I first met Rosie about a year and a half ago, when I started going to her for manicures at a hotel in Addis Ababa—the city where my husband, Jeremy, and I live. Over time, we became friends. When Jeremy and I decided to adopt two little Ethiopian children, Rosie heard all about it and thought it was wonderful. But she wanted to know why we did it. I said, "Because God told us it's what we should do." This seemed to strike a chord with Rosie. "I believe that God tells you when it's the right time to do things," she told me. Not long afterward, she announced that she was leaving the hotel to start her own beauty business.
That's pretty unusual for a woman in this country. Ethiopia is one of the oldest civilizations in Africa and has a great early role model for women in the queen of Sheba—a dynamic leader who, according to some traditions, had an entourage 12 miles long when she paid her famous visit to King Solomon. But today, the position of women has really been subverted. Most Ethiopian women believe that their only possible job is to have children and take care of a family.
I found this out for myself during a conversation with our newly adopted children. One night, as we were washing the dishes, I told my son and daughter, Abi and Serk, how one day, when we go to America, they'll have a more enriched education. And eventually they'll both go to university. My daughter looked up at me and shook her head. "No," she said softly. "Not me." Even at her age, she'd already picked up from society that her brother would be educated but she would not. So for a young woman to break out of that mindset and start her own business is still pretty rare.
