I WILL NOT GROW DOWNWARD - MEMOIR OF AN ERITREAN REFUGEEONE MAN'S LONG AND PERILOUS FLIGHT FROM AFRICA'S HERMIT KINGDOM THIRTY YEARS OF BLOODY CONFLICT with a powerful enemy never broke the spirit of the Eritrean people. After winning their freedom from Ethiopia, a young man dreams of starting a new life, building a home, and teaching his children what it means to be the masters of their own fate. But all-too soon, the fighting resumes. Rounded up and forced into conscription, subjected to inhumane treatment, made to serve a despotic leader in an army fighting a war nobody wants, he will have to sacrifice much just for a chance to get back what he lost - his family, his freedom, his birthright. But will it be worth it? Or will he simply lose everything in the end? I Will Not Grow Downward offers an exceedingly rare glimpse inside the highly secretive and brutally repressive regime known as Africa's North Korea. The Dreams of Freedom storiesOne family, two powerful accounts of love, heartbreak, and determination from one of the world's most isolated and abusive governments in modern history. It's 1991, and a bloody thirty-year conflict with Ethiopia has just ended, earning Eritrea its first taste of freedom in over a century. But peace is a delicate flower, and power is all-too easily corrupting. Soon, the small Horn-of-African nation will find itself at war once again, back in the familiar stranglehold of despotism, except this time it will be at the hands of its own beloved leader and war hero. Families are torn apart, suspicion and desperation grow. Human rights are violated. In the midst of worsening oppression, one man and one woman will risk everything to save their children from this life of violence and give them the future they once imagined for themselves.. Relentless - An Immigrant Story by Wudasi Nayzgi and Kenneth James Howe I Will Not Grow Downward - Memoir Of An Eritrean Refugee by Yikealo Neab and Kenneth James Howe RELENTLESS - AN IMMIGRANT STORYONE WOMAN'S DECADE-LONG FIGHT TO HEAL A FAMILY TORN APART BY WAR, LIES, AND TYRANNY SOON AFTER RETURNING FROM EXILE to a war-torn Eritrea, a young mother receives a devastating medical diagnosis for her first-born child, but adequate treatment is unavailable inside her own country. Meanwhile, her desperate search elsewhere is abruptly thwarted by a new outbreak of fighting and an untested government determined to win at any cost. With her husband forced into conscription, with time and options running out, she must make a terrible decision - stay where she is and jeopardize the life of one child, or flee her beloved homeland, leaving her husband and second daughter behind... possibly forever. Relentless is the powerful and inspiring story of an Eritrean woman who faced incredible obstacles, defied a ruthless regime, and never gave up fighting for the only thing that matters: family. "There is a proverb in my native Tigrinya language, both warning and admonishment. It goes like this: Haki tseraba mot keraba. It means, if you speak the truth, you will gather many enemies."

Yikealo was a young father when his government rounded him up and sent him to one of the deadliest places on the planet to learn how to kill. It would take years of hard sacrifice just to regain his freedom... and more than a decade of uncertainty just for a chance to see his family again. “As for walls and fences to pen us in, there are none. We are free to leave, if we choose, but there is nowhere for us to go and almost certain death for anyone who tries.” Yikealo Neab was born into a bloody conflict his grandparents started and grew to adulthood watching the same conflict take his friends and threaten his children. After being forcibly conscripted and sent to the Danakil Depression, where more than just the extreme heat and old Russian landmines can kill, he must face the very real possibility that, should he manage to survive, he might never see his family again. I Will Not Grow Downward is a heartbreaking memoir of struggle and determination, of loss and exile... and ultimately of redemption. Yikealo’s story is a powerful reminder of the strength of the human spirit to endure, particularly of those living in violence and oppression and those fleeing from them. It offers students of contemporary East African history an exceptionally rare glimpse inside the highly secretive and brutally repressive regime known as Africa's Hermit Kingdom, but it is also a gift and an inspiration for anyone searching for proof that faith and perseverance can overcome even the most insurmountable of obstacles. I Will Not Grow Downward is part of the Dreams of Freedom collection, stories of resilience from Eritrea, the small war-torn nation known as the North Korea of Africa.

This bundle includes the Eritrean diaspora memoirs: Relentless- an Immigrant Story I Will Not Grow Downward Two stories from one family, torn apart by war, and their desperate struggle for reunion, peace, and place to call home.

As war rages in her beloved homeland and her husband is taken away to fight in it, a young mother faces the most difficult decision of her life -- which of her two precious daughters can she save... and which must she sacrifice. This is the story of one mother’s heroic struggle to rescue her family from the clutches of uncertainty and oppression. There is a proverb in my native Tigrinya language, both warning and admonishment. It goes like this: Haki tseraba mot keraba. It means: If you speak the truth, you will gather many enemies. Well, I say let them come. Let them see how the pain they have inflicted has made me who I am: Relentless. Eritrean by blood, Wudasie Nayzgi was raised deep in the heart of neighboring Ethiopia, a nation that for generations after the Second World War refused her people their independence. After a bloody 30-year war ends the violent reign of brutal Ethiopian dictator Emperor Haile Selassie, Wudasie returns to her ancestral homeland, a stranger in search of her roots and a chance to raise a family. For a while, it seems her dreams are within reach. But soon, new threats arise, coming from old enemies, as well as new. Her husband is forcibly taken off the street to fight another war, and her oldest daughter is diagnosed with a life-threatening heart defect. With the borders sealed shut, an increasingly paranoid government resorting ever more to violence and suppression, and medical treatment unavailable in-country, her only remaining option to save her daughter’s life might not be so viable after all. For even if the government allows her to leave, doing so could end up shattering more lives than it saves. Relentless is the powerful memoir of a wife and mother who refused to compromise and instead defied one of the world’s most corrupt and murderous regimes, and after decades of personal struggle and sacrifice finally found peace and redemption. A heartbreaking story for the ages with an inspiring outcome that celebrates the strength, determination, and heroism of women everywhere. Relentless is part of the Dreams of Freedom collection, stories of resilience from Eritrea, the small war-torn nation known as the North Korea of Africa.

“A candid, inspiring memoir of cultural and historical importance” from an Eritrean-Ethiopian War refugee (Michael Bloomberg). Dawit Gebremichael Habte fled his homeland of Eritrea as a teenager. In the midst of the ongoing Eritrean-Ethiopian war, Dawit and his sisters crossed illegally into Kenya. Without their parents or documents to help their passage, they experienced the abuse and neglect known by so many refugees around the world. But Dawit refused to give up. He stayed resilient and positive. Journeying to the United States under asylum—and still a boy—Dawit found a new purpose in an unfamiliar land. Against impossible odds, he studied hard and was accepted to Johns Hopkins University, eventually landing a job as a software engineer at Bloomberg. After a few years, with the support of Michael Bloomberg himself, Dawit returned to his homeland to offer business opportunities for other Eritreans. Dawit found a way to help his ancestral land emerge from thirty years of debilitating war. Gratitude in Low Voices is about how one man was marginalized, but how compassion and love never abandoned him. It’s about learning how to care for family, and how to honor those who help the helpless. This account reminds us that hope is not lost. “An inspiring memoir by Dawit Gebremichael Habte, who poignantly portrays his childhood in Africa and his struggles as a refugee to the United States . . . This book is a reaffirmation of the good that people can do and how one young man succeeded despite the odds against him.”—Foreword Reviews

This book chronicles the journey of Eritrean born Joseph Woldu. As a child refugee he found himself having to adapt to changes of place, language and customs; then as a man forced to relearn much of the same after involvement in a disastrous accident two days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What makes Joseph's story so incredible is not that he survived change and tragedy, but how he continually found the strength to improve himself and his circumstances. His story reflects the importance good relationships play in our lives.Through the many life challenges Joseph has faced, his greatest lesson learned is survivors must allow others into their lives in order not to be "just" a survivor. This book tells how Joseph became "more than a survivor." It was written with the hope to help other survivors in the world. We are "All" survivors!

Read the remarkable true story of a young boy's journey from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. Following his father's advice to "treat all people-even the most unsightly beetles-as though they were angels sent from heaven," Mawi overcomes the challenges of language barriers, cultural differences, racial prejudice, and financial disadvantage to build a fulfilling, successful life for himself in his new home. Of Beetles and Angels is at once a harrowing survival story and a compelling examination of the refugee experience. With hundreds of thousands of copies sold since its initial publication, and as a frequent selection as one book/one school/one community reads, this unforgettable memoir continues to touch and inspire readers. This special expanded fifteenth anniversary edition includes a new introduction and afterword from the author, a discussion guide, and more.