Lucy's People: An Ethiopian Memoir

“Lucy’s People: An Ethiopian Memoir” is the inspiring story of a country and a life. Ethiopia is mother to all her people. Her sun and moon are female and women walk tall. Mesfin's mother and grandmother are former warriors: patriot fighters during the fascist occupation in the lead up to World War II. Ever since, his colonel father has defended Ethiopia's borders against theft by Europeans.
In 1974, the communist revolution destroys life under Emperor Haile Selassie I. Related to him on both parents' sides, teenage Mesfin and family are prime targets for the Derg's Red Terror human-rights abuse, Eastern bloc style. His survival during imprisonment and hunger is miraculous. Underage conscription leads to Airborne service at the front. How does his spirit remain intact? Is it thanks to his Falasha faith and Kidane Mihret, the spiritual being revered by Ethiopians of all religions? How about the example of Lucy? She was an early hominid from the Rift Valley. For 3.2-million-years, the fossil of her almost complete skeleton endured.
Mesfin studies modern and ancient Abyssinian construction engineering and water technology. This dates from before the time of Queen Saba (Sheba), the Engineering Queen, who lived at the Blue Nile more than 3,000 years ago. He wins a UN Development Programme scholarship to study civil engineering, specialising in water development. Then he works all over Ethiopia. Skilled superiors encourage him in reducing risk to the environment of traditional societies with whom he bonds.
In 1991, the Derg falls and fresh disaster comes: a foreign-backed rebel government. It is hell-bent on destroying infrastructure, systems and institutions. New torture chambers await honesty and resistance. Youth must choose: stay or flee the beloved motherland?