Today we’d like to introduce you to Fesaha Gebrehiwot.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My story starts in a small village in a country called Eritrea, East Africa. The son of a traditional farmer, my parents lived in a little mountainous village. Traditionally, villages were set up strategically in a plateau by early settlers so that they can see their enemies coming uphill, and also, they like to reserve the flat land for agriculture. As my grandmother tells the story, the villages were full of milk and honey (a description to describe the well-being or richness). She shares many beautiful memories in their early life in the villages. Back in their times as farmers, they farmed different kinds of crops and vegetables such as legumes, vegetables, corn, wheat, chickpeas they also owned hundreds of cows and goats. By the village’s standards, my grandparents were rich, with plenty of milk and meat to share. Unfortunately, continuous drought rocked East Africa over and over again for decades all the beautiful stories told by my grandmother was just a story. In addition to the devastating climate change, Eritrea was immersed in a heavy war with Ethiopia for independence. Most of Eritrea became a battleground and most of the vegetation was cleared for making trenches and also any vegetation that was suspected of enemy hiding was burned and destroyed purposely by the soldiers.
As a little kid, I witnessed hundreds of my grandparent’s goats, shrink in size due to drought and the last herd of 30-50 that remained were snatched by the soldiers ending hundreds of years of memory and lifestyle. In the late eighties, the war escalated to the highest level causing a big disruption to our way life. When we were growing up farming and continuing the village traditional lifestyle became almost impossible to sustain. In fact, East Africa was devastated in the early eighties with drought. As a kid, I witnessed all the water streams dry up and all the fruit-bearing wild trees cleared, all the wild cherry tomatoes we used to indulge as kids almost disappeared in a period of few years. Clean drinking water was almost impossible to get. I remember as kids, we used to walk for 2-3 miles and carry in some “Jerry cans” of water for the entire family. It is at this changing time my father had to make a conscious decision to send my brother and me to school while the older sibling did not get the opportunity because they were already participating and helping out at the farming. My older brother and I were set to start school, given that the nearest school to us was several miles away.
Our everyday routine was we wake early, fetch water for the family and then, we head to school and help out with whatever is needed at home. School was usually one shift, morning or afternoon and the other shift we are doing farm work, I remember in the wintertime, we didn’t get home until it was pitch dark, our community would tell my father we would be eaten by hyenas someday that he has lost his mind to let these little kids walk at night from school, that they didn’t see any value in schooling at a risk of being eaten by wild animals. Some of them tell my father that we should just be shepherds just like our cousins and become farmers just like our fathers and uncles. Some days, if my father is able, he would give my brother and me a ride on his bicycle. We had no complaints because that was the life we knew, and we were happy with it. Luckily, I got a break when I won a Diversity Visa Lottery, a green card, in 1997 to come to the United States. Little that I knew about the challenges ahead, I was super excited to win the lottery, my older brother borrowed from several people to pay for my air ticket. After arriving in the US, leaving my entire family behind thousands of miles and no easy way to get a hold of them except occasional letters to check up on the family. The first year upon my arrival, I was working 7 days a week many hours at minimum wage and enrolled at Phoenix Community College to study English for Second language speakers (ESL) and some Math. The goal of the first year was to save enough money so that I can focus so that I can start full-time school. My friends and I who were in similar situations supported each other, I had four roommates to minimize the cost of living.
Through hard work and commitments, I graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering which gave me the opportunity to work for Motorola as a product engineer. Working for Motorola, a window of opportunity opened up for me. I met many wonderful people that believed in me that encouraged me to further my education. It was also during my time at Motorola that I was able to have a dentist visit for the first time in my life that left a positive impression on me, given growing up access to healthcare was impossible. This very experience left me to explore what it requires to become a dentist. After doing some research, I decided to pursue a career in dentistry. University of Washington School of Dentistry gave the opportunity to pursue my dream of becoming a dentist, a great dental school amazing staff and overall great learning environment, I had a great experience. I was 32 years old when I started dental school the oldest student in my class, about a decade older than the average student. I enjoyed my time there and headed back to Arizona in search of warm weather after dental school. I worked as an associate for a couple of group practices, but I have always been driven to have my own office to serve at the highest level of care. After doing some research, I picked the Dallas area as home to establish my dental practice. The Dallas area is home to thousands of East Africans, Eritreans, and Ethiopians, Sudanese and South Sudanese. So, I moved to the Dallas area in 2017, I started a scratch practice with a state-of-the-art technology primarily focused on service to our patients. My practice has been open just under a year,
Success to me is reaching a planned goal. Making a bold decision to leave what you know and love at such a young age without being afraid of the unknown, just having the desire to succeed with full faith and working towards achieving it. Success is to constantly evolve and learn new things and redefine your past, having the ability to see beyond your current circumstances and have fun along the process.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My journey has been not very smooth but I love everything about it, if it was smooth I wouldn’t be where I am today. Every challenge gave me the opportunity to reflect back and learn something about it. Some of the struggles include being homesick, I have been in the states for the last 23 years and I haven’t been back to where my journey started. I would love to go back and visit the same household I grew up in. I would love to go walk those routine 5-6 mile walks that shaped my early life. I would love to go see the well that we fetched water from on a daily bases, although I hear that the well is now completely dried up.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Trusted Dental Care is a multi-specialty practice family and cosmetic practice that provides service to the entire family. what this means is that instead of we referring the patient out to see a specialist we are bringing the specialist to our office so that our patients do not have to go look for one. We see children as young as when kids have their first tooth to grandma and grandpa for implants and dentures and mom and dad for their general dentistry needs from regular cleanings and checkups to straitening their teeth with nontraditional orthodontics but removable clear aligners such as Invisalign. To cosmetic dentistry crowns and veneers. One of the ways we separate ourselves is, we removed all barriers for patients to come see us, for all patients without insurance for the last nine months, we have been doing free second opinion and free x-Rays and exams. Most importantly Trusted Dental Care is focused on giving you the best experience. We love to give tours of the office at all times.
Our philosophy is to provide the best level of care to our patients. We are proud to share that even though we have only been open for less than a year, we have over 100 five star google reviews a sign that we are in tune with our patient’s needs and wants and delivering high-quality services. What sets us apart is also the fact that I have been on the other side with lack of access to health care, I visited my first dental visit at age 25, I can relate to patients walking to my office feeling embarrassed and overwhelmed.
The Dallas area is home to thousands of East Africans, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese and South Sudanese. I speak Tigrigna and Amharic which can remove a huge language barrier.
On behalf of this, I would like to thank the Wylie Chamber, The Wylie News, the Wylie Major’s office, the residents of Wylie and surroundings, the Eritrean and Ethiopian community for being very supportive of my business.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was just like any other kid, nothing special who always wanted to make his family proud. I always loved deep conversations with people and very passionate about people in general, I was always curious and cautious. I always have a little voice in my head, life will be so much better.
Contact Info:
- Address: 560 Country Club Rd, Suite 106
Suite 106
Wylie, TX 75098 - Website: Trusted Dental Care
- Phone: 2147020446
- Email: info@trusteddentalcare.com
- Instagram: @TrustedDental
- Facebook: www.FaceBook.com/TrustedDentalCare
- Other: www.TrustedDentalCare.com
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