Tseganesh is from the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital. As a child, she and her mother lived in a small town on the edge of Addis Ababa, an area that was quickly swallowed up by urban sprawl. Tseganesh grew up listening to her mother’s stories of when the region was covered in trees and large crop fields and the rivers were clean enough to play in. When she was young, Tseganesh took on the responsibility of tending vegetables and herbs in a small kitchen garden after coming home from school.
In spite of many challenges and hardships, Tseganesh managed to stay at the top of her class and won a full scholarship to attend the School of Tomorrow (SoT), considered to be one of the best high schools in the city. Tseganesh heard about EARTH through a contact at school and saw it as best place to gain the necessary skills to have a positive impact on her nation. “I am committed to working for sustainable resource management and conservation in my exploding city.” She looks forward to learning about water conservation as well, in hopes that one day the rivers that flow through Addis Ababa can be clean again.
