Yeshi Salomon

Father's name: Salomon Sabhat Gethon

Mother's name: Zodito Gethon Trakn

Year of birth: 1972

Place of birth: Ozawa, Tsada area, Gondar

Region in Ethiopia: Gondar

Main occupation in Ethiopia: Student

The language of the interview: Amharic

Yeshi Salomon, games, firewood, water from the river, childhood, swimming, catch, school, arranged marriage, wedding, wedding custom, Sudan, education, punishment, blows, stories with a moral, riddles, Sabbaths and festivals, immigration to Israel via Sudan, walking at night, hiding, provisions, robbers, threats at gunpoint, fighting, Jerusalem, Israel, city, village, jail, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Emperor Haile Selassie, Derg, rebels, EHAPA, Ozawa, Tsada, Gondar, Ambover, Armacho, Sudan, Sufwacha, Tikil Dingay, Nazret, Addis Ababa.

Summary of the testimony:

Yeshi describes her family tree and the village she grew up in, Ozawa. She describes the housework she did as a child and what games she used to play. At the age of seven, she was sent to study in the local school. Yeshi spent her first year in school playing outside the classroom, and only actually began to study in the second year.

Yeshi describes how her husband’s father came to ask her parents for her hand in marriage when she was 12, and the sequence of events that eventually led to her wedding. She did not want to get married, preferring to continue studying, and she therefore made things difficult throughout the process. Yeshi describes her wedding celebrations. She relates how several months after their wedding, her husband, who was a member of the EHAPA, a rebel organization against the Derg, travelled to Sudan to try to immigrate to Israel.

Yeshi returned to her studies at the Jewish school in Ambover. During vacations, she returned to her parents’ house, where she helped with the housework. She describes her parents’ educational methods and punishments. She reminisces about family gatherings on Sabbaths and festivals. The members of the family used to tell each other riddles and stories with a moral, or stories expressing their longing for Jerusalem.

When she was 16, Yeshi’s desire to immigrate to Israel overcame her desire to continue studying. She persuaded her father that they should be reunited with her husband, who was already in Sudan, so they could immigrate to Israel together. Yeshi describes her first attempt to set out for Sudan in a convoy on foot. The group walked at night for a month, without proper provisions, and hid during the day. When they reached the border, fighting in the area forced to them to backtrack.

Yeshi returned to her studies. During the winter break (the longest vacation), she tried again to travel to Sudan. Once more, she walked at night and hid during the day, but this time she brought sufficient provisions with her. When they reached the province of Armacho, close to the Sudanese border, they could walk in daylight. At one of the stops on the way, the members of the delegation were robbed of all their possessions at gunpoint. Yeshi reached Sudan with only the clothing she was wearing, which was her only possession during the month she stayed there.

In Sudan, she settled in a village named Sufwacha, where many people waiting to immigrate stayed. One day, the Ethiopian authorities sent troops to the village to bring the Ethiopian citizens back to Ethiopia in trucks. On her way back to Ethiopia, she was robbed twice. As a young woman, her greatest fear was that she would be kidnapped. Yeshi eventually returned safely to her family.

After nine months, she moved with her family to the city of Tikil Dingay. From there, Yeshi moved to Addis Ababa and then to her aunt in the city of Nazret, where she made the necessary preparations to bring her family to Addis Ababa. At this time, her husband, who had been imprisoned in Ethiopia after being caught helping Jews escape to Sudan, was released from jail. Yeshi eventually immigrated to Israel from Addis Ababa with her family.