Abraham Desta
Quick Facts
Age: 36
Major: Nursing, 2024
Additional languages: Tigrinya, Amharic
Notable: First-generation
Transfer Institution: Seattle Central College, Associate of Arts
“It is a milestone in elevating my understanding, consciousness, and creativity on morality and other crucial issues in life. And the Alfie Scholars Program is a big stage for developing my leadership and communication skills.”
Service & Work:
Volunteer, Eritrean Orthodox St. Mary Church, 2018–Present
Certified Nursing Assistant, Burien Nursing & Rehabilitation, February–June 2020
Sexually Transmitted Diseases Campaigner, Dekemhare, Eritrea, January 2011–October 2014
Awards & Honors:
Alfie Scholars, Cohort 7, 2022–2024
Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, March 2021
Seattle Central Foundation Scholarship, April 2021
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society February 2022
Seattle Central Dean’s list, 2019-2022
Seattle Central President’s list, 2020-2022
Abraham’s Story
My name is Abraham Desta from Eritrea. I am 35 years old, married, and the father of a baby boy named Yedidya. I was born and grew up in Eritrea. I spent most of my youth in Eritrea, a suppressed country ruled by a notorious dictatorship. My parents were traditional farmers, and they were illiterate. However, they were so dedicated to sending our family to school because they deeply understood schooling's benefits. And the ruthless passion, desire, and motivation of our parents were so crucial to us developing a dream. Since childhood, I have been dreaming of becoming a medical professional because I grew up in a region with a war for over 30 years. My childhood witnessed family members, neighbors, friends, and soldiers who were handicapped, traumatized, injured, and even died due to a lack of medical professionals and supplies. These all-human life crises inspired me to attend medical school, mainly as a highly qualified nursing professional on the front line to aid the victims and save lives. This is the precious natural gift we all share equally.
I started the step on my dream journey by attending my elementary school in a village in Eritrea. And I have followed by completing my junior and secondary in small town Dekemhare, Eritrea. I took the Eritrean high school exam in 2006 (not equivalent to the United States high school diploma), and I scored a 3.8 GPA; I was ranked one of the nation's top 20 high scorers of the academic year.
However, my dream was interrupted because the Eritrean government imprisoned me because of my political views and speaking up about it. So, I fled the country, but my journey for freedom was beginning. I traveled to multiple countries to find safety and asylum, including Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Africa. But unfortunately, I experienced xenophobia in South Africa, subject to racial comments and horrific experiences. And I was forced to flee to Brazil. Once in South America, I jumped from country to country, including Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. My three-year-long escape from my home country finally ended once I landed in the United States in 2017.
Once I reached the United States, the land of democracy and opportunity, I finally felt safe. There was a sizeable mental weight that I finally felt released. When I arrived, I applied for asylum, and my petition was granted at the end of 2017. And I started my journey toward my dream. My first step towards this was enrolling at DT & T Nursing Assistant Training School, and I became a Certified Nurse Assistant. Then I joined Seattle Central College in the fall of 2019 to pursue my nursing carrier. I aim to become a highly qualified nurse and provide high-quality health services to all. And I joined Seattle University to pursue my bachelor's degree in nursing in June 2022.
Advice:
Based on my life experiences, life is always challenging, and we can hardly avoid the up and down life on this planet. However, we can avoid despair by building a culture of hope and meaning in our life. We must have hope to struggle, and we must struggle to have a meaningful life. Thankfully, our creature makes us flawless; we have all the potentials and resources in everyone’s hand to struggle and thrive for the common good. Therefore, we must be disciplined, consistent, and work collectively toward our inclusive, positive goals.
Goals:
I spent most of my youth in the middle of a war and witnessed people getting injured, traumatized mentally, emotionally, physically, and being killed. Thus, as a future nurse, my mission is to provide high-quality care to all my patients and family members, which is competent, and compassionate. I also aim to provide primary health education to the public and patients regarding disease prevention, and health promotions. And after my nursing career, my mission is to be a specialist in anesthesia.
On Civility:
Every human being, even all non-human animals, prioritize safe and healthy environments. Such places can be achieved when we all have shared the same responsibility to practice civility toward each other despite our differences, origin, and color. Civility is a term that has a complex and comprehensive meaning to morality. Civility is having a manner, morals, empathy, respect, dignity, and being hospitable and ethical to others. Civility is a fertile soil of common ground for all. Therefore, civility is crucial and one of the leading chemistry to unify people of different backgrounds, beliefs, colors, and origins.
