On Thursday July 25, 2019 a book named Mata Mata by Hiwot Enishaw will be released to the public for sale. The book launch will also be held the same day as the book release. Specific guests and local Medias will be attending the book launch. Mata Mata and other short stories is a fiction book that used “love” as a theme. The writer mentioned that the book is very relatable for women’s in their mid-30 and she wrote it with them in mind. The writer finally concluded by thanking her fans and dedicated her book to them.
Asha’s three bundles of khat
Asha, 55, is a mother of five daughters and a son. Like all other Ethiopian mothers, she toils from dawn to dusk. Her hometown is named Bedessa which is located some 350 km from Addis Ababa in the eastern part of the country, Hararghe.
One morning Asha walked over as usual to the backyard of her house where her khat plantation is situated. She plucked the tender part of the khat leaves which she would take out for sale in the town. While collecting the khat on a spread sheet of cloth, she felt for herself that the important part of the khat has been diminishing… But still she could have some to sell off and get money. Were it not for the small rain that was falling for a week, she would not collect a single bundle of khat. …khat is means of income round the year for her entire family including her husband and herself. Asha sells the khat and buys whatever is necessary for home… like edible oil, salt, sugar, wheat flour, onion, potato, tomato…
Her husband sometimes hoes and prunes the khat; plucks and makes bundles of the leaves so that Asha can carry them out to the market. He usually keeps himself at home chewing khat. The only son of the family who is about 15 years of age serves as a hired cart driver. He usually gets birr 50 per day for his service. If the business is good, particularly on market days, Wednesday and Saturday, and if he collects over birr 300, the cart owner will pay him his daily wage of birr up to 100. The boy gives the money to his mom. He sometimes buys several ears of corn and loaves of bread for his family. The boy stopped going to school at grade four. When he is not on duty for various reasons, his mom, Asha is expected to carry as much khat as she can to the market for sale and get money needed for her family.
Now Asha has cut the khat; tied them in to three different bundles and wrapped all together with her girdle. She expected around birr 30 from the three bundles. As usual she would buy wheat flour or some grains to make daily food for her family. …Asha carried the bundles of khat on her back and started strolling along the roads of Bedessa Town late in the morning. However, the day did not look good for her… While walking around, she happened to see a lady friend of hers seated herself in the market. Asha put her bundles of khat behind while talking with the lady who was selling onion at the market. After a while, when she turned her face back, the three bundles of khat were not there. She was taken aback and tried to search for them around. No one seemed to give attention to her… ‘what does this mean? …this means I am losing the food which I should have for my poor kids… How unlucky I am! …’ Anger and sadness built up within her.
She walked ahead looking for someone who stole her property. No one was there. She felt crying… Suddenly she heard a roaring of laughter coming from young boys who were sitting under the shadow of a fig tree. Piles of khat placed in front of them. They were snatching and chewing from the khat. ‘They are enjoying chewing my khat. Yes… but… why? This must be nonsense!’ Asha stopped and took a look at them from afar. Yes, she convinced herself that the young ones were having her own khat… She walked hurriedly towards them. “My sons, why did you steal my khat which I carried out for sale? … Why did you do that, my kids?” she asked with crying sound.
The young boys were surprised. They stared at her for a while without saying anything. Then, one of them said, “ayo (mother), we did not see your khat… Please, don’t make rush judgement like that. We are not thieves… Trust us…”
Meanwhile, a young passerby was listening to the dialogue of the lady and the young boys. He realized it was not a friendly type of talking… He got closer and listened to them… Yes, they were having disagreements. “Mallo, umma?” (what has happened, mother?) He asked looking at Asha. …her chin leaning on her skinny hand while talking with the young boys in an angry tone of voice. A big blood tube seen across her forehead.
“She lost her khat which she was about to sell off… and she thought we had stolen it,” a little boy responded to the young man.
“Who took it? … I hope you boys did not do that; did you?” the young man inquired.
“abba, I don’t think the lady knows where she lost her khat,” a young boy with his cheek bulged out with khat said.
“Umma, where did you lose it? … Was it around here or in the center of the market?” The young man turned his attention towards Asha.
The poor lady kept quiet. She was looking far at the vacant air… Her once smoothed complexion has turned to rough and black. The young man felt sorry for Asha. He thought that at this age of hers the lady should have got her place at home being respected and supported by her children… But what if she has no anyone to support her?… The young man walked closer to her; patted her shoulder in a kind of consolation …
“Umma, I need to talk to you… come on, please.” He led her to the brink of the road and stared at her. She glared at the ground in a state of melancholy. “Where did you lose your khat? …Are you sure the boys took it?”
“I don’t know. I thought what they were chewing was my khat. I have no evidence. I accused them of theft without any evidence… I was worried…”
“Yes, we all do the same when we are sad or angry… Don’t worry. …Please watch out the ISUZUs while strolling across the street… You know how mad our drivers are. Now I want you to take this… Please don’t assume you received alms. Just think of your own son giving it to you,” so saying he gave her rolled notes of birr 200.
Asha clenched the notes as if to protect them from being carried away by wind… Then, immediately she felt ashamed of herself and thrusted her hand to the young man’s pocket giving him back the money. “No…no…please! It is not necessary. I can surely find the khat. I am sure. Let me search for it around… Please take your money back. Thank you so much, my son”.
“No, I will never take that back,” the young man pushed her hand back and walked away leaving her behind.
Asha was surprised. She did not expect such a thing. Then she started walking back to the market. After a few steps on the dirt lane, she happened to watch a piece of cloth sliding off the road. She stopped and followed with her eyes the slowly moving piece of cloth. She knows this cloth. It is her waistband. She had wrapped her three bundles of khat with it before she came out to the market. A nanny goat was pulling the cloth. …The animal was enjoying the last bundle of khat that belonged to Asha. She was alarmed. … She thought she committed a sin by falsely accusing the young boys of stealing her three bundles of khat. ‘How sinful old lady I am!… A good-for-nothing woman!’ she said with a sense of remorse.
Asha ran back to the direction where the young man had walked. ‘I should give him back the money.’ She saw him from afar disappearing into the crowd of people. She did not know where she could find him again… But she thought that she could do one more thing… asking for the excuse of the young boys whom she mistakenly called thieves… The boys were chatting and chewing at the same place where she had seen them. She got closer and watched over them. They have not yet seen her. They lost in their world. She cleared her voice calling attention of them… They turned their faces and looked at her in surprise. “Ayo, what has happened?” a boy asked her.
“I am ashamed of myself… I am sorry to call you names which you do not deserve… Please, excuse this old lady who is standing in front of you…” she implored.
The boys were alarmed and did not say a word for the time being. Then, minutes later, one of them said, “what are you talking about, ayo? Are you telling us you got your khat?”
“Yes, indeed, my boy. I saw it while it was being chewed by a nanny goat.”
They all laughed hilariously. “Ummo, we are happy you discovered who the thief is… and regretted. We thank you.” Then, they talked one another in low voice; contributed some money and handed over it to Asha through a boy.
But Asha was reluctant to receive the money saying that she has already got much from the other young man. “Please, I have much money… The young man has just given me,” she said.
“What you got is not from us. We should also support you. Besides, we want you to shower us with blessings… Take it please and go back home,” the boy said.
Address your comments to the writer through gizaw.haile@yahoo.com
Which development model today among the big three?
The United States has many strengths and admirable qualities, but the nation’s politics is plagued by paralysis and deep partisan polarization, even though the country has a well-established federal union. The United States economy has benefited in recent years from low energy costs, but it has become bitterly divided into unequal camps of winners and losers. All these tensions have boiled over and resulted in the phenomenon of President Donald Trump, whose allegedly “erratic” presidency is stalling badly needed reforms and furthering national division.
Meanwhile, China’s hybrid brand of “communist capitalism” remains an authoritarian puzzle of immense contradictions. While it has moved forward vigorously with renewable energies, a growing middle class is still proportionally small compared to the vast numbers of poor, even as inequality, corruption and cronyism thrive. Impressive levels of industrial production have resulted in astounding levels of environmental ruin.
Steven Hill, a journalist and author of the book entitled “The Startup Illusion” stated that it turns out that a domineering executive leadership as in China and the United States is only great when it leads in the right direction. In comparison, the EU doesn’t always look so bad. Europe’s social capitalism is clearly the global leader in several crucial dimensions, more so than either China’s state capitalism or America’s Wall Street-Silicon Valley capitalism. Yet, Europe also is plagued by a number of major challenges. These include, a shortage of economic solidarity between member states; resurgent tribalism and nationalism, and institutional incoherence at the EU level. The three of these are intricately linked.
Steven Hill noted that the lack of institutional and ideological support for a currency union has held back the EU during its economic recovery. Some of that economic loss has been reversed recently, and some forms of institutional solidarity have been created by the European Commission and member states. This includes the beginnings of a banking union to support the financial infrastructure of Europe.
In the aftermath of the collapse of Soviet-led communism, the rationale for contesting politics has shifted dramatically over the last two and a half decades. As European societies have become more affluent, many center-right parties, like the Christian Democrats in Germany, have become “social democrats,” even if not Social Democrats. Paul Goldschmidt, former Director, EU Commission and Member of the Advisory Board of Stand Up for Europe stated that the European political contest has essentially shifted away from economic issues to a battle over a new kind of tribalism – north-south, east-west, left-right, and especially white Christian vs racialized Islam. The Spanish struggle over sovereignty with the region of Catalonia is the latest manifestation, with more such cracks and fissures still ahead.
Paul Goldschmidt argued that a number of euroskeptic partisans, both in Europe and the United States, who want nothing more than to see the demise of the European Way, have gleefully predicted the imminent collapse of the EU over these divisions. But they have been predicting this for decades, and have always been wrong. It is instructive to remind ourselves that various tribal-isms have been a major part of the human experience for thousands of years. The national, ethnic and religious instinct to ensure the success of one’s own tribe at the expense of another is an age-old response.
Given the pressures of the new tribalism, ineffective governance in the EU has contributed to it becoming a target for popular frustration. Partly for this reason, German chancellor Angela Merkel, as the head of the largest member state, has been thrust by recent events into the role as the de facto prime minister of Europe.
Yet, how does a German Chancellor, Angela Merkel rise above domestic passions and politics to do what is best for Europe, in the absence of clear-cut institutional coherence at the EU level? Paul Goldschmidt noted that in her makeshift role, Chancellor Merkel has done an admirable job in certain respects. But she also has made mistakes, in part because her role as the EU’s prime minister conflicts with her domestic priorities as German chancellor.
Various scholars, including Thomas Piketty, Jurgen Habermas and others, have proposed more simplified and integrated political structures to close this democracy gap. In his recent State of the Union speech, entitled “Wind in our Sails,” Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker smartly proposed merging his office with the presidency of the European Council, saying the European ship should be “steered by one and the same captain at the helm.” Jean-Claude Juncker also proposed a European Monetary Fund, the creation of a new EU minister of economy and finance, as well as a European Labour Authority to ensure fairness and workers’ rights across the EU’s single market.
Jean-Claude Juncker also pointed out that, once Brexit is completed in 2019, the eurozone will represent 85% of the EU’s GDP. That makes convergence between the EU and eurozone much more doable. In that sense, Brexit should be regarded as an unexpected blessing, since the UK has often played the role of spoiler in developing an EU consensus over these important matters. His’proposals were predictably greeted with a mixed response by most member state leaders. It is clear that until more political leaders make the case to their national electorates for “ever closer union,” progress toward a more robust union will remain elusive. Given that factor, for now a multi-speed Europe is a reality.
Ronald Meinardus, the Regional Director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) in New Delhi, India stated that other challenges, such as Russian adventurism and a flood of refugees from the near-abroad, will continue to cause alarm due to Europe’s disjointed institutional design and unity. But as in the past, each crisis will spur further evolution toward union because, more than ever, Europe and the world needs a modernized humanism that offers a viable alternative to the return of tribes, scapegoats, bluster and walls.
National boss Abraham calls Walyas to camp
Back from attending the one month African nations cup final as technical analyst, Ethiopian national team Coach Abrahama Mebratu kicked-off an intensive preparation ahead of AFCON Cup final preliminary round qualification two legs showdown against Djibouti. Fasil Town striker Mujib Kassim was the only one absent on Monday where Abraham along with his assistants: back from attending a six month coaching course in Hungary Fasil Tekalegn and Mulugeta Meheret.
A record low 150th in FIFA World Ranking Ethiopia visits 195th Djibouti in the preliminary round first leg qualification match on the 28th of this month while the second leg takes place at home ten days later.
Three goal keepers, eight defenders, seven players each for mid field and strikers’ position the highest numbers of selects are from Premier League runner-up Fasil Town that is four. Ethiopia Coffee, Sidama Coffee, Hawassa Town and Saint George each represented by three players while Baherdar, Welwalo and champions Mekele Town each sent two players. Relegated Mekelakya, Sehul Shere and the only Super league side Sebeta Town each thrown one player thus making the total squad number to twenty-three.
The strike force appears fearsome taking in to consideration the selects are the one finished on top of the scorers roaster. Top scorer with 18 goals Amanuel G/Kidan, runner up Addis Gidey with 17, rising star Mujib Kasim boasting 16, Habtamu Gezahne and Abubaker Naser each bagging ten, Fekadu Alemu with eight and Abel Yalew having five goals.
Though Ethiopian premier league is notorious for being dominated by foreign goal keppers Abraham managed to sort out three goal keppers: Mesay Ayano from Sidama, Teklemariam Shanko of Hawassa and Baherdars Mentsenot Alo.
The aggregate winner of the two qualifies for the second round two leg showdown against Rwanda then the winner to join the group stage. Cameroon is the host while Democratic Republic of Congo is the record winners with two titles as Morocco are the reigning champions.
