By: Alemayehu Bahta

For all the talk of Ethiopia’s beauty, there is little talk about the ugly, more to the point the continual oppression of women. From the recent horrific gang rape of Hanna Lalango in Addis Ababa, to countless unnamed victims of domestic violence, both in Ethiopia and abroad, the Ethiopian people have not come to terms with their patriarchal society. This is not even mentioning the oppression that has been placed on women in the name of religious purity. All this to make the point that women in Ethiopia have still not been able to have their lives valued, their voices heard or their experiences appreciated. The oppressive spirit is so deeply engrained into the Ethiopian psyche that even those in the diaspora hang on to patriarchal ideologies for the sake of Ethiopianism.

Despite this, there is an increasing awareness among native women, particularly through music that the lives, concerns and interests of women must be taken seriously. One song that has caught the attention of Ethiopian women during the past two years was the song by Aster Aweke and Yë’nna entitled Yë’nna Tä’itu. This song attempted to connect the powerful Empress Tä’itu (ጣይቱ ብጡል), who yielded much political power and made strategic steps to stop the Italian invasion, with the modern disenfranchised women of Ethiopia. The song uplifted a voice from the past to empower modern women.

Another instance of a powerful Ethiopian woman dominating historical discourse is much less known, but may be of equal importance. Long before the Italian invasion of the 20^th century there was the Jesuit mission of the 16^th and 17^th centuries. The Jesuits were on a colonial like mission to convert the Habesha people, and if they couldn’t win their hearts over through persuasive preaching then they were going to demand their souls into submission via military power.

The story is that it is well documented; yet no one talks about it. Conversion in Ethiopian history generally started with the Emperor and his family, followed by the noble and elite, proceeded by tribal leaders, until the local village people were converted. So initially the Jesuits made attempts to convert the emperor and his cabinet, but the priests and scholars made sure that he would not participate in such madness. But after about six months of vicious public and private debates with the emperor and the countries highest ranking scholars, the Jesuits eventually convinced them that the Roman Catholic faith was the only true faith of Christ. This led the entire royal cabinet and the high-ranking church officials to denunciate Orthodoxy in favor of Catholicism; they were now members of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the midst of these conversions, there was a group of people that refused to obey the Jesuits on the grounds that they would never convert to the ‘devilish’ religion of the outsiders. The women of the royal cabinet made up this group, more specifically their names were Adära Maryam (emperor’s Daughter-in-law), Wängelawit (emperor’s eldest daughter), The emperor’s niece, Wäld Sä‘ala (Emperor’s wife). Now let’s step into one of these women’s stories to see what it was like to stand as one of the first African women to resist European powers.

The Emperor’s Niece, who remained nameless, caused the Jesuits a great deal of anger because of her refusal to convert. The Jesuits knew that if they could not get her to convert then their entire mission would fall apart because of the great influence she yielded. After their first failed attempt of conversion, the Emperor’s Niece immediately began spreading a rumor among the locals that the Jesuits mixed the blood of unclean animals into the communion wine, making it polluted. This caused a huge problem for the Jesuits because not only were they shut out of the local communities, but they believed the Emperor’s Niece’s words and they refused to convert unless she did. The Jesuits then tried to convert the Emperor’s Niece through her husband, but that didn’t work so they left her alone for a while only to come back and try again, but she left them with four phrases that they didn’t quite understand.

First she said, the hour of her conversion had not come. Second, she would ask God to enlighten her. Third, she said that she was an ignorant woman who could not even lay out her own thoughts. Fourth, that she was too young to debate with them.

Well if you know anything about Amharic indirectness or basic sarcasm, then you can see what she was trying to do. Her hour of conversion would never actually arrive; this was just her way of irritating the Jesuits who wanted her immediate conversion. The fact that she says God would enlighten her is her skillful way of pointing to the fact that there was an authority that was even beyond the Jesuits’. The third claim draws on irony because here was a so-called ignorant woman who couldn’t even speak clear words, but the supposed wise Jesuits were not even able to convince her, not only that, but her ignorant words were capable of keeping thousands of locals in the Orthodox faith while their wise words had no affect. Lastly, the woman was clearly middle aged and the Jesuits knew this and her claim to be young infuriated the men so much that they began ranting about the illogical nature of the woman and even about her fatness, which she clearly wanted them to do, to point out just how uneducated and undisciplined the men actually were.

So how could this woman, a woman from Ethiopia, be given so much effort in the Portuguese mission? They spent countless months attempting to convert her, which points to the fact that she was something important, she was a figure of something beyond herself. It may be because the Jesuits understood the Emperor’s Niece to be “lettered”, meaning a scholar by their own standards. The Emperor’s Niece was not only a scholar at a time when the majority of people were illiterate, but she was also one of the first African women to resist colonial powers. This is just one of five other documented stories from the exact same period; imagine if we did more research how many other things we might discover in the repertoire of Ethiopian history. So this brief work may open another avenue for modern Ethiopian artists to once again uplift the voice of women through those figures from the past.

Much of this article was made possible by the research conducted by Wendy Laura Belcher in her Article “Sisters Debating with Jesuits” published in Northeast African Studies 13.1, Spring 2013, Michigan State University..

By: Aida Teklemariam

It’s 3:04 pm on a Saturday afternoon. I sit at a café, slightly hungover and extremely tired. I think about the previous night and the people I met. The conversations we shared; the warmth or lack there of, of each distinctive individual I encountered. I inhale deeply and as I exhale begin to read my computer screen, which shows the last completed scene of a TV pilot I’m writing… I start typing. I read and write everyday, rain or shine, regardless of the night before or the fun of the present moment that I’m potentially missing out on.

Let me now preface this by stating my current discipline is not inherent. In college, I’d pull out every excuse in the book to postpone writing. However, with time and reflection, I’ve realized I have a talent and to be as successful as I strive to be; I must dedicate countless hours of work.

Do you have a similar passion or goal; yet are procrastinating from beginning or finishing? If you answered yes, I highly suggest going to your nearest book store and getting Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art ASAP.

In Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, the best selling novelist explains that to succeed in anything, from creative work to exercising: one must do the work. Throughout the three-section book, Pressfield parallels his personal obstacles as a writer to the universal challenges many face and how to break through and win the war.

In Book One, Pressfield identifies the greatest challenge that hinders any endeavor; what he calls Resistance or the ‘Enemy’. In this chapter, Pressfield describes the many types of Resistance from Sex to Rationalization each of which he states can create an impediment for the individual from beginning or worse, finishing their particular enterprise.

In Book Two, Pressfield compares the difference of being an initial amateur to the end goal, a professional. He explains the characteristics of an amateur versus a professional and how to become professional if you’re still performing as an amateur.

Lastly, the book ends with the third and final section, appropriately titled, “Beyond Resistance, the Higher Realm”. This chapter gives a profound spiritual take on the outcome of working hard.

In conclusion, The War of Art will enlighten the aspiring on insight they’ve never thought to explore. I especially recommend the informative assessment for the creative individual who longs to accomplish, yet for whatever reason hasn’t begun. It personally encouraged me to deeply reflect and in turn, begin the journey..

By: Dagem Lemma

Doctor Miraj walks into a room where a patient is waiting for him. He’s having what he thinks to be just another day at the hospital. Little does he know that his whole life is about to change in one conversation; little does he know that he is about to embark on a path that will have him come against the CIA, NASA, and several other secret agencies from world-leading countries. He’s about to discover dark secrets one would not wish to know held by people one would not wish to know dark secrets about. Twisted roads of love, passion, failure, and costs of patriotism await him. He’s about to discover…Dertogada.

Yesmake Worku’s first novel appearance shook the Ethiopian book market to its core by having escalating sales upon the first publication of “Dertogada”. When it came out in the year 2008 (2001, Ethiopian calendar) everyone wanted to read it. From late middle school students up to late adults, all hands from all walks of life wanted to hold that mystic of a book. Having some 21 publications up to date, and two other succeeding novels, Dertogada ranks as one of the all-time bestselling books in Ethiopia.

Every single page is colored with such vivid pictures that would have you travel both back in time and to alternate universes (also other countries), while also occasionally having you stop and reflect for a moment. The philosophies, ideas, dreams and hopes bleeding from the conversations paint an elegant, yet bold picture of a better tomorrow. More specifically, a better Ethiopia. And that’s what it is: a hope for a better Ethiopia. This is Dertogada.

The Plot

Top scientists from top research facilities and secret agencies around the world all go suspiciously missing one by one. Agencies go into turmoil upon these sudden and unexplainable disappearances. Seeing that they were top-profile assets for their respective companies, and that they were all monitored very closely, only added confusion to the investigations, which are already undergoing. One thing in common they all have that went unnoticed, was that they were all Ethiopians.

Scientist, Engineer Shagiz Ejigu, a highly-esteemed engineer who works for the National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA), and one of the most influential scientist to have walked the earth (and the moon), and has designed several defense systems for NASA—also an Ethiopian—is the only one that seems to not have disappeared along with the other renowned scientists. He’s laying back on a hospital bed waiting for his doctor, a one Doctor Miraj, who’s just walked in. After this doctor converses with his patient, and discovers very unusual conspiracies going on in his life, he is bestowed up on him a responsibility to solve a certain mystery that would soon, somehow, help his patient…help his country.

This mystery he has to solve appears to be very secretive and requiring precise steps to carefully follow, and the core of it all lies on a tattoo he’d had as a child on his back that resembles one letter in the Amharic alphabet. But, being the conversant person Dr. Miraj is, the task should be simple. This task is a dream for the betterment of his country. This task is one to be done with complete selflessness and true faith in his homeland. Will he be able to fulfill this responsibility, solve the mystery and reach his appointed destination? Would he be able to overcome the challenges, setbacks, obstacles that would come ready to cripple him completely? Would he be focused? Only time will tell.

The Characters

We’re introduced to not one but various characters. In fact, the protagonist isn’t fully recognized until after a few chapters into the book. His name is Dr. Miraj, a very intelligent and knowledgeable person who spends most of his leisure reading books and playing his guitar. We’re introduced to him through a conversation that takes place in a hospital room between him and Engineer Shagiz. Although the highly-esteemed engineer’s life is not thoroughly described (except for the fact that he’s contributed greatly for NASA, and seems to be the most controversial figure at the time), we see that he’s a shadow that directs the young doctor into achieving his task.

Sipara Finhas, a childhood lover of Miraj, is now one of the top agents of Mossad. Born and raised in a women’s monastery on one of the six islands on Lake Tana, located in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, Sipara is one of the many Ethio-Jewish residents who fled to Israel during the late sixties. And as she fled, she’s tragically separated from her juvenile love, who also grew up in the men’s monastery on a different island. Their love affair is one that reflects the costs of love.

We meet another character who appears physically very unpleasing to the eye—Diwola, a right-hand slave of the most notorious mob-boss in Sicily, Italy. Diwola, a character with bruised past and questionable attitude, is one whose journey crosses path with the other characters. His enormous physique and scarred face depicts the intense violence he has engaged in and the absence of fear or reluctance to engage in other ones. His conflictions, often causing him to find himself in convicting first-person dialogues, are one that any reader finds himself in. His journey eventually becomes a personal one rather than just another job.

Through all of these, and other relatively minor characters, we witness unlikely paths crossing, unpredicted truths unveiling, and unprecedented hope emerging. The roads these souls are to take within this journey of a book is a mere preamble in this greater hope that is to be ingrained in carried on by generations to come.

The Author

Yesmake Worku’s fictional skills are all apparent throughout the pages. What seems to capture the observant reader’s attention is the author’s success in bringing forth such an ensnaring work of fiction on his first debut as a novelist. After examining the connections he has made between current reality and Science Fiction within the book, and how he effectively and without having the reader’s confusion, introduced and explained entirely new inventions and engineerings, it’s not hard to judge Worku’s great width (and depth) of imagination.

His knowledge about History is also noteworthy. Being the skillful craftsman he is in twisting conspiracies and would-be ancient historical incidents and rumors to bring about an end-product purely thriller, Worku not only educates his readers, but also leaves them on the edges of their seats by his cogent arguments and “claims” about what truly lies behind landmark schemes done in ancient Ethiopia. But, respect should also be given for how Worku narrated some of Ethiopia’s historical misfortune (and also fortune) as they were without altering them for the sake of fiction. Painful journeys of immigrating previous-generation Ethiopians, the power struggle, the cry for freedom, the cost of freedom are painted throughout the plot and seem to seek to resolve traumas through some of the philosophies painted on the pages, which also leads us to…

Within every conversation, every narration, every detail-depiction Worku has so talentedly written out, there are philosophies—some apparent, some subliminal—even advices, words of wisdom anyone can take from the book and put it to quotidian use being sure they are true words of advice. But most of all, and this to be admired and praised the most from Yemake Worku’s attempts, is the one that aims to elicit one patriotic zeal from the reader. There is no apparent “primary audience” that Worku has set out to communicate to, to speak to, and this aids him greatly in getting his message across to every Amharic-reading minds.

It also aids him in that, any person who can read Amharic can read this book and be sure to develop an intriguing love for Ethiopia, a true wish for a better hope, the best hope for her. It’s not even necessary to finish the whole book for one to feel this patriotism: some of the various interesting characters one meets throughout the book and their conviction for their homeland, for her growth and emancipation from poverty, is one that shakes to the core and provides a reflecting mirror, in a way asking, “What about you? What do you feel towards the country that bore you, the very root of who you are, your identity? Are you striving to free her from the exploitation and abuse she is so restlessly receiving from leaders, countries and the like?. . .” Do you have a better hope for Ethiopia?.