They say that a camel can carry a huge load, unbelievably huge, but there is a. limit, By adding more and more to the load, at some time it becomes too much, and the animal's back will break. Even if you add a tiny item such as one more piece of straw, it is the “straw that broke the camel's back.”
Last week something happened that seemed like a small issue, but, put together with all the other issues, it made me furious. I said to myself, 'This is outrageous! This is too much' I cannot keep silent about this situation any longer. I have to shout, even if I do not know who will hear me or what they will do.
What happened is that I was reading the newspaper about famine in Ethiopia. As usual I came across something about my area. The article was about the Ethiopian government's plan to resettle 2 million famine victims into “the south. “The south” they are speaking of is my homeland. It is not some empty dumping ground. It is a fertile area, full of rivers, good soil, and millions of people, it is know to the Oromot as Oromia.
Finally I can not stand it anymore. “THE SOUTH” in Ethiopia's empire is not a wasteland or an unoccupied space! It is a country full of people who are producing every day. The area and its indigenous people have a long, unique history. The area has a name: Oromia. Millions of people (some say as many as 20 million Oromos plus others) have lived there for centuries, at least 60% of the people that the government claims as the total population are from this area. Their language is different from the Abyssinians' (official) language.
I cannot keep quiet about this issue any longer, and I am sure other Oromos who have been quiet until now will not keep quiet any longer either. Anyone who refers to my area as “the south”, instead of Oromia is insulting Oromos. This is the first time I have shouted—by writing this. But it will not be my last word. Until now, I have been a very quiet, very peaceful person.
Let me say who I am. I am an Oromo by nationality, and I was at first made to be an Ethiopian citizen. Now I have no citizenship, but I am a permanent resident in America.
I was born into a family who had become tenants for an Amhara settler. When I was born, my parents begged our landlord to become my godfather. He accepted, and I was baptized as a Coptic Christian when I was 40 days old. I was given the name Gebre Yohaness and my godfather also gave me a name: Setann Yohaness, but I would not like to give his last name.
After I grew to be eleven years old, my godfather took me to Addis Abeba, telling my family I would be sent to school, but my actual job in that city was to take care of his children, that is, to be a babysitter. In Addis, Yohaness’ home, where I was providing free service, happened to be right across from the Sudan Interior Mission.
After two years I had learned the Amhara language, Amharic, and I was well—adjusted to city life. One day, as I was returning from a shop, I heard two gentlemen speaking my native language as they were going to the mission. I was overwhelmed to hear some people in the city speaking my language, and I asked them if the language they were speaking was Oromoffa. They promptly answered my question by sayihg,” Yes, and we are Oromos.” So I tnld them who I am and my life history. They told me that they wanted to see me again and invited me to the evening service at their church.
After that, I started to escape some evening work to go there. When Yohaness found out about my going to that church, he tried to stop me. Finally, with the help of the two Oromos that I had met that first day——Ragasa and Toomsa—I found another job, a paid job this time, and left Yohaness’ place. Then I began attending Sunday services. That is where and how I became a Protestant and also how I had the opportunity to go to school.
Beginning from the day I stepped into the Sudan Interior Mission some 20 years ago until the present I have believed and preached peace. I always believed that by praying things will change. However, I have now concluded that the way Christians are interpreting the Bible and the way the Bible is written are different. Personally, when I look back, I have preached peace and harmony, period. But all that time deep in me, in my gut I had the feeling that I knew that was not the answer, I did know that the answer was in the Bible, however. The Bible gives us another answer, too: “a sword for a sword.” Though it asks of us to be tolerant, it has never told us to be tolerant until we die, only “70 x 7.” Not more than that. I and my people have been tolerant for 100 x 365. The time of “a sword for a sword” is long overdue.
Even though I am just awakening does not mean that the Oromo people have been sleeping. What I am realizing and doing now proves them right, and I can join them. Some people may wonder ‘why now?' I guess that I am just finding out that I cannot any longer use my beliefs as a shield to cover my own fear. I cannot hide under a shadow any more either.
I have read that the Eritreans are fighting; Tigrays are fighting; Somalis are fighting. Sometimes in passing by another subject, writers will mention that the Oromos are fighting. They are just short of saying that the Oromos are praying. Even if they had written that, they would have been right as far as I was concerned because I myself was praying.
I have further read in the newspaper and have seen on T.V. and have heard on the radio that except for “the south” the rest of that empire has been hit by drought. ( I hated to use the word “empire” for Ethiopia because I was taught in school to love Ethiopia and I guess there was some residual feeling about the word. But when I look at it, Ehiopia is an empire so I have decided not to live with fear and call ‘t what it is. I know that I could prove it if necessary.) If it is the case that the empire is hit by drought, what has happened to “the south?” Is it not true that the northern part of Ethiopia's empire has always been dependent on “the south?” And why always say “the south?” Why don't they call it Oromia as the people who live there prefer to identify the area? Why is it a big deal? The heart and the mind of the empire is Oromia. What is happening to this area they call the south?” I would like for everyone who may read this to think about it. At some other time I will take up that issue.
Presently we hear and read that the government of this empire is involved in a program of resettling famine victims from the drought—striken areas to “the more fertile areas of the south.” What happens to the people who are living there? Who cares? Who gives a damn about these people? Let them pray and let their God feed them? I tell you this is where I really believe that “a sword for a sword” is a must because a sword has been turned against the Oromos. This program is a continuation of colonizing Oromia. I would say here that there cannot be any peace in the Horn of Africa until that 60% of the empire is free, and we will accomplish that. I would also like to make one warning: anyone who stands against or turns a sword to oppose the Oromo struggle to be free, whether it is an external enemy or internal one, will meet the sword.
Hordhoofa Qabsisa Loltu
P.O. Box 10192
Rockville, MD 20849
U.S.A