Emahoye Atnaf Work Abate is 87 years old and currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, where she is surrounded by her 8 children and 20 grandchildren. Emahoye has lived a life of hard work, dedication, perseverance, and service to others and has passed on these values to the following generations.
She comes from humble beginnings, born in a small town in Ethiopia that borders Somalia and raised in Harar and Jijiga – two cities in Eastern Ethiopia. She attended school at ye shembete elementary school until the third grade when she had to leave to live with her mother after her mother remarried. Her mother moved to an area with no proper elementary school. Despite not having access to formal education, she always knew the importance of being educated, something she always stressed to her children. She would continue to independently improve her reading, writing, and mathematics. After being married, Emahoye Atnafwork moved back to Harar to start her family. In Harar, she opened a small convenience store. While buying supplies for her store, she noticed that she was being charged more than a fellow customer who spoke Somali, the same language that the seller spoke. This motivated Emahoye Atnaf Work to learn to speak Somali in addition to her native languages of Amharic and Oromo. Unfortunately, her store had to be closed down. Despite the closing of her store, she remained resilient and opened a new store in Addis Ababa. Her store became successful from selling injera. She would donate her profits to the less fortunate and would often feed the homeless and the friends of her children. While in Ethiopia, Emahoye Atnaf Work overcame many hardships, including the devastating loss of her son, Ayele Getachew, during the keye shebere and the passing of her husband. Despite the numerous setbacks she faced she always maintained a positive outlook on life.
When Emahoye Atnaf Work came to America, she continued to serve as the backbone of the family. She always stressed the value of education and entrepreneurship to her children. While her children were in their first years of community college in Cleveland, Ohio, she stayed home to cook and clean for them. As time passed, rather than being dependent on her kids, she decided to enter the workforce to help contribute to the family income. She worked for more than 20 years as a custodian and floor staff in warehouses and convenience stores. This further exemplified the importance of being a dedicated hard worker to her children. Additionally, during this time, she self-studied and passed the American Citizenship test.
Throughout her life Emahoye Atnafwork has been a devout Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, waking up every day at 4 am to pray. Additionally, she has been an active member of the Ethiopian Orthodox community in Columbus, Ohio. In 2017, she traveled to Jerusalem twice to fulfill her dreams of becoming an Emahoye, which is a title bestowed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the equivalent of being a nun.
Emahoye Atnaf Work’s legacy of hard work, dedication, and perseverance is carried on by her children and grandchildren. Lovingly referred to as Abaye by her children and Wawa by her grandchildren, she has played a significant role in shaping her loved ones into the people they are today. She has raised 3 doctors, 2 pharmacists, 2 nurses, and a computer programmer. All of them are successful in their personal and professional lives. Moreover, her story lives through her grandchildren, just as proverb 17:6 states, “Grandchildren are the crowning glory to grandparents.” Her grandchildren have continued to make her proud and have continued to exceed her expectations and dreams. She has grandchildren who are graduates of medical school, graduates of Ivy League colleges, successful in business, successful Division 1 football players, grandchildren who have competed in state-level gymnastics, volleyball, and basketball, along with grandchildren who are future engineers, lawyers, and nurses.
The lessons of education, perseverance, hard work, and kindness were all imparted to her children and grandchildren.
