Today Amanuel Gebremichael’s main focus is maintaining Redwood’s cleanliness, but 12 years ago his focus was on coming to America.
Gebremichael, a memeber of Redwood’s custiodial crew, traveled thousands of miles to come to the U.S., trading in his rural African life for one in suburbia.
After moving to America, Gebremichael’s father decided to move two of his sons here for a better life and a higher quality education. Gebremichael and his brother then came to California, and attended Redwood.
According to Gebremichael, school in his home country of Eritrea, was a different experience than it was in the United States. He had to walk about 12 miles to get to school. In class, he would have to share a book with several other students.
Gebremichael also said that school in Eritrea was also a lot more strict. He said that finishing his schoolwork and doing a good job on it was vital. If he did not finish, the consequences were harsh, and he was sometimes sent home.
While the schools for younger children were good, finding an adequate high school was more difficult. “There was not enough schools, there was not enough teachers. It was tough life,” Gebremichael said.
While he attended school in Eritrea, Gebremichael’s father was living in America, working at the Park Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco.
When his father decided to bring Gebremichael and one of his brothers to America, he enrolled them in Redwood High School, where Gebremichael had to quickly learn English.
His native language is written in phonetic blocks, and he said the concept of an alphabet was completely new to him.
“I didn’t really learn it so well, but I tried,” said Gebremichael. “I just made friends here and at school and then take a lot of classes, even college classes at College of Marin,” Gebremichael said.
Gebremichael said it took him about two years to understand the language and start speaking it fluently.
Gebremichael’s life in America was vastly different than in. His grandfather began to take care of him after his mother died when Gebremichael was very young.
His grandfather also took care of his many siblings, so numerous that he said he doesn’t know the exact number. Some of his siblings died as he was growing up. Eight brothers and one sister are still alive today.
At the age of 10, Gebremichael started working on his family’s farm. Each morning, he would wake up at around 5:30 a.m. to fetch water for the day. Since there was no running water, Gebremichael would walk the 12-mile round trip journey with a few donkeys to pick up the water, sometimes more than once a day.
“I liked to wake up early in the morning, so I would just go there and bring the water back,” said Gebremichael. “I still had to go back later though, but I just have to bring back the water first, and then later I have to take the animals to have water.”
After returning from collecting the water he would help tend to their vegetables and animals, including cows, goats, sheep and donkeys. After Gebremichael had finished his work he was aloud to go and play.
Gebremichael said that he loved to play soccer with his siblings and the neighbors whom he knew well.
“We are all really, really close. Everybody knew you, like if you have a sister or mother or brothers I would know from the bottom to the top,” Gebremichael said.
Gebremichael attended Redwood fo
r four months, where he was a running star in cross country and track. He then transferred to Tam for the rest of his high school career, because he said it was a better fit for him. After graduating from Tam, he went to San Francisco City College, where he continued to run.
Not too much later, Amanuel found himself back at Redwood working as custodian, where he is often found in the halls listening to Tigrigna music from his native home in Eritrea as he cleans.
While he works, he often thinks about his friends and family back home and how much he misses them. Gebremichael sometimes ponders the idea of going back home.
“Maybe after I retire,” he said. “You know like 55 or 60. A while away, but not right now.”
