Tekolla Tatek Goshu
To be a Survivor is to remain alive, even after going through a well-orchestrated and brutal attack of government forces.
These photos and stories of TASSC International members are selected from Portraits of Resilience, a series by Jonathan Banks. This project began in 2018 as a way to educate the public about the practice of torture and allow survivors to present their stories in an exploratory and creative fashion.
I am lucky to have survived this atrocity, but my heart goes out to the thousands of innocent people who vanished, were tortured or thrown into the harsh prisons, as a result of the sadistic acts of our heartless political leaders.
My spouse and my three boys, whom I have missed every day since I fled, are also paying the price for crimes they have not committed.
Finally, I want to express my appreciation to the people of this great nation (USA) who sheltered me in this difficult time of my life, without which I would have not been a survivor.
My desire for democracy, human rights, and my belief in the peaceful struggle to change this situation became the fuel for my political activism. This political activism is what put me under the surveillance of the government security forces. It led to me being denied government jobs, being arrested, and being severely tortured, until I finally escaped to the USA…leaving behind my beloved family.