“Homesick”

By Naria H. Lemma

I learned that many years ago my grandparents were arrested by soldiers for no reason, but more on that later.

Recently I read a non-fiction, school reading book called “Homesick” by Jean Fritz. This book had a big impact on my life because it inspired me to learn more about my family’s Ethiopian history.

“Homesick” centers around a courageous ten-year-old girl named Jean Fritz who lived in Hankow, China during the Chinese communist revolution in 1913. During that period of upheaval, there was a lot of rioting, protesting and demonstrations. This was a very scary period of time for the Chinese people. There was a lot of fighting and people were dying in the streets. Although I already knew a little about the Ethiopian revolution, the book inspired me to learn more, so I decided to interview my grandmother. She taught me that there are a lot of similarities between China’s and Ethiopia’s communist revolutions. In both Ethiopia and China, there were emperors and empresses for thousands of years before the communists took over. Hankow, an industrial city in China, had become a central point for strikes and protests in “Homesick.” Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and where my family is from, had also become the central point for the revolution. Like in China, many terrifying things happened in Ethiopia. My grandmother explained to me that the communist army took over the government and imprisoned the emperor and soon murdered him. My grandparents were arrested and placed in jail cells for a day because the soldiers suspected that they were part of the resistance and were sending secret messages about the revolution. They were released when the soldiers couldn’t find any proof against them.

In “Homesick,” Jean and her family had to leave China in a hurry. Her father came home one day out of breath, and told them that they had three hours to pack before leaving China. The Nationalist Army was getting close and “the soldiers had gone wild.” Jean, who was close in age to me, could “feel her knees beginning to shake.” During the interview with my grandmother, she told me how she and her family escaped the country secretly. After their release from jail, my grandparents decided that they were going to leave the country because it was too dangerous to stay behind, just like Jean and her family. The soldiers had made it illegal to leave, so my family had to sneak out of the country. They packed a few clothes and took some jewelry and photo albums. They left everything else behind. They told no one that they were leaving except for my great-grandmother and her sister. Even after they got on the plane, my grandmother did not feel safe until they were far away.

Learning about these times of turmoil and how my family had the courage to get through it makes me feel proud of them. The book “Homesick” is based on the life of the author Jean Fritz and how her family had to show tremendous courage throughout the entire book. For both my family and Jean’s family, they could have been killed but they were brave and careful enough to get out alive. I am proud that both our families were so brave and escaped from the scary and bad situations.