No to Dr. Fikre Tolossa's Unethical Prescriptions!

By Bahru D. Bayisa*

Many pro-Ethiopian unity protagonists are utterly shameless and intellectually dishonest. They would say and write anything as far as it perpetuates the myth that the Oromo people are Ethiopians. In his dubiously esoteric letter to Dr. Beyan Asoba, the self-belittling Dr. Fikre Tolossa writes that we are all sons and daughters of Ityopp'is', and that we should, therefore, denounce our true identity our language, history, and culture and adopt that which is not ours, namely the Ethiopian identity.

His recommendations for us are in accordance with the way he himself has adopted the Ethiopian identity, consciously or subconsciously, denying who he truly is. Supposing that this guy's claim to be an Oromo by birth is valid, he seems to be worse than his masters perhaps because he is driven and energized by their expected positive appraisals and accolades as he disparages and ridicules his own people. Unfortunately (or may be fortunately), they don't seem to be pleased with him as he argues (in his other works) that the Amara are all of Cushitic origin despite their long established Semitic lineage.

In one of the interviews he gave on one of the media outlets in Amharic, the interviewing lady was apparently sarcastic about his perspective on Ethiopian history and people. She couldn't control her laughter as she questioned him on why his views are in total dissonance with that of renowned historians. His answers were far from being reasonable and were least expected from a man who claims to hold a Ph.D. It shouldn't be very surprising, however, considering that he had been educated in the former Soviet Union before he moved to the former West Germany where he did his Ph.D. in Amharic language, according to the interview he gave on ESAT television.

The most ridiculous and laughable comment he writes in the letter is that the Oromo people are suffering from identity crisis because of the political movement spearheaded by leaders like Dr. Beyan Asoba and many others. He should be kidding about this! The vast majority of Oromo people are actually far from having any identity crisis, for they have always stood up as proud Oromos in the face of ubiquitous persecutions and brutal genocides. I admit, however, that there are individuals like Dr. Fikre Tolossa himself who, by virtue of their early orientation (or disorientation) in the Ethiopian Orthodox church, have suffered identity crisis, and fell vulnerable to betray their own people. Come on Dr. Fikre! How do you blame us of identity crisis when you yourself have been ashamed of speaking in your native tongue – let alone writing it? If, as you claim, you are a genuine Oromo, how do you ally yourself with groups that made it their priority to altogether destroy our identity and impose theirs on us?

I suspect that Dr. Fikre's prescription of the Ge'eez or Ethiopic alphabet for the Oromo language is more revealing of his insatiable love affair with Ethiopia and the Amharic language than of his linguistic expertise. As a pseudo-intellectual, who retold and rewrote the baseless myths and fables that the Ethiopian debtaras invented and perpetuated for centuries, he has rarely provided any empirical evidences for his outrageous claims. One of his arguments, for example, was that our father, Ityopp'is, would be disappointed if he were to come back and see that the Oromo are using the Latin script(Qubee) in lieu of the Ge'eez alphabet which he (Ityopp'is) single-handedly crafted for us all to use. He also went on to write that it's only the poor and uncivilized people who do not have their own alphabet – who should borrow from others. According to this obnoxiously offensive argument, the Brits, the French, the Germans, the Italians, the Portuguese, … you name it, are all uncivilized poor people, while the Ethiopians, by some cosmic and divine intervention, qualify among the world's few civilized people. What a bogus and bigoted argument!

Needless to say, we have been absolutely satisfied by our choice of the Latin script to read and write Afan Oromo. According to Dr. Tilahun Gemta (1994), the Latin script was adopted unanimously by over one thousand Oromo intellectuals on November 3, 1991 due to linguistic, pedagogical, and practical reasons. He unequivocally argued that the roughly 250 Sabean characters are too unwieldy to adapt to Afan Oromo, and that the characters not only fail to indicate vowel length and gemination, but also slow down a writer's speed since each symbol, which cannot be written cursively, has to be printed. On top of that, Dr. Gemta adds, “… one of the major drawbacks of the syllabary writing is that its characters do not represent the vowels and the consonants of a language separately notwithstanding the two are distinct categories.”

If the Sabean characters were as remarkable as Dr. Fikre and his friends want us to believe, why then do the Amharic speakers, while still communicating in Amharic, use the Latin script to send us instant messages (IM), text messages, and Facebook posts? Why don't they use the Sabean characters when they chat in their now rampant Paltalk rooms? That is what we meant by practical reasons! Qubee has been so perfect for us anywhere, any time, and in all situations. It's computer friendly, easy to read and right, and readily transferable as we learn other languages of the world, mainly English, French and Spanish. Even if it doesn't have all these aforementioned linguistic and practical qualities, we are the ones who make decisions as we wish without consulting debteras!

To sum up, we are a proud people who have paid more than enough sacrifice to uphold and maintain our identity. We know who we are, and what is good for us. We do not need unethical prescriptions from Amharic language doctors and debteras, especially from someone who failed the character test of being true to himself. It will be a colossal mistake to push us too far in this regard since such insensitive and reckless diatribe will only hasten the disintegration and doom of the empire that is already on a life support.

* Bahru D. Bayisa: bbayisa@yahoo.com

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A Fifty Year Journey For The Love of Music and His People – Ali Birra ‘s Autobiography

By Lily Birra | August 20, 2013

Product Description (to Buy click Amazon)

The idea for this project was first suggested to Mohammed Hassen by Lily Marcos-Birra , the devoted wife and the best friend of Ali Birra probably about a year ago. What was planned at that stage was to prepare a short biographical information about the legendary Oromo singer for his Golden Jubilee anniversary celebration on musical stage. That event, which will mark Ali Birra’s 50th anniversary celebration since he started singing in 1963, will be held in Minneapolis on July 4, 2013. Although the plan for the project had a gestation period of several months, the work on the project commenced with earnestness only in May 2013. With Dr. Gemechu Megerssa’s contribution and two additional previously published articles, and two short reviews of Ali Birra’s music by Rick Sanders and Blogfoolk magazine. The project expanded beyond brief biographical information. The project now has five short chapters and two review articles. It is a very modest beginning for encouraging others to write more substantial work about Ali Birra, his long productive musical career and his huge contribution for putting Oromo music on musical map of the world. As a project which was prepared under intense pressure of time, we did not have the luxury of time for carefully proof-reading more than once all contributions. If we had an opportunity to proof-read all contributions more than once, probably we would have eliminated or reduced possible typos and other errors. We apologize if there are errors.

We are deeply indebted to Matt Knowles, Andreas Hansen and Rick Sanders for giving us the permission to include their excellent articles in this project. We express our sincere gratitude for Francis Falceto and Buda Musique for producing Ethiopiques 28. This production has truly garnered excellent reviews not only from the Oromo communities but also from the international audience. As the result of their production they put Oromo music where it rightfully deserves to be, part of the world music, ending the long neglect in which Oromo music found itself for decades. We have been very fortunate to have friends and colleagues who contributed to the completion of this project in one way or the other. We thank Catherine Jimbo Odari, a PhD student at Georgia State University, for typing the articles of Matt Knowles and Andreas Hansen. We thank our dear friend Dr. Gemechu Megerssa not only for his contribution but also for his participation in Ali Birra’s Golden Jubilee with us in Minneapolis. Dr. Gemechu Megerssa has been Ali Birra’s life-long close friend. We were deeply touched by quick responses of Taha Ali Abdi and Assefa Tefera Dibaba( a PhD student at Indiana University) for their translations of some of the lyrics of Ali Birra songs into English texts. We are indebted to Jawar Mohammed and Arfasse Gemeda of Columbia University for their help with this project. We owe big debt of gratitude to our friend, Elias Ibssa, who took the full responsibility for type-setting and printing this project and making it ready for the day of celebration. We thank all those who are involved behind the scene in organizing Ali Birra’s 50th anniversary. Finally, we owe profound debt of gratitude to our dear friend Ali Birra, who always made us laugh, while answering all our questions about his life and musical journey. Information from our long interviews with Ali Birra formed the basis for crafting chapter one. His interviews are also quoted generously in chapter two. We share the happiness with Ali Birra for celebrating his Golden Jubilee. We are looking forward to it with great excitement.

Mohammed Hassen and Lily Marcos-Birra

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South Africa: sanctuary at a price – Report of the Oromia Support Group (OSG)

The following is a report of the Oromia Support Group (OSG), a non-political organisation which attempts to raise awareness of human rights violations in Ethiopia. The report is published in association with the Oromo Relief Association UK, and is compiled from information obtained from Oromo and Ogadeni refugees in South Africa in October and November 2012.

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Summary
Fifty-eight Oromo and two Ogadeni refugees from Ethiopia were interviewed in Johannesburg, Alexandra township and Randfontein, in Guateng province, and in Kinross and Evander, Mpumalanga province, in October and November 2012. The refugees reported serious abuse in Ethiopia and hazardous journeys to South Africa.

The 60 interviewees corroborated previous reports of extraordinarily high rates of torture in places of detention in Ethiopia. 26 (43%) had been tortured – 58% of the men and 26% of the women. Of the 38 who had been detained, 68% reported being tortured. All had been severely beaten. 76% of detained men and 54% of detained women were tortured.

Reported conditions of detention in Ethiopia were atrocious. Torture was routinely practised in military camps, prisons, police stations and unofficial places of detention. Methods included arm-tying (falantis), severe enough to cause nerve damage; flaying of the soles of the feet (bastinado); mock execution; whipping; immersion of the head in water and other forms of asphyxiation; walking and running on gravel, barefoot or on knees; suspension by the wrists or ankles; stress positions; sleep deprivation by flooding cells; drenching and other exposure to cold; electrocution; suspension of weights from genitalia; and castration.

Previous reports of high mortality rates among detainees in military camps, especially Hamaresa in E. Hararge, were corroborated by former detainees. In addition to the many who were killed or died in detention, the interviewees reported 91 killings of family and friends. These included 21 summary executions, some of which were public. Interviewees also reported 18 disappearances, ten of close relatives.

Only two of 13 women former detainees were raped in custody, considerably less than the 50% in previous reports, but this probably reflects the small size of the sampled population. Another interviewee was raped in her home by a government official and then in Kakuma camp, Kenya, by an Ethiopian security agent. Three interviewees reported rape of others in Ethiopia, including the multiple gang-rape of a 14 year-old in the Ogaden, who was strangled to death after ten days by the soldiers who raped her.

Although almost all of the abuses were justified by state actors on the basis of victims’ involvement with the Oromo Liberation Front, only half of the interviewees had ever had any personal or family association with the organisation. Only three were themselves involved after the OLF left government in 1992.

Travellers to South Africa were at risk of abuse, including rape, by people-smugglers. Several deaths were witnessed during dangerous and harsh journeys lasting up to 12 months, during which migrants were often short of food and water. Detention in unsanitary, severely overcrowded conditions, especially in Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi, for up to five months, was experienced by 18 interviewees (21 episodes). Deportation and attempted deportation was reported by four.

Making a living in South Africa, although legal, is difficult and dangerous. The majority of interviewees work or have worked in township tuckshops, which are frequently subject to 2 armed robbery and xenophobic attacks. At least five Oromo died in tuckshop attacks in 2012 alone. On average, each tuckshop is robbed every 5-6 months. Several organised racist attacks against tuckshops were reported and xenophobic threats, direct and via distributed leaflets, were recorded.

Violence and robbery on the street is common. One young woman was raped on her way to work one Sunday morning, in central Johannesburg, a few days before interview.

The South African government appears unenthusiastic in tackling xenophobic violence and, at best, ambivalent in honouring its responsibilities to refugees, according to international law and its own constitution. It has failed to address the ubiquitous high level of violence. Xenophobia is fuelled by local leaders and politicians in order to bolster their popularity and power.

The refugee determination process is thoroughly corrupted and meaningless. Refugee status is virtually sold as a commodity.

Whereas refugees are able to make a living in South Africa better than elsewhere on the continent, this is at a price. The violence which is characteristic of everyday life in the country is particularly likely to impact on the poor and the immigrant.

A vibrant civil society stands in bright contrast to the ANC government and is a hopeful sign that prosperity and tolerance may eventually prevail in South Africa.

- Read the Full Report (OSG)

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Grooming Personalities for Worthless Head of State

By T Tolera | August 20, 2013

The Head of State, the presidential post in Ethiopia, has been a compensating excuse left to satisfy or neutralise an ethnic question for power. It has been dramatized, romanticized and traditional left for Oromo to scramble. It all started out with now a fierce critic of and prominent opposition to TPLF-led regime Dr. Negasso Gidada. Dr. Nagaso resisted a top-down command over his little constitutional power and revolted and broke away from Meles Zenawi, the late PM. Then comes Obbo Girma Woldegorgis, a personality of tabloids and popular jokes. I think Obbo Girma has exceeded the expectations of TPLF. The closest he appeared to have a power was when he wrote ‘shimigilina’ letter to the former pope of Ethiopian Orthodox Church in exile to mediate his restoration following the death of Abuno Paulo [the tyrant pop]. But then TPLF ordered him to denying he wrote the letter to VOA. Obbo Girma takes refuge in others’ idea and channels the will and orders of his masters. He proved to be a reliable partner and subordinate to TPLF through his unquestionable skill of obeying commands. I think we need to give him a credit for that. Nobody can do that good!

Why they do have to put a limit on the terms of the President anyway? You don’t need limit if there is nothing to check or balance, to misuse or abuse.  But to his displeasure, Obbo Girma has to depart from his beloved presidential palace because the constitution [article 70] does not allow third term. Well, now he owns plenty of time to walk around, sit upright and probably plant some trees in the new wave of fashionable Meles Foundation Parks.

So gossips are circulating who is being groomed to become another symbolic figure officially and constitutionally castrated only to shake the hands of Ambassadors and smile on camera. It is interesting how TPLF is moulding public opinion; how it glorifies or kills characters in to the run-up.

Increasingly frustrated on the individuals that have made the list so far, TPLF is trying to widen its alternatives through a media campaign. Recently, through its print and audio-visual media outlets, it is glorifying Professor Andreas Eshete, the former President of AAU and an advisor to the PM. We see this professor up against Adde Mulu Solomon, athlete Haile Gebrislasie, and MP Dr. Asheber Weldegergis, all among president-elect to be. It is to be recalled that Obbo Bulcha Damaksa, a retired Oromo Politian with immense popular support not only from Oromos but also many Ethiopians, is off the list as TPLF found promoting him risks its grip on power.

The famous athlete, an Olympic gold medallist and disputably the king of track race, Hiale Gebresilasie, is intending to enter politics. TPLF seems to like his move. Hiale has endorsed TPLF on several occasions. He has given moral and financial support during the 2010 election campaign. He has recently publicly praised TPLF and all the evils it does against the Muslims, the Oromos and other nations and nationalities. He is believed to be very close to the inner circle of TPLF-led regime and enjoys favouritism. He has loads of experience in business but he is not much of an academic, or even curious, who would question or think a head of TPLF’s complex set of traps. Although he is criticized for his increasingly monopolistic approach to business, he sought to tap in to his popularity to drive public support for political career.

Adde Mulu Solomon, the head of Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce, and a poet, is another widely rumoured candidate. She is an iconic figure in entrepreneurship, leadership and management who has come to be among top business personalities in Ethiopia. She is a conscious Oromo that also strives to develop Oromo art and Oromo language; she seems not to know much of Qubee herself though. She is an advocate of free market, microbusiness, and works to advance liberalization. In support to TPLF-led regime, she has kept silent as the economy is increasingly manipulated and skewed to few individuals and few companies under the colonial monopoly of small group of thugs.

The lone independent MP among the two non-EPRDF MPs in the 547 seat national parliament, Dr. Ashebir Weldegorgis, is a self-motivated contestant widely supported by the TPLF to be named the next president. He is a dentist who has found his way to politics because, he says, lack of justice and equality in the Kaffa region of his birth place has worsened. But most believe his political career may have been triggered during the row between FIFA and Ethiopian Football Federation [EFF] in 2009 where Dr. Ashebir was illegally, probably politically motivated, replaced by Ahmed Yasin as a chairman of EFF, who later in turn was dismissed from his post in election carried out at the presence of CAF and FIFA. Contrary to this, Dr. Ashebir has been rather silent in the parliament only to be a staunch supporter of TPLF.

Professor Andreas Eshete is amongst the brightest academics in Ethiopia. He has received the highest quality education and served as academics both in the USA and Ethiopia. He has led Addis Ababa University almost for 10 years in to excellence. He is an autocrat of high calibre. As an actively involved in drafting the constitution and the entire formation of government during the transitional government, he is quite a guy for the post. Although his push for constitutional court during the transitional period had put him at odds with Meles, he has come to win the late PM’s trust to become the member of the inner circle to continuity. He is very loyal to TPLF and its policies. During his time as the president of AAU, he has invited, on multiple occasions, the infamous federal police and the cruel Agazi militia to crackdown on Oromo students. Just to recount some; in January 2003, on April 23, 2007 and on May 1, 2010, Professor Endreas called the security to disperse and abduct a number of Oromo AAU students. Some of the students died, some disappeared, and others are still languishing detention without trial under inhuman conditions. Many believe this is a crime that he committed awaiting a fair trial.

What kind of qualities does TPLF look to ‘unanimously’ vote to sworn in a puppet president? The best candidate for the position, according to TPLF’s checklist, is one that has combination of: 1) an Oromo fairly detached from Oromummaa 2) leverage individual drenched in corruption and potentially crimes 3) individual of highest loyalty to TPLF and 4) financially poor, political dormant and morally dull individual.

For TPLF, it is important that the choices are widely spread both within the house and outside far from party politics. Within the house, TPLF has independent MP Dr. Ashebir; the rest of the candidates being non-MPs with no affiliation to any party. In this regard, the obvious favourite choice would be Dr. Ashebir. He is loyal to TPLF and he is believed to be involved in heinous corruption with medical equipment import for his chain of dental clinics and urban land grab. He is from relatively small nation in the southern Ethiopia, the Kaffa nation, which shares a lot with the Oromo nation in that both suffered from century long ruthless naftenya monarchy and military regimes. In the new fashionable tactics of giving power to the ‘small’ nations, TPLF would definitely play this card.

TPLF can also play the famous face card. Being the most famous face among the candidates, even though, it seems, TPLF would have some reservation on Haile’s stand on ‘Ethiopiawinet’, which appears to be fundamentally ‘Amhara-byssinian’, TPLF can definitely go with Haile as a last resort. Haile’s uncontrolled thirst for more wealth to advance his empire makes it easy for TPLF to effectively manipulate him according to its will. Yet Haile is known to deposit money oversea and TPLF can do little about that.

Slogans are heard TPLF tries to display passion to give power to women to play the ‘gender’ card. This brings in Adde Mulu Solomon. With some caution, TPLF might be happy with Adde Mulu. The dilemma ofcourse is that Adde Mulu is becoming a conscious Oromo that is going quickly up in the ladder of business and getting in the hearts of Oromos. If she continues to hear Oromos, it is likely that she will understand the repression of Oromos and that is the last thing TPLF wants to see. Just like it does to Abba Dula or Muktar, TPLF would definitely try to corrupt her in to submission.

Despite its pre-set checklist, TPLF would be very delighted to see Professor Andreas Eshete in the presidential palace. Prof. Andreas is praised to be the guardian of Federalism and an advocate of equality of nations and nationalities. Just like TPLF, he is just saying and writing on paper with no known example whatsoever. Just like TPLF, he has cited the constitution to call the military upon Oromo students and watched them beaten, killed and detained. As such, TPLF knows the professor is very much involved in party politics and many would oppose his nomination to the position. So this is a ‘high risk high reward’ card that if TPLF plays and succeeds means the Head of State and Head of the Government are both member of TPLF-EPRDF.

With Adde Mulu leading, nobody among the candidates meets the entire pre-set TPLF’s checklist; and this would only leave us for a surprise candidate who we might know little about. The election of Obbo Girma was a complete surprise indeed.

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Countering Land-grabs by Establishing a Database of Customary Land Ownership Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Published in 2013, Dugo, Habtamu, Eisen, Joanne, Jaatee, Malkamuu, Oromo Studies Association - Archived on August 20th, 2013

Title: Countering Land-grabs by Establishing a Database of Customary Land Ownership Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Authors: Malkamuu Jaatee, Habtamu Dugo and Joanne Eisen
Published: Oromo Studies Association (OSA) – Presentation at Annual Conference 2013
Language: English
Keywords: Land-grabs, Property Rights, Deeds, Indigenous peoples, and Documentation

Abstract:
Without modern deeds and documentation, indigenous peoples cannot prove ownership of their ancestral lands. This paper describes a proposal that will create land ownership records/deeds for indigenous people by recording their land boundaries using GPS technology. The recording process will begin in areas that are at highest risk for land grabbing and the data will be stored out of country. This should strengthen the position of those who have only informal title to their land and who do not have the ability to prevent land grabbing. We expect that short term benefits will include the promotion of Oromummaa, the development of Oromo leadership, the continuing education of the people about their rights and the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent [FPIC] and the intimidation of prospective land grabbers by alerting them to brewing resistance. In the long term, if court proceedings are required, measurement of ancestral property and documentation of ownership offer a higher chance of a successful outcome. We show how the changing concept of FPIC and financial failures of previous land grabbing schemes may be contributing to an eventual slowing of the land grab process. Until that time, indigenous leadership should promote the timely local actions required to protect the people from despotic treatment.

Article in PDF format (Gadaa.com)

Keywords: and Documentation, Deeds, Indigenous Peoples, Land-grabs, property rights

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Born to Serve and Die Serving

By Hawi Chala | August 19, 2013

It is obvious that Oromia and Oromo people are the backbone of Ethiopia; economically, socially and culturally though that is not true politically. Isn’t it a paradox?

Here I am not interested to talk about the resources of Oromia, the coffee exported, nor the gold, nor the arable land nor other agricultural and mineral resources exploited from Oromia. But I have developed an interest on what makes Ethiopia known at international level and Oromia’s contribution towards that.

Bear in mind that Ethiopia is known very little at international level. Among the things that make Ethiopia known at international level are: the 1983 famine, the Adwa victory, Lucy, Axum obelisk, the ark of covenant, Lalibela, HIV/AIDs, drought, land of dictatorial leaders, land of athletes … add me more.

More than the aforementioned cultural heritages, athletics played significant role in introducing Ethiopia to global level. Many of Ethiopia’s proudest moments had come when our stars won competition and raise the Ethiopian flag to the world level. In fact the world doesn’t know much about where in Ethiopia these athletes come from, they generally consider that Ethiopia as the land of legends or a running mecca, as the New York Times wrote in 2008.  Dare to say over 90% of these legend athletes come from Oromia region. These are few of Oromia’s legend children from past to contemporary:  Abebe Bikila, Mammo Wolde, Wami Biratu, Tolesa Kotu, Darartu Tulu, Geremew Dirbaba, Worku Bikila, Fatuma Roba, Gete Wami, Abebe Mekonen, Mohammed Kedir, Kenenisa Bekekle, Sileshi Sehni, Tariku Bekele, Tirunesh Dibaba, Genzebe Dibaba and Ejigayehu Dibaba, Gezahegn Abera, Tsegaye Kebede, Lelisa Desisa, Tiki Gelana, Kture Dulecha, Tilahun Regassa ……. and many more.

From early days of Abebe Bikila to present, hundreds of oromo Athletes have brought home gold while simultaneously popularizing the name Ethiopia at athletics field.

These athletes are the proud of not only the Oromo people, to whom they belong to, but also to Ethiopia, to whom they run for and also to whoever is a fan of athletics. Exhausted by the race and overwhelmed by the feeling of happiness, making an interview to journalists is an inevitable duty on the champions’ job description. Since I have started watching athletics, what I could witness on their interviews after their victories is that we don’t see them making interview in their mother tongue language, Afan Oromo. Why do you think so?

It seems that the athletes fear to speak Afan Oromo, because they fear loosing careers due to the racist attitude from Habeshas, who would only want them to identify as “Amharic-speaking” Ethiopians champions. They are made not to believe in themselves, made to look down on themselves and made to think that their language is not good enough for interview. Isn’t it ironic? With such systematic psychological means of deterioration, our superstar Oromo athletes loose the confidence to be proud of themselves and their language, and then forced to make interview in Amharic, a language they couldn’t speak fluently.

Having contributed all these super stars legends, who lifted up the name of Ethiopia up to the sky, what Oromo people has got in return back from Ethiopian government is the opposite. Being denied the fundamental human rights, Oromo people have suffered decades of persecution, intimidation, harassment, massacre, abused and imprisoned for life. For the cause of struggling for their fundamental human right, Oromo people are regarded as a terrorist, tribalist, racist and many students have been killed are fled from their country. While our athletes raise the Ethiopian flag in the competition abroad, the Ethiopian government killed their sisters and brothers back home.

Isn´t it ironic that while Oromia has contributed so much to Ethiopia, but has in return gained all those injustices? This is not my only question rather it is a question at the heart of all Oromo people.

Hawi Chala

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Jiituu Dh. Wakjira exposed political suppression and oppression in her story of love, perseverance, resilience and courage

18 August 2013, (Advocacy for Oromia) —  Jiituu Dhabasa Wakjira was only five years old when Ethiopian security forces took away her father, Dhabasa Wakjira, from their home in April 2004 and nine years old when her mother, Lelisse Wodajo, was arrested four years latter in 2008.
Jiituu understood very little at the time, but remembers missing her father, whom she visited at Ethiopia’s notorious Kaliti prison every weekend – for nearly three years.
On Saturday Aug. 10 2013, Jiitu, 14, described her family’s ordeals, in a heartfelt speech that read much like a movie script, before a captive Oromo and Australian audience.
Exposed to politics, suppression, oppression and loss at a young age, Jiitu’s is a story of love, perseverance, resilience, and courag
The following is a speech written by Jiituu Dhabasa on welcoming night for Lelisse Wodajo, organized by Oromo community on 10/08/2013, Melbourne.

Hello Every One!

As most of you would know, my name is Jitu. I’m 14 years old and today, I’m going to deliver a fairly long speech just to give you an outlook on how happy I am that mom is finally here and to show my gratitude for supporting us. This is my way of taking everyone here back to when everything started.
Every adult in my family has had a rough patch with the Ethiopian government. It’s common knowledge but even I didn’t understand what was happening when the police came to take my dad. Of course, it wasn’t expected of me. I was just 4 or 5 years old. I barely understood math let alone why people were taking my parents.
I can’t explain how I felt. I guess I was scared. I mean, who wouldn’t be? There were these people going through our wardrobes, taking all my favourite videos of Tom and Jerry and even our parents’ wedding tape. I remember sitting on dad’s lap, watching the policemen open wardrobe after wardrobe. My memories of that time were hazy, all I remember is that it was Friday and the next day when I woke up and asked mom where dad was, she said he was, in simple words, gone.
It was a bit weird but we adapted to it. It wasn’t the worst experience but then, at that age, I didn’t even know what experience meant. Mom and I would visit dad every Saturdays and sometimesSundays, we’d bring him food and we’d keep him company while he introduced us to his cellmates. I met a lot of good people there that certainly didn’t deserve to be there.
My dad told me that I once asked “Did you know Qaliti is Oromia’s ‘capital’ city?”
He had asked “why?” to which I replied, “because all Oromo are here. They all speak afaan Oromo.”
I’m guessing I didn’t view it as a prison back then but more like a meeting hall for all Oromo people to converse at.
One of the many traits mom has is dedication. When I think about it now, it’s baffling to know that someone could have the dedication to visit someone every Saturdays and Sundays. I enjoyed the visit, you had to take what you can get but to think, mom made food for dad, she walked from Arat Kilo to the bus stop early in the morning where the weather would have made the warmest man cringe to visit dad until afternoon when the weather was scorching hot. It takes a lot of patience and devotion to do that. I didn’t understand that as a kid. I just thought it was what was expected of me and grew accustom to it so I don’t get any praise.
Three years later, I remember dad being released. It came as a shock. My brother, Bonsen believed that a picture of dad was his dad. When dad came home, he didn’t believe us when we told him that dad was really dad. It took him a while to understand that a picture was incapable of fathering him.
It was a great day. It seemed like everything was getting back to normal. I had dad, mom, Bonsen, everyone and everything I needed until one day, I found out that dad was gone, again. The reaction I had to his second departure was more extreme that the first. Think about it, he was taken first for three years, he came back and then after one month, he was gone. I might have not cried for the first time but I did for the second.
After a few days, weeks, I don’t know how long, mom told me dad was in Kenya and I had to keep it a secret. I was bad at keeping secrets, and I still am but that’s the one secret I managed to keep, well until now. I did get to talk to dad on the phone. The phone calls did make things better. I don’t really remember how I felt back then. I just remember feeling a bit sad. I didn’t understand that he was gone for his own safety, in fact, back then, I preferred the first departure than the second. At least then, I got to see him weekly. Now, I realise it was better for him to be safe and away than in danger and present.
When mom was arrested, I was about 9 and had a better understanding of how things worked. I even have better memories of what happened that day. I had finished exams week and I had just gotten out of the school taxi. I was getting ready to tell everyone exams were over and just relax but instead of that, I saw my mom being carted out in the back of a police car with someone else. She saw me and yelled “I’ll be back,” but you can guess that after seeing the police, I didn’t think so. My life right there and then turned into some kind of action movie because the calm and relaxed person I was then was gone and I was rushing to our house so I could find out what exactly happened.
Bonsen was there and we all know that he spent most of his life with mom. He was so attached to her that he wouldn’t even sleep unless it was on her thigh so you can imagine the state of confusion and sadness within him while mom was taken. I had seen him cry a lot of times before that. I myself have made him cry but seeing him in that state, crying, I felt really protective. I don’t really think I cried because mom was gone but because Bonsen was crying. I just hugged him and cried. That was when I really thought about the situation.
“Who was going to take care of us?” “Where’s mom going?” Those thoughts were going through my head while my hands remained around Bonsen. There was Sena, my sister who was a teenager and couldn’t take care of us without a job, there was my cousin, Debela who was still in University and there was our aunty, Mestawet. I never saw Mestawet as the responsible type back then so I ruled her out as our guardian. As you can see, I was a bit self-absorbed and didn’t even think about mom until it hit me that mom was gone and of course, I pieced it to the other memory of dad being taken away and I just assumed that she was going through the same process as him and I was right.
Luckily, Bontu became our guardian at the time of mom’s departure. She was great. She was just like our mother and she still is. I visited mom with her and my cousin, Debela but because we had Saturday school, I had to visit her on Sundays which resulted in me ignoring Church which made Mestawet angry since she’s a religious person.
Mom was great too. I met a lot of good people there with her. One of the most confusing times was when I saw a child younger than me coming out of the prison inside. I believed that people were arrested because they did something bad and my parents were some kind of exception. Seeing the little girl there was just confusing. I think mom had noticed me staring at the girl because she started distracting me with lollies but to this day, I do not understand why an innocent young girl who was obviously not capable of doing any harm to the government in prison.
When I found out that we were going to be with dad, I felt like I was in a dilemma. I was happy, I mean I was going to see dad but then I was sad too. I was leaving mom. Of course, I didn’t really have much say then. I was going one way or another. It was like a transition, from both parents to mom to both parents and then to none.
Of course, when we arrived in Kenya, I was excited. Meti was waiting for us and I remember Bonsen being really shy towards Meti but as we can see, he’s warmed up to her. The minute we saw dad, it was just a moment of astonishment and shock. You see, when dad was in prison, I used to have a repetitive dream that he wasn’t really in jail but in the wardrobe. Of course, I would wake up and be disappointed after checking the wardrobe. When we saw him at the airport in Kenya, I thought I was dreaming for a few seconds until I actually hugged it.
We didn’t just meet dad though, we met Ayantu who turned out to be our second mom. She had longer hair back then. Nairobi was a good place to be. I didn’t really feel like I was away from home and I had a break from school for roughly about 6 months. I even managed to learn a few words inSwahili then. In Nairobi, I had a better understanding to why my parents were arrested. It turned out they weren’t an exception, they were just Oromo people. I couldn’t get my head around why they were arrested though. Taking pride in one’s country shouldn’t have been a crime. It shouldn’t have been frowned upon; it should be accepted and encouraged.
Of course, Meti and Ayantu had to leave which was pretty sad but soon after, we followed and headed for Adelaide but nothing interesting happened there so fast forward and we were in Melbourne with Meti and Ayantu. Nothing really had changed; we were just in another country. We were good with English and we had adapted quickly.
One faithful day, I was on my netbook doing my Science homework when dad walked in and said ‘Mom was released.’ Honestly, I didn’t believe him because we all know he’s a joker and that I had hiccups and just thought he was trying to shock me out of it. After asking him multiple times if I was joking, he reassured me that she really was released. I started crying in happiness. Her being released was enough to overwhelm me to the point that I started tearing up.
Up until she was released, I didn’t even notice that four years had gone by. I just thought if I put a time on how long she was away, it would have been longer so I avoided the topic of time. I literally said ‘Four years? Wow,” because believe it or not, I actually thought she was away for two years.
After she was released, it was waiting time. A year had passed and she still didn’t have her visa granted so we were trying to fasten the process for her. We talked on the phone and it was great hearing her voice.
This year, before she came, I was doing a research for school and I learnt a few troubling things about the Ethiopian government. It made me fear for her. If they lived by the might makes right code, it was obvious that they had the power to put her back in prison and no one wanted that. It made me more eager for her to be here with us, away from the dictatorship. Every night I would have made a wish for her to be with us, even if it was really childish.
A few weeks ago, we found out that mom’s visa was granted so what was left was just her arrival time. Dad would keep me posted in things that were happening and I would hope the day of arrival was soon. On the 26th of July, my friend and I were watching a trailer to a film-adaptive to one of my favourite books at school, which was coming out on August the 8th. I instantly wondered if what would have happened if mom arrived on the 8th. I don’t know if it was just a coincidence but that night, I told dad about the thought I had and he told me that she was leaving Oromia on the 6th and could arrive on the 8th or 7th.  I literally had a hand-made calendar counting down the days on the back of my school diary and had different scenarios of how I would greet her in my head by the 5th of August.
Everyone was moving around, getting things ready and I was just sitting there with my laptop on my lap wondering how she would look, what she would wear and if she would have been the same. On the 7th, my cousin Abraham sent us a picture of mom and family members at the airport. I just stared at the picture, analysing her clothes so I would remember what she was wearing to find her at the airport. Bonsen’s reaction was priceless. He had yelled out ‘mom!’ when he saw the picture in shock. It was as if he was saying ‘She’s actually coming,’ in a shortened way.
Honestly, I couldn’t sleep until past midnight. It was just to exciting but it turned out not sleeping but a bad idea because we were tired in the morning. Of course, by the time we were in the car, I was excited and practically checking Ayantu’s phone for how many minutes we had left until she arrived.
In the airport, I started getting worried because she was one of the last people to arrive. Our eyes were darting around looking for her until Bontu yelled ‘She’s here’ and they started running towards her. When we reached mom, I saw Bonsen hugging her. It was strange. I just stood there stunned because I couldn’t believe I was standing right next to my mom and that Bonsen was hugging her. Anyone here would know Bonsen doesn’t hug people voluntarily so seeing him hugging her like that was shocking.
I didn’t greet her until I got over the fact that she was there. I did try to stop myself from crying but how could I not? The minute we hugged, my hands were just tight around her neck and I was tearing up. I knew people wanted to greet her too but I didn’t want to let go.
Even thought I was really happy, I was expecting for everything to disappear and everything to turn out to be a dream so my shock just doubled over when it turned out she was in fact really here.
Even though mom is here with us and the missing puzzle to our family was complete, there are still others suffering under the Ethiopian government. There are still parents with children like me suffering and yet putting their children’s safety in front of theirs because the safety of their children is more rewarding than the safety of themselves. It’s like a constant reminder to not be selfish and not to take the things we have here for granted because people are suffering on our behalf back in Oromia. This is why we should treasure our culture and make sure their legacies are continued through us and the future generation. We owe them, I owe them a lot of things and we should never take our freedom here for granted.
I still remember Hawi, Aberash, Faxe, Muda, Mesfin and many others in Ethiopian prison because of their identity, their background and political views. I wish that they could all be here with us away from the dictatorship but they’re not. I really hope one day that we could unite and live life as the big family we are without fear.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said ‘Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.’ This is the quote I now live my life to. This quote speaks the truth. It’s telling me that sitting down and doing nothing won’t help anyone or anything, we must all do something to help the ones suffering. Ethiopian Government won’t give us the freedom voluntarily we must demand it.
Thank you everyone for supporting us. Your support and dedication motivates me to stand up for our country and Oromo people. One day, I’ll support you with whatever you need support in just like you supported me. I owe you guys and I promise to repay you. I love you all.
Thank you.

>ayyaantuu