Have you ever wondered what the journey of Ethiopians to America was like? If you answer “yes” to this, it is probably because you are either Ethiopian or you are close with or live near people who are Ethiopian.

Ethiopia is a country in Eastern Africa located on the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the east, Kenya to the south, and the Sudan to the west. While the country, as of 2013, had 94 million residents, since the 1990s there has been significant emigration from the country due to political conflict, according to BBC. In Ethiopia, people, such as my parents,had to deal with not being able to discuss freely about the government. There was no freedom of speech and they couldn’t receive a high quality education in order to be well paid. All of this led to a high unemployment and, eventually, immigration.

The U.S. government passed the Immigration Act of 1990, which increased immigration significantly by allowing 700,000 immigrants to come to the US between 1992-1994, according to CNN. The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as the green card lottery, contributed to many of Ethiopians coming to the US. The Eritrean-Ethiopian civil war caused political unrest which led to Ethiopians leaving in order to get safety and an education in America. It allowed an escape for Ethiopians like my parents. My father said, “There was no freedom of speech and hard to find a job. I wanted to be free from the corrupt government.”

These political issues and immigration policies have resulted in a significant increase of Ethiopians living in the local area. In fact, Washington, DC is the second largest Ethiopian city in the world, according to Caribbean Events.com. This influx of people has also moved into Maryland and Northern Virginia, where one can easily locate Ethiopian businesses, including restaurants. Many restaurants have been built in places such as Silver Spring, Alexandria, and Washington, DC. The restaurants helped create a different culture for the area and provided a different cuisine for Americans to try. One American has said they love Ethiopian food, “ the spices are tasty and the bread makes it more enjoyable to eat.”

There have also been Ethiopian businesses that helped create more jobs.The creation of more jobs helped the economy grow in the area because of the need of employees to work for the different restaurants and businesses. As a result the DC area, has become more diverse and an area that Ethiopians call their second home.