Living in
Unreality: The Disconnected World of Ethiopians
Obang Metho (AJC)
July 22, 2008
I was
recently in Washington D.C. to speak at the Ethiopian Border
Commission Meeting as well as to attend the Ethiopian Sport
Federation sponsored soccer games, political meetings and
other Ethiopian events, all packed into one week.
My days
were filled with intense political meetings and serious
discussions regarding the abysmal condition of Ethiopia and
what to do about it, but when I attended the soccer games at
the stadium and the Union Station’s Nightclub event for
young Ethiopians it was as if I had entered a totally
different world from the first.
Ever
since, I have been thinking about the disconnections between
these worlds. As I did, I was struck with the impression
that we might discover some clues to finding a way out of
our current mess by considering how to bridge the gap
between these and other disconnected realities held by
Ethiopians. My week in Washington D.C. proved to be filled
with opportunities to experience Ethiopian life from various
different perspectives. I will cover three groups of events
in three articles or parts: 1) the stadium soccer games, 2)
the youth event at Union Station, and 3) the political
events.
Ethiopian Sport Federation’s
Silver Anniversary
This
year’s soccer games, sponsored by the Ethiopian Sport
Federation, were held in Washington D.C. from June 29 to
July 5. It marked the organization’s Silver Jubilee
Anniversary of its hosting of these soccer games for
Ethiopians. Since the events’ inception twenty-five years
ago, Ethiopians from all over the world have been coming
together once a year, meeting as one people in some major
city in North America. It is a time Ethiopians get together,
not only for the sporting events, but for family reunions,
cultural events and political events.
As tens of thousands of
Ethiopians converged on Washington D.C. for this year’s
events, Ethiopian flags, music, food, colors and sports drew
young and old, men and women and Ethiopians originating from
most every region of Ethiopia. These Ethiopians now live in
many different cities and countries throughout the world,
but they have not forgotten their Ethiopian roots. No other
event has drawn more Ethiopians in the Diaspora to celebrate
the beauty, diversity and joy of their cultural heritage
than this one week—a week that is super-charged with
“everything Ethiopian.”
The Building Blocks for a New Ethiopia
I was
struck with the image of what a powerful force would emerge
if such unity, joy and enthusiasm for Ethiopia could somehow
be captured and used as the building blocks for the “New
Ethiopia”
I have
been envisioning! Nowhere did I see this more than in the
young Ethiopians who loved their heritage and each other
without regard to tribalism, racial biases, factionalism and
divisions found among older Ethiopians. This is the
“New Ethiopia”
of
tomorrow that I saw on their faces.
Imagine
what we Ethiopians in the Diaspora could do in tackling our
problems if we could transport such unity and openness to
those in Ethiopia, not only to our families, but also to the
greater family of Ethiopia.
However, on the other hand, I feared they were detached from
the harsh realities of real life in Ethiopia. The entire
week, I rarely saw any young people at any of the political
meetings. Most everyone at these meetings was over forty
years of age. But at the stadium events and at the Union
Station nightclub event, most everyone was under that age.
I
wondered what would happen if older Ethiopians could embrace
the youths’ view that placed little emphasis on ethnicity,
political affinity, regional divisions and racial
prejudices. I also wondered how well the youth understood
the level of oppression, tyranny and hardship that
Ethiopians were facing back home and wondered why no young
people were attending the meetings. I then decided that the
best of these two separate realities could be the answer.
The question is, how can we combine the best of both and act
on it?
As
flags were happily waved by the young people, I was
overwhelmed with the hope that somehow, this love of
Ethiopia, alongside the joy of living in a free country like
America with its openness and acceptance of other people,
could somehow be channeled into these young people deeply
caring about those stuck in the
TPLF
apartheid regime and tragedy of life within Ethiopia. I
wondered whether the gap between these two realities could
come together to form a greater youth movement to free
Ethiopia.
I also
wondered whether older Ethiopians could learn from the youth
who saw each other as
“equally Ethiopian.”
The youth were not being divided against one another based
on ethnic suspicions and loyalties, regional background,
political alliances, religious views and cultural
backgrounds like their parents. Here in America, it no
longer mattered so much. In Ethiopia, something like ethnic
loyalty and achieving dominance over other groups was
equated with opportunity and even basic survival. Here it
was equated with competition over who would win the soccer
games—two different worlds.
The openness to each other I
saw, showed a glimpse of a promising possibility—that if you
the reader, not only the politicians, activists or
educated Ethiopians, could change in this setting, we could
change in another.
The Stadium Soccer Games
I have never seen any other
country out of Africa, or elsewhere for that matter, bring
thousands of their people in the Diaspora together the way
Ethiopians have done during this week of the Ethiopian
Sports Federation’s soccer games. Despite the negative
problems of Ethiopia, it makes me feel very happy to be part
of it.
When you look around, you
see a rich background of Ethiopian images. You might notice
the Ethiopians flags circling the stands or peaceful
Ethiopians walking—young and old—smiling, holding the hands
of their young children and perhaps, wearing Ethiopian flags
on their clothing. You do not see the differences of
ethnicity, but instead, you see people as Ethiopians or
simply, people as people—all beautiful and unique.
Ninety per cent of the
people at the stadium were young, meaning under the age of
35. They were showing their patronage of anything
Ethiopia—buying Ethiopian flags, T-shirts with Ethiopian
images and words, Ethiopian CD’s with Ethiopian music and
Ethiopian food to eat.
On Friday “Ethiopian Day,”
thirty to forty thousand Ethiopians packed into the stadium
to watch the Ethiopian Cultural celebration where many
different ethnic groups performed their traditional dances.
All different ethnic groups participated, many with children
on their backs. It was so moving for me to watch that I felt
chill in my back. I and some spectators were brought to cry
tears of joy rather than tears from pain so common to the
average Ethiopian throughout the country. But here in
America, everyone was overjoyed.
A Brilliant Display of the
Garden of Ethiopia!
I have often talked about my
dream of the diversity of Ethiopians becoming a beautiful
garden. What I saw at the stadium were simply
“Ethiopians,” not tribes, political groups or factions.
What I saw was a momentary display of that beautiful garden
of Ethiopia, with all its diversity and complexity. I saw
the solidarity in this garden of different colors, shapes
and sizes.
People frequently ask me
what my wish is for Ethiopia and I can tell you, I saw it
that day. I saw the dancing and the joy. I saw my garden
I have been dreaming about. I saw humanity before ethnicity.
I looked at the beauty of each person as a unique human
being. I saw the Solidarity for a New Ethiopia. I
temporarily disconnected from the harsh reality of what is
going on in Ethiopia through participating in this
celebration of our differences. When the music ended, I was
brought back to reality and the joy I had experienced was
replaced with the knowledge that our family of Ethiopians
were dying back home. I wanted all the more for this
beautiful garden to include them.
Those at the stadium all
seemed to be so in love with Ethiopia; yet, there was
something missing—not only an understanding of how bad
things were in Ethiopia, but a lack of involvement in
changing the downward direction of the country. At the
political meetings, I saw no young people giving input or
becoming involved. Those making the decisions for the future
of Ethiopia were all older. Ninety-nine percent of them were
men. I wondered where the women were?
I also wondered why a whole
generation of young Ethiopians is so disconnected from what
will really change Ethiopia. Their love of the country will
do nothing without action. Those young Ethiopians buying
Ethiopian flags should be told about their country and that
the future of the country is in their hands.
Women should be at these
meetings because they are the ones burying their young, the
elders and the vulnerable. They are the backbone of this
nation and sometimes the politicians fail to recognize their
sacrifice and the value of their contributions. For me, it
was my grandmother that guided me to become the person I am
today. Imagine what the youth and the women of the Ethiopian
Diaspora could do if they mobilized not only by words, but
by action!
The Reality of a Dying Ethiopia Must Be Known by the Young
People and the Mothers, Daughters and Wives of Ethiopia
I was brought back to the
reality of the children of Ethiopia who are dying because of
the lack of clean water, malaria, or the lack of child and
maternal health care. I think of the Ogadeni, Afar, Oromo or
Anuak young women or girls who have been viciously sexually
assaulted or raped by the military—the same military agents
of this regime who are supposed to be protecting them, but
instead brutalize them with impunity.
I think of those young and
old who have spoken out against such abuses and ended up in
jail. Consider the reality of life for the beggar, for the
young girls selling their bodies because they have nothing
to eat, the crying mother because she has no food for her
children and for those running from Ethiopia for
opportunity, but dying on the road or in the Red Sea instead
of realizing their dreams of freedom.
I was brought to the reality
of Meles making Ethiopia landlocked and then giving
Ethiopian land to Sudan and Djibouti. I think of how he has
sent Ethiopian young men by force, with no choice, to die in
a foreign land—Somalia.
I thought about the lack of
acceptance between Ethiopians when someone will not like
another Ethiopian simply because they are Oromo, Tigrayan or
of some other ethnic background. I then thought about the
divisions between leaders in our political organizations,
religious organizations, and civic institutions who will not
agree to disagree for the sake of a better Ethiopia. The
reality of living with such hatred is that it robs us of our
joy and future as a country.
All of these realities hit
me so much harder after I saw the solidarity. This brought
me to the reality that the purpose of living in this world
is to live to the fullest of our purposes that God has given
to every person. That nearly always means living with
compassion and commitment for the well-being of others,
going beyond a selfish existence where we focus only on our
selves, those close to us or our families.
This reality of life for
Ethiopians in the country is vastly different than the
Ethiopia being celebrated in the stadium. That “stadium”
Ethiopia is an illusion and any shreds of reality still
attached to it are further disintegrating. As I celebrated
with the bright and hopeful faces of young Ethiopians, I
celebrated their solidarity and joy as I mourned in my heart
for my people back home in Ethiopia. I was reminded why I am
doing what I am. I yearn for the two worlds to come
together.
Wake up and Join the Struggle: Young People and Women are a
Powerhouse
These young people at the
stadium already have the mindset of freedom, democracy, the
rule of law and equal rights between a mix of many people.
They have gone to school in the West and have adopted the
thinking that has formed the West. It now comes naturally to
them without the baggage of the past failures of Ethiopian
society. They know some American people sacrificed in
America for them to enjoy the freedom and opportunity in the
countries of the West. If this huge group of well-educated
Ethiopians could become engaged in changing Ethiopia, they
would be a formidable force for good.
It will take a mindset that
is willing to bear another’s burdens as a God-given
opportunity to stand in the gap for their fellow countrymen
and country women. Do they have the compassion and
commitment to join the struggle for the future of Ethiopia?
I think so, for if they do not, the Ethiopia they celebrate
in such solidarity will continue to only be an illusion of
what could have been.
If they join their elders,
along with the women, and challenge these politicians with
what is really on their minds and hearts or if they tell
them to stop this division or if they confront leaders who
are going in the wrong direction to change or to step aside,
they would have a tremendous impact.
At the same time, these new
attendees could learn about the real Ethiopia and what
happened to wreak havoc on Ethiopian society. It would open
up the possibility of creating the solidarity of the stadium
in Ethiopia. We have much to do if we are to create this
healthy environment at home.
Even think of simple first
steps. Imagine if the 20,000 or more attendees at the
stadium would give just one dollar for the advancement of
Ethiopia or to the starving children in Southern Ethiopia
right now! With a group effort, they could build provide
food, agricultural support, clean water, a hospital, a
school, an orphanage, invest in developing private
enterprise opportunities in the country or advance human
rights and democracy in Ethiopia.
Young Ethiopians should not
underestimate themselves. There is so much they could do to
build respect, unity and reconciliation between people. They
should consider taking on the cause of justice and human
rights.
This is not about taking
political sides. The youth can help older Ethiopians
understand the meaning of working together in harmony
without prejudices. Those older in the community should not
protect them from the truth of the situation. Only then will
we be able to realize the dream of a New Ethiopia!
May God guide and empower us to serve others.
The next article in few days
will be about my experience going to Union Station where
nearly three thousand Ethiopian young people came together
to meet, have fun, listen to music and to dance. I surprised
many by attending. I met many young Ethiopians there. As I
talked to them, I learned much from them. It was the
highlight of my trip.
I cannot get it the idea out
of my mind about what could happen if this young, talented,
energetic and well-equipped group of Ethiopians awakened to
take part in our struggle for a New Ethiopia.
My question was, can we help
them bridge the gap between these two disconnected
worlds—Union Station and Ethiopia?
I am sharing these thoughts
with you so that we, with help from our Almighty Creator,
might bring these dreams into reality in Ethiopia,
transforming a barren and harsh desert into a lush,
spring-fed garden that could bring long-lasting sustenance
and tranquility to the soul of Ethiopia—we the people.
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Isaiah 44: 18-21
This is what the LORD
says—Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not
perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in
the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and
the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams
in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chose, the
people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
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For more information please
contact me by email at:
Obang@anuakjustice.org
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