Lucy's People: An Ethiopian Memoir"This is a gripping story, well-told." ___SHEGER FM RADIO 102.1 "Lucy's People skilfully documents an intimate perspective on an ethically complex time and place."___Ben Claessens Lucy's People: An Ethiopian Memoir is the inspiring true story of a country and a life. Young Mesfin is a UN scholarship recipient, breadwinner to a dozen, and an engineer. He is wired to defend the helpless. Under the communist Derg 1974 to 1991, he holds his head high throughout random arrest, torture and forcible military conscription. Related to Emperor Haile Selassie I, Mesfin's parents are models of initiative. His mother and grandmother are patriots that resisted Mussolini's 1935 invasion, and his father is a colonel. As a youthful Airborne lieutenant, Mesfin saves the innocent from military madness. Then, as project engineer for water development and construction, he protects local environments and traditions. Mesfin is steeped in Ethiopian culture, attending the emperor's Jubilee in Palace School. Ethiopia's sun and moon are female, and women walk tall; he defers to them. His Jewish heritage inspires him, as does Abyssinian Engineer Queen Saba (Sheba). Then there is Lucy, the early hominid fossil. Her skeleton has survived intact for 3.2 million years. 'To Ethiopians, she was a symboic mother. Hers was a story of miraculous survival. So was ours.' |