Making Futures by Sangu Delle

Author:Sangu Delle [Sangu Delle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781911115892
Publisher: CASSAVA REPUBLIC PRESS
Published: 2019-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

9

ABAI SCHULZE

RECONNECTS TO HER ROOTS

OUR FIRST CREATIVE RESIDES IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA, Africa’s oldest independent country, and second most populous. The country has a rich cultural heritage and is home to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. Christianity became the official state religion in the 4th century.197 My brother is married to an Ethiopian doctor, and she and I regularly trade playful jabs at each other, making fun of our respective countries. She never fails to throw low blows in reminding me that Ethiopia has never been colonised. That history is a point of pride for most Ethiopians.

In 1896, the Ethiopian army defeated invading Italian forces at Adwa, and the great power Italy was forced to recognise Ethiopia’s independence. Several decades later, the fascist dictator, Mussolini, who was enraged by Italy’s humiliating defeat in Adwa, invaded and occupied Ethiopia from 1935 to 1941, before being driven out by Ethiopian resistance forces, supported by British and Commonwealth soldiers.198 Because of this unique history, during the colonial period, Ethiopia served as a symbol of African independence under its famous Emperor, Haile Selassie. Haile Selassie was one of those great historical figures, along with Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere, that I looked up to as a young boy growing up in Accra.

My sister-in-law also teases me about how Ghana has no real coffee (she is not a fan of our instant Nescafé) and boasts about Ethiopia’s superior coffee. I am not a coffee drinker so I can’t personally attest to this, but what I do know is that in Ethiopian culture, coffee is everything. In what CNN calls ‘the land of the finest Arabica coffee,’ legend has it that coffee was first discovered in the sixth century by an Ethiopian shepherd boy and his goats.199 Regardless of how true that story is, coffee remains very special and integral to Ethiopian life. Over 12 million people are involved in the cultivation of coffee in Ethiopia. There are many expressions that illustrate the centrality of coffee in Ethiopian culture; a common Ethiopian saying, ‘buna dabo naw’, literally means ‘coffee is our bread.’200 One of the most important cultural rituals is the coffee ceremony. It typically involves the woman of the house participating in a 2-hour coffee ceremony to welcome visitors into the home or in celebration; it is considered the preeminent social event in many local communities and the venue for discussions of politics, community affairs and gossip.201 Ethiopia is also home to mouth-watering cuisine, with their local staple injera (a sour tasting “bread” that looks like pancake) eaten with beef, chicken, vegetables and sauces.

As one of the fastest growing economies in in the world in 2019, Ethiopia has come a long way after the country suffered famines from 1984-1985, which resulted in a long civil conflict and a border war with Eritrea. Ethiopia’s prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn resigned from office in February 2018 to help restore peace following three years of anti-government protests, which had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the arrests of thousands.

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