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This childhood desire for that faraway land called
Ethiopia
and the excitement associated with the dream of Pan Africanism together made me eager to visit this land and treasure all the memories of that journey. It was the opportunity to visit
Ethiopia
on the one hand and the great interest on my part to build up my knowledge of the African efforts to create in that country symbols and objects of African independence in a global world, on the other, that inspired me to write this piece.
My heart responded to the night life of this place and my spirit rejoiced with the struggling Ethiopia Christians and Muslims I encountered as they made their way to the ‘macato’ place and as they exchanged blows with the visible and invisible agents of poverty and poor sanitation. This visit gave me the opportunity to see my heart, mind and soul dance together in this Ethiopian public sphere where the dreams and failures of the black experience come together within the mind of a struggling child whose eyes are increasingly affected by the seductive attractions of Western material culture and by the swaggering display of pride and greed among the so-called ruling classes of the New Africa.
I witnessed the events and dialogue with the young Ethiopian children who came to know me and to trust in me because of my feelings for them and my determination to make a difference in their lives. How did this journey begin? And what were the circumstances that brought me to the company of the young Ethiopians who for all practical purpose were deemed social failures who need no assistance and deserve no support? Although there are numerous NGO’s operating out of this large African country, the stories of these young people speak volumes about human greed and the inability of many politicians and educated Africans to create the much needed facilities to make life sweet and beautiful for the weak, the helpless and the dependent. 
Picture 1: The first image tells the first time I saw them eating from the trash. Actually that place was where they called home
The immediate circumstance that made it possible for me to travel to
Ethiopia
was an invitation to a conference organized by the United Nations Peace Unity Africa program based in
Addis Ababa
. Eager to witness this momentous occasion and determined to make the best out of the experience, I took the opportunity to follow the cause of the discussions at the conference which lasted a few days and to explore the outer limits of
Addis Ababa
. I wanted to visit places such as the national museum and to the different residential areas of the newly emerging
Addis Ababa
. In the course of my enquiries I spent some time looking at the situation of the Ethiopian women and children. Traveling through the streets of
Addis Ababa
I came across a large body of young men who manifested many of the good, the bad and the ugly of the New Africa.
Picture 2: When they were rescued, I moved out from my hotel (Hilton) to a guest house so they can stay until final arrgemnets are made
Caught in the web of poverty and malnutrition but well affected by the media propaganda of the West, many of these young people entertained only three things: money, booze and dreams of greener pastures.
America
is a Giant Siren whose face has a magnetizing effect in their hearts and essence. Some of the young people nurtured the dream of miraculously landing in the heart of
America
through a
Peter
Pan
kind of magic; others, who were more realistic about the nature of the world and the difficulties challenging their country has resigned their fate to what life has brought to them. But because of the gripping power of poverty, most of these young people wish to make easy money under their present circumstances and build up a life of safety, security and cultural sanity.
It was this predicament that struck and galvanized me to take action. Even though I had limited resources to respond to these challenges of child poverty and the need to ameliorate their situation, I found a number of things that deserve my attention and that of any other African or human being interested in the welfare of fellow human beings. I spent about a week in
Ethiopia
but this week of joys and sorrows have affected me immeasurably. Not only did it open the hidden gates of Ethiopian possibilities and Ethiopian poverty that beg for collective and individual attention. This trip points the way to success if the quality of life is to be changed and the peoples of this African land are to regain their political destiny and economic stability. The first challenge my journey to
Ethiopia
made categorically clear was the battle between demographics and the capacity of the country to feed itself. Within almost seventy-five million people
Ethiopia
is a hungry nation caught in a dead trap. If little or nothing is done to mobilize the vast majority of the people in the society to grow, cultivate and harvest, like Pharaoh’s people, they too are destined to have seven years of plenty and seven years of drought and hunger.
Indeed the historical evidence of the last forty years speaks harshly about the negative consequences for
Ethiopia
. Bad government and poor policy planning with respect to demographics and economic development have posed and will continue to pose a formidable challenge to the Ethiopian leaders. My journey to this country connects by biography with the Ethiopian national narratives at the lowest levels of the society and within a very limited time span. Driving or walking the streets of
Ethiopia
gave me the opportunity to meet people and share with them the struggles of their daily life. Unlike my colleagues who develop an image and a concept about
Ethiopia
by speaking with the big wigs and the bureaucrats I found much solace and explanation from the mouths of the young and articulate whose lives are deeply affected by the long arm of hunger and the tentacles of poverty. Through their individual and collective gestures, I learned so much about the ethics of the poor in
Ethiopia
.
 Pix 3 and 4: How they kids have been transformed from homeless kids, to happy kids. Now they are in family whom I send money to every month for the upkeep of the kids.
One story captures this aspect of the culture of the Ethiopian poor. In my interaction with these kids, we went to a restaurant where I brought some food for their meals. As they sat and ate I gave them money. What impressed me about their behavior and their reactions to my act of generosity was their sense of gratitude and their collective demeanor. Unlike other young people elsewhere in Africa and around the world, this group of young Ethiopians behave well and showed no acts of desperation over who got the money and what was going to happen to it. Convinced that there is hope among this group of kids, I went out of my way to help steer them along the path of self-discovery and self-empowerment. Trapped in the heart of
Addis Ababa
’s lowlife, with little or no prospect of escaping to the land of stable family and well fed bellies, I visited peoples and places where I thought the spirit of
Christ
lived.
Perhaps it was my naiveté or my
Africa
spirit that egged me on to expect the beautiful and to meet the embodiments of the biblical notion of being thy brother’s keeper. Rather than met such a person, I came across the human beings who proclaimed themselves to be in the service of the Lord. When asked whether there was room in their churches for the likes of the kids in my care, they replied negatively. As far as they were concerned, association with such “characters” could only spell doom and gloom for the outsiders. Citing horrible statistics about the instability and unreliability of such persons, these ambassadors of
Christ
warned me to stay away and not let me fall into the dead traps of local urchins. Undiscouraged and determined to make a difference- however little in my eyes and in the eyes of the Lord, I persisted.
 Spending longer days after the conference, I took advantage of a slight bureaucratic mistake I had to address with the
U.S.
embassy, to pursue my line of work with these Ethiopian kids, I gave my self another chance to strengthen my efforts on their behalf. I found an Ethiopian gentleman who agreed to work with me in the settling of these kids in a safe and reliable place where life could be more familial and more nourishing. With an understanding that this local Ethiopian collaborator could guarantee their safety and upkeep from the American dollars that reach his hands through the Western Union, I decided to share the idea with my friends and with others living here in the US or abroad. Since we live in a global age and the email and snail mail together provide us with the wherewithal to succeed, I take this opportunity to invite all those who read my articles to note that Ethiopia, the historical and spiritual home of African peoples, is a land in need of food to change the quality of life of its people.
Coming from
Nigeria
, I thought that our poverty has the same face as others in
Africa
and other developing countries. To the contrary, poverty is an animal with many faces. Like the chameleon, it takes the color of its environment and develops different disguises to hide and conceal its devastating characteristics. In my view,
Ethiopia
is a large and heavily populated nation in
Africa
, but her dependency on foreign food makes her a weak link in the chain of African food security. Of course there are other locations of mass hunger and devastation around the continent. What makes the Ethiopian situation problematic lies in her demographics and the emerging but not so forcefully argued question of water. Life without water is deadly; and economic development without water is virtually impossible. Such is the state of affairs of this land that means so much for many educated and politically conscious Africans on the continent or in the Diaspora.
In concluding this piece I wish to state here that, if we wish to achieve the ideals and dreams of past African generations with respect to the biblical claims about
Ethiopia
and its place and role in black consciousness, then much needs to be done to advance its agriculture and to plant deeply within its soil. Another point to make here is that those who value the role and place of
Ethiopia
within African and international diplomacy, must learn to create the bridges of peace linking continental Ethiopians and their Diasporan brothers and sisters abroad. Those who live in the
United States of America
are among the most educated and most economically well off.
In spite of the petty politics that rages here and there, chances are a new beginning could come to this land if the seeds of democracy are fertile and the seeds of corn or maize continue to shape and determine the body and the mind of its people. The German philosopher
Ludwig
A.
Feurbach
once wrote, “Man is what he eats.” In the particular case of Ethiopia, a modern Ethiopian democrat could say: “The modern Ethiopian is going through two senses of hunger: there is the hunger of the belly and the need for corn, maize and wheat; and there is the hunger of the mind which needs the seeds of local democracy to grow and be creative within an African context.
To know more about this story, please go to voicesofwomenandchildren.org
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Posted by Robot| 31.07.2007 09:21