Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (CNN)"I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to help my child." These are the words no parent ever wants to say.
And yet for Zemi Yenus, this was her reality.
After years of carving out a successful career as a beautician in Los Angeles, the Ethiopian cosmetologist and mother of two had returned to her hometown of Addis Ababa. The year was 1996. Eager to dispense her learned knowledge back into the community, she went on to establish Niana School of Beauty, the country's first licensed beauty school. Business was booming and with 6,000 students the school was proving a hit with aspiring beauticians.
But life at home was hard. Yenus' second child Jojo was struggling at
school. Four years older than his brother Bilal, he wasn't developing in the same way.
He'd already been excluded from several educational facilities and private education was costing a fortune. His behavior was being singled out as the primary root of his learning problems and Yenus decided to have him tested in the UK. Doctors soon returned their diagnosis -- autism.
"I never knew he had autism," recalls Yenus. "In the U.S. I wasn't told he had autism, I was only told he was a late talker -- being a boy, they usually start talking late, so that's what I understood."
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