“ጎሽ ለልጇ ስትል ቀንዷን ተወጋች!” Sorry for the confusion here. You may see these unique looking characters and wonder, “what in the world is that?” But I really believe I need to start this blog with my mom’s favorite saying in our native language, Amharic, which seems to most appropriately befit her story. It always seemed to relieve her stress and frustration and sum up all the sacrifices she made for her six children as a single mom who lost her husband at a very young age. In a nutshell, the literal translation of this proverb is, “a buffalo got her horn gored for the sake of her calf, or to fend for her calf.” I never truly understood the meaning behind this proverb, though I grew up hearing it almost every day from my mom’s lips whenever she was feeling blue. It always makes me question; how can an animal be gored on its horn? It may make sense to become gored or pierced in the chest, on the side, or even perhaps on the back where the animal is more vulnerable and defenseless. It was always like a puzzle that I couldn’t solve until about a year ago when I studied the Book of Revelation where I learned that horns always represent power and strength, both offensive power to attack and defensive power to protect.

Then it made sense to me for the first time. They strategically chose a horn instead of other vulnerable body parts to reveal the extent of a mother’s love and sacrifice. It goes far beyond physical sacrifice. It is psychological. It is emotional. It is almost giving up their entire wellbeing, what they stand for, who they really are, what they lived for, their dream. It portrays how they have to sacrifice everything for the safety and betterment of their children. Hence, what my mom was saying all those years was that she sacrificed everything (the days of her strength, her youth, her dreams, career aspirations, and hope in finding love again while her beauty was still with her) for the sake of her children, to raise us up.

I always thought my life would at least for some time take a similar path to this proverb; putting a hold on my career and deferring my desire to pursue graduate education for the sake of my children up until the COVID pandemic hit our planet. When I think of going to graduate school, I always thought of the requirement to attend classes in person. However, they say every cloud has a silver lining; God used COVID to kindle the idea of enrolling in an online graduate program so that now, I don’t have to wait until my children are old enough to go to school. Fast forward a bit and now I’m in my second year as a grad student in the MPS Strategic Communications program at Penn State.

I’m so taken by this proverb and how much it relates to me that I forgot to formally introduce myself. Hi! My name is Helina Belete Scates. I’m a happily married woman and have two beautiful little girls. I’m forever grateful to God for that. I currently live in Orlando, FL but I’m originally from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is an ancient kingdom which literally dates back to Old Testament times. For instance, the Kingdom of Aksum, the more prominent ancient Ethiopian kingdom occupied a large geographic area including what is known today as Eritrea, Djibouti, eastern Sudan and portions of southern Arabia. Ethiopia is also well-known for its 11 famous rock-hewn churches built between the 11^th and 12^th centuries out of single monolithic rock. These rock-hewn churches defy the traditional way of building a home from bottom to top, rather, these churches were built from top to bottom by chiseling away at a single rock.

Ethiopia is a country with its own calendar. For instance, in Ethiopia, it is 2015 instead of 2023. So, if you go to visit Ethiopia, you never know, you may just find yourself eight years younger! Another fun fact related to this is that the Ethiopian calendar year is actually 13 months instead of 12. That’s why Ethiopia is called 13 months of sunshine. Also, Ethiopia is the only country in Africa with its own alphabet and ancient number characters.

Ethiopia is also considered to be the birthplace of coffee and the beloved name we all know it to be, “coffee” is believed to be a derivative of its origin, a place called Kaffa in Ethiopia. For Ethiopians, coffee is not just a beverage you drink to kick start your morning. It’s a ceremonial drink where people get together to socialize and resolve issues in the community, support one another, and also where they would reconcile people who held grudges against one another. Here’s a photo of our former president Obama drinking coffee in the traditional Ethiopian way.

Credit: Ethiopian Press Agency

Speaking of bringing peace among brothers and sisters, the ideal world that I would like to live in is where the law of God is the ultimate law of the land, “love thy brother as yourself” because all the Law is fulfilled in this word: if you truly love your brother you won’t deceive him, you won’t steal from him, you won’t covet his wife or his possessions, or ultimately, you won’t kill him. Therefore, if I could make one change in the world, I would teach people the Word of God so that they would truly be transformed, and be renewed in their mind, and sincerely love their neighbors.

I enjoy cooking and preparing meals that bring our family together each evening. I love cooking with my husband. That’s how we unwind the day together while listening to our favorite gospel songs both in English and Amharic. We cook everything from scratch, even our elaborately decorated birthday cakes complete with homemade buttercream icing. We cook both traditional Ethiopian dishes and American foods. And, if you have never tried Ethiopian cuisine before, you should give it a try sometime – I promise it won’t disappoint!

In the Ethiopian tradition, if you visit anyone, there’s an unwritten rule that hosts must prepare something to eat for their guests. And, even if you’re not hungry (as a guest), saying “no” could be offensive to the host. So, if you’re ever invited over to an Ethiopian or Habesha household and asked if you’d like to eat, the correct answer is “yes!” Just taking a bite or two counts. But don’t forget to save room for the traditional coffee ceremony following the meal. That’s my husband’s favorite part. On special occasions, such as with the coffee ceremony, I enjoy wearing the traditional Ethiopian dress, like in the photo of me below.

I speak two languages, Amharic (which is my native language) and English. I’ve served as both a freelance translator and interpreter and enjoy helping people where I can by bridging language gaps. I am also an accomplished former journalist. I loved my job because it gave me the privilege to meet so many people from different parts of the world and walks of life, culture, tradition, and in fact that’s why I think I would really enjoy this course. I primarily read news articles though unfortunately most of the “news” out there is negative and that negative sensationalism is what tends to draw large audiences. I’m not a big fan of social media, the only social media platform I subscribe to is Facebook, but I only use it to stay in touch with my family which is spread throughout the U.S. and abroad. Unfortunately, I don’t get to see them but perhaps once or twice a year.

I’ve always been interested in public relations and recently had an opportunity to go back to school and pursue one of my dreams which is completing a graduate degree program. I’m looking forward to this semester and exploring multicultural concepts with my peers in COMM837. Well, that’s a little bit about me and who I am. I look forward to navigating the multicultural landscape this summer with all of you.