September 14, 2005: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: Service: Hurricane Relief: Tri-City Herald: Ethiopia RPCVs Richard and Carol Richert provide shelter for Sebsibie family after New Orleans

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Ethiopia: Peace Corps Ethiopia : The Peace Corps in Ethiopia: September 14, 2005: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: Service: Hurricane Relief: Tri-City Herald: Ethiopia RPCVs Richard and Carol Richert provide shelter for Sebsibie family after New Orleans

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Ethiopia RPCVs Richard and Carol Richert provide shelter for Sebsibie family after New Orleans

Ethiopia RPCVs Richard and Carol Richert provide shelter for Sebsibie  family after New Orleans

For now, though, they all give thanks to an old family friend for their safety. Richert and her husband, Kent, met Sebsibie's father in the early 1960s, when they were stationed in Ethiopia with the Peace Corps. Kent Richert was working as a teacher, and Sebsibie's father, who had recently graduated from an agriculture school, shared a home with him. They struck up a friendship that has spanned four decades and extended to their children.


Ethiopia RPCVs Richard and Carol Richert provide shelter for Sebsibie family after New Orleans

Twice removed

By Andrew Sirocchi
Tri-City Herald
Kennewick, Wash.
September 14, 2005

In 2000, Rahel Sebsibie had time to pack a few clothes and hug her family members before fleeing war-torn Ethiopia to move to the United States with her husband, Fitsun Debretatios.

Hurricane Katrina wasn't as patient.

About two weeks ago, just 24 hours before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Sebsibie packed her essentials and for the second time in her life, left everything behind to flee to a place of safety.

"We never thought it was going to be like this," she said, now at the home of her close Richland friend, Carol Richert. "In Ethiopia, at least we had time to sell our stuff and say goodbye to our family."

Escaping from the hurricane gave little time for goodbyes, and for Sebsibie, the parallels of fleeing a war and running from a natural catastrophe were remarkably similar.

Both times, she and her family escaped with their lives, and both times, they were left bereft of their belongings, taking only a few mementos of the world they left behind.

"As far as their immediate needs, they're taken care of," Richert said. "Now, we've got to build her an identity."

Sebsibie has been through this before.

Five years ago, it was a war between the East African countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia that forced her to leave her home. Her husband had been raised in Ethiopia, but his origins were Eritrean. Ethiopia deported him.

"They took him and put him in a prison," she said. "After a few days, they sent him home (to Eritrea)."

Debretatios had no connections in the country and was granted asylum by the United States. Today, he is in Alabama waiting for the floodwaters to subside around his New Orleans home. He wants to return to the family's rental in Jefferson Park to see if there is anything left, then plans on coming to Washington to rejoin his wife.

At the time of the hurricane, Debretatios was driving a taxi and before that he transported patients from one facility to another, Richert said.

Sebsibie doesn't know whether he'll find anything, but she fears her precious baby pictures are underwater, as are many of her four children's much-needed school documents.

Saron, 8, Dina, 6, Nahom, 4, and Boaz, 5 months, are coping with the disaster as best they can. Saron and Dina are enrolled at Sacajawea Elementary School in Richland. They miss their father, Sebsibie said, and they miss their home.

"It's hard for them to understand," she said. "I told them, most of their stuff, their toys, is flooded. It's hard for them."

For now, though, they all give thanks to an old family friend for their safety. Richert and her husband, Kent, met Sebsibie's father in the early 1960s, when they were stationed in Ethiopia with the Peace Corps.

Kent Richert was working as a teacher, and Sebsibie's father, who had recently graduated from an agriculture school, shared a home with him. They struck up a friendship that has spanned four decades and extended to their children.

Richert said she offered up her home to the Sebsibie family as soon as she heard of the calamity. On Sept. 7, when they were scheduled to fly to Pasco, Richert rushed to buy car seats for the children and opened up her home.

So far, everyone has been generous to the family, Richert said. The American Red Cross provided Sebsibie a check to pay for her primary needs, and staff at Sacajawea Elementary School did their best to provide the children with the materials they'll need.

"The school has furnished part of the supplies. We got a bank account open," Richert said. "It's a beginning."

For Sebsibie, there remains one crucial difference between today and her escape from Ethiopia.

Sebsibie said that one day she wants to return to her home country to see the family she left behind. She said she has no desire to ever return to New Orleans.

"We have decided to stay here and now have to look for a job," she said. "We have to start from something."





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Story Source: Tri-City Herald

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ethiopia; Service; Hurricane Relief

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