2014 ኖቬምበር 29, ቅዳሜ
2014 ኖቬምበር 16, እሑድ
A TRIP WORTH THE EFFORT! Entoto Observatory
A TRIP WORTH THE EFFORT!
By Mezemir (English Dep’t)
The trip to the Entoto Observatory meant for the Debre Berhan University (DBU) community was a golden opportunity for science lovers. The Ethiopian Space Science Society’s (ESSS) DBU Branch was preparing for this trip for months. Even the Ministry of Education in Addis Ababa sent additional buses for this purpose. On Saturday, April 26, 2014, 70 teachers, and 255 students headed to the area from Debre Berhan at 7:00 a.m. and reached the observatory at 10:30 a.m.
ENTOTO’S STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
Till the telescope operators came to the area, we had been visiting Entoto, and the capital under a reconstruction seemed to have fallen under our control. An instructor told me that a student asked him what the town lying ahead of us was called. Really! For a new comer and for one who doesn’t know the capital well, this town may be confused for another. Neway Belachew said that the place was windy, the topography pleasant, and it would be nice if they had wind power generating plant in addition. Someone asked me, “Why do your relatives like such high places?” “Which ones are they?” I asked back. “Taitu et al!” “My God! Taitu is nearer to you than she is to me!” I thought. “Why Entoto?” You may ask, too. Experts’ answers await you below. Past the Entoto church and in the middle of the dense Eucalyptus forest, this scientific oasis is properly sited.
WHAT REALLY IS IN THE BREATHTAKINGLY EXPENSIVE OBSERVATORY?
Before the visit, the place would be taken for just an ordinary one for laymen as it had only a few buildings without a fence. The planners built two special hut-like structures, a guest house, and a server room. The roof of the hut-like structures, the dome, is a half circle whose purpose is to protect the telescope from sunlight, frost and rain. On the dome, there is a window which closes and opens for the telescope to access the outer space. The dome revolves 360 degrees; however, at this time, the testing stage, where there is no observation yet, we haven’t seen it revolving. Did we regret then? No, we shared the hope the scientists there have.
The automated telescope which is provided and set up by a German company, Astelco, occupies the second floor one of the hut-like structure. No light is permitted at the telescope room. They say even Addis Ababa city’s light disturbs a little bit at night, the convenient and only time for observation. The one-meter-diameter mirror is at the bottom part of the telescope accompanied by two side mirrors and another top mirror that reflects what comes from up the sky. Our guide told us that in Chili, Atacama Desert, and elsewhere in the civilized world there are big telescopes with mirrors long in diameter – up to 16 meters. A 32- meter-diameter telescope is said to be under construction in the developed world. Our Optical telescope cost 3.4 million Euro including installation. There are radio telescopes elsewhere in the world. The telescope is manually operated using buttons. Reflected rays will come to the down mirror, and then, they go to the side ones. After this, they go to the control room in the ground floor where the data is changed to image form and people see it. If big diameter telescopes were there, one would see much area, but precision would go down. Hey! Please don’t just expect a telescope that you see through with your naked eyes without machine processing.
Downstairs is the place for the control cabinet which contains a spectrograph with a CCD camera, two terabyte highly concentrated computer and a six-hour-serving battery. The spectrograph is used to process the data captured and supply to the computer, which changes it to images decipherable by people. When the observatory goes operational, using a pc anyone who is permitted to use can access the services from anywhere in the country. “In what interval do you record?” asked one of the 25 professors visiting in my group. “We record the data needed; if someone says I need a certain star, he can access,” responded the operator who must be the mechanical engineer.
Asked outside the visit, Bulti Kumera, a Micro Biologist, commented, “To acquaint ourselves with the environment and to have geographical information this observatory is useful.” We visited till 12 a.m. and started our back journey. The mathematician, Mengisu Calchisa, is also interested in the research and development that this observatory enhances.
WHY OBSERVATORY? WHY SPACE SCIENCE?
Our physicists, who are busy compensating the time we lost without a good acquaintance with the space, won’t hesitate to teach people about the field of space science. They answer questions you may ask just out of curiosity: Why Observatory? Why Space Science? Gezahegn sufa, auditor of DBU ESSS and an atmospheric physicist, has a lot to say about the discipline: “Field trips should be integrated with the curriculum since students get motivated when they practice. When they go to work also they won’t get confused. For Ethiopia to grow, a scientific society should be built. At this time space science is a matter of survival, not luxury. We can relate it to securing our developmental sites. We should also work to have internationally competent experts and contribute to the development of science. We shall not be neutral in this regard. This is connected with food security, security and our day-to-day lives. In the developed world you shall not tell your location in a relative sense, but you just tell the latitude and longitude which is detected by GPS. Space Science should be included under the curriculum at least at degree level. If there is a shortage of doctors, you can be treated using tele-medicine. The ESSS should not last long as an association and the government should set up something more than this. Space science and observatory are separate organizations. Space science helps the Entoto observatory through the fund it gets from donors. ESSS should have its own television and radio programs since its main wish is to inculcate its ideas to the public; it cannot just make all the people its members. Above all, a planetary museum should be set up for the public to know about our activities.”
Gizaw Berhanu, a physics instructor and a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa, who was unable to give me an interview because of the telephone network problem, said the trip gave a good lesson particularly to the students. I believe that this network problem shall be resolved when our observatory and the ESSS achieve their missions.
Kibru Teka, a mathematics instructor said, “I feel happy to see the observatory; I will come for a visit when the observation begins; everything made me happy. When it goes operational, it will be useful for research, and we will launch rocket from here. We can also sell the data.”
Asked what he and his students benefited from the trip Asratemedhin Bekele, a physics instructor and a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa, said “it has an immense contribution to the country’s development; it tells you which season or month is conducive for agriculture, and its importance for the students is that it will be helpful to learn in practice the courses they are given at the university. For example, introduction to space physics, astrophysics, astronomy, space physics, metrology, and plasma physics are the courses in this area given in our department. Students who take those courses benefit from the observatory when they need to conduct a research. It is a nice opportunity to collect data.”
Asked what stakeholders should contribute for the observatory and the field, Asrate responded:
Our university is the sixth involving itself in the activity of the ESSS where the number of universities in the country is more than 31. As a member of the ESSS, DBU donated ESSS 200,000 Birr. Universities like ours should feel ownership and the society’s importance to our country will be high. After five years, we will launch an information satellite. Likewise, Ali Gebeyehu, an instructor of GIS and remote sensing here at DBU, wrote to me that, “The observatory is a breakthrough to develop the infrastructure of space science. One of the branches of space science, the satellite technology, which is important for communication (mobile, television, and internet…) has a tremendous importance for development. As we know, satellites are also significant for weather and climatic data collection, for the detection of resources which are found on the surface of the earth, and for the planning of urban and rural land.”
Gezahegn asks a question that he answers himself, “Is space science a luxury? No, it is a matter of survival!” Let me take this opportunity to thank all the active professors at all of our colleges for helping DBU move one kneel ahead in such endeavors as the physicist did! Finally, I think you wondered where the white, big metal birds of Mesqel Square built to illuminate the Ethiopian Millennium are left. I had a glance of them in the Entoto forest. In the Social Science magazine, I will discuss an issue related to this: Solid waste. I also saw women fuel wood carriers who undergo a debilitating task and felt sad. You know? The one I saw unloaded her bundle by a bridge and gave water to the baby she was carrying in the front.
By Mezemir (English Dep’t)
The trip to the Entoto Observatory meant for the Debre Berhan University (DBU) community was a golden opportunity for science lovers. The Ethiopian Space Science Society’s (ESSS) DBU Branch was preparing for this trip for months. Even the Ministry of Education in Addis Ababa sent additional buses for this purpose. On Saturday, April 26, 2014, 70 teachers, and 255 students headed to the area from Debre Berhan at 7:00 a.m. and reached the observatory at 10:30 a.m.
ENTOTO’S STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
Till the telescope operators came to the area, we had been visiting Entoto, and the capital under a reconstruction seemed to have fallen under our control. An instructor told me that a student asked him what the town lying ahead of us was called. Really! For a new comer and for one who doesn’t know the capital well, this town may be confused for another. Neway Belachew said that the place was windy, the topography pleasant, and it would be nice if they had wind power generating plant in addition. Someone asked me, “Why do your relatives like such high places?” “Which ones are they?” I asked back. “Taitu et al!” “My God! Taitu is nearer to you than she is to me!” I thought. “Why Entoto?” You may ask, too. Experts’ answers await you below. Past the Entoto church and in the middle of the dense Eucalyptus forest, this scientific oasis is properly sited.
WHAT REALLY IS IN THE BREATHTAKINGLY EXPENSIVE OBSERVATORY?
Before the visit, the place would be taken for just an ordinary one for laymen as it had only a few buildings without a fence. The planners built two special hut-like structures, a guest house, and a server room. The roof of the hut-like structures, the dome, is a half circle whose purpose is to protect the telescope from sunlight, frost and rain. On the dome, there is a window which closes and opens for the telescope to access the outer space. The dome revolves 360 degrees; however, at this time, the testing stage, where there is no observation yet, we haven’t seen it revolving. Did we regret then? No, we shared the hope the scientists there have.
The automated telescope which is provided and set up by a German company, Astelco, occupies the second floor one of the hut-like structure. No light is permitted at the telescope room. They say even Addis Ababa city’s light disturbs a little bit at night, the convenient and only time for observation. The one-meter-diameter mirror is at the bottom part of the telescope accompanied by two side mirrors and another top mirror that reflects what comes from up the sky. Our guide told us that in Chili, Atacama Desert, and elsewhere in the civilized world there are big telescopes with mirrors long in diameter – up to 16 meters. A 32- meter-diameter telescope is said to be under construction in the developed world. Our Optical telescope cost 3.4 million Euro including installation. There are radio telescopes elsewhere in the world. The telescope is manually operated using buttons. Reflected rays will come to the down mirror, and then, they go to the side ones. After this, they go to the control room in the ground floor where the data is changed to image form and people see it. If big diameter telescopes were there, one would see much area, but precision would go down. Hey! Please don’t just expect a telescope that you see through with your naked eyes without machine processing.
Downstairs is the place for the control cabinet which contains a spectrograph with a CCD camera, two terabyte highly concentrated computer and a six-hour-serving battery. The spectrograph is used to process the data captured and supply to the computer, which changes it to images decipherable by people. When the observatory goes operational, using a pc anyone who is permitted to use can access the services from anywhere in the country. “In what interval do you record?” asked one of the 25 professors visiting in my group. “We record the data needed; if someone says I need a certain star, he can access,” responded the operator who must be the mechanical engineer.
Asked outside the visit, Bulti Kumera, a Micro Biologist, commented, “To acquaint ourselves with the environment and to have geographical information this observatory is useful.” We visited till 12 a.m. and started our back journey. The mathematician, Mengisu Calchisa, is also interested in the research and development that this observatory enhances.
WHY OBSERVATORY? WHY SPACE SCIENCE?
Our physicists, who are busy compensating the time we lost without a good acquaintance with the space, won’t hesitate to teach people about the field of space science. They answer questions you may ask just out of curiosity: Why Observatory? Why Space Science? Gezahegn sufa, auditor of DBU ESSS and an atmospheric physicist, has a lot to say about the discipline: “Field trips should be integrated with the curriculum since students get motivated when they practice. When they go to work also they won’t get confused. For Ethiopia to grow, a scientific society should be built. At this time space science is a matter of survival, not luxury. We can relate it to securing our developmental sites. We should also work to have internationally competent experts and contribute to the development of science. We shall not be neutral in this regard. This is connected with food security, security and our day-to-day lives. In the developed world you shall not tell your location in a relative sense, but you just tell the latitude and longitude which is detected by GPS. Space Science should be included under the curriculum at least at degree level. If there is a shortage of doctors, you can be treated using tele-medicine. The ESSS should not last long as an association and the government should set up something more than this. Space science and observatory are separate organizations. Space science helps the Entoto observatory through the fund it gets from donors. ESSS should have its own television and radio programs since its main wish is to inculcate its ideas to the public; it cannot just make all the people its members. Above all, a planetary museum should be set up for the public to know about our activities.”
Gizaw Berhanu, a physics instructor and a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa, who was unable to give me an interview because of the telephone network problem, said the trip gave a good lesson particularly to the students. I believe that this network problem shall be resolved when our observatory and the ESSS achieve their missions.
Kibru Teka, a mathematics instructor said, “I feel happy to see the observatory; I will come for a visit when the observation begins; everything made me happy. When it goes operational, it will be useful for research, and we will launch rocket from here. We can also sell the data.”
Asked what he and his students benefited from the trip Asratemedhin Bekele, a physics instructor and a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa, said “it has an immense contribution to the country’s development; it tells you which season or month is conducive for agriculture, and its importance for the students is that it will be helpful to learn in practice the courses they are given at the university. For example, introduction to space physics, astrophysics, astronomy, space physics, metrology, and plasma physics are the courses in this area given in our department. Students who take those courses benefit from the observatory when they need to conduct a research. It is a nice opportunity to collect data.”
Asked what stakeholders should contribute for the observatory and the field, Asrate responded:
Our university is the sixth involving itself in the activity of the ESSS where the number of universities in the country is more than 31. As a member of the ESSS, DBU donated ESSS 200,000 Birr. Universities like ours should feel ownership and the society’s importance to our country will be high. After five years, we will launch an information satellite. Likewise, Ali Gebeyehu, an instructor of GIS and remote sensing here at DBU, wrote to me that, “The observatory is a breakthrough to develop the infrastructure of space science. One of the branches of space science, the satellite technology, which is important for communication (mobile, television, and internet…) has a tremendous importance for development. As we know, satellites are also significant for weather and climatic data collection, for the detection of resources which are found on the surface of the earth, and for the planning of urban and rural land.”
Gezahegn asks a question that he answers himself, “Is space science a luxury? No, it is a matter of survival!” Let me take this opportunity to thank all the active professors at all of our colleges for helping DBU move one kneel ahead in such endeavors as the physicist did! Finally, I think you wondered where the white, big metal birds of Mesqel Square built to illuminate the Ethiopian Millennium are left. I had a glance of them in the Entoto forest. In the Social Science magazine, I will discuss an issue related to this: Solid waste. I also saw women fuel wood carriers who undergo a debilitating task and felt sad. You know? The one I saw unloaded her bundle by a bridge and gave water to the baby she was carrying in the front.
Wasted Solid Waste - By Mezemir Girma
Wasted Solid Waste
By Mezemir Girma
mezemir@yahoo.com
My dear reader, please go to the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, where you would get the following definition on waste: “materials that are no longer needed and are thrown away.” This could be the case in our town or elsewhere in Ethiopia. However, in the civilized world, waste is really more than something to be thrown away. This piece briefly covers the issue of solid waste in the places I visited so far.
Virtually in any city I visited in the last few years, I noticed how the issue of solid waste is what naturally should come in any sane person’s mind. Any one of the paths and streets are shouting for our attention. If you walk either in the streets of the capital Addis Ababa or any other town in the country, you will definitely see how waste is wasted.
Once, a German environmentalist admired Ethiopia in the national radio for her environmental protection regarding the plastic mineral water containers which we keep for further use unlike in his home country. The containers are kept for use because our farmers mostly use them to carry water, oil, and gas with. Other sorts of plastic materials such as bags are left everywhere including in the farmlands and rivers where they make the most damage. Animals eat them, children put them into their mouths and the wind takes them from place to place.
Metallic waste is left on the streets and villages. Who cares if a nail injures poor people going barefoot! Whose worry would it be if a piece of tin waste cuts the hands of an unfortunate person? I and you should care! We should worry! How I was shocked as I saw my uncle’s foot injured by a rusting nail.
In Debre Berhan University, paper waste should be a matter of crucial attention for me and you; shouldn’t it? Some foreigners I met so far use both the back and front sides of sheets of paper. Nonetheless, I and my colleagues mostly throw paper with the back unused. In addition to this, we burn the exam papers after use. Some shop owners use used paper, documents and books to wrap commodities. The fact that used newspapers from other countries are employed here burns me. Why don’t we at least read for local shop consumption? I have heard of Rwandan companies exporting the paper waste to china for reproduction.
Who do you appreciate in their care for the environment? Gash Abera Molla, Wangari Matai or yourself? It is not flattery that put you among these great people, but it is a good wish. I believe that I and you can stand one day with pride for our concern for the environment. Kaizen is the fashion of the day now; isn’t it? Using this or any other knowledge, let us at least clean our surroundings.
What do you feel to be in the midst of construction waste, electronic waste, broken glass, khat waste, worn clothes that you trample on the road and every sort of waste that people throw? Am I blaming you my colleagues? No! I am rather motivating you all to be models for our students and the community. I believe that awareness creation should come first. That is why I scribbled what you already know. Have you ever asked yourself about solid waste management in our campus? I know that it is improving at least since we have some dustbins
Management schemes implemented in Addis are really promising. The authorities arranged a program where each household pays the collectors of the waste and it is taken care of before it causes the most damage. In the condominiums of Debre Birhan also the residents pay and get rid of the waste on time. An environment clean, green and conducive for humans comes this way.
I remember people saying when people throw waste 25 meters away from their homes, it comes back home one way or the other. Burning and landfill are hazardous and bad means of removing waste. Rather we should sort out the organic and the inorganic waste. The sorted out inorganic waste will be recycled. The organic waste can be used as fertilizer after the three months it takes to rot. Inorganic waste including glass and plastic can be exported or processed locally. Sustainable waste management comes this way; job opportunities will be available; green public areas will be there for the people to spend their times at; zooming compactors and municipal trucks will take care of the waste that is collected from every home. Let us work hard and envision a country clean and beautiful!
By Mezemir Girma
mezemir@yahoo.com
My dear reader, please go to the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, where you would get the following definition on waste: “materials that are no longer needed and are thrown away.” This could be the case in our town or elsewhere in Ethiopia. However, in the civilized world, waste is really more than something to be thrown away. This piece briefly covers the issue of solid waste in the places I visited so far.
Virtually in any city I visited in the last few years, I noticed how the issue of solid waste is what naturally should come in any sane person’s mind. Any one of the paths and streets are shouting for our attention. If you walk either in the streets of the capital Addis Ababa or any other town in the country, you will definitely see how waste is wasted.
Once, a German environmentalist admired Ethiopia in the national radio for her environmental protection regarding the plastic mineral water containers which we keep for further use unlike in his home country. The containers are kept for use because our farmers mostly use them to carry water, oil, and gas with. Other sorts of plastic materials such as bags are left everywhere including in the farmlands and rivers where they make the most damage. Animals eat them, children put them into their mouths and the wind takes them from place to place.
Metallic waste is left on the streets and villages. Who cares if a nail injures poor people going barefoot! Whose worry would it be if a piece of tin waste cuts the hands of an unfortunate person? I and you should care! We should worry! How I was shocked as I saw my uncle’s foot injured by a rusting nail.
In Debre Berhan University, paper waste should be a matter of crucial attention for me and you; shouldn’t it? Some foreigners I met so far use both the back and front sides of sheets of paper. Nonetheless, I and my colleagues mostly throw paper with the back unused. In addition to this, we burn the exam papers after use. Some shop owners use used paper, documents and books to wrap commodities. The fact that used newspapers from other countries are employed here burns me. Why don’t we at least read for local shop consumption? I have heard of Rwandan companies exporting the paper waste to china for reproduction.
Who do you appreciate in their care for the environment? Gash Abera Molla, Wangari Matai or yourself? It is not flattery that put you among these great people, but it is a good wish. I believe that I and you can stand one day with pride for our concern for the environment. Kaizen is the fashion of the day now; isn’t it? Using this or any other knowledge, let us at least clean our surroundings.
What do you feel to be in the midst of construction waste, electronic waste, broken glass, khat waste, worn clothes that you trample on the road and every sort of waste that people throw? Am I blaming you my colleagues? No! I am rather motivating you all to be models for our students and the community. I believe that awareness creation should come first. That is why I scribbled what you already know. Have you ever asked yourself about solid waste management in our campus? I know that it is improving at least since we have some dustbins
Management schemes implemented in Addis are really promising. The authorities arranged a program where each household pays the collectors of the waste and it is taken care of before it causes the most damage. In the condominiums of Debre Birhan also the residents pay and get rid of the waste on time. An environment clean, green and conducive for humans comes this way.
I remember people saying when people throw waste 25 meters away from their homes, it comes back home one way or the other. Burning and landfill are hazardous and bad means of removing waste. Rather we should sort out the organic and the inorganic waste. The sorted out inorganic waste will be recycled. The organic waste can be used as fertilizer after the three months it takes to rot. Inorganic waste including glass and plastic can be exported or processed locally. Sustainable waste management comes this way; job opportunities will be available; green public areas will be there for the people to spend their times at; zooming compactors and municipal trucks will take care of the waste that is collected from every home. Let us work hard and envision a country clean and beautiful!
Ethiopia’s Engidwasha Cave Served As Safe House to Patriots During Italian Occupation
It was nine years ago that for the first time I experienced
what I call “Adefris Syndrome.” Like “Adefris,” the character in Daniachew Worku’s prominent
Amharic novel, I continually raise new ideas that seem strange to local
people. As a college student, I tried to share ideas from my modern life
and education with the people of my birthplace.
At the time, I was not accustomed to reading fiction during my summer break,
but mostly to listening to the radio and entertaining new thoughts, such
as, Why not introduce some places of importance from my hometown, Sasit, a
three-hour drive north of Debre Birhan, to the public and tourists?I knew the first step was to visit them myself and thoroughly research them by collecting oral stories about Engidwasha, a spectacular cave found in Moja, the place formerly known as Tegulet. Many people told me that a local patriot, Kasaye Wendaferew, had used Engidwasha to hide nearby residents and all of their livestock from fascist butchers in 1935.
I asked my interviewees, most of whom were community elders, if they knew how big the cave was, and they said it was endless. With my collection of oral stories complete, I started the job of organizing some people to venture in to the cave.
Around 100 people from the area organized themselves and prepared to go in to its heart. On Sunday, September 17, 2006, around 6:30 a.m., the amateur researchers came face-to-face with the graceful cave that resembled the entrance to hell.
The locals call it “hyena cave” and dreaded entering it, but just as “Adefris” drives his people toward a plethora of thoughts, I was driving my compatriots into this fearsome living hell relying solely on oral history.
Before we went into the cave, we enjoyed the
surrounding scenery and the horizon, which included views of Menz and
Selale that appeared before us as the sun rose behind the cave.
The entrance to the cave looked like an Ethiopian girl bent forward, washing
her hair. The two mountains on the cave’s sides looked like her shoulders,
and the river flowing in the valley between the mountains looked like her
lathered hair. The vegetation around the entrance of the cave reminded me
of how this country is really green at heart.Touching the waterfall, we could get an intimate sense of the seasonal gift, which made us feel we had nature in the palms of our hands.
The mouth of this magnificent natural wonder of Tegulet measures 105 meters wide. Inside, its height varies from one to three meters, and it is necessary to crawl along the narrow parts to reach the furthest corners of the cave.
The ascending and descending roofs give the cave the look of a big tent. Inside the cave, impenetrable darkness and stalactite and stalagmites — coupled with the stories about the presence of hyenas, tigers and snakes — make it a fearsome place.
Two brave local men, Ashenafi Workshet and Dereje Asrate, were courageous enough to go through the narrow passageways and into the inner parts of the cave.
Rocks; wild animal excrement; dry, red soil; and the skeletons of both animals and people are some of the things we stepped on as we went in deeper. The roof of the cave was dark, but when we scraped it, we saw that it twinkled with minerals. The elders of the area told us that Engidwasha had been darkened by the patriots who used smoke from torches to prevent the Italians from seeing what they thought were precious minerals and taking them away.
When I read the biography of the late-Haile Giorgis Workneh, the first Ethiopian civil engineer to receive a doctorate, I learned that a cave near Sasit served as a shelter for more than 400 patriots and their family members who were on the run during the Italian occupation in 1937. When the Italians came to look for the patriots, the locals informed the Italians that the patriots, whom they were hunting, were in the cave. The Italian forces surrounded the cave by the thousands, trapping the people in the cave. And after 14 days of hunger, thirst and confrontation, the men were butchered and the women and children, including Haile Giworgis, were taken to a prison in Menz and eventually Debre Birhan. I believe Engidwasha must be the cave from the story Haile mentions because of its size and the presence of a waterfall in front of it.
More Research To Be Done
I recommend an organized visit be made and research conducted in Engidwasha. It is a fertile area for research by archaeologists, geographers, historians, and geologists — all of which that can be done at universities like Debre Berhan, which is the nearest to the cave.
I invite all of my readers to make the journey to Sasit to visit and explore inside the magnificent Engidwasha cave and other historical caves. You can walk the hills and valleys that the Ethiopian patriots walked in order to see their fortresses and sit under the same trees where the patriots sat and plotted counterattacks against the enemy as they sheltered themselves from the sun.
በነሐሴ የገጠመኝ ችግር
በነሐሴ የገጠመኝ ችግር
የችግሬ ሁሉ መነሻ በጠባሴ ከሚገኘው ለ3 ዓመታት በኪራይ እኖርበት ከነበረው ቤት እስከ ነሐሴ 1፣ 2006 ድረስ ለቃችሁ ውጡ የሚል የጽሑፍ ማስጠንቀቂያ መሰጠቱ ነው፡፡ በግቢው ውስጥ ከምንኖረው 10 ግለሰቦች ለቆ መውጣት የቻለው 5 ሰው ብቻ ነው፡፡ ግቢውን ለሆቴል ፈልገንዋል ቢሉም እስከአሁን ስራ አልጀመሩም፡፡ ክረምትን ቢያቆዩን ወይም ከበጋው ቢነግሩን ምናለ? ከዚህ ግቢ ከወጣሁ በኋላ የገባሁበት የኮንዶሚኒየም ስቱዲዮ በሩን ለመዝጋት እና ለመክፈት ለበርካታ ደቂቃዎች መታገል ግድ ነው፡፡ እቃዎቼን የማጋዙ አድካሚና አድቃቂ ስራ በዕቃ ጋሪ አልጋዬንና የመጽሐፍት መደርደሪያዬን ወደ አዲሱ ቤቴ በማግባት ተጠናቀቀ፡፡ ጓደኞቼም ‹‹እንኳን ወደ ዘመናዊ ቤት በደህና መጣህ›› አሉኝ፡፡ ይህን የዘመናዊ አኗኗር ነገር ሳስበው ትዝ የሚለኝ የስራ ባልደረባዬ መምህር አብዮት ዲባባ ሲሆን እርሱም ‹‹ወደ ኮንዶሚኒየም ግባ›› ብሎኝ ምክሩን አልሰማ ስለው ‹‹ከሽንኩርት ጋር አንድ ቤት መኖር አቁም፤ ዘመናዊ ኑሮ ጀምር፤ ራሱን የቻለ ኩሽና እና መታጠቢያ ይኑርህ፡፡›› ይለኝ ነበር፡፡ ከአንድ ቤት ለቆ ወደ ሌላ ቤት የመግባትን ጣጣ እያሰብኩት እንጅ የአብዮትን ምክር ትክክለኛነት ሳልረዳው ቀርቼ አልነበረም፡፡
ለካ የሰው መዳኒቱ ሰው ነው!
አዲሱ ቤቴ ከገባሁ በኋላ አንድ ቀን አንዲት ዘመዴ ቡና አፍልታ ቤቱን መረቀችልኝ፡፡ እድሜ ይስጥልኝ የኔ እህት! በማግስቱ ግን ከቤት ለመውጣት በሩን ‹‹ተከፈት›› ብለው ‹‹አሻፈረኝ!›› ‹‹ነይ እስኪ ክፈችልኝ›› ብዬ ብጠራትና ብትሞክረው አልከፈት አላት፡፡ ተስፋዬ አሸናፊ እና ለማ ደምሴም ቢሞክሩት አልሆን ብሎ ምሳዬን እንደ እስረኛ በመስኮት ሰጥተውኝ ሄዱ፡፡ ከዚያም በኋላ ለአከራዬ ደውዬ ጉዳዩን አስረድቻት ‹‹ከሰዓት በኋላ ስብሰባ ቢኖርብኝም›› ብላ ባለሙያ ይዛ መጥታ ከሰዓት በኋላ አስከፈተችልኝ፡፡ የገነት በር ይከፈትልሽ የኔ እመቤት! በሬን ቆልፌ ስተኛ ‹‹ደሞ ነገ እንዴት ይከፈትልኝ ይሆን›› እያልኩ፣ ቆልፌ ወደ ስራም ሄጄ ‹‹እንዴት ከፍቼ እገባ ይሆን›› በማለት ስሰጋ ከረምኩ፡፡ ስጋት (አንዛይቲ) ደግሞ ከልክ በላይ የተሰጠኝ ሰው ሳልሆን አልቀርም፡፡
ጉዱ ቅዳሜ ነው፡፡ ምግብ ለማዘጋጀት ጉድ ጉድ ብልም መብራት የለም፡፡ ውሃ ከይድነቃቸው ሶሎሞን ቤት በባልዲ ቀድቼ ስመጣ የመብራቱን አለመኖር አስቤ ወደ መስሪያ ቤት ለመሄድ ስዘጋጅ በሩ አልዘጋ ብሎ በግድ ተዘጋልኝ፡፡ የበሩ የብሎን ማስገቢያዎች በደንብ እና በትክክለኛው ቦታ ስላልተበሱ ቁልፉስ ቢሆን ምን ላይ ይያዝ? ከሰዓት በኋላ ስመለስ ‹‹ና ተከፈት›› ብለው ‹‹አንተ ማን ስለሆንክ እከፈትልሃለሁ!›› አይለኝም! ከዋናው መሸጎሪያ በላይ ያለችው ትንሽ መሸጎሪያ ስፕሪንጓ ለቆ ተቀርቅራ ቅርት አለች፡፡ የታችኛው ቁልፍ ይሰራል፤ እሷ ግን አላስከፍትም አለች፡፡ ቅዳሜ እውጭ አደርኩ፡፡ እሁድ ለአከራዬ ብደውል ‹‹ሰው ፈልገህ አሰራው›› አለችኝ፡፡ የፈለግሁት ሰው ደግሞ ‹‹ይህን በጉልበት በፌሮ ብረት ተከፈት ብለው የበሩ መስተዋት ሊሰበር ይችላል፤ ቁልፉም ከጥቅም ውጭ ይሆናል›› አለኝ፡፡ እሁድም እንዲሁ ታደረ፡፡ ቅዳሜና እሁድ ያሳደረኝ ጓደኛዬ መምህር ሳለአምላክ ጥላሁን ሲሆን እንደ ፈረንጅ አገር ባለ መኝታ ቤቶች አሳድሮ ቁርስ አብልቶ ይሸኘኛል፡፡ በአያሌው አመሰግናለሁ፡፡ ደጋግሞ ‹‹ኮንዶሚኒየም ቤት እንከናም ነው›› ይለኛል፡፡ መታጠቢያ ቤት ውስጥ የተዘጉ እና ቁልፉም በማስቸገሩ ሰው ሳይሰማቸው ውለው ያደሩ ሰዎች እንዳሉ ሳለአምላክ ነግሮኛል፤ ከሌሎችም ሰምቻለሁ፡፡ ሰኞ አከራዬ አንድ ባለገራዥ ይዛልኝ መጣች፡፡ እርሱም በሩን አይቶት ዛሬ ሚካኤል ስለሆነ ብሎ ነው መሰለኝ ‹‹ወደ ማታ እመጣለሁ ከቅዳሴ ሲወጡ›› ብሎኝ በሩን አይቶትና ካል የሚባለውን ቁልፍ በ420 ብር አጋዝቶ ተሰናበተኝ፡፡
በተቀጣጠርንበት ሰዓት ብጠበቀው ቀረ፡፡ ስደውልለት አያነሳውም፡፡ ማታ 12፡30 አካባቢ ደውሎ አልመጣም ነገ ጠዋት 1፡00 እመጣለሁ ብሎኝ እርፍ! ያገሬ ሰው ‹‹አናጢ፣ መናጢ›› ያለው ወዶ መሰላችሁ! ይህን አለመምጣቱን በሰማሁበት ጊዜ ወደ ደ/ብርሃን ከተማ ሄድኩ፡፡ ቤርጎም ያዝኩ፡፡ ለስራ ጉዳይ ወደ ከተማው ከመጣው አጎቴ ጋር አደርኩ፡፡ የቤርጎ የከፈለው እርሱ ነው፡፡ ከእርሱ ጋር ስናወራም ‹‹ኦባማ በቃ እንደበሬ ሆነ እኮ›› አለኝ፡፡ እርስዎ የአሜሪካው ፕሬዚዳንት ወፈሩ ማለቱ ነው ወይ ሊሉ ይችሉ ይሆናል፡፡ ግን ገበሬው ሁሉ መኪና ገዛ ማለቱ ነው ስልዎት ከልቤ ነው፡፡ አስተማሪ መኪና የሚገዛው ከስንት አንድ ሆኖ ሳለ ገበሬው እና ከአራተኛ ክፍል ያቋረጠው ጓደኛዎ ባለ ኦባማ ሲሆን ቅር እንዳይልዎት! ሰው ያለለትን ነው የሚያገኘው፡፡ እግራችን ደህና ይሁንልን፡፡ አድሬም ወደ ጠባሴ (ቀበሌ 09) ከንጋቱ 12፡30 አካባቢ ላይ መጣሁ፡፡ ጠዋት ዝናብ በመሆኑ ሰውዬው ሲዘገይብኝ ‹‹እንደኔ ያለ ሰው እንዲህ ከተፈጥሮ ጋር ይፋለማል›› አልኩ፡፡ በዚህ ወቅት በጓደኛዬ በአማን ቃዲሮ በር አጠገብ ከውጭ ሆኜ የሰውየውን መምጣት እጠባበቅ ነበር፡፡ ‹‹መዘምር ዛሬማ አማርኛሽም ተቀይሯል›› ይለኛል፡፡ ስናደድ እና መላው ሲጠፋኝ እውነተኛው ስብዕናዬ ወጣ መሰለኝ፡፡ ሰውየው ወደ 2፡00 አካባቢ መጣና በሩን ገነጠለ፡፡ የራሴ ቤት እንዲኖረኝ መከረኝ፡፡ መልካም ነው፤ ሌሎችም፣ የስራ ባልደረቦቼም መክረውኝ አልሰማ ብዬ ነው፡፡ ብሰማስ ምን አመጣለሁ፡፡ አዲሱን ካል ቁልፍ ለመግጠም ሲሞር የብሎን ማገቢያዎቹ ቀዳዶች ስላስቸገሩት ወደ ስራው ቦታ መብሻ (ድሪል) ለማምጣት ሄዶ እስከ 6፡00ም አልመጣም፡፡ ሄዶም ካመጣ በኋላ በሩን በስቶ አስተካከለልኝ፤ መክፈትና መዝጋትም ተቻለ፡፡ ከሰውነቴ ላይ የሆነ ነገር ሲለቀኝ ተሰማኝ፡፡
‹‹መጣና ባመቱ ኧረ እንደምን ሰነበቱ?
እዚያ ማዶ ሆ…›› የሚሉት ልጆች አመቱን ጠብቀው ጎረቤት ሲያሞግሱ ይህን ጽሑፍ እየተየብኩ ነበር፡፡ የኔን አከራረም ይጠይቁኛል ብዬ ሳስብ የኔ ቤት ገባ ስለሚል አላዩትም መሰለኝ ወደ ሌላ ቤት ሄዱ፡፡ እኔና አንድ የደሴ ኮሌጅ የእንግሊዝኛ መምህር አጠገብ ላጠገብ ተቀምጠን አዳማ ራስ ሆቴል ስለ እንግሊዝኛ ማስተማር የዛሬ ሁለት ዓመት ስንሰለጥን የደላቸው በሆቴሉ ባለ መዋኛ ገንዳ ሲዋኙ ‹‹አየህ እኛ እዚህ ስንት እናነባለን እንጽፈለን እንጨናነቃለን እነሱ እንደዚህ ይዝናናሉ›› ብሎ እንደታዘበው ሁሉ የኛ አከራረም ከበድ ይላል፡፡ ባይጠይቁን ይሻላል፡፡ ግን ላገራችን ለውጥ ስለምሰራ እንጽናናለን፡፡
የሸቀጦች ጥራት
‹‹የተቀደደ ሱሪ ለብሰው ክፍል ሊያስተምሩ ሲመጡ የማይሸማቀቁ የሁለተኛ ደረጃ መምህራን እየመጡ ነው›› ያሉኝ ነባር መምህር እንደታዘቡት ሁሉ የተቀደደ ልብስ የሚለብሱ መምህራን፣ ተማሪዎች፣ ነጋዴዎች፣ ገበሬዎች፣ አናጢዎች፣ ሀኪሞች ባጠቃላይ ዜጎች ይኖራሉ፡፡ ለምን በሉ፡፡ ከምክንያቶቹም ውስጥ ዋነኛው ወደ ሐገራችን የሚገቡ ምርቶች ጥራት ማጣታቸው ነው፡፡ አንድ ህንዳዊ መምህር ሁለት ዓመት ለበስኩት ያሉኝ ጫማ ሁለት ሳምንት የተለበሰ አይመስልም፡፡ እኔ በ750 ብር የገዛሁት ጫማ ግን ገና ወር ሳይሞላው ነው ይላጥ የገባው፡፡ ታዲያ በዚህ ሁኔታ መሸማቀቅ ያለብኝ እኔ ነኝ ወይንስ ይህን የሞተ ጫማ አገር ውስጥ ያስገባው? በየወሩ የሚቀየር ቁልፍ ለምን ወደ ሐገራችን ይገባብናል፡፡ የሸማቾች መብት ጥበቃ ባለስልጣን በራዲዮ ፋና ሕንጻ ስንትና ስንት ፎቅ ይዞ እና በየዞኑ ሳይቀር ቢሮ ከፍቶ ለሰራተኞቹ እኔ ከምከፍለው ግብር እየተከፈለው የማንን ጎፈሬ ያበጥራል! ስንትና ስንት ሺህ ብር የወጣበት ሞባይል ሲበላሽ ‹‹አይ እሱማ ሃይ ኮፒ እኮ ነው ምን ማድረግ ይቻላል?›› ሲባሉ ከብስጭት በቀር ምን ይውጥዎታል፡፡ በትግራይ ስላለው የጋብቻ ስርዓት እና ሙሽራው ስለሚጠበቅበት ግዴታ ያስረዳኝ የትግራይ ተወላጅ ያለኝን ነገር ይህን ሁሉ አገር ሄጄ ላምጣው፡፡ ‹‹ያንተ ሚስት በወርቅ ሳትንቆጠቆጥ ከታየች ይህች ማነች ሳይሆን ይህች የማነች ሚስት ብለው እርሷን ሳይሆን አንተን ነው ሰዎች የሚሰድቡህ›› ብሎ እንዳለው ሁሉ አንድን የተጎሳቆለ ኢትዮጵያዊ ያየ ሰው ያንን ጎስቋላ ሳይሆን መንግስቱን ነው የሚወቅሰው፡፡ መንግስት አንድ የሁላችንም አባት የሆኑ ትልቅ ሽማግሌ ሰውዬ እንዳልሆኑ ይገባኛል፡፡ መንግስት የሚመስለኝ ሁላችንም ነን፡፡ በኮንዶሚኒየም ሕንጻዎች አሰራር ያለውን ንቅዘት ዝም የምንል ዜጎች፣ ሐላፊዎች፣ ነጋዴዎች፣ ስራ ተቋራጮች ሁሉ!
የጋራ ቤቶች ወንጋራነት
ያገሬ ደማሞች እንደሚሉት ከሆነ ‹‹የጋራ ወንጋራ›› ነው ማለቴ አያስወቅሰኝም፡፡ የጋራ ቤት መስራት እርግጥ ነው ቦታ ይቆጥባል፡፡ እርግጥ ነው ቤት መስሪያ ገንዘብ ለሌለው ሰው ጊዜያዊ መፍትሔ ይሰጣል፡፡ አሁን ማን ይሙት የላይኛውን ቤት ቆሻሻ የታችኛው በምን ዕዳው ነው የሚያስታምመው! ከጋራ ቤቶች ችግር የሌለበት አይታችሁ ይሆን ወዳጆቼ? በሩ፣ ሲንኩ፣ የመጸዳጃው ቤት ዕቃዎች፣ የኤሌክትሪክ ዕቃዎቹ ለእርስዎ አገልግሎት ሳይሆን ራስ ምታት ለመስጠት የተጣሉብዎት ዕዳዎች ናቸው፡፡ ‹‹በቀላሉ የተሰራ የገጠር ቤት ምን አለበት?›› ስል ነበር፡፡
በተንገላታሁባቸው 4 ቀናት እንዳየሁት ስደት ክፉ ነው፡፡ እኔስ በወገኔ መሃል፣ በሰላም አገር ሆኜ ነው፡፡ ከሃገራቸው ወጥተው በጦርነት ውስጥ እየማቀቁ የሚኖሩትን ሰዎች አሰብኳቸው፡፡ የመጀመሪያ ዓመት ተማሪ ሆኜ ያጋጠሙኝ ነባር አዲሱን ተማሪ አናናቂ ከሰሜን ሸዋ እና ከወሎ የመጡ ተማሪዎች መኖሪያ አሳጥተው ያሰቃዩኝ ትዝ አለኝ፡፡ ጉልቤ (bully) እንዲጠፋ እፈልግ ነበር፡፡ ያው አይኑን ማጥፋት የማይቻል ስለነበረ ማለት ነው፡፡
ለበጎ ነው
‹‹ኮንዶሚኒየም በዚህ ሁኔታ ከተቀበለህ ይህ ቤት የሆነ ደግ ነገር ያመጣልሃል›› በማለት መልካም ምኞቱን የገለጸልኝ የሐረሩ ተወላጅ መምህር አሸናፊ ምን ዓይነት በጎ ነገር እንደተመኙልኝ ግልጽ አላደረጉልኝም፡: ይህንንም መናገር የቻልንው ቤቶቹ ቢሰሩ እንደሆነ አንክድም፡፡ እሰይ ቤት ይሰራ! ግን በጥሩ ሁኔታ ይሁን፡፡ አንዳንድ አከራዮች ውለው ይግቡ፡፡ የእነርሱ ቤት ባይኖርልን የት እናርፍ ነበር? እኔ ያየኋቸውን አይነት የአዲስ አበባ አከራዮችን ግን ውለው ይግቡ የሚለው ምርቃት ይበዛባቸዋል፡፡
የችግሬ ሁሉ መነሻ በጠባሴ ከሚገኘው ለ3 ዓመታት በኪራይ እኖርበት ከነበረው ቤት እስከ ነሐሴ 1፣ 2006 ድረስ ለቃችሁ ውጡ የሚል የጽሑፍ ማስጠንቀቂያ መሰጠቱ ነው፡፡ በግቢው ውስጥ ከምንኖረው 10 ግለሰቦች ለቆ መውጣት የቻለው 5 ሰው ብቻ ነው፡፡ ግቢውን ለሆቴል ፈልገንዋል ቢሉም እስከአሁን ስራ አልጀመሩም፡፡ ክረምትን ቢያቆዩን ወይም ከበጋው ቢነግሩን ምናለ? ከዚህ ግቢ ከወጣሁ በኋላ የገባሁበት የኮንዶሚኒየም ስቱዲዮ በሩን ለመዝጋት እና ለመክፈት ለበርካታ ደቂቃዎች መታገል ግድ ነው፡፡ እቃዎቼን የማጋዙ አድካሚና አድቃቂ ስራ በዕቃ ጋሪ አልጋዬንና የመጽሐፍት መደርደሪያዬን ወደ አዲሱ ቤቴ በማግባት ተጠናቀቀ፡፡ ጓደኞቼም ‹‹እንኳን ወደ ዘመናዊ ቤት በደህና መጣህ›› አሉኝ፡፡ ይህን የዘመናዊ አኗኗር ነገር ሳስበው ትዝ የሚለኝ የስራ ባልደረባዬ መምህር አብዮት ዲባባ ሲሆን እርሱም ‹‹ወደ ኮንዶሚኒየም ግባ›› ብሎኝ ምክሩን አልሰማ ስለው ‹‹ከሽንኩርት ጋር አንድ ቤት መኖር አቁም፤ ዘመናዊ ኑሮ ጀምር፤ ራሱን የቻለ ኩሽና እና መታጠቢያ ይኑርህ፡፡›› ይለኝ ነበር፡፡ ከአንድ ቤት ለቆ ወደ ሌላ ቤት የመግባትን ጣጣ እያሰብኩት እንጅ የአብዮትን ምክር ትክክለኛነት ሳልረዳው ቀርቼ አልነበረም፡፡
ለካ የሰው መዳኒቱ ሰው ነው!
አዲሱ ቤቴ ከገባሁ በኋላ አንድ ቀን አንዲት ዘመዴ ቡና አፍልታ ቤቱን መረቀችልኝ፡፡ እድሜ ይስጥልኝ የኔ እህት! በማግስቱ ግን ከቤት ለመውጣት በሩን ‹‹ተከፈት›› ብለው ‹‹አሻፈረኝ!›› ‹‹ነይ እስኪ ክፈችልኝ›› ብዬ ብጠራትና ብትሞክረው አልከፈት አላት፡፡ ተስፋዬ አሸናፊ እና ለማ ደምሴም ቢሞክሩት አልሆን ብሎ ምሳዬን እንደ እስረኛ በመስኮት ሰጥተውኝ ሄዱ፡፡ ከዚያም በኋላ ለአከራዬ ደውዬ ጉዳዩን አስረድቻት ‹‹ከሰዓት በኋላ ስብሰባ ቢኖርብኝም›› ብላ ባለሙያ ይዛ መጥታ ከሰዓት በኋላ አስከፈተችልኝ፡፡ የገነት በር ይከፈትልሽ የኔ እመቤት! በሬን ቆልፌ ስተኛ ‹‹ደሞ ነገ እንዴት ይከፈትልኝ ይሆን›› እያልኩ፣ ቆልፌ ወደ ስራም ሄጄ ‹‹እንዴት ከፍቼ እገባ ይሆን›› በማለት ስሰጋ ከረምኩ፡፡ ስጋት (አንዛይቲ) ደግሞ ከልክ በላይ የተሰጠኝ ሰው ሳልሆን አልቀርም፡፡
ጉዱ ቅዳሜ ነው፡፡ ምግብ ለማዘጋጀት ጉድ ጉድ ብልም መብራት የለም፡፡ ውሃ ከይድነቃቸው ሶሎሞን ቤት በባልዲ ቀድቼ ስመጣ የመብራቱን አለመኖር አስቤ ወደ መስሪያ ቤት ለመሄድ ስዘጋጅ በሩ አልዘጋ ብሎ በግድ ተዘጋልኝ፡፡ የበሩ የብሎን ማስገቢያዎች በደንብ እና በትክክለኛው ቦታ ስላልተበሱ ቁልፉስ ቢሆን ምን ላይ ይያዝ? ከሰዓት በኋላ ስመለስ ‹‹ና ተከፈት›› ብለው ‹‹አንተ ማን ስለሆንክ እከፈትልሃለሁ!›› አይለኝም! ከዋናው መሸጎሪያ በላይ ያለችው ትንሽ መሸጎሪያ ስፕሪንጓ ለቆ ተቀርቅራ ቅርት አለች፡፡ የታችኛው ቁልፍ ይሰራል፤ እሷ ግን አላስከፍትም አለች፡፡ ቅዳሜ እውጭ አደርኩ፡፡ እሁድ ለአከራዬ ብደውል ‹‹ሰው ፈልገህ አሰራው›› አለችኝ፡፡ የፈለግሁት ሰው ደግሞ ‹‹ይህን በጉልበት በፌሮ ብረት ተከፈት ብለው የበሩ መስተዋት ሊሰበር ይችላል፤ ቁልፉም ከጥቅም ውጭ ይሆናል›› አለኝ፡፡ እሁድም እንዲሁ ታደረ፡፡ ቅዳሜና እሁድ ያሳደረኝ ጓደኛዬ መምህር ሳለአምላክ ጥላሁን ሲሆን እንደ ፈረንጅ አገር ባለ መኝታ ቤቶች አሳድሮ ቁርስ አብልቶ ይሸኘኛል፡፡ በአያሌው አመሰግናለሁ፡፡ ደጋግሞ ‹‹ኮንዶሚኒየም ቤት እንከናም ነው›› ይለኛል፡፡ መታጠቢያ ቤት ውስጥ የተዘጉ እና ቁልፉም በማስቸገሩ ሰው ሳይሰማቸው ውለው ያደሩ ሰዎች እንዳሉ ሳለአምላክ ነግሮኛል፤ ከሌሎችም ሰምቻለሁ፡፡ ሰኞ አከራዬ አንድ ባለገራዥ ይዛልኝ መጣች፡፡ እርሱም በሩን አይቶት ዛሬ ሚካኤል ስለሆነ ብሎ ነው መሰለኝ ‹‹ወደ ማታ እመጣለሁ ከቅዳሴ ሲወጡ›› ብሎኝ በሩን አይቶትና ካል የሚባለውን ቁልፍ በ420 ብር አጋዝቶ ተሰናበተኝ፡፡
በተቀጣጠርንበት ሰዓት ብጠበቀው ቀረ፡፡ ስደውልለት አያነሳውም፡፡ ማታ 12፡30 አካባቢ ደውሎ አልመጣም ነገ ጠዋት 1፡00 እመጣለሁ ብሎኝ እርፍ! ያገሬ ሰው ‹‹አናጢ፣ መናጢ›› ያለው ወዶ መሰላችሁ! ይህን አለመምጣቱን በሰማሁበት ጊዜ ወደ ደ/ብርሃን ከተማ ሄድኩ፡፡ ቤርጎም ያዝኩ፡፡ ለስራ ጉዳይ ወደ ከተማው ከመጣው አጎቴ ጋር አደርኩ፡፡ የቤርጎ የከፈለው እርሱ ነው፡፡ ከእርሱ ጋር ስናወራም ‹‹ኦባማ በቃ እንደበሬ ሆነ እኮ›› አለኝ፡፡ እርስዎ የአሜሪካው ፕሬዚዳንት ወፈሩ ማለቱ ነው ወይ ሊሉ ይችሉ ይሆናል፡፡ ግን ገበሬው ሁሉ መኪና ገዛ ማለቱ ነው ስልዎት ከልቤ ነው፡፡ አስተማሪ መኪና የሚገዛው ከስንት አንድ ሆኖ ሳለ ገበሬው እና ከአራተኛ ክፍል ያቋረጠው ጓደኛዎ ባለ ኦባማ ሲሆን ቅር እንዳይልዎት! ሰው ያለለትን ነው የሚያገኘው፡፡ እግራችን ደህና ይሁንልን፡፡ አድሬም ወደ ጠባሴ (ቀበሌ 09) ከንጋቱ 12፡30 አካባቢ ላይ መጣሁ፡፡ ጠዋት ዝናብ በመሆኑ ሰውዬው ሲዘገይብኝ ‹‹እንደኔ ያለ ሰው እንዲህ ከተፈጥሮ ጋር ይፋለማል›› አልኩ፡፡ በዚህ ወቅት በጓደኛዬ በአማን ቃዲሮ በር አጠገብ ከውጭ ሆኜ የሰውየውን መምጣት እጠባበቅ ነበር፡፡ ‹‹መዘምር ዛሬማ አማርኛሽም ተቀይሯል›› ይለኛል፡፡ ስናደድ እና መላው ሲጠፋኝ እውነተኛው ስብዕናዬ ወጣ መሰለኝ፡፡ ሰውየው ወደ 2፡00 አካባቢ መጣና በሩን ገነጠለ፡፡ የራሴ ቤት እንዲኖረኝ መከረኝ፡፡ መልካም ነው፤ ሌሎችም፣ የስራ ባልደረቦቼም መክረውኝ አልሰማ ብዬ ነው፡፡ ብሰማስ ምን አመጣለሁ፡፡ አዲሱን ካል ቁልፍ ለመግጠም ሲሞር የብሎን ማገቢያዎቹ ቀዳዶች ስላስቸገሩት ወደ ስራው ቦታ መብሻ (ድሪል) ለማምጣት ሄዶ እስከ 6፡00ም አልመጣም፡፡ ሄዶም ካመጣ በኋላ በሩን በስቶ አስተካከለልኝ፤ መክፈትና መዝጋትም ተቻለ፡፡ ከሰውነቴ ላይ የሆነ ነገር ሲለቀኝ ተሰማኝ፡፡
‹‹መጣና ባመቱ ኧረ እንደምን ሰነበቱ?
እዚያ ማዶ ሆ…›› የሚሉት ልጆች አመቱን ጠብቀው ጎረቤት ሲያሞግሱ ይህን ጽሑፍ እየተየብኩ ነበር፡፡ የኔን አከራረም ይጠይቁኛል ብዬ ሳስብ የኔ ቤት ገባ ስለሚል አላዩትም መሰለኝ ወደ ሌላ ቤት ሄዱ፡፡ እኔና አንድ የደሴ ኮሌጅ የእንግሊዝኛ መምህር አጠገብ ላጠገብ ተቀምጠን አዳማ ራስ ሆቴል ስለ እንግሊዝኛ ማስተማር የዛሬ ሁለት ዓመት ስንሰለጥን የደላቸው በሆቴሉ ባለ መዋኛ ገንዳ ሲዋኙ ‹‹አየህ እኛ እዚህ ስንት እናነባለን እንጽፈለን እንጨናነቃለን እነሱ እንደዚህ ይዝናናሉ›› ብሎ እንደታዘበው ሁሉ የኛ አከራረም ከበድ ይላል፡፡ ባይጠይቁን ይሻላል፡፡ ግን ላገራችን ለውጥ ስለምሰራ እንጽናናለን፡፡
የሸቀጦች ጥራት
‹‹የተቀደደ ሱሪ ለብሰው ክፍል ሊያስተምሩ ሲመጡ የማይሸማቀቁ የሁለተኛ ደረጃ መምህራን እየመጡ ነው›› ያሉኝ ነባር መምህር እንደታዘቡት ሁሉ የተቀደደ ልብስ የሚለብሱ መምህራን፣ ተማሪዎች፣ ነጋዴዎች፣ ገበሬዎች፣ አናጢዎች፣ ሀኪሞች ባጠቃላይ ዜጎች ይኖራሉ፡፡ ለምን በሉ፡፡ ከምክንያቶቹም ውስጥ ዋነኛው ወደ ሐገራችን የሚገቡ ምርቶች ጥራት ማጣታቸው ነው፡፡ አንድ ህንዳዊ መምህር ሁለት ዓመት ለበስኩት ያሉኝ ጫማ ሁለት ሳምንት የተለበሰ አይመስልም፡፡ እኔ በ750 ብር የገዛሁት ጫማ ግን ገና ወር ሳይሞላው ነው ይላጥ የገባው፡፡ ታዲያ በዚህ ሁኔታ መሸማቀቅ ያለብኝ እኔ ነኝ ወይንስ ይህን የሞተ ጫማ አገር ውስጥ ያስገባው? በየወሩ የሚቀየር ቁልፍ ለምን ወደ ሐገራችን ይገባብናል፡፡ የሸማቾች መብት ጥበቃ ባለስልጣን በራዲዮ ፋና ሕንጻ ስንትና ስንት ፎቅ ይዞ እና በየዞኑ ሳይቀር ቢሮ ከፍቶ ለሰራተኞቹ እኔ ከምከፍለው ግብር እየተከፈለው የማንን ጎፈሬ ያበጥራል! ስንትና ስንት ሺህ ብር የወጣበት ሞባይል ሲበላሽ ‹‹አይ እሱማ ሃይ ኮፒ እኮ ነው ምን ማድረግ ይቻላል?›› ሲባሉ ከብስጭት በቀር ምን ይውጥዎታል፡፡ በትግራይ ስላለው የጋብቻ ስርዓት እና ሙሽራው ስለሚጠበቅበት ግዴታ ያስረዳኝ የትግራይ ተወላጅ ያለኝን ነገር ይህን ሁሉ አገር ሄጄ ላምጣው፡፡ ‹‹ያንተ ሚስት በወርቅ ሳትንቆጠቆጥ ከታየች ይህች ማነች ሳይሆን ይህች የማነች ሚስት ብለው እርሷን ሳይሆን አንተን ነው ሰዎች የሚሰድቡህ›› ብሎ እንዳለው ሁሉ አንድን የተጎሳቆለ ኢትዮጵያዊ ያየ ሰው ያንን ጎስቋላ ሳይሆን መንግስቱን ነው የሚወቅሰው፡፡ መንግስት አንድ የሁላችንም አባት የሆኑ ትልቅ ሽማግሌ ሰውዬ እንዳልሆኑ ይገባኛል፡፡ መንግስት የሚመስለኝ ሁላችንም ነን፡፡ በኮንዶሚኒየም ሕንጻዎች አሰራር ያለውን ንቅዘት ዝም የምንል ዜጎች፣ ሐላፊዎች፣ ነጋዴዎች፣ ስራ ተቋራጮች ሁሉ!
የጋራ ቤቶች ወንጋራነት
ያገሬ ደማሞች እንደሚሉት ከሆነ ‹‹የጋራ ወንጋራ›› ነው ማለቴ አያስወቅሰኝም፡፡ የጋራ ቤት መስራት እርግጥ ነው ቦታ ይቆጥባል፡፡ እርግጥ ነው ቤት መስሪያ ገንዘብ ለሌለው ሰው ጊዜያዊ መፍትሔ ይሰጣል፡፡ አሁን ማን ይሙት የላይኛውን ቤት ቆሻሻ የታችኛው በምን ዕዳው ነው የሚያስታምመው! ከጋራ ቤቶች ችግር የሌለበት አይታችሁ ይሆን ወዳጆቼ? በሩ፣ ሲንኩ፣ የመጸዳጃው ቤት ዕቃዎች፣ የኤሌክትሪክ ዕቃዎቹ ለእርስዎ አገልግሎት ሳይሆን ራስ ምታት ለመስጠት የተጣሉብዎት ዕዳዎች ናቸው፡፡ ‹‹በቀላሉ የተሰራ የገጠር ቤት ምን አለበት?›› ስል ነበር፡፡
በተንገላታሁባቸው 4 ቀናት እንዳየሁት ስደት ክፉ ነው፡፡ እኔስ በወገኔ መሃል፣ በሰላም አገር ሆኜ ነው፡፡ ከሃገራቸው ወጥተው በጦርነት ውስጥ እየማቀቁ የሚኖሩትን ሰዎች አሰብኳቸው፡፡ የመጀመሪያ ዓመት ተማሪ ሆኜ ያጋጠሙኝ ነባር አዲሱን ተማሪ አናናቂ ከሰሜን ሸዋ እና ከወሎ የመጡ ተማሪዎች መኖሪያ አሳጥተው ያሰቃዩኝ ትዝ አለኝ፡፡ ጉልቤ (bully) እንዲጠፋ እፈልግ ነበር፡፡ ያው አይኑን ማጥፋት የማይቻል ስለነበረ ማለት ነው፡፡
ለበጎ ነው
‹‹ኮንዶሚኒየም በዚህ ሁኔታ ከተቀበለህ ይህ ቤት የሆነ ደግ ነገር ያመጣልሃል›› በማለት መልካም ምኞቱን የገለጸልኝ የሐረሩ ተወላጅ መምህር አሸናፊ ምን ዓይነት በጎ ነገር እንደተመኙልኝ ግልጽ አላደረጉልኝም፡: ይህንንም መናገር የቻልንው ቤቶቹ ቢሰሩ እንደሆነ አንክድም፡፡ እሰይ ቤት ይሰራ! ግን በጥሩ ሁኔታ ይሁን፡፡ አንዳንድ አከራዮች ውለው ይግቡ፡፡ የእነርሱ ቤት ባይኖርልን የት እናርፍ ነበር? እኔ ያየኋቸውን አይነት የአዲስ አበባ አከራዮችን ግን ውለው ይግቡ የሚለው ምርቃት ይበዛባቸዋል፡፡
2014 ጁን 11, ረቡዕ
Book Review Yacob Wolde – Mariam, Brief Autobiography and Selected Articles (2003)
Review by Mezemir Girma
The
autobiography that extends over the book’s part one starts by narrating that the
writer is from Nekempte, “the [former] capital of minerally and agriculturally
rich Wollega” (Yacob, 2003, 18). His family had intimacy with Onesimos Nesib,
the former slave who translated the Holy Bible into Oromo; Wollega Governors
like Dejazmachs Gebre-Egziabher and his son,
Habte –Mariam, who was “allegedly poisoned by Italian fascists late in
1937” (25).
The
author was an elementary student in the “Italian times”. He wrote that he was
informed later by authority that Italian troops, who invaded Nakamte in 1936,
when he was seven, were numbered 12,000. He is a living witness of the heart
breaking killings and injustices then. Let us consider this narration:
… Ayana
Birru – a mining engineer who had graduated from the Imperial College of
Science and Technology of the University of London – was a family friend who
was giving the Italians a hard time. One day, he was spotted in his hideout in
Nekempte and betrayed by an enemy to the fascists. One evening, however, he had
staged a dramatic escape from prison and was on the run at a treacherously
marshy place below our house. Just before catching him at the marsh and killing
him on the spot – a marsh in which he was sinking deeper and deeper – the
Italians were, I remember, ransacking our house on suspicion that we had hidden
him somewhere. (22)
The
writer also remembers what happened when the British forces along with local
patriots drove out the Italians. “When the thirst was too much for the Italian
soldiers they were drinking their own urine. Many an Italian soldier had committed
suicide with the words: ‘Addio Roma’” (23). After the Italians went out, the
author resumed his lesson at the Missione della Consolata in Nekempte. He adds,
“By April 1945, I was in Addis Ababa – the first and only student to graduate
from Nekempte for secondary education in Addis Ababa” (27). He pursued his
education in the Haile – Selassie I Secondary School (HSISS) at Kotebe, today’s
Kotebe College, and whose teachers’ contributions he acknowledges. They
organized for their students a supervised class-work after supper. He gives
credit to his expatriate teachers including Abebe Bikila’s coach - Major Onni
Niskannen, who was Yacob’s sports teacher in the late 1940s. He tells us that
he received prizes from the hands of the emperor in music and sports.
Yacob
“passed the London Matriculation Examination with distinction” (34). Nine
students were selected out of 83 and left for London for university education;
the others were to join the newly opened University College of Addis Ababa,
today’s Addis Ababa University. Endalkachew Mekonnen, Imperial Ethiopia’s last
PM, and Iskindir Desta are among those children of the aristocracy who studied
in London in Yacob’s time. They did not go to Ethiopian Student’s Association’s
meetings, which the writer remembers bitterly. He wrote, “As the English saying
has it, pride goes before a fall” (40) referring to their eventual execution by
the Military junta.
The
presence of dramatic changes in the writer’s life is just one of the reasons
you want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens. He lived with host
families there in London and failed to bring his lessons to an end since the
government in Addis Ababa had forced him to study engineering, a field he detested.
It was the field the sponsoring ministry chose that Ethiopian students had to
study then. EELPA was Yacob’s sponsor, so that he would work for it after
graduation. In his “Life in London” sub-section, the author relates about his
time there as a student. According to him, many great fighters for freedom and
equality in the world, including the Pankhursts, came from Britain. After Yacob
lost the chance to study his choice, physics and mathematics, he was absorbed
in wine and reading. He became fond of reading philosophy, literature and
journalism.
.
After a four year stay in London, the author
came back home. Having taken vacation in Nekemte, he got a teaching job in Amha
Desta School in Addis Ababa in 1955. It was during his stay at this school that
the author did something against the resumption of his university lessons
abroad. This is because he married a
“beautiful 16-year-old half-caste of Yemeni and Oromo (Worji) origin who had
run away from her 40-year-old Arab husband as soon as she was married to him”
(59).
Passing
these chapters of life, the author joined the press, the Ethiopian Herald in particular, in 1959 at the time when Americans
were editors-in-chief of the major papers in English here. He recounts the
attempted coup and Abebe Bikila’s victory in Marathon in Rome Olympics in 1960.
Due to disagreements in the Herald, “dealing with unmentionable issues” (86),
he moved to the Menene magazine in
1962 and became its editor shortly afterwards. Later, he became the joint
editor of this magazine and the Voice of
Ethiopia. He repossessed the editorship of the Herald in 1964 to help it
get rid of its nickname at the time – ‘the daily rag’.
Yacob
wrote that he is contemptuous of authority, nonetheless, he seems calculative.
He worked calmly under three regimes as an editor of the major state owned
papers, whereas he ‘laughs at’ his colleague, Bealu Girma: “It was a pity,
however, … that one has to thrust one’s finger into the fire to learn that it
burned – as he did with ‘Oromai’ and perished by ridiculing (unlike
journalists) those in power who were taking themselves very seriously” (96-7).
Yacob
is articulate and at times courageous. He says that he helped in bringing the
emperor down by writing satirically. He was told to write the ‘developmental
journalism’ way rather, but to no avail. He shares to his readers other writers’
encounters like Negash Gebre – Mariam’s who once asked the Emperor a question and
made him “throw off his gown in anger, as he had often done” (103). The
question Negash asked was “Your Imperial Majesty, what provisions are being
made for a smooth succession to the Ethiopian throne” (103)? Yacob wrote about the people’s plight as in
the following: “there was no denying the fact that the system of land tenure
which had prevailed in Wollo was a living monument to man’s eternal injustice
against man” (108). He appreciates the Dergue for redistributing land and
denounces it for harassing the press.
Unlike
other autobiographies, the book showcases the writer’s selected articles covering
different issues and published in his years of service - a nice variety. In
these articles, he scorns us for our wastage of resources such as governmental
budget, and time, on which he wrote “his majesty the Emperor admonishes us to
be the masters and not servants of time”. Moreover, the handling of pack
animals in our country, witchcraft, the sophisticated ornamental needs of our
women and their adverse effects are some of the issues he addresses bitterly.
The
veteran comments our society more. He says that we regard our servants as sub-human:
“Master, give unto your servants that which is just and equal”. For egalitarian matrimonial atmosphere he
fights. The experience that green graduates are required to have for an
employment worries him. Don’t we have this problem now? Bachelors, who use
their cars as mobile dwellings going to bed in them, he laughed at. Their cars’
tires are stolen as the bachelors are slept in. Wolves in sheep’s clothing - policemen
in civilian clothing committing acts of robbery - he criticized. Their meager
salary is also considered. What about now? Really, Yacob’s ideas are felt after
many decades now, I feel.
Yacob
attempted to modernize this nation in his sharp toned articles as the instances
to come exemplify. How should we handle women? He advises men to act on an
equal basis to them in our relations. Noise from cars and loudspeakers disturbs
the writer. On the role played by hyenas in cleaning our cities and on the traditional
belief that ‘evil eyed’ people change themselves to hyenas in the evening he wrote
committed; he paid tribute to hyenas killed by a falling electric wire by
dedicating an article to them; the body parts of hyenas the society badly needs
for magic concerns him.
“What
price matrimony?” is written for people who had to endure 100 lashes in public
and other severe things in different cultures to get the woman they loved as a
wife. Even nowadays, Indian unmarried women or their parents move around the
world and toil to pay dowry. Among some pastoralist societies in Ethiopia, Yacob
says, a man was expected to present “some ghastly trophy to prove that he has
killed a member of a rival tribe” (173).
Finally,
I wind up my review by presenting to you some other areas of concern to Yacob
and by inviting you to read this interesting book written in the Queen’s
English. Corruption and the “breast- son” practice illustrated by the story of
a member of President Nkrumah’s Cabinet, who “[gave] rise to an international
scandal by ordering a luxury bed framed in solid gold from London” (202), and
the need for research on holy water in particular and reform on the Orthodox
Church in general are dealt with. Yacob worries about our imitation of
unnecessary foreign lifestyles, and he recommends our society to imitate the
West in its scientific advancements.
N.B.
Copies of the book are available at AAU’s book centre.
The Environment: A Life through Experience
Mezemir Girma
Note: This article was published in the quarterly magazine of DBU's college of Agriculture and Natural Resource.
I am a man of limited mobility who spent his formative
years in Sasit, a small town 90 kilometers north of Debre Birhan.
There, I saw to what extent the area is devoid of trees. If you at least
go to Google maps and notice the condition of this area, you may see
the trees surround the houses there as a bracelet surrounds a girl’s
wrist. As a part of the Shewan plateau, this place has been inhabited
for a long time, exposed to erosion and parts of its 60 degrees plus
steep mountains are ploughed. Degraded, it has been giving food for the
people.
When I was as young as ten, a grade five student, I used to climb eucalyptus trees and fetch home bundles of dry tree branches I broke. There were fresh, red and shocking marks on my chest which the trunks rubbed. I would also collect and take home sacks of leaves of trees. It was as if I accidentally got a thousand birr on the road that I used to feel when I got the whole tree dry; one of the few times I felt happy in my life! I would break such small trees to pieces just using stone wedges. If I used axes, the authorities would be mad at me. So, this made me an expert in using stone tools. Now, this forest area is cleared and half of it is used as the compound of a newly built health center and the rest as a market. The market was changed to this area thirteen years ago after the former market almost vanished. Some Sasites whose houses are found around that market included parts of it into their compounds year by year by extending their fences to the center of the market and that big market dwindled to less than a hectare. People even started buying and selling commodities on the road and they had a threat of a car crash. By the way, I cannot tell you how people killed, quarreled, and sulked each other there just because of an inch of land or a glance one has at them! Fuel wood is a very hard question no one answered for Sasit or other area people. Recently, a woman from this town told me that one morning she ordered her servant to fetch a sack of dung from the fields where it was found in abundance not more than a decade ago. The fields would be cleared of their dung by the cattle owners themselves and the residents of the small town could no more get anything to put in their stoves. If they saw you roam the fields, they would attack you with slings, sticks and/or stones. That woman told me that the girl she sent to fetch the dung said she went more than ten kilometers and could get nothing. “Madam, I tell you for real that there is nothing in the fields,” she exclaimed weeping. Most people already used their fences as fuel wood. Stealing trees from the protected public forest is a must that the people cannot avoid. Now the protected forests are almost empty. What would agriculturalists suggest for this? This is a tangible problem. Isn’t it? Sometimes I wish I were the governor of that district or an NGO chair only to solve such problems.
The place I went to as a reporter for my school’s mini media when I was in grade six was my district’s capital, Sela - Dingay. This Moja and Wedera district’s capital is 72 kilometres north of Debre Birhan. The district was formerly known as Tegulet, whose name is attributed to three legends. First, it is said to be the name of a local chief after which King Zera - Yacob named the district since he urgently fulfilled the latter’s order of building the Debre Mitmak church. Secondly, it is said that the people who migrated from the area to other fertile areas of the country say, “Let me go to my Gult, individual land,- Tegulte (my Gult) -” when they feel sad. Thirdly, they say it is because the people worked hard for the development of the area – in Amharic this means ‘taggullat’. The heart of the district, Sela – Dingay town, is, like Sasit, almost tree - free. Don’t we have hardworking people these days? Why is Moja/Tegulet dry, dusty, stony, and why is the sun always scorching there. There are no sleeping people, but in my view the problem is their energy is unfairly wasted on unfruitful daily chores.
When I was in grade eight, I visited one of the four Debre towns I have been to so far. This town was Debre - Sina. Seen from the Tarmaber Mountain, Debre Sina’s view is really breathtaking. Even if I was thirteen then, I could see how this area was evergreen and full of eucalyptus and tid trees. If these were not there, there would be no Debre - Sina town in our maps as the steep hill would beckon flooding. As you read above, eucalyptus trees and I had dangerous encounters. English professor friend-cum- colleagues of mine here at DBU would laugh at me reading this account of mine in which as usual I talk about and get obsessed with nature. One of them said to me, “While people carry with them girls’ pictures, you carry in your cell phone photos of natural things you shoot.” Anyways, eucalyptus trees have an attachment with me because they are common in my area. If you asked me, till recently what ‘tree’ was in Amharic, I would say ‘bahirzaf’, which is the Amharic term for eucalyptus, while, normally, tree is ‘zaf’. Farmers in my area don’t accept seedlings of any trees other than eucalyptus because of the benefits this tree gives them and their love for it. To mention a damage of eucalyptus, at least it made my grandfather’s spring dry. I think this is the place to share with you about my granny’s friend, Gash Gebre Meskel, who gave me a three – hour interview at his house two years ago. I asked him if there were trees in the area when he was young. He told me that there were no trees. “What was there then? What was the area covered with?” I asked shocked. “It was covered with Tid, Weyra, Bisana, Girar, Kitkita, Kechemo ….” He kept mentioning indigenous trees. “But not with trees,” he responded and we agreed. Look! At least there is a place called Kechemo opposite his house named after an indigenous tree even if there is no trace of that type of tree.
Debre Birhan is where I did my high school. It was when I was in grade 11 that I visited Debre Libanos. There, I met many Sasit people who came on foot to the area making their three day pilgrimage scorched by the sun and having no tree for a shade during breaks. When I spent a week there, I really could picture Ethiopia of the olden days whose forty-three percent land was covered with trees. The air you breathe, the water you drink, the natural way of life you live there brings the real setting of our great grandparents’ days. The secret of all the green scenery there lies in the people’s fear of God’s punishment for cutting the indigenous trees. Indigenous trees, indigenous beliefs, indigenous wearing, speaking, and living styles help you renew your acculturated self. Oh Debre – Libanos! I have understood now why Fitawrary Woldu of Daniachew Worku’s novel, The Thirteenth Sun, pledged to be buried there. A green oasis! If only DBU agriculturalists visited it and modeled it to cultivate our area!
A DBU professor asked me last time to tell him about any a protected natural forest area I know in North Shewa and I said I heard of none except of Wof Washa. That man told me this week that he is conducting his research on Mugeriza, a forest in Ginager. Look! Isn’t it a shame not to be able to have trees? Not a shame of my own, but of the whole society; not of the society alone but of its learnt people; not of the learnt people alone but of the NGOs; not of the NGOs alone, but of the government. I told the aforementioned professor to go to Adabay, not knowing that it almost vanished. The Adabay forest was a shelter for people who travelled to and fro Tegulet. But now the trees in that watershed are cleared and their roots made into charcoal and sold in Debre Birhan markets and Tej is drunk by the money from the charcoal sale. The locals used to sing this about Adabay:
Oh Adabay! Your mighty trees are felled
Unlike my crooked brother, you were my shelter
Unlike my bad friend, you were my shield.
I am a man who saw a motorbike for the first time when I was in grade three, a TV set in grade six, telephone in grade nine, elevator in university and had a cell phone of mine after I became a teacher. If you are born and brought up outside our capital, when did you first visit Addis Ababa? What did you feel then? Who were you with? What did you notice? When I was in grade 10, I was lucky enough to visit the place I knew from books and the media alone. I was able to see the compound walls of Addis Ababa University. Addis is really rich in plantations and it is the second green place I saw after Debre Libnos. From the Entoto forest to the university and other public compounds, and the streets, Addis Ababa is really a green city. I feel how the lack of trees is hard when I go to Mercato, where, unlike Sidist kilo, I pant due to the heat and dust. Sidist Kilo compound is like heaven. But I think at this time city planners have forgotten the fact that our capital needs ample green areas as they almost forgot our English Premier League fan youth need sporting places.
On my way to Langano, the resort where I spent two days with my undergraduate classmates, I saw scattered acacia and other tress which mankind may clear in the future. How can one forget the anthills on one’s way to Langano? Adama/Nazareth is the last town I know. Last year, I spent three weeks in this town which is full of trees. The wind power generating towers are other technological trees that can help us save our trees from vanishing. EEPCO, may your life be filled with joy!
Debre Birhan town is another place where eucalyptus reigned. Seven years after its foundation, Debre Berhan University (DBU) has been able to grow trees a bit taller than a man. I understand that the weather is hard to bear for such trees, but we can do something at least to teach our students who should have something to do with trees. This year is special in the intensity of the chills and the frequency of the frost. DBU is not to blame for that – it is nature to blame. Most of the trees and other plants in the compound are dying albeit the effort even to clothe them. If all this effort had been made six or five years ago, if the compost had been scattered then, if the buildings had been built fast, we would see a university with tall trees for the students to shade themselves from the scorching sun. We are too late, but let us think that we still have time. Whenever drought comes almost every ten years and we are under problems we say ‘the god’s must be crazy.’ But, I think we must be the crazy ones who are making nature not give its fruits to its children. You give nature something, it gives you back; you take something away, you should compensate by some means; you take and don’t put back, you suffer. I understand the pain you have, but let us build our home together! Let me close with how Saleamlak quoted Blair last time during our tête-à-tête at Mulugela saying, “This generation plants trees, and the next generation enjoys the shade”
Note: This article was published in the quarterly magazine of DBU's college of Agriculture and Natural Resource.
When I was as young as ten, a grade five student, I used to climb eucalyptus trees and fetch home bundles of dry tree branches I broke. There were fresh, red and shocking marks on my chest which the trunks rubbed. I would also collect and take home sacks of leaves of trees. It was as if I accidentally got a thousand birr on the road that I used to feel when I got the whole tree dry; one of the few times I felt happy in my life! I would break such small trees to pieces just using stone wedges. If I used axes, the authorities would be mad at me. So, this made me an expert in using stone tools. Now, this forest area is cleared and half of it is used as the compound of a newly built health center and the rest as a market. The market was changed to this area thirteen years ago after the former market almost vanished. Some Sasites whose houses are found around that market included parts of it into their compounds year by year by extending their fences to the center of the market and that big market dwindled to less than a hectare. People even started buying and selling commodities on the road and they had a threat of a car crash. By the way, I cannot tell you how people killed, quarreled, and sulked each other there just because of an inch of land or a glance one has at them! Fuel wood is a very hard question no one answered for Sasit or other area people. Recently, a woman from this town told me that one morning she ordered her servant to fetch a sack of dung from the fields where it was found in abundance not more than a decade ago. The fields would be cleared of their dung by the cattle owners themselves and the residents of the small town could no more get anything to put in their stoves. If they saw you roam the fields, they would attack you with slings, sticks and/or stones. That woman told me that the girl she sent to fetch the dung said she went more than ten kilometers and could get nothing. “Madam, I tell you for real that there is nothing in the fields,” she exclaimed weeping. Most people already used their fences as fuel wood. Stealing trees from the protected public forest is a must that the people cannot avoid. Now the protected forests are almost empty. What would agriculturalists suggest for this? This is a tangible problem. Isn’t it? Sometimes I wish I were the governor of that district or an NGO chair only to solve such problems.
The place I went to as a reporter for my school’s mini media when I was in grade six was my district’s capital, Sela - Dingay. This Moja and Wedera district’s capital is 72 kilometres north of Debre Birhan. The district was formerly known as Tegulet, whose name is attributed to three legends. First, it is said to be the name of a local chief after which King Zera - Yacob named the district since he urgently fulfilled the latter’s order of building the Debre Mitmak church. Secondly, it is said that the people who migrated from the area to other fertile areas of the country say, “Let me go to my Gult, individual land,- Tegulte (my Gult) -” when they feel sad. Thirdly, they say it is because the people worked hard for the development of the area – in Amharic this means ‘taggullat’. The heart of the district, Sela – Dingay town, is, like Sasit, almost tree - free. Don’t we have hardworking people these days? Why is Moja/Tegulet dry, dusty, stony, and why is the sun always scorching there. There are no sleeping people, but in my view the problem is their energy is unfairly wasted on unfruitful daily chores.
When I was in grade eight, I visited one of the four Debre towns I have been to so far. This town was Debre - Sina. Seen from the Tarmaber Mountain, Debre Sina’s view is really breathtaking. Even if I was thirteen then, I could see how this area was evergreen and full of eucalyptus and tid trees. If these were not there, there would be no Debre - Sina town in our maps as the steep hill would beckon flooding. As you read above, eucalyptus trees and I had dangerous encounters. English professor friend-cum- colleagues of mine here at DBU would laugh at me reading this account of mine in which as usual I talk about and get obsessed with nature. One of them said to me, “While people carry with them girls’ pictures, you carry in your cell phone photos of natural things you shoot.” Anyways, eucalyptus trees have an attachment with me because they are common in my area. If you asked me, till recently what ‘tree’ was in Amharic, I would say ‘bahirzaf’, which is the Amharic term for eucalyptus, while, normally, tree is ‘zaf’. Farmers in my area don’t accept seedlings of any trees other than eucalyptus because of the benefits this tree gives them and their love for it. To mention a damage of eucalyptus, at least it made my grandfather’s spring dry. I think this is the place to share with you about my granny’s friend, Gash Gebre Meskel, who gave me a three – hour interview at his house two years ago. I asked him if there were trees in the area when he was young. He told me that there were no trees. “What was there then? What was the area covered with?” I asked shocked. “It was covered with Tid, Weyra, Bisana, Girar, Kitkita, Kechemo ….” He kept mentioning indigenous trees. “But not with trees,” he responded and we agreed. Look! At least there is a place called Kechemo opposite his house named after an indigenous tree even if there is no trace of that type of tree.
Debre Birhan is where I did my high school. It was when I was in grade 11 that I visited Debre Libanos. There, I met many Sasit people who came on foot to the area making their three day pilgrimage scorched by the sun and having no tree for a shade during breaks. When I spent a week there, I really could picture Ethiopia of the olden days whose forty-three percent land was covered with trees. The air you breathe, the water you drink, the natural way of life you live there brings the real setting of our great grandparents’ days. The secret of all the green scenery there lies in the people’s fear of God’s punishment for cutting the indigenous trees. Indigenous trees, indigenous beliefs, indigenous wearing, speaking, and living styles help you renew your acculturated self. Oh Debre – Libanos! I have understood now why Fitawrary Woldu of Daniachew Worku’s novel, The Thirteenth Sun, pledged to be buried there. A green oasis! If only DBU agriculturalists visited it and modeled it to cultivate our area!
A DBU professor asked me last time to tell him about any a protected natural forest area I know in North Shewa and I said I heard of none except of Wof Washa. That man told me this week that he is conducting his research on Mugeriza, a forest in Ginager. Look! Isn’t it a shame not to be able to have trees? Not a shame of my own, but of the whole society; not of the society alone but of its learnt people; not of the learnt people alone but of the NGOs; not of the NGOs alone, but of the government. I told the aforementioned professor to go to Adabay, not knowing that it almost vanished. The Adabay forest was a shelter for people who travelled to and fro Tegulet. But now the trees in that watershed are cleared and their roots made into charcoal and sold in Debre Birhan markets and Tej is drunk by the money from the charcoal sale. The locals used to sing this about Adabay:
Oh Adabay! Your mighty trees are felled
Unlike my crooked brother, you were my shelter
Unlike my bad friend, you were my shield.
I am a man who saw a motorbike for the first time when I was in grade three, a TV set in grade six, telephone in grade nine, elevator in university and had a cell phone of mine after I became a teacher. If you are born and brought up outside our capital, when did you first visit Addis Ababa? What did you feel then? Who were you with? What did you notice? When I was in grade 10, I was lucky enough to visit the place I knew from books and the media alone. I was able to see the compound walls of Addis Ababa University. Addis is really rich in plantations and it is the second green place I saw after Debre Libnos. From the Entoto forest to the university and other public compounds, and the streets, Addis Ababa is really a green city. I feel how the lack of trees is hard when I go to Mercato, where, unlike Sidist kilo, I pant due to the heat and dust. Sidist Kilo compound is like heaven. But I think at this time city planners have forgotten the fact that our capital needs ample green areas as they almost forgot our English Premier League fan youth need sporting places.
On my way to Langano, the resort where I spent two days with my undergraduate classmates, I saw scattered acacia and other tress which mankind may clear in the future. How can one forget the anthills on one’s way to Langano? Adama/Nazareth is the last town I know. Last year, I spent three weeks in this town which is full of trees. The wind power generating towers are other technological trees that can help us save our trees from vanishing. EEPCO, may your life be filled with joy!
Debre Birhan town is another place where eucalyptus reigned. Seven years after its foundation, Debre Berhan University (DBU) has been able to grow trees a bit taller than a man. I understand that the weather is hard to bear for such trees, but we can do something at least to teach our students who should have something to do with trees. This year is special in the intensity of the chills and the frequency of the frost. DBU is not to blame for that – it is nature to blame. Most of the trees and other plants in the compound are dying albeit the effort even to clothe them. If all this effort had been made six or five years ago, if the compost had been scattered then, if the buildings had been built fast, we would see a university with tall trees for the students to shade themselves from the scorching sun. We are too late, but let us think that we still have time. Whenever drought comes almost every ten years and we are under problems we say ‘the god’s must be crazy.’ But, I think we must be the crazy ones who are making nature not give its fruits to its children. You give nature something, it gives you back; you take something away, you should compensate by some means; you take and don’t put back, you suffer. I understand the pain you have, but let us build our home together! Let me close with how Saleamlak quoted Blair last time during our tête-à-tête at Mulugela saying, “This generation plants trees, and the next generation enjoys the shade”
ደንበኛ ይሁኑ ለ፡
ልጥፎች (Atom)
በመንግሥት ወደ ወለጋ ከተወሰዱ በኋላ ዛሬ በግላቸው ደብረብርሃን የገቡት አዛውንት የዓይን ምስክርነት
በመንግሥት ወደ ወለጋ ከተወሰዱ በኋላ ዛሬ በግላቸው ደብረብርሃን የገቡት አዛውንት የዓይን ምስክርነት ረቡዕ፣ የካቲት 20፣ 2016 ዓ.ም. መዘምር ግርማ ደብረብርሃን ዛሬ ረፋድ አዲስ አበባ ላምበረ...
