For the past two years, San Francisco native Mellay Menelik has grown accustomed to a harsh reality of life in the north Ethiopian countryside, where it’s commonplace to drink river water and dodge bombs, she says. “The day the war started was the day I planted our first plants for the first harvest,” Menelik recalls. Returning to the Bay Area at the end of 2021, Menelik is drawing attention to the ongoing civil war in Ethiopia, calling on Bay Area restaurants to host fundraising events to help victims. Menelik dropped out of school at the University of San Francisco in her senior year rather than finishing her degree in communications. The family farm back in Mehoni grows aloe vera on a massive scale — the farm is the size of about 50 football fields — for use in cosmetics products.

Source: Ethiopian News April 21, 2022 20:13 UTC