Growing up Ethiopian in America

Every single person reading this is unique in their own way. Last week I sat down with one of my best friend Liya, who is better known as LovefromLiyax on YouTube, and we talked about our childhoods. Both Liya and I are Ethiopian and have lived in the United States for most of our lives. We #unpacked the topic on my youtube channel (check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbqtbkYCgnA) while we ate Ethiopian food & we both discovered some differences along with similarities.

One of the first questions I asked Liya was, "how do you think the Ethiopian culture has affected your upbringing in the United States?" This quickly got us talking and she explained how she felt being #Ethiopian in America. She expressed that it was difficult because the two cultures have different views. Although Ethiopia is more community oriented, Ethiopia was very conservative. On the other hand, the American culture tends to be very liberal, & has more of an individualistic approach. Liya explains, "the two cultures would just clash".

I, myself, had a difficult time acclimating when I moved back from Tanzania. I had Ethiopian values, an American passport and I just lived abroad for nine years. I knew I had to acclimate, and that's something that was difficult for me, especially since I had so many different backgrounds. It felt almost as though I had to choose a singular identity, and I did so by "marketing myself as more American". That was the difference between Liya & I before; Liya was trying to maintain all of her identities, while I was trying to conform to one.

As we continued our discussion we both came to the conclusion that we had been suppressing our #identities because being American is so glorified. Being able to speak a certain way in America is glorified, whether we want to admit it or not it is a privilege. Once you have an accent it can seem like America is against you especially in the work force. The truth about accents, as Liya said, "it adds character, l because it shows where you are from".

Both Liya & I opened up about how it was difficult for us to fit in because we never fit in with an group of kids since we were trying so hard to fit in with the other groups. Going to church was an integral part of growing up Ethiopian in America & that was one of the best communities. Although there were some things both Liya & I couldn't understand throughout the sermons, we appreciated what church had done for us. There was a community there & we both loved it, even though it may have been difficult #socializing at times.

The social gatherings & events were something we both loved. It was a time for families to get together & enjoy each others company. As we discussed in the video, a lot of our relatives are all over the globe & we find comfort in knowing there is someone we know everywhere we go. Unfortunately that does mean we don't get to see every single family member we have, but we are able to communicate and plan for family reunions which are always nice.

Both Liya & I love being Ethiopian. More than anything in the world, but we did also come to the conclusion that a lot of our struggles growing Up Ethiopian in America came from the clash between the two cultures since one is so liberal & the other is so conservative. Although that was initially difficult, we give ourselves some credit, especially since we claim all our identities, rather than suppress our different identities