You do not see a lot of Africans in space. Not only do you not see or hear about them in the media, I do not believe the thought of them even exist in us Africans. For example as an Ethiopian the only things currently taking up RAM space in our minds is the current political stability of our country, our economy, the great renaissance dam when we are hit buy the constant power outage and just making it through the extremely hot sunny day in one piece.

Space?....going to space?.....hummmm.....it doesn't even exist in our deepest corner of our imaginations. 

I do not even recall a single bit of literature about space in our country. Not a single Ethiopian Kid (excluding those that go to posh private schools) will dream of becoming an astronaut when they grow up. Not because they do not want to, but because no one thought them about space or the possibility of a man up there. 

What inspired me and pushed me to creating this piece is what an Astronaut embodies and my ambition to install the seeds of this reality in the paths of the children of my nation and Africa. An astronaut embodies the highest achievement in so many fields of study. An Astronaut becomes an astronaut after so much education and training. Not to mention the millions in funding from a stable and prosperous country. I also want let Africans see that we can actually become more then all the uninspiring futures that is being constantly fed into our minds by our families and governments. 

I also took this piece a step further and decided the Astronaut was going to be from the Bodi tribe. The Bodi are a Nilotic pastoralist. They are a subdivision of the Mekan or Me'en which are an ethnic minority group inhabiting southwestern Ethiopia. 

So our Afronaut has come a loooong way from his people natural way of life to become what he is. 

Thank you!