LOS ANGELES-based twins and beauty entrepreneurs Feven Yohannes and Helena Yohannes are no strangers to life’s struggles. In fact, struggles preceded their birth.
The story they have heard their parents often say is of their long months journeying from their home country Eritrea to Sudan as refugees in search of a better place during the uncertain years riddled by conflict in the eastern African country.
And along the way during this perilous trip, the twins were conceived.
What was this long walk like, they once asked their father.
“And my father said with that bright African smile, that it’s like walking from Los Angeles to San Francisco. He said ‘it took us a few months, but we got there. That had such a profound impact on me,” says Feven.
Their father, a respected political leader who was a freedom fighter in the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, embarked on the journey after sustaining injuries when his comrade stepped on a landmine.
It was a close call, and that was the first “miracle” for the family.
The second was the twins’ birth and survival.
Several mothers died during childbirth given the lack of proper healthcare in the refugee camps. Having twin babies was almost certainly seen as a death sentence. Initially, it was believed the girl’s mother was having “a big baby boy” because there was no technology on hand to discern the nature of the pregnancy.
This story is from the June-July 2022 edition of Forbes Africa.
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This story is from the June-July 2022 edition of Forbes Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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