ነገ ጨለማ ወይስ ብርሃን?

 

ነገ ጨለማ ወይስ ብርሃን?

በመዘምር ግርማ

 

እነሆ ብዙ ትናንቶችን አሳልፈን ከዛሬ ላይ ደርሰናል፡፡ በምንም ዓይነት መንገድ እንምጣ ዛሬ ካለንበት የደረስነው ሁሉ ስለነገ ልናስብ ግድ ይለናል፡፡ የዛሬ ሩጫ ስለሚያደክመን ግን ለነገ የምናስብበት ዕድል ጠባብ ይመስላል፡፡ ነገን ከምን አንጻር እናስብ ስንል ከብዙ ነገር አንጻር ይሆናል፡፡ ከተወሰኑ ፍላጎቶቻችን አንጻር ነገን ለማየት እንሞክር፡፡ በኔ ምናብ የሚታየኝን አይቼ የናንተን በቀጣይ ጊዜያት ልታጋሩን ትችላላችሁ፡፡

ከመሰረታዊ ፍላጎቶቻችን ማለትም ከምግብ፣ ከመጠለያና ከአልባሳት አንጻር እንኳን ያየን እንደሆነ ከዕለት ዕለት ለብዙኃኑ አዳጋች እየሆነ ያለ ነገር ነው፡፡ ለምን ያህሉ ዜጋችን በዕለት የሚያስፈልገውን ማቅረብ ችለናል? በጊዜ ሂደት እየተወደደ የመጣው ኑሮ ስንቱን ከመሃል ከተማ ገፋ! ስንቱስ የዕለት ጉርሱን የዓመት ልብሱ ለማግኘት ቻለ? ይህን ለማሟላት ባለመቻልስ ስንቱ የበዪ ተመልካች ሆነ? የሰው እጅ ለማየት የበቃውስ? በበጎ አድራጊ ወይም በመንግስት ድርጅት ስም በስማቸውስ ስንት ገንዘብ ተወራረደ? ስንቶችስ በለጸጉ? ነገን በዛሬና ዛሬን ከትናንት አነጻጽረን በምናገኘው ውጤት ስናየው እየባሰ እንጂ እየተሻሻለ የሚሄድ አለመሆኑን ነው፡፡ እየተሻሻለ የማይሄድ ነገ ይዘን እንዴት ስለነገ ሳናስብ እንቀመጣለን? ለምንስ የችግሩን ምንጭ ለመረዳት አንሞክርም! ከችግር ፈጣሪነት ገለል ለምን አንልም? ከተቻንስ መላ ለምን አንዘይድም!

ከትምህርት አንጻር ነገ ምን ይመስል ይሆን ብለን እንይ፡፡ ትምህርት ከትናንት በበለጠ ተደራሽ መሆኑን ለማየት በትምህርት ተቋማትና ተማሪዎች መብዛት ማየት ይቻላል፡፡ በፊት በዞን ከተማ የነበረው የሁለተኛ ደረጃ ትምህርት ቤት አሁን በወረዳ ደረጃ እየሆነ ነው፡፡ ዩኒቨርሲቲ በዞን ባይዳረስ ኮሌጅ አይጠፋም፡፡ የዚያን ያህል ትምህርት ለውጥ አምጥቷል ወይ ነው ነገሩ፡፡ ያመጣቸው ለውጦች ይኖራሉ፡፡ የትምህርትን ፍሬ ግን ለህብረተሰባችን ለማዳረስ ችለናል ወይ? የተማረ እንደመብዛቱ፣ ትምህርት ቤት በየደጁ እንደመከፈቱና ሰው በርቀትም ሆነ በቴክኖሎጂ የመማር ዕድል እንደማግኘቱ የባህሪ ለውጥ ማምጣትና ችግር መፍታቱ ላይ ጥቂት የተማሩ ሰዎች ከነበሩባቸው ጊዜያት ጋር ሲነጻጸር የሚያስተዛዝብ ነው፡፡ ነገስ ምን ይዞ ይመጣል? ቆም ብለን ካላሰብን እየባሰ እንጂ እየተሻለ እንደማይሄድ ነው፡፡

በሰዎችስ መካከል ስለሚኖረው ግንኙነት ምን ይታየኛል ብዬ ራሴን ስጠይቅ ከተወሰኑ ዓመታት ከነበረው ጊዜ አንጻር አሁን ምን ይመስላል? አሁን ብሷል! ሰው ለሰው አላዘነም! ልዩነቱ እንጂ ሰውነቱ አልታየውም፡፡ በዚያም ልዩነት ሰበብ ማጥቃት እንጂ መደገፍ አልቻለም፡፡ ነገስ? ነገ ምን አይቶ ይሻሻላል? ምንም! አሁን ቆም ብሎ ማሰቢያውና ነገን መቀየሻው ነው፡፡ ለምን? ምክንያቱም አሁን ያልተጠቀንምበት ዕድል ነገ ብንጮህ ላይገኝ ስለሚችል፡፡ ዛሬ የሚሰራው መጥፎ ስራ ትናንት ከነበረን ዕድል በላይ ነገን እያበላሸው ስለሚሄድ፡፡

መንፈሳዊ ነገሮችና እርካታንስ አስመልክቶ፡፡ የባሰው ነገር እዚህ ጋ ነው፡፡ ሰው ለመንፈሳዊ እርካታው እየሰራ ሳይሄድ ሲቀር፣ ባጠቃላይ ባለው ነገር የማይረካ ሲሆን የበለጠ ተስፋ መቁረጥና ደስታ ወደማጣት ይሄዳል፡፡ የዚያም ድምር ውጤት ነገን ያጨልማል፡፡ ተስፋ እንዳይኖረው ያደርጋል፡፡ ስለሆነም ነገ የባሰ እንዳይሆን አሁን ራስን ቆም ብሎ ምን ያህል መንፈሳዊ ነገር ላይ ሰርቻለሁ፣ አጠቃላይ ስብዕናዬና እርካታዬስ ምን ላይ ይገኛል ብሎ ማሰቢያው አሁን ነው፡፡

ነገን ጨለማ ለማድረግም ሆነ ብርሃን ሁላችንም ኃላፊት አለብን፡፡ ከግለሰብ ጀምሮ መሰራት አለበት፡፡ ሥልጣኔ እየበዛ ሲሄድ ህይወታችን እየተበላሸ መሄድ የለበትም፡፡ የእናንተን ዕይታ በአስተያየት መስጫው ላይ አስቀምጡልኝ፡፡

A Virtual Tour of Yad Vashem and the Lesson for Ethiopia

“The international community keeps quiet when genocide is underway, but they remember the victims afterwards”

Virtual Tour of Yad Vashem and the lesson for Ethiopia

Amharic version is also available on my blog https://mezemirethiopia.blogspot.com/2021/04/blog-post.html

Wednesday,  21 April, 2021

Mezemir Girma

Debre Birhan, Ethiopia

 

On Tuesday, 20 April 2021, we the participants of the virtual tour held a test zoom meeting with Ambassador Reta Alemu, the Ethiopian ambassador to Israel and Mr Nurhussein Nuru, a public diplomacy official at the embassy. As we made sure everyone of the lecturers from the universities across Ethiopia was able to use the virtual platform, we set an appointment for Wednesday for the tour of Yad Vashem.

We were advised to make the necessary preparations by referring sources on the issue. For this reason, I watched a virtual tour of Auschwitz Birkenau. Located at  Auschwitz proper, this museum teaches and reminds visitors of the Holocaust. I also read online how the Jewish Diaspora suffered across the globe over millennia.

On Wednesday at 15:30 Jerusalem time, the tour resumed. Mr Nurhussein gave me the opportunity to speak about my genocide prevention endeavors in Ethiopia and I spoke. I explained that I translated Left to Tell, a book on the Rwandan Holocaust into Amharic and distributed 23000 copies. Not only that, I got the book translated and published 2000 copies in Afaan Oromo. A friend translated into Tigrigna as well. The media interviews we gave and the discussion we provoked helped the public have an understanding of how hatred can devastate a country and its people. The concern I raised was that the elite and politicians might not have been reached or convinced by the campaigns we the writers made.

After a short introduction, we started the virtual tour that was supported with an explanation from our guide. Lecturers from Ethiopian universities and one person from the media took part. This is a summary of the points I took note of from both the tour and my online research.

A tribute to the lives of the Jews before the war is rendered in one of the sections of the museum. European Jews mostly lived urban life. The German Jews lived for a long time at the place including in five German republics as German citizens. They comprised 12 percent of German soldiers in the first World War. Their influence was bigger than their number in the national population, eight percent. Jewish youth movement that was trying to save fellow Jews, the victim story, and the wartime ordeal is also covered. Finally, there is a section on the future of the Jewish people. It is a temporal arrangement that they employed in telling the story of the Holocaust.

Equality’s origin is the Enlightment, whose source is Christianity. And Christianity is rooted in Judaism. That was why the Nazis targeted the Jews. Pure Aryan race was what the Nazis sought. Before they killed the Jews, they also killed handicapped and mentally retarded Germans. Where did the Nazis bring the idea of eliminating the Jews from? It is from earlier Antisemetic research and thinking.  There were Nazis’ imagined views of the Jews being their enemies. They thought they were communist members.

560, 000 Jews lived in Germany in early 1930s. Their number gradually dwindled as they emigrated from that country due to the racist policies and practices. We learned how the Nazi party, Hitler and the Third Reich came into being. In 1933 different books were burned down and that determined what one can and can’t think. Jews were branded of controlling the world. Before World War II, the German youth and people understood without being told to discriminate the Jews. This is the power of propaganda. Jewish businesses were boycotted. Even a children’s storybook portrayal of Jews was as communists.. How hate developed is unbelievable. If a quarter or sometimes half of a quarter of your blood is Jewish you are branded as one. Radio propaganda was employed. Rwanda copied radio propaganda idea from Germany the same as social media is used today. One can see how overtime hate developed. German citizenship was taken away from the Jews and the whole world didn’t welcome them. Jews were identified with the yellow star and the J symbol in their passports. The looting of Jewish property went on.

Holocaust is the code name for the whole process. The killing did not take place under the premise of a huge war. This is one of the similarities between the Rwandan and Jewish genocides. During the Second World War, Germany invaded Poland where 2.2 million Jews were in the ghetto. In 1942 the final policy was reached at regarding the Jewish in ghetto – they should be exterminated. In the Warsaw ghetto and many others killing massively and industrially was a means used to exterminate the hostages. Bring these people to the places of murder than the murder to the people was the idea. Burning in crematoriums has helped the vilians leave no trace when their Soviet adversaries come. At some places the victims were forced to dig their own burial pits.

Due to the Nazi advance the Jews were also targeted in the eastern European countries they immigrated to. They were kept in various ghettos and massacred by any means possible. They were also subject to torture, hard labour and abuse of every kind. Nazis and their collaborators killed six million Jews. Yad Vashem, the museum, has the names of four million victims and they know the total number of six million from statistical analysis.

How Ideology made the perpetrators act was analyzed and presented. There could be better humane options during such daring times, but human actions and decisions are highly affected by propaganda and fear. However, there were the righteous gentile, people who saved others in the face of danger.  

The Yad Vashem museum is located within a campus. We were told that knowing about each other'scountries was critical. One of the guests invited from the museum was Bob, a historian of genocide and African studies. He said he came to Ethiopia and lectured on genocide a few years ago. This is interesting to know especially for me because I saw how authorities here fail to cooperate on genocide prevention activities.

During the Holocaust not only Jews, 125 000 non-Jewish communities were also killed. The Antisemitism led to the expansion and implementation of a racist ideology. As soon as a hatred is ethnically motivated it doesn’t differentiate between even children and women.

I asked the questions after the tour. One of them was this: Since we are at a time of putting out fire, why don’t you rather try to educate the politicians in Ethiopia to hold national reconciliation than just teach lecturers? They responded that educators also have a role in expanding the word to their students. 

My second question was: As researchers how do you feel the pain of reading and working on genocide? Bob responded it was getting open enough to be thick-skinned that helped him. 

There may still be questions in one’s mind why at the turn of the 21^st century Germany has the only growing number of Jewish communities in Europe. These Jews are Russian speaking ones though. Whatever happens, humanity has to interconnect again. This is a great lesson for humanity as a whole and those politicians and hate mongers the world over who try to make one group of community rise against the other.   

This visit helped us learn how civilized people can be perpetrators of genocide. Yad Vashem and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) plan to expand the lesson in the higher education sector in Ethiopia. In the future a similar tour will also be given to the media and the public.

We can teach our students and communities how important it is to keep human dignity, the right to life and respecting people that are different from us. One shouldn’t have the values the Nazi perpetrators had. Holocaust education overall teaches that hatred, racism and extremism are damaging and we should stay away from them. The world has not stopped any genocide after the Holocaust. The international community keeps quiet when genocide is underway, but they remember the victims afterwards. The American president of the time Franklin Roosevelt said he cared, but still couldn’t do anything. The world gave a similar response to the Rwandan genocide. International politics does nothing but remember victims after they die.This bitter truth urges every country and people that they should work for their own peace and safety than wait for other countries or the international community to save them.

 

‹‹ዓለም ጭፍጨፋ ሲካሄድ ፀጥ ይላል፤ ጭፍጨፋው ሲያልቅ መታሰቢያ ያደርጋል›› የሆሎኮትስ መታሰቢያ ሙዚየም (ያድ ቫሸም) ጉብኝትና ለኢትዮጵያ ያለው ጠቀሜታ

 

ዓለም ጭፍጨፋ ሲካሄድ ፀጥ ይላል፤ ጭፍጨፋው ሲያልቅ መታሰቢያ ያደርጋል

የሆሎኮትስ መታሰቢያ ሙዚየም (ያድ ቫሸም) ጉብኝትና ለኢትዮጵያ ያለው ጠቀሜታ

መዘምር ግርማ

ሚያዝያ 13፣ 2013 ዓ.ም.

በእስራኤል የሆሎኮስት መታሰቢያ ሙዚየም (ያድ ቫሸም) ያዘጋጀውን ጉብኝት ለኢትዮጵያውያን መምህራን ትልቅ ጠቀሜታ ያለውና ለሃገራችንም እጅግ ወቅታዊ ሆኖ አግኝቼዋለሁ፡፡ ከኢትዮጵያ ኢምባሲ አምባሳደር ረታ ዓለሙና አቶ ኑርሁሴን ኑሩ ባደረጉልን ግብዣ ከተለያዩ ዩኒቨርሲቲዎችና የሚዲያ ተቋማት የተውጣጣን ሰዎች ሁለት ሰዓት በፈጀው ጉብኝት ላይ ተሳትፈናል፡፡ 

ከጉብኝቱ በፊት ለተወሰኑ ቀናት ባደረኩት ንባብና ዳሰሳ ስለ አይሁድ ህዝብ ስደት (ዲያስፖራ) እና ለሺዎች ዓመታት በዓለም ዙሪያ ስለዘለቀው የዘርፍጅት፣ የመሳደድና የሃገር አልባነት ታሪክ ለመረዳት ችያለሁ፡፡  የአይሁድ ህዝብ ወደ ሃገራቸው ተመልሰው ሃገራቸውን መስርተው ያለፈውን ለመመርመር፣ የአሁኑን ህይወታቸውን ለማቃናትና ለወደፊቱም በሚገባ ለመዘጋጀት እንደቻሉም ተረድቻለሁ፡፡

በጉብኝቱ ዕለትም ለአንድ ሰዓት ተኩል ስለሙዚየሙ ገለጻ ተደርጎልናል፡፡ የቪዲዮ ጉብኝትም አድርገናል፡፡ በዕለቱ ከሙዚየሙና የምርምር ተቋሙ ሦስት እስራኤላውያን የተሳተፉ ሲሆን በሚገባ ገለጻ ድርገውልናል፡፡ አወያይተውናል፡፡ ውይይቱ ሲጀምር አቶ ኑርሁሴን ኑሩ በሰጡኝ ዕድል ራሴንና ስራዬን እንደሚከተለው አስተዋውቄያለሁ፡፡ በአንዲት ሩዋንዳት የተጻፈ መጽሐፍ ‹ሁቱትሲ› በሚል ርዕስ ወደ አማርኛ መተርጎሜንና ለንባብ ማብቃቴን ገልጫለሁ፡፡ ይህንኑ መጽሐፍም ወደ አፋን ኦሮሞ አስተርጉሜ ለህዝቡ አዳርሻለሁ፡፡ በትግርኛም ተተርጉሟል፡፡ በሚዲያ ስለ ዘረኝነት አስከፊነት ለተለያዩ ሚዲያዎች ቃለመጠይቆች ሰጥተናል፡፡ የኔ ጥረት ህብረተሰቡ ላይ ግንዛቤ ፈጥሯል፡፡ ተጽዕኖ ፈጣሪ የሆኑ ባለስልጣናትና ፖለቲከኞች ዘንድ ግን መድረሴን እርግጠኛ እንዳልሆንኩ ተናግሬያለሁ፡፡

በ1953 የተመሰረተው ይህ ሙዚየም በሁለተኛው የዓለም ጦርነት ወቅት በአውሮፓ በፀረ-ሴማዊ ዘረኛ አይዲዮሎጂና ፕሮፓጋንዳ ምክንያት ሕይወታቸው ላለፈው አይሁዶች መታሰቢያ ነው፡፡ ጥላቻ የሚያስከትለውን ጉዳትና በማናቸውም ቦታ የምንገኝ የሰው ልጆች በሰብዓዊ ፍጡር ላይ ማድረግ ስለማይገቡን መጥፎ ነገሮች ያስተምራል፡፡ የዓለምአቀፉ ፖለቲካም የዘርማጥፋትን ለመከላከል ፍላጎት ያሳየበት እነዚህ ተመራማሪዎች የሚያውቁት ጊዜና ክስተት እንዳልነበረ ገልጸውልናል፡፡ ዓለም ጥሩ የሆነችው የዘርማጥፋት ከተፈጸመ በኋላ ሰለባዎቹን በማስታወስ ነው ብለውናል፡፡

የያድ ቫሸም የቪዲዮ ጉብኝት በተሳካ ሁኔታ ሲጠናቀቅ ግንዛቤያችንን በሚገባ አሳድጎታል ለማለት እችላለሁ፡፡ ለአስርት ዓመታት በጉዳዩ ላይ የተመራመሩ ምሁራን ያደረጉልን ገለጻ ትምህርት ሰጪ ነበር፡፡ በመጨረሻ የጥያቄ ዕድል ተሰጥቶ ሁለት ጥያቄዎችን ጠይቄያለሁ፡፡ እነሱም

ሀ. ያደረጋችሁልን ገለጻ በጣም አስተማሪ ነው፡፡ የአይሁድ ሕዝብና ጀርመን አሁን ሰላማዊ ግንኙነት ማድረጋቸው ከጥፋት በኋላም እንኳን ሰዎች ተራርቀው እንደማይራራቁ አስተማሪ ነው፡፡ የዘርማጥፋት አደጋን ለማስወገድ ግን አሁን ካለንበት የእሳት ማጥፋት ደረጃ አንጻር በቀጥታ ሚና ያላቸው ፖለቲከኞቹ ላይ የእስራኤል መንግስት ግፊት አድርጎ ብሄራዊ እርቅ ቢደረግ አይሻልም ወይ?

ለ. እናንተ ተመራማሪዎቹ በዚህ በአይሆዶች የዘርማጥፋት ጉዳይ ላይ ዘወትር ስታነቡ፣ ስትወያዩና ስትመራመሩ አእምሯችሁ አይጎዳም ወይ? እኔ በግሌ ስለገጠመኝ ነው፡፡

ስለ መጽሐፌ ስለ ሁቱትሲ ለመግለጽ ያህል የዚህን መጽሐፍ የእንግሊዝኛ ቅጂ ያገኘሁት በደብረብርሃን ዩኒቨርሲቲ ቤተመጻሕፍት በ2007 ዓ.ም. ነበር፡፡ መጽሐፉን ሳነበው ከሩዋንዳ የቱትሲ ዘርማጥፋት ሂደት አንጻር ኢትዮጵያ እየሄደችበት ያለው ዘር ተኮር ፖለቲካ አሰጋኝ፡፡ ስለሆነም በ2008 ዓ.ም. መጽሐፉን ተርጉሜ አሳተምኩ፡፡ በህብረተሰቡም ዘንድ ስለዘር ጥላቻ አደገኛነት ውይይትን ለማጫር በቃ፡፡ በ2012 ዓ.ም እንደገና መጽሐፉን በማሳተም 2ኛ፣ 3ኛና 4ኛ ዕትም አውጥቼ ለማሳተም በቃሁ፡፡ ወደ ኦሮምኛም ያስተረጎምኩት ህዝቡ በሚችለው ቋንቋ ሃሳቡ እንዲደርሰው በማሰብ ነው፡፡ ከትግርኛው ተርጓሚም ጋር በመገናኘት የሚዲያ ቃለመጠይቆች ሰጥተናል፡፡ መጽሐፉ እየሄደበት ያለው ፍጥነትና በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ያለው የዘር ማጥፋት አሳሳቢነት ስላልተመጣጠነ መጽሐፉን በፒዲኤፍ ለህብረተሰቡ በነጻ ለመልቀቅ ወስኜ ለቅቄያለሁ፡፡ ይህም በተለይ የማህበራዊ ሚዲያ ተጠቃሚ የሆኑና በክፍለሃገር የሚገኙ ወጣቶች እንዲያገኙት በማሰብ ነው፡፡ ደርሷቸው አንብበው የሚደውሉልኝ አሉ፡፡ ‹‹ዘረኛ ነበርኩ፤ ከአሁን በኋላ ግን አልሆንም!›› የሚል መልዕክት የላከልኝም አንባቢ አለ፡፡

በጉብኝቱ የቱትሲና የአይሁዶች የዘርማጥፋት ስላላቸው ተመሳሳይነት ለማወቅ ችያለሁ፡፡ ይህም የሆነው ገለጻ አድራጊዎቹ ከተናገሩትና ራሴም ከወሰድኩት ግንዛቤ ነው፡፡ ተመሳስሎው የዘር ጥላቻን ከመቀስቀስ አንጻር፣ ፍጅቱ ሴትንም ሆነ ህጻናትን ካለመማሩ አንጻርና ከአደረጃጀቱ ሁኔታ አንጻር ነው፡፡  

ለማጠቃለል ያህል የዘርማጥፋት ስጋት ለዛሬ ለነገ የምንለው አይደለም፡፡ ህብረተሰቡን ማስተማር ይገባናል፡፡ ታዋቂ ሰዎችን፣ ምሁራንን፣ ፖለቲከኞችን፣ ጄኔራሎችን ሳይቀር ተጽዕኖ ፈጣሪዎችን ማስተማር አለብን፡፡ ምክንያቱም ከዘር ማጥፋት የሚያተርፍ ስለሌለና በሆሎኮስትም ሆነ በሩዋንዳ እንደታየው የዘርማጥፋትን ደግፎና አካሂዶ ከተጠያቂነት የሚያመልጥ እንደሌለ ለማስገንዘብ ነው፡፡ ኢትዮጵያ ጥሩ አስተዳደር ካገኘች ለሁሉም ህዝብ የሚበቃ ሃብት ያላት ሃገር ነች፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ የሚኖሩ የተለያዩ ህብረተሰቦች በሰላም የሚኖሩት የዘር ጥላቻንና ዘርተኮር ፖሊሲን ስናስወግድ ነው ብዬ አምናለሁ፡፡ በውይይትና በመግባባት የነገውን የሃገራችንን እጣ ፈንታ ለማስተካከል እንችላለን፡፡ ለዚህም በያድ ቫሸምና በኢምባሲችን የተጀመረው የግንዛቤ ማስጨበጫ መርሃግብርና ድጋፍ እንዲቀጥል ያስፈልጋል፡፡

 

Staff Life at University

 After class, I headed to the lounge. On my way, I saw students and familiar faces of staff from the university. I greeted those who saw me. Outside the lounge, I met a lecturer of English. He was washing his hands to have breakfast. He is always playful and one you would love to be with. 

We went in together and ordered. The price of food and drinks at this place is way cheaper than outside the university. This is because the place is subsidized. Th price reminds me of someone’s idea of ‘’the Emperor is still alive at this place’’. He is comparing this place and time with the good olden days. Not only the food, the talk at the lounge is not available anywhere. I got wonderful new ideas from lecturers and professors from various fields of study. These staff come and chat with fellow likeminded staff members. From the colleges of natural science, social science, agriculture, law, engineering, medicine and computing different ideas come together. It is at this place that ideas start. If ideas come together like this and melt together, they can transform individuals and the nation. 

Two of the staff that joined us this morning have served at Debre Birhan University for more than ten years and have many memories. The way the describe and narrate certain events from their and our past is likeable. One comes after the other and we widen the circle where everyone has breakfast or coffee and chats. Those who have class went to class and those who don't went to their offices. There is the Internet too. It either steals time or helps people's teaching learning and research efforts. This vicious circle of life at the university has been like this for more than a decade. This is just life - normal life.  

There are also the research seminars and yearly workshops where people from various places and backgrounds gather. Those are really academic platforms and help intellectuals come together. 

Michelle Obama’s Ascent to Success

 

Mezemir G.

April 7, 2021

I was the attendant at Ras Abebe Aregay Library on March 21, 2021, a Sunday morning. I grabbed a book that I was planning to read for long. It was “Becoming,” by Michelle Obama. At the middle of my reading I was astounded to learn that Michelle read from the Internet that there are people who wrote that she is male. I went to a tailor neighbor of mine and told him about this. He responded, “I’m rather worried about the fate of my country!” “We are all worried about our country. But you know, people who claim there is 666 were talking about it” I tried to explain. He seemed uninterested and I headed back to the library pursued reading.  

I read the first part which is about the childhood of the former first lady. Michelle wrote about her family life in Chicago. The unique encounters she had with her brother Craig and their parents were impressive and ignited similar ones in me. As African Americans, they underwent many ups and downs. Fortunately, they had a strong family that cared for their needs. I was so impressed with the story that when I came to my office at the university on Monday I searched YouTube to learn about Craig’s current status. In one video, both of them were giving an interview on Good Morning America. It was really impressive to have a sibling at your book launch. Lucky Michelle!  

I reminisced about my own childhood when I read Michelle’s. It even occurred to me if I could read a biography’s childhood part without remembering mine. In my family we were two children like Michelle’s. I was with Emebet, my sister. Only because my parents divorced did my sister and I live together with our father. I was 10 when they divorced. I was the first child of my parents. The two of us were given to our father. The other two were given to my mother because they needed her care as they were little ones.

As children, cooking was one of our challenges. Firewood being scarce in our area, we had to go to the jungle and find and fetch home. When women from the neighborhood saw me carrying much wood, they would scold their children and ask them to be as good as I was. Theirs never worried, but I did. Water we fetched from a place which was a kilometer or two away. The nearby communal tap water station was built afterwards. But most often our neighbours gave us firewood and water when we didn’t have. Fanaye and Tiringo were our neighbours who always gave us. Tiringo died recently and I couldn’t make it to her funeral. Bearing all that in mind, if I have to make a contribution to my people back home it should be on energy and water.

Michelle is a strong person with seemingly strange decisions. Punching is one of these. She punched a bully girl who harassed her repeatedly. I was not such a person. I bore it anyway. What surprised me the most was her decision to quit her first job at a well-paying law firm for another one that paid half the salary. Who among us here would make that sacrifice? It was at the law firm that Michelle met Barack Hussein Obama, her husband to be. He was an apprentice from the elite law school of Harvard. He had the most coveted position of the editor of Harvard Law.

How the couple made it all the way to the presidency is astounding. Obama’s interest in politics and his absence from home for elongated times was touching. The couple faced miscarriage as well. How they fought it! Eight years at the white house as black couple is unthinkable bearing in mind that African Americans are minority in the United States. A new thing I read in the book was that the gun attack someone made on white house. Why did the USG build the palace like that? I think it should have been a shorter building and covered with trees. All the beauty, grandeur and abundance of the white house seem to fly away with the eight years of Obama’s tenure. We learn from the US system of government that there is no presidency for life. This was the exact idea Obama raised to the African leaders at the AU in Addis. But given the effort and intellectual ability of Obama and his family to get back to normal life from that height they had climbed seems distressing. If they were billionaires for example, they could have the luxury for life. This is my thought as an Ethiopian. At least this is how it is here.  

I read one of Obama’s books before. “Becoming” has inspired me to read the others as well. If I muster the energy and stamina, I don’t have to worry about the books since I have copies.