My Role Model: Esther Fareda

Youth in School

"Tell us about a person who has had a significant impact on your life" When people answer these types of questions, they usually pick famous people, actors, authors, or any other type of person. The person they pick is not usually a person who is part of their lives on a daily basis. I, however, chose to write about my mother and use this opportunity to place her at the center of the stage. My mother plays a very significant role in my life and serves as a role model for me. My mother's name is Yalgenesh, or Leah, in Hebrew. My mother is a strong and optimistic woman. Despite all that she has been through in life, she still gets up in the morning with a smile and sees things from a different angle than other people. But the story starts like this… When my mother began her journey to Israel, nothing was easy. On the journey, they struggled with hunger and thirst when the food they brought was gone. Because they ran out of food, they were forced to backtrack the journey that they had traveled through Sudan (they were halfway through) and return to their starting point. When they returned to their starting point, my mother learned that her sister and nephew had perished on the journey though the desert. She was devastated, but somehow managed to gather the strength to continue onwards. After some time, my mother decided to try to come to Israel through Addis Ababa. After they arrived in Addis, my newborn little brother died. My family succeeded in coming to Israel and when they got here, we faced the many challenges and difficulties of absorption. The challenges of a new language, culture, and mentality were exacerbated by the declining health of my older brother. My mother found herself running between hospitals, yet my brother did not survive and he too passed away. Through it all, my mother was so strong and brave and managed to raise three children in the best way that she could. She wakes up every morning with a smile and looks ahead towards the future, without complaining or crying. For this I salute her and am very proud of her. She is part of my life and gives me and my siblings much inspiration for what it means to overcome challenges. For me, she is a role model.