In this episode, Aelaf interviews Melina as she shares her powerful journey—one marked by both luck and immense hardship. She recounts her experience of fleeing persecution, facing ethnic targeting, and being stranded under the siege of the Tigray war, as well as the harrowing days spent hiding in caves. Melina also reflects on the exclusion she faced from graduation programs and the isolation she endured in higher education institutions in Ethiopia because of her Tigrayan identity.