ETHIOPIAN INFLUX
War-torn nation leads area in African immigrants Ryan Kim,
Chronicle Staff Writer
©2002 San
Francisco Chronicle.
Tesfa Awoke fled
Ethiopia for San Rafael in 1990, years after his his brother had been killed by
the government,
his father had
been imprisoned and war had broken the spirit of many of his countrymen.
Awoke, 39, was
part of a wave of Ethiopians who fled a relentless cycle of war, famine and
political instability to
settle in the
Bay Area, newly released census 2000 figures show.
More people have
come to the Bay Area from Ethiopia than from any other African nation and now
number
4,396 in the
nine counties, according to the latest data. Since the 1990 census, the local
Ethiopian foreign-born
population has
grown by 24 percent, with the largest concentrations appearing in Santa Clara
County (1,950) and
Alameda County (1,444).
"There was
political disturbance in the country," Awoke said the other day. "It
was a matter of survival, there was
killing
everywhere."
The African
continent as a whole, which has in recent history sent far fewer immigrants
than Asia and Latin
America,
increased immigration to the Bay Area by 74 percent in the 1990s, second only
to Latin America in
percentage
increase.
A total of
113,255 foreign-born Africans were living in California in 2000. Of those,
28,939 were living in the Bay
Area, including
3,561 from Nigeria, 3, 447 from Egypt and 3,208 from South Africa -- the
largest contributors
after Ethiopia.
Beginning in the
early 1960s, Ethiopia struggled through civil war, as well as conflicts with
neighboring Eritrea and
Somalia, that
left many dead or arrested and sent millions of others in search of refuge.
The most recent
immigration increase has also been prompted by the establishment of so-called
Diversity Visas by
Congress in
1990, which provided visas to countries that have historically sent few
immigrants to America.
"The
population has grown in this area, primarily because of the Diversity
Visa," said Tsedey Assefa, program
coordinator at
Ethiopian Community Services Inc. in San Jose. "Many people are trying to
take advantage of the
DV."
Assefa believes
the Bay Area's Ethiopian population is more than four times the official
figure, a discrepancy she
attributes to
many Ethiopians being unfamiliar with a national census.
Assefa said many
recent immigrants have reunited here with friends and relatives and have found
work in largely
low-paying
entry-level jobs, such as manufacturing or retail sales. She said the Bay
Area's weather has also been
a major draw.
"The
climate contributes to the immigration here," said Assefa. "It's more
similar to Ethiopia."
While Santa
Clara County boasts the largest number of Ethiopians, the most visible signs of
the Ethiopian
community can be
found in the Berkeley-Oakland area, where more than a dozen restaurants, shops
and churches
have appeared,
mostly along Telegraph Avenue, to serve the local population.
Fetlework
Tefferi, owner of Cafe Colucci, an Ethiopian restaurant on Telegraph Avenue,
said Ethiopians have
found a home in
the area, where they can shop, eat and celebrate holidays like Ethiopian New
Year's Eve, which
falls on Sept.
11.
Tefferi said the
region's famed diversity has helped ease the transition for many newcomers.
"There are
a lot of immigrants here so the environment, it's very conducive, " she
said. "It's very welcoming."
Awoke, who came
to this country alone, said he sometimes longs to return to Ethiopia but gets a
taste of his
homeland during
his weekly trips from Marin County to Telegraph Avenue.
"It's like
medicine," Awoke said. "You can eat your mom's cooking, you can talk
your language, you can meet
people."
Chronicle
researcher Kathleen Rhodes contributed to this report. / E-mail Ryan Kim at
rkim@sfchronicle.com.