Many kids look upon their childhood and might recall a move between a few houses or even to a new state. However, what many kids may never experience is the move to a new world.

Kalkidan Gossaye, a senior at Bishop Blanchet High School, has an incredible life story. She was born in the Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and moved to America when she was eleven years old.

Gossaye lived in Addis Ababa for a year with her mother and brother before moving to Norway to join her father, who at the time was working on getting his PhD. The family spent four years in Trondheim, Norway, and then moved back to Ethiopia.

In Addis Ababa, Gossaye was enrolled in a French school called Lycee Guebre Mariam. The curriculum was all in French, and her classmates were from all around the world.

“One of them was Kedus Getaneh, who was in my fifth grade class,” Gossaye said, “I bumped into him in Seattle two and half years later [in seventh grade].”

Gossaye and Getaneh would end up both going to St. John School, and then later Bishop Blanchet.

At the age of eleven, Gossaye and her family moved to Seattle, Washington, because her father received a Fulbright Scholarship to work on his post doctorate at the University of Washington for nine months. During this time, Ethiopia had a very unstable government, so Mrs. Gossaye and the kids took the opportunity to join him.

“My parents came to a consensus – with which I now agree completely – that staying would be a better option for my brother and me,” Gossaye said. “We would be in a good environment and have a better future.”

Moving to America was a huge change for the family.

“It was a bit of a culture shock, but I got used to things,” Gossaye said.
Gossaye had to adapt to the new culture, as well as learn to read and write in English, although she was able to speak it fluently. Life in Seattle was different.

At school in Ethiopia, the kids were allowed to go home for lunch, there was very little homework and the school day was shorter.

Despite these adjustments, Gossaye grew accustomed to her new home.

“I love it here,” she said. “I’m happy we moved to Seattle.”
Gossaye has much to miss from her life back in Ethiopia. “I love the holidays. If there is one thing I miss the most, it is getting to spend the holidays with my family,” Gossaye said. “Most of my best memories were in my childhood home.”

Life outside of her home was different however.

“In my sheltered world, things could not have been better. Life was awesome,” she said. “In reality, things were hardly ideal.”

Gossaye explained that in Ethiopia things were stressful and disturbing. People were treated very poorly and it was not always safe. The country’s state was declining and government was not in a good place, and the stress became chaotic.

Last summer, Gossaye and her brother got the chance to return to Ethiopia for the first time in six years. They stayed for five weeks, and visited family.
Gossaye has future hopes to return to Ethiopia and possibly even live there one day.

“There is a great need for young people with a good education to help,” she said.

Although she loves her Seattle home, Gossaye looks forward to the future, when she will be able to go to the country in which she grew up and make a difference in Ethiopia.