‹‹ Colorado Matters

Colorado Woman Worries For Family Caught In Ethiopian Civil War

Listen Now
13min 09sec
Courtesy Millete Birhanemaskel
Awetash Yibra became separated from her three children during a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra, Ethiopia. After 52 days of searching she learned they were in a refugee camp in Sudan. Her 8-year-old is still traumatized, Yibra said. “She was mourning my death.”

Millete Birhanemaskel's parents fled civil war in Ethiopia decades ago, while other family members stayed behind. Now war rages again in their home province, Tigray. Many of Birkhanemaskel's relatives have been displaced. Others are completely unaccounted for.

Birhanemaskel, who owns a Denver coffee shop, recently visited Sudanese refugee camps in hopes of learning more about her family's whereabouts and about the war.