b'From a Refugee Camp to Cone Health: Ethiopian Doctor did not stop chasing my dreamThis is adapted from an article originally in the News & Record, written by Nancy McLaughlin, July 22, 2019 As a young boy, Taye Gonfa wanted to fly the planes that he often spotted above the familys hut in Ethiopia. His aspirations were only as far as he could see, which was a world otherwise steeped in poverty. But there was his momunschooled and very pregnant with him when her husband drowned in a flooded river trying to get home from workwanting so much more for him. She would be the first of many whose guidance would eventually lead him down the sterilehallways of Moses Cone Hospitalwith Dr. Taye Gonfa poses for a portrait at Moses Cone Hospital inDr. Taye Gonfa on his badge. Hes beenGreensboro; Photo by Khadejeh Nikouyeh/News & Record very fortunate to have some doors open up for him, but dont underestimate the fact that he has made his own luck and run through those doors. said Dr. Bill Hensel, who was on the selection committee that offered Gonfa a residency at the hospital. Gonfa, who arrived in the United States a decade ago and turns 38 this year, hopes he is leaving footprints for his two children and other refugees, especially, to follow. I got to this point, he said, because I did not stop chasing my dream.The first time Gonfa would be on one of those planes he had seen as a boy was the flight to New York and then Greensboro as part of the United Nations refugee resettlement program. The journey getting there began in high school, when he saw classmates signing up for one of the 60 competitive spots for medical school. As in some other foreign countries, medical school is a seven-year track starting in high school.I figured, Why not? said the quick-witted and affable Gonfa, who speaks English with African and British influences. In 2000, during his second year in the program, he joined hundreds of other students in a massive protest against the government that erupted in the capital city of Addis Ababa and spread throughout the country. The next day, he said, I went to my college library and tore the Ethiopian and Kenyan maps out of the world atlas.Gonfa and some of the other students used them to flee to nearby Kenya where the rebels had settled. Soon after crossing the border, he was arrested, turned over 1314'