ራስህን አስተዋውቀን — ጥጋቡ ቸርነት ወይም መሃመድ —- እባላለሁ፡፡ ጥጋቡ የቤት ስምህ ነው? ዋ! ቤተሰቦቼ እኮ ሙስሊሞች ናቸው፡፡ አያቴ መሃመድ ነበር የሚለኝ፡፡ ያው እኔ ተጠምቄ ነው፡፡ አንዳንዶች አሽቃባጭ፣ ፋረኛው ራፐር፣ ይሉኛል፡፡ እኔ ግን ራሴን የምጠራው ‹‹አዳማቂው›› በሚል ነው፡፡ በፆም ወቅት ስንት ስራዎች ሰራህ?

አሁን ድምፃውያን ሙሉ ስራ ላይ ብዙም ትኩረት እየሰጡ አይደለም፡፡ ሞያተኛውም ሰርቶ ጥቅም ባለማግኘቱ፣ የኮፒራይቱም ጥሰት ተጠናክሮ በመቀጠሉ ወደ ነጠላ ዜማና ክሊፖች ነው አርቲስቱ እያዘነበለ ያለው፡፡ ወደ አስር ነጠላ ዜማዎች ላይ ተሳትፌአለሁ። የታዋቂዎችና የጀማሪ ባህላዊ ዘፈኖች ላይ ሰርቻለሁ፡፡ ለፋሲካ ባህል የሚወጡ ነጠላ ስራዎች አሉ፡፡ እንዴት ነው ሥራውን የጀመርከው፣ አርአያ የሆነህ ባለሙያ አለ? እገሌ የምለው የለኝም፡፡ ፈር ቀዳጅ አዳማቂ—- ፈር ቀዳጅ አሽቃባጪ በይው!! ..በገጠር ነው እድገቴ፡፡ በሀገራች ሁሉ አቀንቃኝ፣ ሁሉ ጨዋታ አዋቂ፣ ነገር አዋቂ፣..እንደመሆኑ በሰርግም ሆነ በጥምቀት አንዱ ግጥም ሲሰጥ፤ አንዱ ሲቀበል…ሌላው ሲፎክር፣ ሲሸልል…የውስጡን ስሜት በተረትና በምሳሌ ይገልፃል የባላገር ህይወት ይሄው ነው፡፡ በጋራ ሸንተረሩና በየመንገዱ ላይ .. ማንጎራጎር የተለመደ ነው፡፡ ቆይ ቆይ እንደውም አስተውለሽ እንደሁ — እዚህ አገር እኮ ይመጡልሻል—- ከገጠር አካባቢ —‹‹ሸበላው›› የሚባሉትን እስኪ ጠጋ ብለሽ ስሚያቸው—- ትርጉም የሌለው ዝም ብሎ ብቻ እንደሙዚቃ መሳሪያ ሲሉት…የድምፃቸው ማማር፡፡

/በድምፁ እያንቆረቆረ/ ገጠር የት ነው የተወለድከው፣ ያደከው? የተወለድኩት ጎንደር ነው፡፡ ያደግሁት ግን ባህርዳር። ጎንደር እፍራዝ ደንቢያ ፍርቃ ይባላል፡፡ ….. እናልሽ—–ገና ህፃን ሳለሁ —— ወላጆቼን በሽታ ጨረሳቸው፡፡ በወቅቱ በሽታ ገብቶ ነበር፡፡ በሰዓቱ ብዙ ከብትና ሰው አለቀ፡፡ ስምንት የወንድ አያቴ ልጆች ሞቱ፣ እናቴም ሞተች፣ የእናቴ እናት ሞተች…የተወሰኑ ሰዎች ስንቀር “አያቴ እነዚህን ላትርፍ፣ ዘሬን ላጣ ነው፣ እኔም ብሞት አጉል ነው” ብሎ የተወሰኑትን ቤተዘመዱን ይዞ ባህርዳር ገባነ፡፡ ባህርዳር ነው ያደኩት፡፡ አያቴ ነው ያሳደገኝ፡፡ አንተ ያን ጊዜ ስንት ዓመትህ ነበር? ወደ ሰባት ብሆን ነው፡፡ ብዙም ትዝ አይለኝ፡፡ የተወለድክበት ገጠር፤ ትዝታው የለማ? የተረፈው ዘመድ ተርፎ አሁን አሁን ሰርግ ይጠሩኛል እሄዳሁ፡፡ አንዳንድ የሩቅ ዘመዶችም ቢሆኑ አይጠፉም፡፡ ዋ!! መቼም አልተለየሁም ከገጠር፡፡ ሰርግ ላይ ተጠርተህ ስትሄድ ታቀነቅን ነበር ታዲያ? ዋ..ማ ብሎኝ—አስነካው፡፡ ‹‹እረ ፈሪ ብልጡ፣ እረ ጃርቲ ብልጡ ሲሮጥ የሚያይበት፣ አይን አለው በቂጡ ነፋስ ዶቄት ሰርቆ አይበላው አንጉቶ(2) ወደልሽ ሰደበኝ የአንቺን ነገር ሰምቶ…›› እያልን ለማማለል ..በሰርግ በዚያው የራስንም ለማግኘት..ጥቅሻው ይደራል፤ በግጥም መነቋቆሩ ይኖራል…በዚህ ጊዜ ‹‹አይ ድምፅ፣ አይ እስክስታው፣ አይ አንገቱ..›› ይባላል፡፡

የገጠር ሰርግ በከበሮ፣ በጡሩንባ፣ አጀቡ ሌላ ነው.—- አሁን “በሙሉ ባንድ ሙዚቃ ሰራን” ከሚባለው ኪነት እንኳን ድምቀቱ ሌላ እኮ ነው!! ተቀባዩ ብትይ፤ አድማቂው ሌላ እኮ ነው፡፡ ከዛ ፊት ግን ባህርዳር በልጅነቴ ገብቼ በእርሻው በከብት ጥበቃ ስራ ተሰማርቼ ባላየውም፣ የእኔ መኖሪያ ከከተማ ወጣ ይል ስለነበር አባይን ተሻግረን ‹‹ማክሰኝት..ዘንዘልማ›› የሚባል ቦታ እንሄድ ነበር፣ ከእኩዮቼ ጋር እንውል የነበረው ከአራዊትና ከእንስሳቱ ጋር በድር ነው። ልብሳችንን እናወልቅና ጭንቅላታችን ላይ ጠመጥመን..አባይን በዋና አቋርጠን ዶቅማ፣ ሾላ፣ እንኮይ፣ እሸ…” የተባሉ ፍራፍሬዎችን …እንለቅማለን፡፡ ከጠዋት እስከ ማታ ስንጫወት እናመሻለን፡፡ ጠላቂ፣ ዋናተኛ ነህ? ስሚ አባይን እኮ በዋና አቋረጥሽ ማለት ሌላ ሳይንስ ነው፡፡ ውሃው ሲወርድ እኮ እንዴት እንደሚማታ ..ብዙ ሰዎችን ያሳስታል፡፡ አልፎ ስታይው ድንጋይ ነው የሚመስልሽ፡፡ እና ሰዎች የአባይን ባህሪ ስለማያውቁት ቅርብ እየመስላቸው ስንቱን ውሃ በላው መሰለሽ። አንድ ቦታ የሚወርድ ይመስልሽና በደለል የተሸፈነ ወይንም በድንጋይ ይሆናል፡፡ አንድ ጊዜ ከጭንቅላቴ የማይወጣ እስከዛሬም ሳስበው ድርጊቱ ዝግንን የሚለኝ ነገር ገጥሞኛል።

በደርግ እና በኢህአዴግ ጦርነት ጊዜ የደርግ ሰራዊት በአባይ ተበልቷል፡፡ ጦርነቱ ሲገፋ ከኢህአዴግ ሰራዊት ለማምለጥ ብለው ሊሻገሩ እጅ ለእጅ ተያይዘው ሲሄዱ ጠርጎ ሲወስዳቸው ትዝ ይለኛል፡፡ ዋናማ ለገጠር ልጅ ምኑ ነው፡፡ ያውም በአባይ ወንዝ ዋናን የለመደ፡፡ እኛማ ዝም ብለን አይደል ጠልቀን እምንሄድበት፡፡ አባይን ተሻግረን ቤዛዊት የሚባል የአፄ ሃይለስላሌ ቤተመንግስት አካባቢ በዋና እንወጣና በዱር በገደሉ ከዝንጀሮዎችና ከአራዊቱ ጋር እናመሻለን፡፡ ከዝንጀሮ ጋር ግብ ግብ ገጥመን ነው ያልኩሽን ፍራፍሬ የምንመገብ፡፡ እንደ ዝንጀሮ ተንኮለኛ የለም፣ ዝንጀሮን “አንዳንድ ተንኮለኛን ሰው ይመስላል” ሲሉ እሰማ ነበር፡፡ ዝንጀሮው ፍራፍሬውን ስንለቅም ተራራ ላይ ሆኖ ድንጋይ ይወረውርብናል፡፡ ከተራራ ላይ ሆኖ የድንጋይ ናዳ ይለቅብናል፡፡ አንድ ጓደኛዬ ዝንጀሮ ፈንክቶታል፡፡ እኛ ግን እንደ ጨዋታም ስለምናየው ከዝንጀሮው ዱላ ይልቅ እናቀነቅናለን…ድምፃችን ከገደል ገደል እየተላተመ፤ ከተራራ ተራራ እየተጋጨ የሚያሰማን የገደል ማሚቱ አይነት ነገር የራሳችንን ድምፅ እንድናውቀው፣ እንድንወደው ይረዳናል፡፡ ደጋገምን እንጮሃለን፣ እንዘፍናለን…ተፈጥሮ በራስዋ ከእኛ ጋር ስታውካካ ታመሻለች፡፡ ዋ!! ያልሽ እንደሆነ እኮ ደግሞ አንዱ ግጥም ሲሰጥ፣ አንዱ ሲቀበል ሲፎከር ሲሸለል ሳናውቀው ቀኑ መሽቶ ይነጋል፡፡ አመሻሻችንን ደግሞ በዋና ተመልሰን ወደ ሰፈራችን እገባለን፡፡

ዛሬ ፅፌ እንኳን ሙዚቃ አልይዝም፣ ያን ጊዜ ግን ምኑን ልንገርሽ፡፡ ቴፕ እንኳን በቤታችን ስለሌለ አዲስ ካሴት የምንሰማው ሙዚቃ ቤት ደጅ ላይ ቆመን ነበር። አንድ ሙሉ ካሴት ጀምሮ እስኪያልቅ…አንዳንድ ጊዜም የሙዚቃ ቤት በር ላይ እንደቆምን፣ አንድ ካሴት ብቻ እየተገለባበጠ እየሰማን ይመሻል፡፡ ሙዚቃ ቤቶችም እንደማሻሻጫ ሰው ሰምቶና አይቶ እንዲገዛቸው ስለሚፈልጉ ነው መሰለኝ…. እንደ ጉንዳን ሱቁን ከበን በምሳጤ ስናዳምጥ፤ አንዳች አይናገሩንም…ጭራሽ ካሴቱን እየገለባበጡ ያስደምጡናል፡፡ .. ማድመጥ ብቻ ነው ወይንስ ያደመጥከውን የባህል ምሽት ቤቶች እየዞርክ ታንጎራጉራለህ? ያን ጊዜ የምሽት ክበብ ብዙም አይታወቅም፡፡ እኔንም እዛ የሚያደርሰኝም የለ፡፡ ልጅ ነኝ!! በየጠላ ቤቱ እየተዘዋዟርኩ ሳቀነቅን፤ ስሸለም ነው የምውለው፡፡ ሰው ልብስ አጠባ ወንዝ ይወርዳል፤ ሲወርድ እኔም ወንዝ ወርጄ ስዘፍን ይሸልሙኛል፡፡ የትምህርትህስ ነገር —– መማር እስከ ስምንተኛ ክፍል ተምሬያለሁ፡፡ ግን ድህነቱም ስለነበረ ቀን ቀን ሊስትሮ እየሰራሁ ምሽት ወደ ጠላ ቤት እየሄድኩ በግጥምና በማቀንቀን ጠጪውን ሳዝናና፣ በየሙዚቃ ቤቱ የሰማሁትን የነጥላሁን ገሠሠን ዘፈን ሳንጎራጉር — አልኩሽ ሽልማቱ ይዥጎደጉድልኝ ጀመር፡፡

ጠላም ያልሽ እንደሆን ያን ጊዜ ርካሽ ነው፣ አንዱ ማንቆርቆሪያ 25 ሳንቲም ነበር፡፡ ገንዘቡ እየተጠራቀመ ሲመጣ — መቶና ከዚያም በላይ በቀን ሳገኝ ..ደርሼ እያማረብኝ መጣ፡፡ አንድ ቀን ግን እዚያው የምሽት ክበብ/የምሰራበት ጠላ ቤት/ ውስጥ አንድ እክል ገጠመኝ፡፡ ምን ገጠመህ? ያን ግዜ ደረስን ደረስን የሚሉ ቡጢኛዎች ከምኖርበት ከከተማ ወጣ ብሎ ከሚገኘው ሰፈሬ አካባቢ የሚገኙ ልጆች ያዙኝና ከዛሬ ጀምሮ እኛ በምንሄድበት ትሄዳለህ፤ የምንልህን ትፈፅማለህ፡፡ ከአሁን በኋላ በየጠላ ቤቱ እየሄድክ ብትዘፍን ውርድ ከራሳችን አሉኝ፡፡ ‹‹እንዴት?›› ስላቸው ‹‹በቃ ጠላ ቤትም ቢሆን ከእኛ ጋር እንጂ ዝም ብሎ መንከውከው አይቻልም›› አሉኝ፡፡ ክብደት ያነሳሉ፣ ደረታቸውን ውጥርጥር አድርገው ሲጓዙ በጣም ያስፈራሉ፡፡ ቢደበድቡኝስ ብዬ ቀን ቀን ሊስትሮዬን እየሰራሁ፤ ማታ ማታ ከእነሱ ጋር በየጠላ ቤቱ እዞር ነበር፡፡ እነሱ ካልከፈቱኝና ከልዘጉኝ በስተቀር እኔ አንዳች መተንፈስ አልችልም ነበር፡፡ ማለት? ጠላ እየጠጣን የጠላ ቤት ታዳሚው ከዚህ ፊት እዘፍን እንደነበረ የሚያውቀው ሁሉ እኔን ሲያይ፤ ግብጦውን እና ቦቀልቱን ከጠላ ጋር እያሻመደ.. እሱ ምን አለበት… ‹‹አንተ ምነ ዛሬ ልሳንህ ተዘጋ፡፡ በል እንጂ አቀንቅን›› ይሉኛል፡፡ ልሳኔን በቡጢኞች ሊያዘጋ ስለሚችል ቃል አልተነፍስም፡፡ ከቡጢኞች መካከል አንዱ ተንስቶ ‹‹እራ….እኛ ሳንከፍተው ሳንዘጋው አያቀነቅንም›› ይላል፡፡ በኋላ እንደ ቡጢኞች መልካም ፈቃድ ትከሻዬን በአውራጣቱ ጫን ብሎ ‹‹ቀጭ›› ይለኛል፡፡ በእርሱ ቤት ቴፕ እንደመክፈትና እንደ መዝጋት ነው፡፡

ያን ጊዜ መዝፈን እጀምራለሁ፡፡ እንደገና ‹‹ቀጭ›› ሲለኝ ስዘፍን የነበርኩት አቋርጣለሁ፡፡ ጠላ ቤት ይዘውኝ የሚሄዱት 25 ሳንቲም፣ 50 ሳንቲም ሲያገኙ ነው፡፡ ያም ሳንቲም ሆኖ የሚጠፋበት ጊዜ ነበርና አንዳንድ ጊዜ ወንዝ ይዘውኝ ይወርዳሉ፡፡ እነሱ እየታጠቡ ..እነሱን እኔ አዝናናለሁ፡፡…ወንዝ ይዘውኝ ወርደውማ..ቴፕን እስከ መጨረሻው እንደመክፈት ቁጠሪው‹‹…ድምፅህን ጎላ አርገህ ዝፈን…አትሰማም…ቀይር…አቅጥን …አወፍር…›› ሲሉኝ — ስዘፍን አንዱን ስል አንዱን ስጥል እውላለሁ፡፡ ስራም አልሰራሁ፣ እነሱ ወደ ቤታችው ሲሄዱ እኔ የምበላውም አይኖረኝ፣ አንጀቴን አጥፌ እውላለሁ፡፡ በጣም መቸገር ጀመርኩ፡፡ ‹‹የፈለገው ይምጣ›› ብዬ ጠፍቻቸው ሊስትሮዬን መስራት ጀመርኩ፤ የመንግስት ሰራተኞች ከቤታቸው መስሪያ ቤታቸው ምሳቸውን አደርሳለሁ — በዚህ በዚህ ገንዘብ ማግኘት ጀመርኩ፡፡ አንዱ ቀን ከእነሱ ጋር ጠላ ቤት ሂጄ ‹‹ለምን ገንዘብ አዋጥተን ልብስ አንገዛለትም›› ብለው ጠላ ቤት ውስጥ የብር መሰብሰቢያ ሰሃን አስቀምጠው፣ የጠላ ቤቱ ሰው ሁሉ አዋጥቶ በወቅቱ ፋሽን የነበረ እንዴት ያለ ማራዶና ቱታ ከአዲዳስ ጫማ ጋር ገዙልኝ፡፡

አቤት ከእኔ በላይ ሰውም ያለ አልመስል አለኝ፡፡ እዚያው ጠላ ቤት ነው እድሌ የወጣች ..አንዱ ቀን እዚያው ጠላ ቤት ስዘፍን የ‹‹ባህርዳር ጨርቃጨርቅ ፋብሪካ/ኮተኒ›› ይባላል፤ የዛ መስሪያ ቤት ሰራተኛ የሆኑ ሰዎች አለቆች አገኙኝ ፣ በወቅቱ ፋብሪካው ኪነት ነበረው፡፡ ሙዚቀኛ ይፈልጉ ነበር፡፡ ሲያዩኝ ‹‹አንተ እንደዚህ በየጠላ ቤቱ እየዘፈንክ ዝናህን ሰምተን ነበር..እንዴት ያለኸው ልጅ›› አሉና ይዘውኝ ሄዱ..በፋብሪካው ለነበረው የኪነት ቡድን በወጣ ማስታወቂያ ከተወዳደሩ ሁለት መቶ ሰዎች መካከል አንደኛ በመውጣት ተቀጠርኩ፡፡ በስንት ብር ደሞወዝ? ደሞዝ? ከቴም ደሞዝ!! እረ የለውም፡፡ የኪስ ገንዘብ ነው፤ 50 ብር፡፡ ጠላ ቤት በቀን የምታገኘው አይበልጥም—- በ50 ብር ከምትቀጠር? እሱማ ነው ግን— የመንግስት ስራ ነው፡፡ ከቀን ቀን ይሻሻል ብዬ በማሰብ እንጂ ምን አከላት አለው ብለሽ ነው 50 ብር፡፡ በ50 ብር ስንት ዓመት ሰራህ? አራት ዓመት ሰራሁ፡፡

ግን ከሸክም እስከ ሊስትሮ ብቻ ህይወት እንድትቀጥል የሚያስችላትን የትኛውምን ገንዘብ የሚያስገኝ ስራ እሰራ ነበር፡፡ ከዚያ እዚያው ባህርዳር ጊሽ ዓባይ ኪነት ማስታወቂያ አወጣ- ተወዳድሬ አለፍኩ፡፡ በድምፃዊነት ነው? በድምፃዊነት ነበር ያለፍኩት ግን ‹‹ሁለገብ መሆን ያስፈልግሃል›› ተብዬ ወደ ውዝዋዜውም ገባሁ፡፡ በመቶ ሃያ ሰባት ብር ነበር የተቀጠርኩት፡፡ እነ ሰማኸኝ በለውን፣ ይሁኔ በላይን፣ ስፈልግ አያሌውን፣ እነ ወይኒቷን ያፈራ ኪነት ነው፡፡ ጊሽ ዓባይ ኪነት ወደ አራት ዓመት ሰራሁ — ግን እሱም ወዲያው ኢህአዴግ ገባና ኪነቱም ተበተነ፡፡ በጊሽ ዓባይ ኪነት በነበረህ ቆይታ ጦሩን ለመቀስቀስም ወደ ጦር ግንባር ከቡድኑ ጋር የመውጣት እድል አግኝተህ ታውቅለህ? አንዱ ጊዜ ወደ አስመራ ጦሩን ለመቀስቀስ ሲኬድ የመሄድ እድል ገጥሞኝ ነበር፣ ነገር ግን ተመካክረው ቀነሱኝ፡፡

‹‹ልጅ ነው— በረሃ ውሃ ጥም አይችልም›› ብለው፡፡ ከዚያስ የአንተ እጣ ፋንታ ምን ሆነ? ኢህአዴግ ሲገባና ደርግ ሲበተን፣ ጊሽ ዓባይ ኪነት የመበተን ዕጣ ገጠመው፣ ስለዚህ የቡድኑ ዕቃ ነበር ተሸጦ ገንዘቡን ተከፋፈልነው፡፡ ሰው ሁሉ ይመክረኝ ጀመር። ‹‹እዚህ አገር ከሆንክ የማንም ጠላ ጠጪ አጫዋችና አጋፋሪ ሆነህ ነው የምትቀር እና ወደ መሃል አገር ሂድ›› አሉኝ፡፡ ስንከፋፈል የደረሰኝ 2ሺህ ብር ይዤ ‹‹አይን አፋር ሲሄድ አያፍር›› በሚባለው በሽንጣሙ አውቶብስ ተሰቅዬ —በአይናፋሩ ስከንፍ አዲስ አበባ መጣሁልሽ፡፡ ዘመድ ነበረህ — አዲስ አበባ? እኔ ነው?! እራ እንዴት ያለሽው ነሽ—- ከየት አምጥቼው፡፡ የአዲስ አበባ ዘመድ ደግሞ ሰው ሲመጣበት አይወድም፡፡ ገና ‹‹ሰላም መጣሽ›› ከማለቱ ‹‹መቼ ልትሄድ ነው የመጣኸው›› ነው የሚልሽ፡፡ ቤት ኪራይ ኑሮው እየመረረው ነው መሰል..፡፡ እብዛም ደግሞ ዘመድ የለኝም፡፡ የት አረፍክ ታዲያ? እራ እንደመጣሁ እማ.. ምን መሄጃ አለኝ፡፡ ያረፍኩት ጎጃም በረዳ አካባቢ ካለ ሆቴል ነው፡፡ በቀን ስምንት ብር እየከፈልኩኝ፡፡ ውድ ነው፡፡ ግን ስልክ ቁጥር ይዤ መጥቼ ነበር፡፡

ያን ጊዜ እነ ሰማኸኝ በለው፣ ይሁኔ በላይ፣ እነ አንሙቴ..የጊሽ ዓባይ ልጆች በሙሉ ወዲህ ዘልቀው ነበር። ብቻ ግን ‹‹..የሆነው ይሁን›› ብዬ ነው የመጣሁ፡፡ ወደ አዲስ አበባ ስመጣ፤ አንድ ነገር አስጠነቀቁኝ፡፡ ‹‹ዘንጦ፣ ሸልሎ፣ ሽክ ብሎ፣ ሱፉን ከረባቱን አድርጎ የምታየው ሰው ሁል ጤነኛ እንዳይመስልህ ሌባ ነው›› አሉኝ፡፡ ከአልቤርጎ እንዳልወጣ ሰፊ ነው ሃገሩ፡፡ ‹‹ብጠፋስ›› ብዬ የምውለው የምበላው እዚያው መኝታዬ አካባቢ ነው፡፡ አንድ ቀን ከአልቤርጎው አጠገብ ካሉ ሊስትሮዎች ጫማ እያስጠረኩ …የመኪና መለዋወጫ ስፔር ፓርት አለ፣ እሱ አጠገብ አንድ ሰው ቆሞ በአመክሮ ያየኛል፡፡ እንዴት ያለ የሸለለ መሰለሽ፡፡ እንዳ አጋጣሚ አቀርቅሬ ቀና ስል፤ አይን ለአይን እንገጣጠማለን፡፡ ቆየት ብዬ ቀና ስል፤ አሁንም አይን ለአይን እንገጣጠማለን፡፡ ‹‹አይ ሌቦ…ዋ!! እንዴት አድርጎ ነው የሚያየኝ፣ ሆዱን ለቅቶ›› .. በውስጤ እጫወታለሁ፡፡ ሲልስ ማጉረጥረጡን ያበዛብኝ መሰለኝ፡፡

ተነሳሁና በስድብ አጥረግርጌ ‹‹አንተ ሞሽላቃ ሌባ…የእንጨት ሽበት፣ አሁን ይሄን ሽበት ይዘህ..አሁን ይሄን ሽበት ይዘህ ትሰርቅ…›› አልኩት። እንደ ምንሜና ለወጠኝ፡፡ ሰውዬው እንደ መደንገጥ አለ። ሰው ተሰበሰበ.. ‹‹ምን ሆነህ ነው፤ ምን ሆነህ ነው›› እያሉ ጠየቁኝ፡፡ ‹‹ዋ አፍጦ እያየኝ..ምን ይሄማ አላወቃችሁትም እንጂ ሌባ እኮ ነው›› እያኩ እደነፋልሻለሁ፡፡ ሰው መደናገሬ ስለገባው ‹‹እረ እሻ…እረ እሻ..ሰውዬው የቆምክበት የስፔር ፓርቱ ባለቤት ነው›› ብለው ሲሉኝ ወከክ ብዬ ቀረሁልሽ፡፡ ዱላ ቀመስካ— እረ!! ባለማዋቄ ተገርመው፣ አዝነው እንዴውም..ተሳስቀው ዝም አሉኝ፡፡ አንድ ቀን እዚያ ጎጃም በረንዳ የኪነት ጓዴን አንሙቴን አገኘሁትና አወጋን፡፡ በቃ እኔ ቤት ልከራይልህ ብሎ ካሳንቺስ ይዞኝ መጣ፣ ወይ አገር …አዲስ አበባን እያደነቅሁ የከተማ ልጅ ሆንኩኝ፡፡ ስወጣ ስገባ አካባቢውን እየለመድኩት መጣሁ፡፡ ካሳንቺስ አካባቢ ያሉ የምሽት ክበቦች ማምሻዬን መዞር ጀመርኩ። ምሽት ቤቶች በር ላይ ቆሜ ሲዘፍኑ እሰማለሁ፡፡ ወደ ውስጥ አልገባም፡፡ ካሳንቺስ ዮርዳኖስ ሆቴል ፊት ለፊት ጥሩ ምግብ ቤት የሚባል ቤት ነበር፡፡

እሳቸው ቤት ሄድኩ..ዘበኛውን አስገባኝ ስለው፣ ‹‹ምን ታደርግ?››አለኝ ‹‹ከጎጃም ነው የመጣሁ፣ ባለቤቲትን ማግኘት እፈልጋለሁ፡፡ ዘፋኝ ነኝ ›› ስለው ‹‹በል መልካም ሰው ናቸው— ግባ እና አናግራቸው›› አለኝ፡፡ ሳናግራቸው “በል እስቲ ከዘፋኞች ላገናኝህ” ብለው አገናኙኝ፡፡ ዘፋኞቹ ‹‹እስቲ ሞክር›› ብለው ሲሉኝ ሳቀነቅን.. “ዓይነተኛው መጣ” ብለው ደስ አላቸው፣ ያንን ምሽት በምሽት ክበቡ ስዘፍን አመሸሁ— ሽልማቱ ሌላ ነበር፡፡ የራስህ ዘፈን ነበር? ‹‹አንቱየዋ›› የሚለው የይሁኔ በላይን ነው፡፡ እራ እነዛ ‹‹ሞክር ዝፈን እስቲ›› ያሉኝ እኮ እያላገጡ ነበር። በደንብ እምሰራው አልመሰላቸውም ነበር፡፡ ሽልማቱ ቢዥጎደጎድልኝ ‹‹እረ እንዴት ነሽ ገንዘብ›› አልኩኝ፡፡ ገንዘቤን ተቀብዬ እግዚአብሄር ይስጥልኝ ብዬ ወጣሁ። በቤት ኪራይ ተወጥሬ ተይዤ ነበር…አከራዮቼን ባየሁ ቆጥር ነፍሴ ድርቅ እያለች ነበር፡፡ ሽልማቴን አግኝቼ ስመለስ ቀድሜ የአራት ወር የቤት ኪራይ ሁለት መቶ ብር ከፍያቸው ተገላገልኩ፡፡ ጥሩ ምግብ ቤት ተቀጠርክ? ወይስ— እረ የለም፡፡ በቂ ሰው ነበራቸው፡፡ ይልቅስ ከጥሩ ምግብ ቤት አጠገብ ይሁኔ በላይና ሰማኸኝ በለው የሚጫወቱበት የምሽት ክበብ ነበር – ‹የሽዋ ጌጥ› የሚባል ..እነሱ በሃገር ባይኖሩም፡፡

ቦታውን ማወቄ አገር እንዳወቅሁ —ደስ እያለኝ መጣ፡፡ ስል ስል እየለመድኩ በባህል ዘፈን ታዋቂ የሆኑ እነ አሸብር በላይ፣ ፋሲል ደሞወዝ፣ ጌቴ አንለይ …በሚሰሩበት የምሽት ክበብ ሌላ ስራ ሲኖራቸው እኔ የሚሰሩበት ቦታ እየተገኘሁ የእነሱን ቦታ መሸፈን…ጀመርኩ፡፡ በየትኛው የምሽት ክበብ ነው? ‹‹ከተፋ ቤት›› ይባላል፡፡ ድስትም ምጣድም አገልግሎት ከመስጠቱ በፊት በማባለቻ እንደሚሟሸው እኔም ራሴን በምሽት ክበቦች እያሟሸሁ ቆየሁ፡፡ እነሱ በሚሰሩበት ቦታ እየሄድኩ የነሱን ስራ ሽፈና ማለት ነው፡፡ የራስህን ካሴት አላወጣህም? አይ እናት አለም…አንድ ሞክሬ ነበር፤ ሳይሳካ ቀረ። አልተሸጠም፡፡ በአዲስ አበባ የባህል ምሽት ክበቦች እየተገኘሁ የባህል ዘፋኞችን ስራ ሽፈና ቀጠልኩ፡፡ ዛሬ ዛሬ ደግሞ ከባህል ዘፈኖች መሃል እየተሰነቀርኩ ራፕ ማድረግ…ማሽቃበጥ በይው—- እሰራለሁ፡፡ የከተማ ሰዎች ‹‹ራፕ የሚያደርገው—አሽቃባጩ– ፋርኛው ራፐር›› ይሉኛል፡፡ የገጠሩ አድማጭ ደግሞ ‹‹አዳማቂው›› መጣ ይላል፡፡ አድማቂ ቢባል ይሻላል፡፡ አሽቃባጩ ማለት እኮ..አድርባይ አይነት ይሆናል..ሞያ ነው— የህዝብ ባህል ነው፣ ማክበር እፈልጋለሁ፡፡ በአዳማቂነት ለመጀመርያ ጊዜ በካሴት የሰራኸው ከማን ጋር ነው? በማናልቦሽ ዲቦ ዘፈን ነው ለመጀመሪያ ጊዜ የሰራሁት፡፡ ስቱዲዮ ተጠርቼ ተቀረፅኩኝ ‹‹ሆይ መላ ነሽ አሉ ሆይ መላ›› ብላ ስትዘፍን እኔ ‹‹አለው መላ መላ›› ብዬ ሙዚቃውን ልቀበል ነበር የሄድኩት፡፡

ስቱዲዮ ውስጥ ገብቼ ኤርፎኑን ጆሮዬ ላይ ካደረኩኝ በኋላ ….አንድ ሃሳብ መጣልኝ… ‹‹ጠላው ተደርጎ፣ ቡናው ተፈልቶ፣ ዘመድ ተጠራርቶ፣ እንዲያ ነው ዓመት በዓል›› እያልኩ ስጨማምር…በጣም ወደዱት፡፡ በዚያው ይሄው ከሁለት መቶ በላይ ዘፈኖች ላይ ከታዋቂዎች እስከ ጀማሪዎች የባህል ዘፋኞች አድማቂ ለመሆን ቻልኩ፡፡ ከዛ በኋላማ ለቁጥር በሚያታክቱ የጎጃም፣ ጎንደር፣ወሎ ..እነ አቤል ሙሉጌታ፣ ማዲንጎና ብሩሃኑ ተዘራ “አንበሳው አገሳ”— ገነት ማስረሻ፣ ግዛቸው፣ ብርቱካን ዱባለ — ምን ልበልሽ…. ዘመናዊውን አልነካሁም እንጂ— በባህል ዘፈን ላይ ግን አድማቂው— የባህል ሙዚቃ ራፐሩ እኔ ነኝ፡፡ ልዩ ትምህርት ወይም ተሰጥኦ ይጠይቃል? እራ.. በገጠር የባህል ዘፈን ውስጥ እኮ ያለ ነው። አንዱ ሲያቀነቅን — አንዱ ያዝ፣ ተቀበል፣ ውጣ፣ ውረድ፣ እንደዚህ አርገው፣ ወይ ጥጋብ፣ ወይ አመል፣ ያዝ፣ ተቀበል—- ሲል ነው የሚደመጥ፡፡ በጎጃም ብትይ በጎንደር..ከባንድ በላይ እኮ የሰርግ ዘፈን በገጠር ይደምቃል፡፡ በሰርግ፣ በጥምቀቱ እንዘፍናለን..ሰርግ ጥሪ ስንገኝ እየተበላ፣ እየተጠጣ፤ ፉከራ ነው፣ ማቀንቀን ነው—- ሌላ ነው አልኩሽ፡፡ እኔ ከሙዚቃ ጋር ቅኝቱና ንግግሩ እንደዜማ ሆኖ በሙዚቃው ውስጥ እንዲሆን ነው ያደረኩትኝ፡፡ ያ ነው ለየት የሚያደርገኝና ወደ ፈጠራ የሚያመጣኝ፡፡ ቃሎችን እራሴ ፈጥሬ፣ ዘፈን ሰምቼ — ዘፈንን የማቃናት ስራ ነው የምሰራው፡፡

ሙዚቃውንና ዘፈኑን እሰማለሁ እና ርዕሱን አያለሁ— ሊል የፈለገው ምንድን ነው የሚለውን አዳምጬ፣ ያልተቃናውን ማቃናት፤ ድብስብስ ያለውን ደግሞ የመግለፅ ስራ ነው የምሰራው፡፡ “እሰይ መጣልን አውዳመት ..እያለች” ስትዘፍን ማናልቦሽ ..እኔ ያሰብኩት “አውዳመት መሃል ምን አለ?” የሚለውን ነው፡፡ ዘመድ ይጠራራል፣ ጠላው፣ ቡናው፣ ዳቦው…ይሄንን ነው፡፡ ይሄው እንዳዳመቅሁ እንዳሽቃበጥኩ አለሁ፡፡ ግን መብያ አድርጎልኝ እግዚሃቤር.፡፡ አንድ በጣም የሚከፋኝ ነገር አለ፡፡ እንደዚህ ለባህሉ ሙዚቃ ማማር እየሰራሁ—- ለሞያው ክብር ያለመስጠት ይሁን ሌላ…በሙዚቃው ውስጥ ከካሜራ ማን እስከ…አልፎ ሂያጁ ድረስ ስምና ማንነት ሲጠቀስ — በክሊፕም ሆነ በካሴት “አድማቂ ጥጋቡ ቸርነት” ብለው ገልፀው አያውቁም፡፡ በአንድ ዘፈን ለአድማቂነት ስንት ይከፈልሃል? አይ እሱ ነው አበሳው…በነፃ ከመስራት ጀምሮ፣ እስከዛሬ ትልቁ ስድስት መቶ ብር ነው የተከፈለኝ፡፡ መተዳደሪያህ ይሄው ነው? ከማሽቃበጡ በተጨማሪ በሸዋጌጥ፣ በአይቤክስ፣ በሁለት ሺህ አበሻና በብዙ ናይት ክለቦች ውስጥ ሰርቻለሁ።

አሁን ደግሞ ደሳለች ክትፎ፣ ቦሌ ነው የምሰራው… ሰርጎች ላይ የተለያዩ የባህል ስራዎች እሰራለሁ፡፡ ያለ አንተ አዳማቂነት የተሰሩ ዘፈኖችን ሰምተህ እዚህ ቦታ ላይ እኔ ብኖር ኖሮ ያልክበት አጋጣሚ አለ? በጣም በርካታ እንጂ— ክፍተት ከመሙላት ጀምሮ እስከ ልዩነት ማምጣት ድረስ፡፡ አንዳንዴ አለመገጣጠም ይሆንና አያስቡትም፡፡ አንዳንዴ ለአንድ ዘፈን የተቀረፅኩትን ለሌሎች ድምፃውያን አስገብተውት አገኛለሁ፡፡ ይህችም እንጀራ ሁና!! እንደ ኮፒ ራይት ጥሰት አስቢው፡፡ መጥታ እንኳን ጉሮሮ የማታረጥብ…ይሄ በጣም እየረበሸኝ ነው፡፡ ለምን መሰለሽ በጣም እየተለመድኩ መጣሁ፡፡ በገጠር ‹‹እኛ ሽማግሌ የሌሉበት ሙዚቃስ አይደምቅም›› ይላሉ፡፡ ሸመገልክ እንዴ ጥጋቡ እስቲ ዕድሜዬን በአይተሽ ሙይው እንዳላሳንስብህ አንተ ንገረኝ እርግጡ 30 ዓመቴ ነው፡፡ ትዳር፣ ልጆች? ሶስት ልጆች አሉኝ፣ አግብቻለሁ፡፡

source: addis admas newsletter

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( Africa news):Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has welcomed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to visit Cairo for more talks on the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Sisi, who on Wednesday said a leap forward had been come to in talks with Sudan and Ethiopia, included that additional time was expected to determine the argument about a $4 billion-hydroelectric dam.

”Negotiations with our siblings in Sudan and Ethiopia will require exertion and time from [all sides] so we can go to the terms and achieve an understanding that enables us to keep up our offer (of the Nile’s water) and enable them to profit by the dam for the advancement that they look for,” Sisi said.

“Negotiations with our brothers in Sudan and Ethiopia will require effort and time, so we can come to the terms and reach an understanding that allows us to maintain our share of the Nile’s water and allow them to benefit from the dam for the development that they seek”.

Egypt fears the project will lessen waters that rushed to its fields and supplies from the Nile stream in Ethiopia’s highlands and via Sudan.

The Tuesday meeting held in Addis Ababa, that was gone to by water system priests and insight boss from the three nations consented to set up a logical board of trustees that will center around the activity of the dam and the speed with which the supply is filled.

They additionally consented to have the French firm that created a debated specialized give an account of the task to answer inquiries from the three nations on June 18 or 19.

Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam venture on the Blue Nile, propelled in 2012, is intended to sustain a hydroelectric task to deliver 6,000 megawatts of energy, equivalent to six atomic controlled plants.

The Blue and the White Nile tributaries focalize in Sudan’s capital Khartoum and from that point run north through Egypt to the Mediterranean.

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(The Jerusalem Post): Getana is an independent farmer working a little plot of land in the hinterlands of the Butajira area of Ethiopia, 130 kilometers south of the capital Addis Ababa, and a large portion of a world far from Israel. However his prospering yield of tomatoes, onions and stew peppers, set against an emerald scene of verdant fields and timberland secured mountains, is profiting enormously from ability and innovation created in the Jewish state.

Through a test case program subsidized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), seven ranchers have been given trickle water system frameworks delivered in Israel, having themselves put resources into the program.

During a visit to his fields, Getana speaks about the benefits the new irrigation system has brought him, and its advantages over the ancient method of flooding fields with water that many Ethiopian farmers still use. It saves him money on diesel fuel since he now needs to pump much less water than he used to; reduces the amount of fertilizer he uses; and reduces his labor costs since the new system also delivers the fertilizer directly to the field and does so more efficiently than before.
This project is one of three agricultural programs being run by Jewish and Israeli organizations in the Butajira district that were highlighted during the recent state visit of President Reuven Rivlin to Ethiopia earlier this month.

Rivlin’s visit was hailed as a groundbreaking venture in not just combining diplomatic and business interests, but also for advancing international development cooperation and assistance and bringing together Jewish and Israeli development organizations to heighten the impact of aid efforts in the country.

One of the central organizations involved in bringing approximately 20 such groups to Ethiopia for the president’s visit was OLAM, an umbrella body for Jewish international development organizations. OLAM’s work is focused on maximizing the impact of resources invested by Jewish and Israeli development organizations by fostering collaboration and cooperation when they are working in the same region. It was the Society for International Development Israel that largely initiated this focus of Rivlin’s trip, and it asked OLAM to invite relevant organizations to participate.

ETHIOPIA HAS become something of a focus for Jewish and Israeli aid groups in recent years, and for several reasons. Such groups have been present in the country for some time due to the presence of the local Jewish community and the efforts to help them emigrate to Israel and assist them in situ as well.

OLAM executive director Dyonna Ginsburg says that because of the Ethiopian Jewish community and the significant number of Ethiopian Jews who now live in Israel, the two countries now have deep connections enhanced by a strong national Ethiopian narrative that its people are the descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Like JDC, Fair Planet, another of OLAM’s partners in the agricultural sector, has also been achieving impressive results in Ethiopia. It works with international companies that produce hybrid crop seeds and helps identify the varieties that grow well in a particular region and its conditions, including climate, local crop diseases and pests, and other factors.

Once the organization identifies appropriate seeds for a particular region, it provides seedlings grown from those seeds free of charge for trial plantings by small-holder farmers for an area of 1,000 square meters. If the new crop is a success and the farmers wish to continue using the hybrid seeds, they are required to buy new seedlings but continue to benefit from Fair Planet’s training programs, in which its employees and volunteers teach the farmers about correctly preparing the land for the seeds and how to fertilize and water them.

During a visit to a test field in the Butajira district, Mitiku, a farmer who has been using Fair Planet seedlings, spoke of how he had increased his yield of cash-crop tomatoes five times over and more than doubled his annual income.

Eshel Lev-Or, a full-time Fair Planet employee in Ethiopia, says the use of hybrid seeds constitutes a real revolution in agricultural practice and allows farmers to break out of their subsistence- farming practices and begin to earn income, which helps break the poverty cycle.

Fair Planet has worked directly with some 950 small-holder farmers, but, says Lev-Or, approximately 16,000 are now using hybrid seeds because news of their success spread widely by word of mouth. He adds that some farmers are reporting that the steady income provided by increased yields means they can now afford to send their children to school.

“It is sad that in 2018, our technology means that we have in Israel such an abundance of produce that 40% of it ends up in the trash, while there are people here for whom a tomato plant grows just five tomatoes,” he says. “Our goal is to bring and share this abundance and knowledge, and we can see the impact we’re having in helping take people out of the poverty cycle.”

Talking more broadly about the role of the Jewish state and the Jewish world in international development, Ginsburg, who was part of the delegation to Ethiopia, says that in recent years, a paradigm shift has taken place that might not be fully recognized, appreciated and internalized.

“Today’s Jewish community is blessed with unprecedented resources and is the most affluent ever,” she says. “We have a sovereign State of Israel, there are very few Jewish communities under repressive regimes, and many Jewish communities are very privileged and have power that is unprecedented in Jewish history – and with that comes a sense of responsibility.”

ISRAEL, FOR understandable reasons, has in recent years been something of a laggard in its budget for international development; even today, it allocates just 0.07% of its GDP toward its aid budget, one of the lowest in the OECD.

Ginsburg points out, however, that this was not always the case, and that many of the country’s founding figures such as David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Menachem Begin were ardent advocates for the Jewish state to provide assistance to developing countries, even at a time when Israel itself was akin to such nations, mired in wars with neighbors while absorbing large numbers of immigrants and facing food shortages.

It began fostering ties and providing assistance to numerous countries in Africa and South America through MASHAV, the Foreign Ministry’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, established in 1958. It later became a leader in the field. But the Yom Kippur War in 1973 had a drastic effect on Israel’s ties to Africa in particular, with Arab countries pressuring numerous sub-Saharan nations to cut diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, a phenomenon that led in turn to Israel slashing its foreign aid budget.

That budget has never fully recovered, and a perspective took root that the country’s own requirements should take precedence over those of others.

Although its aid budget remains low, Ginsburg says the knowledge and expertise in different fields that Israel does provide is a uniquely valuable and critical contribution that is widely appreciated in African countries where Israeli and Jewish groups are present, and that “Israel’s added value to the field of international development is not measured in actual dollars.”

She remains hopeful that the government will begin to raise the funding it provides for international development.

Ginsburg also refers to what is often seen in Israel as a zero-sum game of budgetary allocations, and describes the Talmudic statement that “the poor of your city come first” as a “knee-jerk reaction” of Israelis to international development. She argues that this notion was never meant to exclude poor people farther afield, but rather to prioritize charitable giving, and says that helping developing countries is very much an important Jewish value.

She adds that investing in stronger ties in the developing world is not merely good for those in severe poverty, it helps Israel strategically, economically and politically.

“Part of what shifted 70 years ago when the state was established was that for the fist time since the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish people had at its disposal engines of statecraft to do good on a broader scale,” she concludes. “We are doing a lot, and can do a lot more.”

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With his invitation from Atlantic council, Journalist Eskinder nega is in USA after he has been freed from Ethiopian prison detained for six and half years. VOA journalist Tsion girma interviewed him in his prison life and related things: Here is the video attached:

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Ethiopia Prime minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed attend millennium hall conference to address closing remark at Addis Ababa. The conference was organized  by motivational speakers by the motto of ” I am the new Ethiopia”. Here is the full speech of the prime minister:

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One suspect among dozens arrested and charged in an undercover prostitution sting has been identified as the pastor of a local church.

On Wednesday, the Houston Police Department released the names and mugshots of at least 34 suspects arrested and charged with either compelling or soliciting prostitution in the local area during the month of April.

These alleged pimps and johns were taken into custody by the department’s vice division.

And NewsFix has discovered a local preacher was among them.

Pastor Alemayehu Demissie is a minister at the Ethiopians Christian Fellowship Church in Missouri City, according to the church’s website.

NewsFix reached out to the church for comment, but we have not heard back.

“We hope by publishing these suspects’ photos we will raise awareness of the issue that is human trafficking and put the community on notice that we will no longer tolerate these crimes in our neighborhoods,” HPD Vice Capt. James Dale said during Wednesday’s announcement.

Source: http://cw39.com

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Jalud is an Ethiopian reggae artist in Ethiopian music. Sunday with EBS interviewed Jalud in his music experience and the current new single song released. we invited you to watch his interview and live music.

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(Africanews):The Ethiopian government says all its nationals being held in jails in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are due to be released soon.

This follows a meeting between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi over the weekend. Addis Ababa said they were now waiting for numbers and subsequent action.

Abiy crossed to UAE after what government said was a successful visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – his first trip outside of the continent.

In Dubai as in Riyadh, the two leaders discussed issues of mutual interest and looked at ways to better strengthen bilateral relations.

Whiles in Saudi, PM Abiy also secured the release of 1000 Ethiopian prisoners – comprising 900 men and 100 women. Close to 700 of that contingent have since been flown back to Addis Ababa

Crown Prince of UAE has also agreed to free all #Ethiopian prisoners during HE PM Dr Abiy’s visit & now we are waiting for numbers & action while welcoming the first 690 KSA prisoners that landed AA Bole International Airport. We are grateful to the leaders of both #KSA & #UAE.

— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) May 20, 2018

The Premier also visited the family of a young Ethiopian who became victim to a botched surgery in a Riyadh hospital.

His Chief of Staff, Fitsum Arega, late Sunday disclosed that Saudi Arabia had agreed to fully compensate the parents of Mohammed and to facilitate his return home to continue with treatment.

HE PM Dr Abiy Ahmed visited Mohammed today at the Hospital. Mohammed is a resilient fighter, and despite the nightmare that he has to endure, he is in a strong spirit. What a brave young man! pic.twitter.com/tlH6RJpPyL

— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) May 19, 2018

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By Mengistu D. Assefa

Ethiopia has been hit by waves of protests since November 2015. The protests, which have morphed into a popular movement, have as their goal the quest for real democracy and greater political freedom. Starting in Oromia with ethnic Oromos demonstrating against long-standing political, economic, and social marginalization, the protests have spread among other ethnic groups, such as the Amhara. Initially, the government tried to crush the movement by force. Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn vowed several times to take serious measures to quell the protests. Despite the Ethiopian government killing thousands and detaining tens of thousands, the movement persisted. The popular movement forced the regime in power to promise reforms “in order to address the grievances of the people.” When it became obvious that he couldn’t control it, he reshuffled his cabinet of ministers and restructured it. He appointed ethnic Oromos to serve as Foreign Minister and Communications Minister. But this too did not stop the movement. Then the prime minister himself resigned on February 15, 2018. Following the resignation of Mr. Hailemariam, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) elected a new chairman and prime minister from the Oromo ethnic group in order to accommodate the movement’s demands.

I challenge the widely argued and discussed view, shared by many activists and political analysts, that EPRDF is the only viable choice for Ethiopia. This point of view argues that whatever change comes should be from within EPRDF itself. Recently, I came across several fellow expatriates who point out that it is EPRDF and OPDO (the Oromo party in the EPRDF coalition) that have control over the military police force and bureaucracy. Behind this argument lies the belief that there is no strong, well-organized opposition group that could take power and lead the nation. This argument considers EPRDF to be the sole medicine for Ethiopia’s political and social illnesses and the only force that can address the current national crisis. The proponents of this view further assert that only EPRDF can save Ethiopia from disintegration.

In order to check the validity of the above argument, I want to pose the following questions: Can the cause of an illness be a cure? Is it possible for EPRDF to meet the demands of the people? How have we failed to show “strong opposition”? What makes our opposition “strong” or “weak”? First of all, I would like the readers to know that I am not writing in favor of any specific political group or with an intention to attack one. Since 2004, when I was a student at Addis Ababa University, I have protested against EPRDF policies and I have been detained and tortured as a result. Despite that personal history, even now I am willing to give the benefit of doubt to EPRDF. I still think it is possible for EPRDF to change and respect people’s rights, as well as undertake a meaningful democratic transition. What I don’t agree with is the view that EPRDF is the sole alternative for Ethiopia. For me, such a view is like a slave saying: “Even if I gain my freedom, I should always live under my slave-master.” As I mentioned earlier, I would welcome it if EPRDF undergoes real reform, and fosters real freedom and democracy. If the party can meet the demands of the people and continue in power after free and fair elections, I would be happy.

To determine whether EPRDF is likely to change, it is crucial to look back at the past 27 years of EPRDF rule. In the early 1990s, EPRDF promised the Ethiopian people peace, democracy, and economic development. But it did not keep its promises. There has been relative economic development, but in its current form, it is not sustainable. The promise of democracy was only on paper in the constitution. The freedoms guaranteed by the constitution have not been put into practice. Under EPRDF rule, the government has committed grave human rights abuses throughout the last 27 years. Elections are rigged, with the ruling party most recently winning 100% of parliamentary seats. This did not happen by chance, nor did it happen because of problems of “capacity to implement” or democratization being “in process,” as EPRDF has claimed. Elections in Ethiopia have foregone conclusions because EPRDF is rooted in a Leninist-Maoist ideology of the “revolutionary democracy” that, in reality, monopolizes power under the ruling party. EPRDF continues to teach and train its cadres according to this framework. Its political models are China and other Asian countries that have achieved economic growth under single-party leadership. Therefore, EPRDF does not have the political will to democratize Ethiopia. It has never declared that it would no more be led by ‘revolutionary democracy.’ Every cosmetic change EPRDF is making is to appease the protest movement in the hopes that it will fade away.

The cause of Ethiopia’s political illness is ‘revolutionary democracy.’ With its promotion of exclusive ruling party control of state power, it necessarily opposes multi-party democracy. It considers opposition parties to be enemies of the state who can be detained and killed. In this framework, the only correct political ideology is that of EPRDF; any group with a different view should be kept away from state power. Every expectation we may have for real reform is in vain while this ideology continues to drive EPRDF’s modus operandi. Changing individual cabinet members would not help much. It is contradictory to expect a cure from the very cause of a disease. To use another metaphor, EPRDF has been running Ethiopia with software called “revolutionary democracy.” It is foolish to expect change from EPRDF while it continues using the same software simply because the hardware changed. In my view, it can’t change the software because, if it were to change, its exclusive hold on power would come to an end. I don’t believe that EPRDF is ready to accept the possibility of losing in a free and fair election. This points to the likelihood that EPRDF cannot be an alternative for Ethiopia. It can only be an option if, and only if, the Ethiopian people elected it with free and fair elections. And that can only happen if it calls for an all-inclusive dialogue that leads to a transition to democracy.

The other argument is that it is the EPRDF that have control over the military, police force and bureaucracy, making it our only viable option. Yes, it is true that EPRDF made the military a party military instead of making it an impartial and defensive force for the entire state. However, that should be a reason why it has to go, not a reason why we should support it to stay. That is the reason why we push the regime to reform government institutions for democracy, to reform the national election board, to guarantee free and fair elections, to make the army a non-partisan force which is loyal to the Ethiopian constitution and not to any one political party, and to allow true freedom of expression, through the media and other outlets. It is of paramount importance that the struggle should continue until the government repeals laws enacted to stifle dissent, releases all the political prisoners and holds an all-inclusive dialogue with opposition parties. It is crucial to make sure that the government holds criminally accountable those officials who were involved in the killings of innocent people.

It is only after the playing field is made fair for all that we can criticize the opposition if they fail to organize and lead the nation. Otherwise our argument is one of appreciating the criminal and accusing the victim. Given how far the EPRDF remains from possessing the will to level the playing field, the real question is whether the EPRDF can be considered an option at all.

The protest movement put significant pressure on the EPRDF, ultimately causing it to change its prime minister and cabinet. It also forced it to declare reform within itself and release some political prisoners. These are positive first steps, but we need to go further. We are missing the point of a democratic reform movement if we are satisfied only because an Oromo prime minister came to power from the OPDO within the EPRDF. The Oromo wing of the EPRDF is just that. It is part and parcel of EPRDF, not an opposition party. They share the same ideology and have not rejected ‘revolutionary democracy.’ The goal of the Oromo Protests and the Amhara Resistance is to establish government of the people, by the people, and for the people. That can only be realized if sovereignty of the people is achieved through a truly democratic government. Sovereign people are empowered to elect their representatives in free and fair elections; hence, their sovereignty can be reflected through their representatives. Let’s not miss our target: our goal is not an Oromo prime minister, but rather greater freedom and democracy.

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• Debra Cowgill, 33, had 16 miscarriages while trying for her second child 
• Her first son, Corey is now ten years-old but finally has a baby brother
• Mrs Cowgill says it was ‘so difficult’ but she never gave up on her ‘perfect family’

A mother who experienced the anguish of 18 premature deliveries to have the family she was frantic for has at last brought forth her second child – following a time of endeavoring.

Debra Cowgill, 33, had languished two unsuccessful labors while attempting over her oldest child, Corey, now 10, with spouse Darren, 40.

Furthermore, in spite of the fact that the couple, from Earby, Lancashire, were pleased to welcome their child, they generally longed for having a kin for him.

The couple endured a tragic 16 premature deliveries throughout the following ten years – yet never abandoned their fantasy, after Corey would ask his folks for a more youthful kin.

Presently, their family is finished after the introduction of their supernatural occurrence child, Taylor-Ray, three weeks prior.

Mrs Cowgill stated: ‘It was generally so troublesome backpedaling into a similar room, each pregnancy, for a sweep each opportunity to be told there was no pulse on numerous occasions.

‘In any case, I never surrendered trust and was so certain about this pregnancy. Corey began to cry when we revealed to him I was pregnant this time around.

‘He would get some information about having a sibling or sister and I think it was him that kept us both experiencing the difficult circumstances.

‘It was for him the same amount of as us, he even went along to the outputs with us.

‘He is incredible with his younger sibling and relatively like the third parent, we don’t get a look in, he brings him into his room to watch Liverpool play football as well.

The main thing we can’t inspire him to do is to change a nappy!’

The couple started striving for youngsters when Mrs Cowgill was 19, in 2004, and the couple were both crushed by their initial two premature deliveries.

She at that point went ahead to have child Corey, measuring a sound 7lb 14oz, yet after a few more unsuccessful labors, specialists started to do tests and outputs to work out why Mrs Cowgill was attempting to convey an infant to full term.

The longest she conveyed an infant for before premature delivery was 15 weeks.

Doctors found no medical reason behind the premature deliveries and no medicinal hazard to prevent Mrs Cowgill from proceeding to strive for kids.

She stayed positive in the wake of having a widening and curettage strategy prior this year, in light of the fact that the method can expand the odds of conceiving an offspring.

Amid the technique the coating of the womb is scratched to expel any irregular tissue from the womb.

Mrs Cowgill stated: ‘IVF would have been a misuse of cash as we had no problem conceiving.

‘My husband suggested surrogacy but it was never an option for me – I don’t think I would have been able to do it.
It wound up harder with every unnatural birth cycle however I never figured I would stop, I think carrying on helped me to manage the misfortune.

‘The longest I held up was a year prior having Taylor as I would not like to surge it.

‘Darren was extremely worried about the physical and mental impacts the premature deliveries could have on me yet I never questioned that it wouldn’t occur.

‘We were dependably extremely open with Corey and disclosed to him reality as it was essential for him to see that we weren’t surrendering and that these things happen, they are nobody’s blame.

‘I originate from a group of seven and constantly cherished having my siblings and sisters around. I needed that for Corey as well.

Mrs Cowgill went ahead to have infant Taylor Ray, weighing 6lb4oz, on May 2, at Burnley General Hospital, after she was actuated at 37 weeks.

Mrs Cowgill, who works for a hairdressing wholesalers and her significant other, who works for a bed organization, were excited with their ‘second supernatural occurrence child’ and enormous sibling Corey, was euphoric to welcome Taylor into the family.

She stated: ‘Feeling the infant kick out of the blue was so consoling, it influenced me to trust it was really happening, and hearing his pulse at 14 weeks, was so exceptionally passionate.’

‘When the Taylor was born we got Corey there straight away so he could be the first one to meet him. We were all ecstatic.’

‘I had a huge amount of support from the hospital staff who allowed me to have a scan whenever I felt that something might be wrong, they were amazing.

‘We never regret that we kept trying because things happen for a reason and now we have the perfect family.
Source: Mail online

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By Mengistu D. Assefa

Political party is a human engagement, agency coming together, establishment (an establishment that doesn’t remain an establishment), organization, movement, never a stagnant dogma.

If it is a dogma, it is a dogma in a sense that it isn’t.

Uncalculated mistakes, grave disillusionments, unforeseen aftermaths of foolish decisions: all and any are there mixed with and at times masked by commitment to public service. Commitment to public service, better unity, peace, progress and prosperity are the “cardinal confessions“. Do political parties live up to their confessions? They try, but they don’t usually attain its fulfillment. Which believer does anyway? Aren’t we all falling and fumbling believers after all?

As believers we beg for grace. As politicians we cry for understanding of our weakness and move on.

This is not to mean to underscore meanness, crime, tyranny, greediness and hollow promises just to get to the helm of civil, economic or military power. What underlies the motif though is never neutral. It’s either for or against the truth, nothing far from it, as nothing exists neutral. Then who is gonna judge the motif? The motive? I am not indifferent to judgement and penalty both by opinion and law. I am saying about the judgement of the morale. For that to take place, perfectly, we need someone with the highest moral ground, who is absolutely selfless, anybody who is has zero self interest (to use economic term), but me. Because, for today, I resolved to praise the progress. Who would expect a hug between Lencho Lata and Aba Dula Gemeda? With my grave misgivings about these individuals, I still see a progress. I know they are not saints, even far from being favourites (at least for me), but I can see a force, a compelling one which gave birth to this “political bromance”. That force is Qeerroo and other “freedomhungry” Ethiopians who with bare hands and peaceful mouths brought one of Africas repressive governments to its knees. That is progress. Historically grand scale miscalculations? Yes. And do they still have something to contribute? Absolutely yes.

Why do I praise the progress despite the fault in the means to this end? This isn’t the end though. Why are millions praising the move? Why is Lencho Leta calling his coming to Ethiopia “Heading Home? He once held the colonial thesis (I don’t know if he dropped it), and he is calling that land “home”? Homeland? Yeah. Home.
Why are million others remained critical, calling it prostitution, opportunism, betrayal, treason, a cry for attention, or panting for last chance of doing another bad? They laughed, laughed and again laughed when Lencho Leta called Ethiopia “his homeland“. They have to do that because they have to.

The reason why these two groups exist regarding ODF is not clear to me, at least for now. Believe me I will dissect every move they will take, every word they will utter and every term they will demand.

For now, I am all about what is the reason we are so manic about them? Why are so many other of us so phobic about it? Like I said it’s not absolutely clear to me. But not so to John Stuart Mill. He has something to say why we as human beings think, say, or do what we chose to thing, say or do.

“Men’s opinions, accordingly, on what is laudable or blamable, are affected by all the multifarious causes which influence their wishes in regard to the conduct of others, and which are as numerous as those which determine their wishes on any other subject. Sometimes their reason—at other times their prejudices or superstitions: often their social affections, not seldom their antisocial ones, their envy or jealousy, their arrogance or contemptuousness: but most commonly their desires or fears for themselves—their legitimate or illegitimate self-interest”.

I will come back with another piece, a more critical one.

And for now, tell me this is not historic. And Welcome Home, ODF.

Source: Ethiopian think tank Group

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ለ25 አመታት አባት እና ልጅ ተለያይተው ቆየተው ልጅ እና አባት ሲገናኙ የታየው ክስተት ታዳሚውን ሁሉ ያስለቀሰ እና ያስደሰተ ነበር። ይህ የቤተሰብ መለያየት የብዙ ኢትዮጽያውያን ታሪክ ይሆናል ብለን እናስባለን። ተጋበዙልን!

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New CD release party of Honorable Dr. Maritu Legesse will be held @ Hilton Alexandria Mark center, 5000 seminary rd, Alexandria, VA 22311 on June 24, 2018. The door is open starting from 5pm.

Honorable Dr. Maritu Legesse was one of the member of Wollo Lalibela cultural music band which had a wide acceptance in the 1970s. She is widely known as a queen of Ambassel muisc which is one of the four music kignits of Ethiopian music (Ambasel, Anchehoye, Batti and Tizita).

Artist Maritu has got a Honorable doctoral degree from Wollo University in June, 2016 in recognition of her life time achievement  in Ethiopia music majorly as a sole singer of Ambassel kignit.

She is currently living in Washington DC. USA. After so many years, she has completed her new album entitled with”ይገማሸራል”. According to our source, the album contains 13 songs most are new and the others are her old musics in new style.

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Google has been blamed for “secret following” of 4.4 million iPhone clients in the UK and is confronting a claim in the high court for as much as £3.2 billion.

As per a report by The Guardian, Google usurped information from iPhone clients through an exploit in the Safari program. This escape clause was found by a Ph.D. scientist in 2012 and named as “Safari Workaround” which enabled Google to accumulate individual information.

The data accumulated from the escape clause purportedly incorporates clients’ race, social class, area, physical and psychological wellness, political perspectives, shopping habits and financial information. This information was utilized to classify clients into bunches for what Google depicts as “better-focused on promoting.”

The web giant Google guarantees that there are no signs that the Safari Workaround brought about sharing of the individual information to outsiders and there is no real way to see whether anybody was influenced by the information reaping.

Anthony White, the legal advisor shielding Google said that this claim is gone for harming the organization’s responsibility as opposed to discovering remuneration for the influenced individuals.

The communication chief for Google UK, Tom Price, said that the occasions for this situation “occurred more than six years back” and it was “tended to around then.” He additionally noticed that “the protection and security of our clients is critical to us” and trusts that the case ” has no legitimacy and ought to be expelled.”

Source: fossbytes.com

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(BBC): A joint US-German mission has gone into orbit to weigh the water on Earth.

The Grace satellites are replacing a pair of highly successful spacecraft that stopped working last year.

Like their predecessors, the new duo will circle the globe and sense tiny variations in the pull of gravity that result from movements in mass.

These could be a signal of the land swelling after prolonged rains, or of ice draining from the poles as they melt in a warming climate.

The satellites were launched on Tuesday aboard a SpaceX rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force base in California.

It will take a number of weeks to prepare and test the spacecraft before they can start gathering data.

The first Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace), which ran from 2002 to 2017, was widely regarded as transformative in the type of information it was able to gather, and maintaining the capability is now seen as a top priority for the American space agency (Nasa).

The follow-on mission again draws heavily on expertise from Europe, in particular from the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). Europe’s biggest space company, Airbus, assembled the satellites at its factory in Friedrichshafen.

The Grace duo will obtain their data by executing a carefully calibrated pursuit in orbit.

As the lead spacecraft lurches and drags through the Earth’s uneven gravity field, the second satellite will follow 220km behind, measuring changes in their separation to the nearest micron (a thousandth of a millimetre).

“That is about a tenth of the width of a human hair over the distance between Los Angeles and San Diego,” Prof Frank Flechtner, the Grace-FO project manager at GFZ, told BBC News.

What the Grace concept is brilliant at sensing is the big changes that occur in the hydrological cycle.

These could, for example, be major movements of water from the ocean to the land during precipitation events.

“There was a period in 2011 when sea-level rise slowed down and went in the other direction very briefly,” explained Nasa project project scientist Dr Frank Webb.

“From the Grace data we could see there were heavy rain seasons in Australia and South America, and that equivalent of mass was going into storage on land. Eventually, it was released back to the oceans and sea-level rise continued.”

One of the great contributions from the first Grace mission was to confirm the scale of change at the poles – to essentially weigh the ice sheets year on year.

Satellites carrying altimeters can do this by measuring the change in shape of Antarctica and Greenland – but Grace provided completely independent insight through its gravity assessments. Antarctica was seen to be losing some 120 billion tonnes of ice a year; for Greenland, the figure was 280 billion tonnes.

“Mass loss from the ice sheets is an increasing contribution to total sea-level rise and, even though the poles are remote, this mass loss will have large impacts all around the world,” said Prof Helen Fricker from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

“With the launch of Grace-FO, we can now continue to detect changes in the ice mass, to determine the extent to which ice is being lost, and find out if there has been any acceleration,” she told BBC News.

The previous Grace pair used a microwave-ranging instrument to measure their separation.

The new satellites carry the same technology, but have now a laser system incorporated as well. It should give a roughly 10 times improvement in precision.

And although this is unlikely to deliver an equivalent jump in the resolution of the gravity field, scientists are still hopeful they can get significant gains in performance.

The total cost for Grace-FO is on the order of $520m (€440m; £390m). The mission should work for at least five years.

As to what follows the follow-on, there is already talk about trying to widen involvement to include more EU member states.

This could eventually see a future Grace-like gravity mission pulled into the European Commission’s Sentinel Earth-observation programme.

The same has already happened with the US-French Jason series, which has been measuring sea-surface height since 1992.

Future Jasons will be known as the Sentinel-6 mission – a status that has helped secure long-term funding.

“I think it’s important we get an operational mission,” commented Prof Flechtner.

“The ‘e’ in Grace stands for ‘experiment’, but the data is now being used for services, such as flood monitoring. My strong opinion is that it could be a Sentinel.”

To be clear, however, the EC does not have a gravity option among the possibilities it is currently scoping for Sentinel expansion.

Source: BBC

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Ambachew has replaced Demeke Mekonnen, deputy prime minister, whose shortlived stay on the role spans less than six months.

He had replaced the long-serving chairman, Siraj Fegessa, then minister of Defence, now minister of Transport.

Incorporated a decade ago with a 10 billion Br registered capital, the state-owned military-industrial complex has 17 industrial subsidiaries employing over 19,000 people.

For long a subject of public controversy and legislative criticisms, an army General Kinfe Dagnew (Maj. Gen) had run the company. He resigned from his executive position last month.

Among the newly appointed board members include Azeb Mesfin and Asmelash Weldesellasie, a.k.a Abay Nefso.

Azeb is a widow of former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi,

who was purged from the powerful TPLF political bureau in December 2017, while Asmelash serves as a government whip in parliament.

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The best way to take care of your kidneys is to approach your health as an “all in one” deal. Whatever is good for most other parts of your body, is also a good idea for your kidneys too. But beyond the basics, its helpful to be aware of certain foods and drinks that can also protect (or hurt) your kidneys. Here are some of the foods which are vital for your healthy kidney.  Watch the video:

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Artist Mehari Degefaw is a well known traditional Ethiopian music singer. He released two full albums and one collection. He also released seven single songs at different times.

“Amemegn” was the very recent single song released about displaced peoples from different regions. He also have single song about the Wolkaite people claiming their belongingness to the region of Amhara. In addition, he has a single  song for Fassil Kenema football club.

Mehari was born in Hagere Mariam , Deberetabor, South Gondar. According to the the Habesha news, Yesterday May 23, 2018 was his birthday. Annually he celebrated his birthday by shopping some gifts for himself. But, this year he changed his mind and donates the amount allocated for his birthday gift to displaced Amhara people from Benishangul region.  In doing so, he donates 30,000 Ethiopian birr to the mentioned purpose.

Bawza newspaper staffs  would like to say Artist Mahari Dedefaw Happy Birthday! Good job!

Source: Zehabesha

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Ethiopia’s prime minister has warned that there will be no quick fix to the scarcity of foreign currency in the country. Yet it seems that some sectors of the economy are getting preferential treatment when it comes to accessing hard foreign cash. The BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza reports from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Read more:

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