It was probably in the early 70's my father left his hometown "Ayew", a small village in Ethiopia and headed off to join the Army. That was the beginning of my father's journey to becoming one of the top Ethiopian Generals. i don't know my father's or even Ethipia's history enough to write a book about it, but I do know quit enough to write a journal about it. Ethiopia was a communist country, and the people were in a very critical state until the early 90's. The Ethiopan army back then was known for its cruelty and merciless ways. The soldiers never hesitated or had second thoughts to not do anything they wanted. They would rape, steal, kill, and do as they pleased, anytime and anywhere. It was a difficult life for some and good life for others. The president/prime minister/king or the Dictator at that time was not the most knowledgeable man in the country, he was smart, but not book smart, he was clever and a tactician, but only for wars and fighting and on top of all he was a dictator who manupilates and persuades civilians to do as he pleases, regardless of their feelings, it is a communist country after all, I hope you are picturing a darker version of Hitler at this point, although he wasn't as ruthless and never had that same ambition.
When my father left for the army, he was a very young, handsome man, I would know, after all I am his son. Anyways, my Grandmother said her goodbyes in tears, hoping and praying he comes back, not just alive but unscratched aswel, she was a very optimist lady. But you see she never had luck with men, by this I mean it was impossible for her to have a daughter for some reason and she had also lost my grandfather and my eldest uncle, this was all before she sent my father away, although it wasn't voluntarily. So even though she hopes for the best am sure deep inside she knew my father would never return.
He went away, began his adventure, but my father has never been the rough, macho, fighting man, he was a peaceful and simple person. He was very smart though and I mean extremely smart, smart enough to be recognised immidietly after one year and was sent to a proper university, to study under the great professors. My father studied English, , Literature, Mathematics, physics and chemistry. After a good 5-6 years of study my father comes back to the military but not as a soldier but as the number one advisor to Ethiopia's Dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.
Through this my father gained Mengistu's and all the General's trust and in time was given a state to govern, but they would move him from state to state, in order for stability and balance. Ethiopia would gather troops every year or so, this means taking the beloved sons and husbands of civilians, but every year or so my father would send a message to "Ayew" his hometown for every men to go and hide, although this did not stop the soldiers from taking men it only decreased the amount and simply for doing this as long as he could my father was hailed as "Ayew's" King. Time passed and the communist party broke down and democrat entered Ethiopia, leading soldiers of the past to flee and reside in Kenya as refugees, in a deserted little town called Kakuma, where yours truly was born.
I was born on April the 15th 1994 and my Father had died in November 1993, yes I never saw my father, the funny thing was both my parents were in the same hospital, about four rooms away from each other before my father passed away from a liver problem. From there on I can't say I grew up without a father because I had more than one, story for next time. But life continued there until 2006. January 17th 2006 I entered Australia. So yes never have I seen the country I call my homeland, until November 25 2012.
I entered Ethiopia expecting to see some undevelopped country that isn't known by all, but I was wrong the country yes does not compete with the western countries just yet but you can clearly see the plan, it is magnificent, amazing hotels, great restaurant , everything you desire and more, if there is one thing that you may not like it would be the amount of people outside just chilling and having a game of football and watching a game of football, but I loved it, as a nomad you want to be around people as much as possible, meet new people, amazing women at that. The best part was almost everyone I met spoke English, because I had imagined that no one would, but no. And lets not forget the late night walks, I would go out on the streets for a walk with mates, not dangerous at all, and everything is open, shops, restaurants and amazing clubs. Keep in mind that this was all in the capital Addis Abeba, I had not made my journey to "Ayew" just yet.
But a good month passed in the capital and I finally made my journey to my fathers hometown, the trip from state to state in Ethiopia is always amazing if you love nature as much as I do. So many things to see and the best part was seeing the Nile river that I had heard so much bout up close. The Nile river is known to be the longest river in the world and it was in front of my eyes, one of the many views I could never forget, as the Great Wall of China. The ironic thing was that my father's hometown was about a good 40 minute drive from there. So a good 40 minutes later I stop and get off the bus, please keep in mind that my mother was with me the whole time. Anyways immidietly after I drop of the bus I get the biggest hugs from left and right, there were two children just holding on to me, I look up and I see my uncle and his two amazing daughters that have come to pick us up. And so we said our hellos and shed a bit of tears and continued to Ayew, we were picked up from the road and needed to drive in more, so we entered Ayew, I remember hearing songs , loud songs and drums and I was anxious to be honest, a good 10 minutes later my uncle turns to me and says welcome home "leul" meaning prince in Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia. Mother and I were the first to get out of the car and immidietly i see most amazing thing in the world, it was truly mind blowing.
There was a good 500 people standing around, some had guns I was shitting myself at that point, appartly the plan was to shoot up in the air as if they were fireworks immidietly when u arrived, but there was no time for that, because this old lady that can hardly walk was sprinting towards me, as if she was coming in for a tackle, she just grabs me, and covers me with her clothes and starts yelling "my son has returned". I was a bit teared up and confused at the same time, I though to myself does she know I am her Grandson and Not my father? will she be disappointed that I am here and not him?will she not hug me and hold me like this again when she realises that I am not my father?a lot of questions went through my mind , but all was eased with a simple "you look just like you father" whisper in my ear.
Without boring my readers so much I will conclude it by saying you can basically imagine how I lived for the next month, lik a "Prince" that is, and I somehow enjoyed the rural of Ethiopia than the main cities. The waterfall, the mountains, the fresh air and the amount of stars at night is like a dream that exists only in Ethiopia, most of you could say to me easily that there are more natureish or Greener place than Ethiopia, but I guarantee that none of you could go there, then tell me that the grass was not green enought or the mountains were not high enough or even the waterfall wasn't to die for enough, you would love every single bit of it, the city's roar and the country's quite secluded life sarounded by nature, reading books, while painting the amazing waterfall is truly a dream come true and a place worth exploring.
I wil upload pictures as soon as possible.
