Not all kids get to grow up the same way. “Kids are independent real quick,” said Zao Shatto, a senior outfielder for Hillcrest. “I woke up, my parents were gone. I’m taking care of cows with my uncle. That’s what I was doing when I was two, maybe three years old.”
Zao was born in the village of Sodo, Ethiopia. His African name is Lidetu. When he was five years old Zao bounced around from orphanage to orphanage. “We started getting pictures of some White people from America, and we were like, ‘Oh, what is this?'” Zao said.
It was Katy and Adam Shatto from Springfield. And they were adopting Zao and one of his nine siblings. “I remember the first American food that I ever had,” Zao said. “A glazed donut and some orange juice out of a box. And it was amazing.”
For Hillcrest, Zao has starred as a soccer player, a Javelin thrower, and a football player. He just picked up baseball last year and now he’s the starting right fielder. And he’s someone his coach says his teammates look up to. “We have a great group of senior leaders,” said Ryan Schaffitzel, Hillcrest’s head coach. “And he fits right in with that group of about ten kids that lead everything. With him, he’s the total package. I think more than anything they respect him when he’s in the hallways and it carries over to the baseball field.”
It’s something he got to share with his biological parents and siblings recently.
Zao has been back to Africa twice, including this past Christmas. “I was just taking the time to soak them up, hug them, love them, looking at pictures from here,” he said. “Showing them how I live, and the people I’m around. I just went down there and spent as much time as I could with them. Touching them, loving them. Because I don’t get to see them very much.”
What they won’t ever talk about is just what it was like for his parents to make the that decision to give him up. “It’s not a question I’ll ever ask,” Zao said. “It’s something I’ll figure out when I go to heaven. I’ll ask God why it happened.”
Besides, Zao has told both his moms, who were together with him when he visited Africa, that he’s forever grateful it did happen. “I just lay there in bed and think about what I could’ve been doing,” Zao said. “I mean, I’m so grateful that I’m here. Playing sports like this. You don’t get that where I’m from.”
From Ethiopia to Hillcrest. And a place that’s happy Zao came.
