BALTIMORE — This isn't the type of tour Fikremariam Worku wanted to give, showing us the charred rubble, the ash, and water damage throughout his restaurant - the restaurant he dreamed of opening for most of his adult life.
"People started loving it. We were hoping to be the best vegetarian and Ethiopian restaurant in Baltimore," he told WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington inside what used to be the dining area.
Jano Ethiopian Restaurant and Lounge on Eutaw Street was one of several buildings impacted by afire that brought in hundreds of firefighters from five different counties on September 22nd.
"You feel helpless. You feel destroyed," Worku said as he recalled watching his restaurant burn that morning.
For the last decade, Worku and his wife have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into their dream. He felt like people in the city had just started noticing the restaurant, and their customer base was finally growing.
"People love our food. They were tipping double. They were saying we don’t know why you guys are not known," he told WMAR-2 News. "And we were thinking - next year is gonna be a great year."
He left Saturday night thinking about how to build on that momentum. He woke up to find out he'd have to start all over again.
"I saw my dream getting burned. I could not believe. When the fire trucks were passing me when I was driving here, I said, ‘this does not sound real; this is not my place.’"
Their three children took it especially hard.
"Because this is the place they grew up," Worku said. His son witnessed the fire; he and his mother came straight to the restaurant from church Sunday morning after they heard the news. "He was crying. He still can’t process it. He kept saying, ‘why, why, why?’" Worku recalled.
"We are parents so we are trying to be strong for them. We’re gonna tell them it’s one of our immigrant stories; 20 years ago we came here. We started a life. We built it from nothing. We worked hard, two jobs. And our dream is about to be realized and this happens. We tell them, thank God nobody got hurt. We can do it again."
They don't have to do it alone. A family member started aGoFundMe that's raised over $6,500, and that doesn't include all the phone calls, offers of support, and in one case, even the offer of a job. Worku is extremely grateful.
"It makes me believe in humanity again," he said.
It also inspires him to keep going - to rebuild.
"We are resolute. We know we can do it back because we started from nothing, and we made it here. But it’s gonna be a long road; it’s gonna be hard."
He anticipates it will be at least six months to a year before he can reopen.
The Baltimore City Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire.
