The Successful Life by Bona Usha

The Successful Life 

by Bona Usha

              Success is not achieved by winning all the time.  Real success comes when we rise after we fall.  No one starts out on top. You have to work your way up.  My name is Bona.  When I was eight years old I lived with my grandmother  in Hawassa City, Ethiopia.  But my mother and my father lived in Shashamane.  Shashamane was 300 km away from us. 300 km is not far away for other people, but for me it was like Mount Everest.

One day I was determined to go visit my father and my mother.  I didn’t tell anyone, not even my grandmother. At this time I didn’t have money for transportation. I stole twelve birr from my uncle, when he wasn’t home.  His money was in his coat.  I commenced  my expedition.  When I got to the bus station I asked someone “Where do I have to wait for the bus?” They said, “On the left side.”  I waited for the bus on the left side and I got on the bus. But I didn’t know where this bus was going to.  I thought this bus was going to Shashamane, but the bus was on it’s way to  Bulbula.   I don’t have any family in Bulbula. I spent all of my money and I was hungry.  I begged some buses to give me a ride, but the bus drivers refused. After that I slept on the street for two days. One day I went without food, but the next day someone shared food with me.   I cried all day, and no one tried to help me. Sometimes gangster’s hit me.

After ten days, I went to church and I asked someone to support  me. I saw one girl as she was going was going into church and I talked to her.  I told her everything about my life and my problems. She felt  sad for me because I was only eight years old. She said, “What do you need from me to help you?” I told her that I needed some food and money to get to my family’s house. I also needed the direction to where Shashamane is located.  She gave me 50 birr and I was very excited and I said, “God bless you.”   Then I took  bus to the Shashamane.

After I got to Shashamane I went around asking anyone to tell me where my family’s house was.  Because I did not know anything about Shashamane.  Someone told me where my family’s house was and then I finally got to my family’s house. My family was excited about how an 8 year old kid could come alone from far away, and how he managed to get back home. Then we started living together.

When I think about my family I don’t feel good because they did not have any sense about me.  They still do not have any sense of who I am. I did not grow up with them but I am their son.  After I lived with my mother and father for two years, I went back to my grandmother because they were not treating me like their son.

        When I started my expedition I did not think that much about it.  Journeys can look easy but in your travels you do not know what you are going to get. However I got my family and learned who they were. I did not stop until I got to them because my dream was to get to them.

My dream now is to always help people and work with the community.   My dream is helping people that don’t have a good situation in the community or the people in court hoping for a fair judgment.  Especially in Ethiopia, the people do not get a fair judgment because there is a lot of corruption. This kind of situation is always happening.  The human soul changes with money.  That means if some one kills people and they go to court, the killer gives money to the court judge.  Then the decision is going to be unfair.

        My life is complicated starting when I was baby up to today.  But one thing I have in my mind is to be a judge. I am sure I will be a judge if I follow my success through hard work.  I think in my future, being a fair judge will help my community. If my hope comes true, I will teach my community.  Even if I teach one person, that person will teach others.

     Some mountains are higher than others and some roads are steeper than the next. There are hardships and setbacks, but you can’t let them stop you. Even on the steepest road, you must not turn back, you must keeping going up. In order to reach the top of the mountain, you have to climb every rock.  My success is in my hands, if I don’t hold it strongly I will drop it, but then I will have to grab it again.  Sometimes people don’t have a successful life, because they work hard to be a professor and then change to be a doctor. That is the way most  people do not achieve success. If you want to be a doctor, just work hard to be a doctor, do not change your mind.

     I would say my success will become true when I graduate and when I help my community by being a fair judge, and also by teaching people more about the law. The day that I will say my success is true is when my hard work will make a better community. You are successful if you are looking forward and working hard.  

“Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it.”