A glimpse of life 1

Drawing by  zerihun seyoum

There was a long line for taxi, ‘wow that is long’ I said to the woman last in the line. She didn’t care to talk; she looked at me and turned. More people came to line up behind me.

I was in line for a taxi from  Mexico to Bole. I keep looking at my watch every 3 minutes, the line was moving very slowly.

The people and incidents I encountered in my way from home to office, an hour, gave me a glimpse of life. 

A blue contract taxi slowly drove and stops side by side at the end of the line. I looked at the taxi, I looked at the line, I am far behind, I look at the people lining behind me, and in few minutes there were actually a lot of people. Thus, I thought, well the temptation is not just for me. I bet most of these people are also late for work and tired of lining up for just a taxi and want to fall for the temptation, the contract taxi. I thought of the money I had in my bag, what I am planning to do with it, how much the contract taxi will cost me, probably 100 Birr. I can bargain for 70 Birr. I also thought of what the people would think when I move out of the line to take the contract taxi. Would anyone come to join me, would anyone say let’s share the price and take the contract taxi. But no, they wouldn’t, they will only say, ‘yemanat kebet! (Spoiled brat J) I preferred not to be called that, even in people’s mind. No one else went for the contract taxi.

I looked at to the length of the line again, and the people behind me. An old beggar, with white beard on his chin and a green scarf rolled over his head is playing ‘Washient’, walking closely to the people in line. He stopped as people on line give him cents, and start playing again.  Beautiful sound of music!

Then another beggar came, a man in his 40’s, tilting from his back, he is wearing a grey short, with many patches sown on and a grey scarf over his shoulders. He looks sick. He is holding a white card, which seems like a hospital card.

A woman breaked a line behind me, “hum” no one reacted to that. She came up to the man behind me, calling out to him, Dr! they greet each other. As I often do in incidents as such, I start to listen to their conversation to shift off my mind from the line that moves like a turtle. They start talking about a man, who recently lost his son, Meningitis killed him. ‘Does Meningitis kill!!?’ the woman asks. ‘Even flu kills if it gets into you,’ the Dr. responded. '', I said, really? but not out loud.

They start talking about the father’s depression over his son’s death. The women kept saying, it is his wife, it is his wife that does this to him. The woman adds, ‘he is too religious, that is his problem, he even married her ‘beteklil,’ she lives in States.I started losing her.

Then the woman starts to talk about her divorce. “After my divorce, I always used to wake up at night crying, I cried a lot. It is because I was so attached to my children, before my divorce I always used to sleep with my daughters, I slept in the middle. ‘No wonder’…I thought.

She said that she called the man that lost his son and told him about her divorce experience, probably he is divorced too. He went to Europe, it is better if he goes to his wife, to States, they said. I thought of how all Ethiopian’s destiny became going to America.

There were two boys selling books on the side. As the people in line reach them, all the eyes fell on the books, reading the titles. A man asks, ‘how much is this book? I looked down, ‘The Power of Unconscious Mind.’

The boy responded ‘45 birr’,

‘Would you sell it for 40’

‘No’

‘Leave it then,’ said the man in line.

The boy turns to his friend, to continue the conversation he started before the man in line intervened. My attention shifted to them. They are talking about their home land, I learnt from their accent they are most probably from Gojam.

‘There is no road! There is no telephone…”

The other boy, continues, ‘there is no water, there is no light, there is no…”

His friend intervened, ‘what is wrong with you, you simply add on what I was saying,  there is light and water.”

They laughed, ‘the water we pour like this,’ they both moved their hand up and down, laughing loudly.

‘Have you heard, they now have started grade 9 and 10,’they continue their conversation.

The line moved, I got into the taxi and made sure the woman and the man I had been listening to are sitting behind me.

‘After 20 minutes we made it into the taxi,’ I said to the woman sitting beside me. I saw that she is pregnant, she didn’t lose it waiting in line like us, because she was allowed just to get in to the taxi.  I wished to be pregnant at that moment, I imagined myself, in a tight orange top, showing of my pregnant tummy just to cut in line.

I shift my attention to the people behind me, they talked about work, and business, tax…then they took out their wallets and showed each other their children’s picture.

The taxi stopped at ‘ShewaDabo’ turned off the engine, and the taxi boy went out calling ‘bole bole bole.’

Many passengers started to complain. I heard the woman behind me, making all murmuring sounds, ‘huff! Heche! Ti! Hai am late for work, can we please go.’

Drawing by  zerihun seyoum

In few minutes, people started to get into the taxi, there was no space, but there were more people getting in. A tall man with white hair only on the front of his head, black jacket and white shirt, gets into the taxi, there was no seat. The man had a big book and an Amharic Bible on his hand. ‘Looks like a pastor,’ I thought. The young man at the back seat leaves his seat for him, ‘I have been sitting for a while now, come here,’ he said. The young man sit on the spot, where mini buses usually sit extra passengers.

‘Oh nice of him,’ I thought.

I heard the woman sitting behind me, whom I have been giving much of my attention to, asking the man his phone number. To my surprise, she asks for his name too. ‘Wow she been talking about all these details of her life, her divorce to a man whose name she does not remember.

The man said ‘weraj ale,’ on his way out of the taxi she asks him loudly, ‘you have my number, right?’

‘I will look for it,’ he said and waved bye to her.

The woman keeps complaining about the extra passengers in taxi. The young man, who left his seat for the man that looks like a Pastor said, ‘it is good to help out each other, there was no taxi.’ The woman keeps complaining, and the young man said, ‘well you also break in the line, we didn’t say anything, because we thought it is okay, and now you are complaining.’ Oops! That remind me of how most of us, go to past incidents, which we did not deal with at the moment, just to back us up our present arguments. Hummm! Why didn’t he say so then if it bothered him when she broke in line? And if he thought it was okay, he shouldn’t have brought it up now. The woman tried to defend herself, shortly she was off the taxi.

I was looking down for something in my bag, when our taxi stops suddenly. Sitttittttt! It was about to crash with a silver Corolla, which was parking at the side.

As I look up, I saw I am almost at Bole,  ‘Weraj ale!’

As I walked into my office, I thought, wow that was just a glimpse of life-

In an hour, I was made to think of temptations; life and death; sickness and health; marriage and divorce; pregnancy and children; riches and poverty…much more!

God is after your Achilles heel

Oil Paint by Peter Paul Rubens

In Greek mythology, Achilles was the bravest hero in the Trojan war. When Achilles was born, it was foretold he would die in battle. Thus, to prevent his death, his mother tried to make him immortal by dipping him in river Styx. But she missed Achilles' heel because she was holding him by it. Therefore, Achilles heel remained untouched by the magic water of the Styx and remained mortal or vulnerable. Achilles grew up to survive many great battles but a poisonous arrow lodged to his heel, killed him softly. Due to this mythology, to this day any area of weakness, vulnerable spot is called an “Achilles heel.”

This weekend I was having a talk with a friend, when I realized how God uses our Achilles heel to reveal his glory in us.

We might have many strengths we can refer to, be it our achievement in school, career, business skill, communication skill….you name it!.. just think of the strength you think you have. Well, many people might be after your strength, including yourself, but not God.

Instead God is after your weakness, your Achilles heel! You know that point in your life, that heel you guard, build walls around, fence it with ‘let’s not talk about it’ security wire, your soft spot, weakness, area which doesn’t require much temptation to fall as a result…God is after that.

Think about it, if God uses your strength, which of course He would in some cases, you are more likely to take the credit for yourself. However when God uses your Achilles heel, He is more likely to take the glory for Himself. “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise..” Isaiah 42:8

Thus, when God uses you Achilles heel, he will uncover it, expose it, test it, …he will do anything you don’t want to do with your weakness. “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” Luke 8:17

Some people think, God purposely hold us on the ‘heel’ as He dips us in His grace, to keep us vulnerable, to teach us to lean only on Him. Some think, God knowingly let us have Achilles heel, because after all that is what will make us keep crawling back to Him.

Some believe the Devil is the source and the manipulator of our weak spots. Others suggest every single individual is responsible for themselves. Whatever we think only, “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

Well let’s give a glance to the Bible, for it is filled with examples of how God loves to use people’s Achilles heel, first even when He chooses us;

 “God purposely chose ... what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful.” 1 Cor 1:27     

Abraham couldn’t make a child; God took Abraham’s weakness and transformed him into a father of nations.

Moses was raised in palace, having ‘contacts’ (which in these days most of us look for, having contact with the rich and prominent, to get a job, to be accepted in certain school… ‘side thought’), however God didn’t use Moses’s strengths.

Moses had temper issues; God took his weakness and turned him into the humblest man on earth. He also had speech issues, never been well with words, but God took his weakness and turn him into a great leader.

David was young shepherd, short, not good looking, rejected 8th son of Jesse. Who would have thought back then that David would kill Goliath?

David grew up to be a king and of course an adulterer and a murderer. However God turned his weakness, to make him “A man after God’s own heart.” Acts 13:22

Gideon had low self-esteem and insecurities, however God made him a “Mighty man of valor” Judges 6:12

We could go on and on with stories from the Bible. But, above all, can you imagine, God used His own Achilles heel- UNCONDITIONAL LOVE to save humanity. God has the power, the strength more than we could ever comprehend, however He didn’t use His strength or might to draw mankind back to Him. Instead He used His weakness; “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom 5: 7-8

Just provide your Achilles heel to God, allow Him to use it, open up to God. Let God use your Achilles heel, for His grace is sufficient for you, it is in your weakness that His power is made perfect. Then you can boast gladly about your weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on you. 2 Cor 12:9

My friend asked me, if something like the Bible is to be written in our age, would your story be in it? Would you be the woman recorded because God revealed His strength in your weakness, or will you be those names mentioned in Bible just because they have some sort of connection with the protagonist? Remember these those who were rich, good looking, ‘qualified’, ‘got it all together’ but their name was just mentioned for the sake of the weak.

I end phrasing the same question to you; will your story be in it?

My mom's favorite verse!

"Wise choices will watch over you.

 Understanding will keep you safe." Proverbs 2:11

Cartoon by Genaye Eshetu

Your word...

Cartoon by Genaye Eshetu

Flee or Fail!

When it comes to overcoming sexual sin, we only have two options to flee or to fail..

 sometimes like Josef...

 sometimes we even have to run from ourselves!

Cartoon by Genaye Eshetu

 “Joseph was well-built and handsome, ⁷ and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

⁸ But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. ⁹ No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” ¹⁰ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

¹¹ One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.¹² She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.” Genesis 39: 7-12

"RUN FROM SEXUAL SIN! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body." 1 Corinthians 6:18 

So…

"I beat my body and make it my slave.” 1Corinthians 9:27

Cartoon by Genaye Eshetu

^{If it gets} worse…

" And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." Matthew 5:30

Cartoon by Genaye Eshetu

Oh men! that is the left hand :) who would notice anyway!

You didn’t if you just look back to the picture, got you!:)

For all late comers!

Cartoon by Genaye Eshetu!

.....like me :)

For all who are weary and burdened!

Cartoon by Genaye Eshetu

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” says Jesus. Matthew 11:28-29

What is in your hand?

Cartoon by Genaye Eshetu 

In the Bible we read a story of a young boy who gave Jesus 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, from which Jesus fed 5000 men, not including women and children. The disciples were even able to pick 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish after all people being fed. (Mark 6 :33- 39)

The same Lord who fed thousands from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, is inquiring the same question to us; what is in your hand?

Are you blessed with small talents, be it writing, drawing, talking, sewing, fixing…but haven’t done anything about it yet?

Are you not doing what you been dreaming since childhood?

Are you postponing your business plan because you don’t have the budget?

Are you giving any excuse, be it being born from a poor family, poor country, not going to school, nobody else is doing this, what are people going to say if I do this and that, I don't know how to start, fear of failure…

God is asking you, ‘what is in your hand?’

As adults of good reasoning we often tend to do the calculation in our mind based on our monthly earning. That is the same thing the disciples did back then, ‘Eight months wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite’…but the young boy just offered his fish trusting, that must be why the Bible tells us to have faith like children!

If we are willing to trust Him with the very small thing in our hand, He is able and willing to bless us and do miracles!!!

John 6:1-15 NIV

“1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.4The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"

8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"

10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.

11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."

13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.”

Where are you planted?

I was walking out of the office with a colleague friend, when we notice an ‘enset’ false banana planted in a small area. My friend, said with astonishment, ‘how would they expect enset plant to grow in a small area as such, it needs space.’ This reminds me of the palm plant me and my friends had while we were in campus.

While I was in campus a lot of students used to easily recognize mine and my friends’ dorm from all other blocks easily. This was because of the palm plant we had on the terrace. In our 3 years stay in Hawassa University, this plant had always been on our terrace though we had been placed in different dorms. We even developed emotional attachment to it! That plant was like a pet for us, we took care of it, loved it, talked to it, admired it’s loyalty to us and so on. But we graduated and time had come to say good bye to our plant. So our friend who planted it decided to uproot it and plant it on the ground where it’s ‘friends’ were. She had brought the seed three years back from the gardeners who were planting it in the university compound. When our friend uprooted our plant and went to where the other seeds are planted, she saw something that surprised her. We were all amazed to see all the other seeds have grown to be big magnificent trees, while the same see, on our terrace, had only been surviving in the can. We realized that we made the greatest mistake in limiting the seed with such potential.

This got me thinking,

Where am I planted in life?

Is it in a place where I can grow to my fullest potential or where I merely survive?

I want to ask the same question to you, How about you? Where are you planted?

Family---are you planted in a family you feel worthy, capable and educated? Or are you planted in a family where you are always limited, told you are unable and unworthy?

Friends---Do you surround yourself with friends that help you grow, change, take risks, and be who you are?

Relationship---Are you in a relationship that doesn’t add value to you, give respect and love you deserve, that doesn’t go anywhere but drag you down in pain?

Culture---are you confined in a culture where you only do things because that is the way everyone is doing it?

Religion---what spiritual knowledge have you been pursuing? Are you growing with a growing church or have you let yourself settle in what is ‘okay’?

Emotions---Where do you plant yourself emotionally, in unforgiveness, grudge, anger and disappointment of the past? Are you allowing your past to control your present and future?

There are some plants, though, planted in a flower pot like our plant, but there roots break out of their limitation boxes;

Are you willing today to stretch, to push and set yourself free?

Our plant needed us to uproot it and plant it somewhere else. Sometimes we need a greater power to uproot us of the lifestyle that keep us in chains. We can simply ask God to set us free as long as we are willing to move out of our comfort zone.

Our plant was actually in a very safe place in our terrace, we water it every day, we keep it inside in storms and heavy rains, and make sure it gets the sunshine it needs. On the other hand, the ground where the other seeds were planted is not safe, it is exposed to heavy rains as it is to sunshine, and it is always troubled by heavy winds, and dust and dirt that came with the wind. But the right place where the plant grows to be a tree is where the storm is. This is true in our lives as well, ‘it is out there’ that we grow, it is through the storms and the hard times, we can be who we are created to be!

So today I want to challenge you to take a step to uproot yourself, if you find it hard, ask God to help you. If you are living with a family that keeps telling you, you are not worth, never amount to anything, pack your clothes, with all due respect to your parents, move out and get a condo. If you have a family that loves and adores you, take care of you and provide everything you need, still move out if you are above 18. Remember this only makes you like the plant on our terrace, you be loved so much but might never get to grow to your full potential but merely survive.

Are you planted in friends’ circle which is only a ‘circle’, with no way out, but same cycle now and then? Do they challenge you to take risk, to grow, to change by being examples themselves, or do you just sit and blame government, system, boss, landlord...and everything else except yourselves for not being able to grow. 

The Bible says;

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20 

“…. Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.” Proverbs 14:6-7 

“Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.” Proverbs 22:24-25 

Okay, you might now be saying I know my limitations, I can be anywhere I want, be with anyone I like and be what I need to be, I guess that is why the Bible says;

“Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 

I can go on and on but you know your limitations, you know where you have been planted so let me just end this message:

Break free! Plant yourself where you can grow to your fullest potential, because the world needs what is in you!!

Ultimate Reward

What are family, friends, wisdom, career, riches...all sorts of blessing without God in them? what is heaven without God in it? how boring would eternity be without His presence...? "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you "Psa 73:25...Eternal life, heaven, is after all not just the golden path, jasper wall, foundations garnished with precious stones, pearl gates....but knowing God, the only true God, and Jesus Christ (John 17:3). 

Aba Father I thank you for all the blessing you have blessed and will bless me with, I am sooo grateful!!!! 

Still I pray that I put my eyes off the TEMPORARY BLESSINGS and focus on you my ULTIMATE REWARD! You! "Yes, everything else is worthlessssssssss when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, rubbish.. so that I could gain Christ" Phil 3:8

Undying Love !

Thin, haggard, disheveled, Gomer stands looking down to the ground of the filthy slave market. Her neck was chained to an auction block, her hair matted, her ribs protruding beneath her skin and her hands dangled downwards, failing to cover her nakedness. She did not infuse a jot of lust in a single man who passed by. The bidding reached 10 shekels of silver, 12 shekels, then 15 shekels, followed by a man who cried out 15 shekels and thirteen bushels barley…. going once, going twice … Sold!

 One of the greatest love stories ever told happened in760 B.C. Hosea, a young budding preacher once went to visit a family friend named Diblaim. It was there that he was struck by the beauty of Diblaim’s daughter who was serving him water. With the darkest, deepest eyes, jet black hair that cascaded on her back like herds rushing down a mountain, a soothing smile and clothing that gave her a radiant splendor, Gomer was hauntingly beautiful. As most young women of her time, she had love for expensive clothing, jewelry and cosmetics. The preacher had fallen in love with a prostitute. She responded to his love and they stood before the Hebrew marriage altar to vow eternal love to God and each other.  The town gossiped mercilessly about how a preacher would take a prostitute for a wife. However, the love of Hosea and Gomer blossomed and was rewarded by a blessing of a firstborn, whom they named Jezreel.

Soon after the birth of Jezreel, Hosea started to notice a change in Gomer’s character. She became distant, restless, unhappy and even began to spend more time away from home. Gomer’s frequent absence from home instilled prolonged pangs of suspicion in Hosea. Gomer was soon with a child again and a daughter was born whom Hosea named Lo-Ruhamah. But Gomer continued drifting away further from her husband. Often, she would leave and not return until dawn or even stayed out for days. Hosea sought every way possible to restore her, but to no avail.

After a year, a third child was born, Lo-Ammi. Hosea knew deep within that he is neither the father of Lo-Ammi nor Lo- Ruhamah. He pleaded with her, threatened to disinherit her but still she kept running away with her lovers who promise to lavish her with material things. She repeatedly returned back to Hosea with repentance and each time he took her back with loving kindness. However her contrition was short lived and she would run off again with a new lover.

Hosea’s patience was drained within him and he wept, but his love for the mother of his children never grew weak. Soon after, Gomer drifted beyond reach, leaving Hosea to be the only caretaker of three children, two of which he does not even father.He looked for her throughout Samaria but days, weeks and years passed by.

Hosea became an object of derision as the town kept referring to him as the pitiful preacher whom after being deserted by his prostitute wife, is raising children of adultery as if they were his own.

One day, terrible news about the condition of Gomer reached Hosea. She had fallen into the hands of a man who lacked the means to support her. So Hosea went out to look for her and found her in a ramshackle house of a dissolute man. He then begged her to return to him but she rejected all his pleadings. He later came up with a plan to buy her all the jewelries, cosmetics and clothes she loved dearly and give it to her lover in private so that all her needs would be provided while she still thought it came from her lover.

Hosea had not heard of Gomer for a long time after that but one day as he was walking by a slave market, he saw Gomer up for an auction because of the dept she socked herself into. He bought her with 15 shekels of silver and paid the rest of the money she owed with barley because he could not afford more shekels of silver. Hosea gave everything he owned to redeem his wayward wife. He then said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be towards you” (Hos 3:2). He then took her to live with him in the same house where they later on resumed their intimate relationship after a period of celibacy.

7 JULY 2010

When it happens to your loved one

In the past month I saw posters, banners and stickers posted on sideways and public transportation for a week dedicated to ‘Stop Car Accidents’. These images depict horrific images of car accidents, with their dominant color, red! If car accident hadn't happen to my loved one, these posters and billboards  might have no value to me. I wrote this article four years back, short after I lost a dear friend in a car accident. It is hard for me to go back to this story and I know it could recall painful memories for our friends. I share it only because I don’t want to lose anyone else I love through car accident, I share it because I don’t want anyone else to die in car accident because they are someone else’s loved one. Most of all I share it in memory of all lives short cut, dreams shattered young due to car accidents.

When it happens to your loved one

Ethiopia ranks first in African car accident fatalities

This is a story of a young woman with innocent eyes like a baby and a perfect curvy smile that reflects love. When her father took ill and died within 15 days, it came as a tragic shock, and she accompanied his body, with her mother and twin sisters, to their home town 565 km from Addis, where the burial was conducted. But neither she nor her sister returned.

Fasika didn’t want to stay long grieving with her family as is mostly done in Ethiopian culture. Fifteen days after her father’s death she packed her belongings together and returned to Addis, where most of her friends were and where she worked and lived.

While packing she stuck a note on her locker to remind her to take her mobile charger when she left.

Early the next morning Fasika kissed her mother goodbye with one of her sisters, and her mother murmured, “May the Holy Savior follow you,” in her sleep. Minutes later; her mother woke up not remembering her daughters’ goodbye kiss and tried to call them on their cell phones. But there was no connection. Seconds, minutes, hours gone by, a mother holding on two different cell phones. “The number you are trying to call is out of the service area,” is all she heard.

Suddenly relatives who had been walking in and out of the house came towards Fasika’s mother, telling her to tighten her back with a scarf, and to get in the car. She cried out, “What has happened to my daughters! What has happened to my daughters!” for it is only when people are about to be told of the death of their loved once, that they are asked to tighten their back. Relatives told Fasika’s mother that her daughters have been in a car accident and they must take them to hospital. But they hadn’t driven far when they saw all the city dwellers out on the streets, mourning for 14 people who lost their lives in a road accident, including two sisters who had buried their father barely 15 days before. 

At work place

December 17 at the Future Talent Academy, where usually children are romping around and playing with laughter and joy, had a different atmosphere. A dark shadow lied over the compound where students spoke of the death of their teacher to their friends, while the little ones were still playing, but sensing the atmosphere, subdued, perhaps wondering what death really meant.

There was no class instead there was going to be a memorial service for a young teacher who lost her life in a car accident. Some teachers were arranging flowers and a framed picture of her was on display. Meanwhile, the man behind the speakers of the mini media called for the students to line up quietly. Students from grade 4 to 10 line up in a row, facing the photo of their teacher, while those below grade 4 face their elders. Even the little ones didn’t need their teachers to line them up – naturally subdued, they fall into place quietly. Teachers, assistant teachers, unit leaders, janitors, stand behind the students.

“Today we are gathered here in memory of a teacher, Fasika Mitike, who lost her life in a terrible car accident with her sister. Fasika was returning back to her job and to her students after the funeral of her father, which was conducted in her home town Bahir Dar,” the man behind the speakers continued. “I now read a short life history of Fasika. Fasika was born in 1985 from her father Ato Mitike Yetaye and her mother w/t Ayale Mekonen in Bahir Dar. She attended elementary school in Catholic mission and high school in Tana Haik  high school. After she passed the national exam on high grade, she joined Hawasa University and studied Foreign Languages and Literature. After she finished her studies she joined Future Talent Academy and worked as a teacher for a year and four months. Fasika was a diligent worker and a very beloved person by her students and colleagues. This is the short story of Fasika”.

Afterwards the students run over each other to the front where her picture and the flowers were; did they hope to find her there? Or did they just want to send their last condolences? The man behind the speakers was then announcing in a louder voice, “Students please back off!”  Her colleagues, on the other hand, run to their offices, crying in high-pitched voices, realizing it is all true, Fasika is not coming back!

There was none to comfort the other!

After a while they hold on to their tears and start discussing what they could do. “Why don’t we contribute to the building of the grave? Why don’t we just contribute and send the money to her parents? ... Money, how much then?”

Trinity church

Similar discussions had gone on between her friends who gathered in the compound of Trinity church the day before. “We all heard the death of our friend today and gathered here to revere and pray for her soul.  It is a shock! It is shocking news! I just talked to her on the phone two days back, and now they told us she is dead, I don’t understand it at all. But if it is true, I want you all to say something about her, like as you all know, she was a positive thinker,” said Behailu, a friend of her since campus days. Another friend of her continued, but Etegenet was wailing, her voice was not audible, and she went back to her seat. Etana continued, “The last time we met it was at Bole road - she told me to call her but I didn’t, and now this!” He sobbed. Another friend continued,“ Fasika was the most positive person as you all know, she had the most beautiful smile, she laughed about simple things. Ya, it is true she is dead but I don’t believe she is in Bahir Dar where she was buried, but in a better place - she is in heaven. I know so for I know the passion she had for God. Fasika is in the most beautiful place where she is probably enjoying herself now and forever, but the pain remains for us.”

Another friend from her work place, Daniel, continued. Fasika was a kind of person who united people and distilled the real essence of friendship, so why don’t we keep this trait of her and have a union where we always be reminded of her?” Another friend, Halleluja, rose up. “We should now talk on what needs be done soon, and I believe that would be contributing to the building of the grave.”

They all rise up and conduct a silent prayer, lighting their candles and facing the church.

After 15 days Fasika’s friends, colleagues, the school administrative board and families of some students were able to contribute 20,000 birr.

Back then...

Fasika had a future appointment planned with her two best friends, Azeb and Daniel. The whole initiative of a long time appointment resulted from a story aired on radio about classmates who met after 20 years in the same high school they attended, Tana Haike.

 They didn’t want to make it as far as 20 years, 10 years was enough! Let’s meet after 10 years, at 12am at Mahamud music shop, Piassa. In case one of us dies, we will put flowers at the grave, they agreed.

“I never thought death would come so soon,” Daniel said.

“We used to work at the same school. I did not like her that much at first, as she was active and friendly with everyone. The first day we talked was in a taxi. She took my cell phone and took a picture of me and my friend. Afterwards we became very close; I had never been as close as I was with Fasika, with anyone else. But she died on the same day we met, just after a year. I recall that day for it was saved on my cell phone when she took that picture,” said Daniel

Fasika had a lot in common with her friend Daniel, they even used to wonder how their favorite numbers happens to be the middle number of each other’s phone number, 

091176-17-14  and Daniel’s 091131-22-68.

“These days when I look at my cell phone,either the time or the day shows the number, 22, which reminds me of her...I’m fascinated by the co-incidence of number sequences, and she knew that, and used to show me strange numbers whenever she noticed them. It still happens, noticing numbers on my phone.”

Azeb, Fasika’s best friend since high school, recalls back to the day they met in 10^th grade when they were made to sit at the same desk. Azeb had thought of Fasika as a talkative girl while Fasika had thought of Azeb as a quite unfriendly girl. But all their expectations of each other turned out to be false;  they got along very well and remained friends to the day…

Selam, Fasika’s friend since campus, met her for they were in the same dorm. A girl exchanged with Fasika for she had friends in a dorm were Fasika was. But Fasika didn’t know anyone in her new dorm, while 3 of them had known each other since high school.

 “She was the photographer of our freshman first exotic days. I have a picture of when we first let her have her picture taken with us, so that she wouldn’t feel bad,” said Selam

“We went through a lot on campus, to the point where we thought we might die. Once there was a rumor that a bomb was going to blast in our block. We were the only ones to spend the night in the block even after hearing the rumor.  We had our best outfits on in case the rumor was true. We agreed to die looking our best,” said Selam.

A lot of political, social, and economic protests take place at universities in Ethiopia, but one of the worst was the one during the 2005 election. Students were not allowed to move out of their compounds with their clothes nor anything in a bag. Fearing that the worst might happen, Fasika and Selam wore three sets of clothes on top of each other and took them off in the nearest cafeteria. But in the late evening, they were told that everything was all right and they could spend the night in their dormitories. “We then took all our clothes back in a plastic bag,” Selam said.

It is a mystery though: Fasika had once a dream while she was on campus. In her dream, she was taken by something that looked like an airplane to far places, leaving all her friends behind. “It took me very fast while you all were walking very slowly and reached to where I am afterwards,” Fasika told her friends. She then told us that her dream might mean that she is going to die sooner than any of us, but back then it was all a joke for us, we laughed at her,” Selam said.

“It is after her death that everything we talked about makes sense. I now know why she was that passionate about God, why she asked me all those questions about him, about salvation. She was finally sure that she would go to heaven through what Christ had done for her, even if she didn’t deserve it. We even talked about what kind of place she would like to have in heaven, for she believed that she would have then what she didn’t have in the world,” said one of her friends.

Childhood

Fasika was born to a family of one brother and twin sisters. She was youngest daughter. Her parents named her Fasika, which literally means resurrection, for she brought blessings into their house, including a scholarship her father got to Europe.

As a little girl, Fasika used to sneak out of home to play with other kids in her neighborhood. Everybody wanted to play with her for she was active and friendly. Fasika always took off her shoes while she played because she said they were uncomfortable. However, she never returned back home with them! Not only her shoes got lost, but also her hair bands, so she would go home with all her hair sticking straight up and dust all over her face and clothes.

Fasika used to love eating milk powder. One day, when she was about four, she pulled over the milk powder pot onto her head, where it stuck and left her neck twisted for weeks. Unlike her head,  the middle toe of her left foot was permanently bent ever since she tried to play the game Monday-Tuesday, kicking a stone the way she saw the other kids playing.

 Fasika was also a smart student in school and always ranked in the top ten in her class of about 70 students.

In her students’ words...

 Fasika was a home room teacher of fifth grade in Future Talent Academy.

“Miss Fasika is a very nice teacher. She never hit us or pinched us. She is a very nice teacher I ever met in the world. and I hope she goes to heaven. Happy heaven miss Fasika if you go to heaven. Love Fassi!” 

                                      Miliard Tezera,

Grade 5 B

  “Teacher Fasika was a very good teacher. She was very kind and love teacher. She hates to be bad on other people. She made us happy when she smiles.  Teacher Fasika plays with us and makes us laugh. Teacher Fasika loves to forgive. Other teachers love her for her behaviour.We will never forget teacher Fasika.”

Her student 5B

                                                          Class 5B

“Miss Fasika is a good and pleasant teacher and she has a good manner. She teaches the way we like, She doesn’t like a student with a bad behavior but she tries to change him by talking to his/her mom or dad.”

Abate Shiferaw

Class 5B

“Teacher Fasika was a generous and caring person. She teaches well, this means in a manner we can understand. If a student is lazy, she wouldn’t ignore him saying she is lazy, but she encourages him. She used to post beautiful and educative things in class. But she left this world through the accident she faced. I wish her parents are comforted!”

                                                        Hewan Kidane,

                                                                   class 5B

“Miss Fasika  was a very good teacher.  She was kind to others. She never punished us or threw us out of class. She kindly talked about our problem with us. She was more than a teacher, she was our friend. She was very kind. She always had a good wish for us. She is different from other teachers. Our heart is broken hearing her death. So stay besides us and comfort us.”

                                                                       Saron,  

                                                                  Class 5B

“Miss Fasika is a very beloved teacher. Every teacher and student loved Miss Fasika, so does now. She make us happy when she is happy. Her jokes are sweet and her thoughts for children are nice. Her hand writing is easily readable on the black board than all teachers. Her accent is clear than all other teachers. Miss Fasika is a teacher we all loved very much, we will never forget her.”

                                                            Eden Amare,

                                                                 Class 5B

“Miss Fasika means a thoughtful teacher. We understand easily when she teaches. She never showed us a bad face nor said a bad word to us when we disturb the class. There is always joy and a smile on her face when she saw us. Even if she is sad she didn’t want us to know she is sad, instead she only show us her smile. She changes students from bad behavior to good by love. She doesn’t believe in power else in love.”

                                                   Samrawit Ephrem,

                                                                 Class 5A

A picture while we were in campus, me, Fasik, Heni, Heli, Lily, Sat, Sari, Israel:) Love u guys:)