Everyday Heroes

Everyday heroes can be total strangers. Our neighbors, peers, coworkers, family members and friends. People just like you and me doing amazing things. No bragging or looking for accolades. They just keep going through what their life's journey brings.

I had the privilege on Monday of meeting my new everyday hero, Yordana. She is a beautiful, cheerful, soft spoken widow from Ethopia. She is mother to a son and a daughter, an Uber driver extraordinaire.

Yordana lived an affluent life in Ethopia. She and her husband, a general in the military, owned a construction business and a poultry farm. Eight years ago the police came to her house and arrested her husband. She never saw him again. They continued coming back to the house for days turning everything upside down looking for something. Her bank accounts were frozen and her businesses taken away. She feared eventually she and her children would be killed.

She spared me the details of the unimaginable things she saw done to women and children during this time. She still has nightmares. Saving her children was her priority. She managed to get some money together and drive 22 hours to Kenya. From there she contacted a cousin who lived in Seattle and he helped them make the transition. Her gratitude and joy about living in the United States is palpable. Yordana reminded me of Fallou from Senegal that Well Street had the opportunity to meet.

Her current goals are improving her English at night school and going to nursing school next year. Both children are working and in college. An attorney is helping her family apply for US citizenship. She cannot return to Ethopia because the three of them will be killed. Unknown to me, Seattle has one of the largest Ethopian populations in the United States. A peer community has helped all of them adjust and assimilate.

Arriving at the airport, I felt inspired and privileged to meet this courageous woman and told her so. I felt honored that she shared some of her story with me. I was reminded we never know what circumstances a person has lived through or what they've lost or the pain they carry. My eyes and ears are open for other everyday heroes...like James and his friend. I said a silent prayer of thanks to God that was not my assignment this time around along with a heart filled with gratitude for my life.