envelope. In it were a passport and a ticket. I left right there and then.
Were you able to take anything with you to this country?
What I took was the love and the kisses from my mother, her tears that told me of love.
What do you hope for?
Life. Only life. To live. In whatever circumstances, I want to live. And my hope is endless, like the ocean. Hope is the children. And the children are endless.
Alula Tzadik is an artist and musician living in Los Angeles, where he performs and records regularly.
