The beauty of Ethiopian winter

Winter in Ethiopia is beautiful. Schools close after ten months of hard work, the children of all ages enjoy their long vacation with parents and relatives as well as their friends. Some children as well as adult students go to visit their relatives near and far.
Our long rainy season is beautiful because everybody will have plenty of water to use for diverse purposes. Cattle get fatter because of the rich grazing grounds and the abundance of water.
Our dams and all water catchments fill up and house-hold people praise nature for causing to end the shedding of electricity and for stimulating the flow of tap water that hitherto were scarce. The lazy sleep in winter and the clever pave wells to preserve the rain water for domestic use during dry bad seasons; for house use and for backyard gardens.
The countryside blossoms with crops that swing in joy with the hope of better yields for the next dry seasons.
Our winter is beautiful because all the rivers, streams and canoes get plentiful. River fish become abundant and the market promising.
It is beautiful, because the sun drops by to give its brightness and warmth by challenging the rather dark and cloudy days that characterize winter, so that washed clothes dry and damp surroundings evaporate.
The average person does not need to move to hot climates as nature drops its heat through the sun from time to time to keep him warm and hopeful for a brighter future.
The beauty of the winter continues until the spring day's rise when Meskel Flowers blossom and cover the countryside with yellow and fragrance. Now, school children start to think of gathering again at their schools yet for another year of hard work.
The beautiful and rich rainy season ends like that, and the spring, summer and autumn take their cyclical turn to challenge man and to test his endurance.
It is at this point in time that a clever person should pose and ponder as to what the next task should be after going through such astounding experience he came to learn from nature in just a short spell of time. Shouldn't he think of not repeating his short-comings and make sufficient preparations in good time for bad days?
Should he not think of the alternatives; not to suffer the house-wife with the nostalgia on how to preserve perishable food items in times of electricity interruption? Should he not think and find the alternatives so that electricity is available in an international and regional metropolis?
Nation building and the efforts on development require seriousness of purpose, attention, sacrifice, respect and dignity to the people we serve. As development should be the concern of all and not only of a certain section of society, all Ethiopian scientists and technologists should take the opportunities to prove themselves as catalysts of change. Thus, it is great to think that our beautiful winter wall bless us yet with an abundance of wealth.