Wede Dejen ...

Sometime back ...

I hitched a ride with a family friend to Dejen. He also had his brother, an Imahoy and a doctor in the car. The menekuse lady was a very funny. She was as worldly as unworldly people could get. I mean that in a sincerely positive way. She could easily join in on any discussion … from politics to the economy. A long time ago, she told us, she and her siblings inherited a lot of land … rist, I guess. Her siblings sold their land and moved to Addis. She remained in the countryside, kept her land until Derg came along and made her land wurs lemengist. ‘yesheTe teTeqeme. Indene yale arrerre, menekose!’, she said. But her motto is still, ‘meret yigezal inji yisheTal?!’ She advised us to buy (ishee imahoy … as soon I a get the dough)

Yalsemahut gud yelem on that ride, including the ‘fact’ that katikala cures amoeba (yes, the doctor was of the medical variation but his protests went …joro daba … ) and that Katikala also clarifies dirty water (at this point the doctor looked like he’d a have fit in his corner), of hills called Ali Doro, the lifetime of mankind and Haile Gebreselassies’s dis-political career. I’ll share the last two.

The Lifetime of Mankind

In the beginning God, in all his fairness, gave all animals 30 years of life. Humans, dogs and donkeys used to live together trough their steady 30s. Then one day the donkey went back to God and said, ‘I don’t mean to be disrespectful but I really don’t want to live 30 whole years’. God was surprised. He asked why, and the donkey replied. ‘Inae alchalkutm. Wetche gebche besew meseqayet new, meweqer new, meshekem new. Lezih nuro 10 amet yibeqagnal.’ God asked, ‘are you sure, donkey?’ The donkey confirmed, so god took away 20 years of from donkey life.

Now the human overheard this conversation and right after the donkey left he approached god and said, ‘God, if you don’t mind, I’d like to have those 20 years’. Good agreed so now the lifetime of a human became 50 years.

Some time later the dog went to God and said, ‘God, 30 years is a few too many years for me. Could you please taking back some?’. Again god asked why. ‘Well, my life is a hopeless state of indenture. I’m either barking or begging for attention, food and shelter. It gets tiring after a while.’ So god granted the dog his wish and he took 10 years off of dog life.

Once again the human went and asked for the 10 extra years, and God granted them.

Ina ahun yesewin hiywot sitayut, the first 30 years are lived inde sew … you’ve no worries, you’re strong, you’re happy, you fall in/out of love … you live the life of a human being.

Then come marriage and children. The shoulders, knees and CHegura start hurting for no apparent reason. You become a slave to your job and the well being of your family. You toil, day in and day out, for the good of others. That’s 20 years of donkey life.

Finally the kids leave your house, your energy wanes and all you want in life is to spend some quit time at home where you’ll often be heard barking, ‘man new? … eh … beru tenkuakua?’ (woof!) ‘yachin buanbua man kefto yetewat?’(woof!) ‘wey zendroooooo! Yezare 30 amet bihon’ko ….’ (rowwrrrowwrrrwwwooooof!) Ineho you’ve reached your dog years!

Haile Gebreselassie

Apparently Haile recently committed a political gaffe, at least in the eye of most Addis Ababans. He must have attempted a reconciliation of sorts between the imprisoned leaders of CUD and EPRDF. Or maybe he was simply found in the company of the wrong crowd … who knows. I was told of ye were were were as, 'Haile iko ine Professor'n "be Meles imenu" bilo limaled isir bet dires hedo ...' At the mention of words like ‘imenu’ and ‘liyamalid’ I was beginning to tune out of the conversation when the end of the story struck me funny.

'Ina Professor Mesfin adamTew, "Sima Haile, ante keCHinqilatih yiliq igrih yishal’na … bel … bameTahbet wuTalign", bilew abarrut'.

I loved that line. I imagine it was ye Addis Abeba sew miTmiTa, but I liked it nonetheless.

Belu'sti ... I’m off to live whatever’s left of my human years.

p.s. To clarify to possible Haile defenders, i find that line about Haile funny. I'm not saying i think it. It's just amusingly put.