“Shishaye means ‘my blessing’. I am Ethiopian and right now Ethiopia is a country which is under Civil War. At the moment the war is in Tigray, my State where I was born. It’s Tigray versus Ethiopia plus it’s allies. We have a neighbour Eritrea which used to be part of Ethiopia. It was colonised part of Ethiopia but the King gave Eritrea to the Italians and that’s why we say we Ethiopians are not colonised. Eritrea was a part of my State…we speak the same language, we have the same traditions, everything is the same. The reason he divided it into two was because that State was the strongest in Ethiopia in the way that it was defeating all the colonisers coming from the Italians, Turkish and the British, at the same time not really willing to be governed by dictators. They were fighting against the Kings, so the King decided to divide that State into two. Half was given to the Italians and my State remained. It’s still under Ethiopia.
I was born in 1986 in the North west of Tigray and I grew up in a village. I have the strongest family ever who are my role models. My Dad passed away 20 plus years ago and my Mum is the strongest woman that I have in my heart. She has contributed a lot to the State and also to the country. We had a civil war over 40 years ago and she was fighting against the dictator government.
It wasn’t easy going to school, especially being born in a village because the dictator government had no schools or hospitals for people who were poor. It was only the children from the royal family, the rich or people who supported the government who were allowed to go to school.
Ethiopia has over 84 nationalities, so it was a single tribe who were dominating the whole governing system and the rest were under the dictatorship. There was a 17 year struggle and there was a famine during that time. They were bombing using Russian planes. It was a disaster. When that war ended I was 5 years old.
The government was selling slaves from place to place within Ethiopia. Once the fighters of Tigray won they quit this and they started convincing everyone that they are equal and they had to share everything. It wasn’t easy. They introduced a constitution that considers everybody equal and distributes all of the resources equally over the country. That is the reason why I am here today, because we were then given schools and medical centres.
During that time Ethiopia was the least developed country in the world. It was the symbol of famine in the Oxford Dictionary. In 27 years the leadership from my state called every party from all states to come together, form the constitution and govern the country equally. That system brought Ethiopia from the least developed country in the world to the 5th largest economy in Africa. It’s cancelled now in the Oxford Dictionary from being the symbol of famine. Ethiopia ended up owning the largest airlines in Africa, the largest expansion of road and infrastructure in Africa and one of the top 10 fastest developing countries in the world.
So I went to school but it was tough. I lost my Dad when I was 14 and in Grade 6. My parents were separated and I was with Dad. My Dad was my role model. He used to tell me – ’If the son cannot do better than his dad and if the students cannot do better than their teachers, then the country is not going to grow, so make sure that you do better than me.’ I have kept his words in my mind till this day, I still use this. I was always one of the top students throughout my education. Mum used to say – When you finish your schooling, I’m pretty sure you will be at the top that I’m dreaming for you.’ I hold these words too.
After I lost my Dad, I went to my Mum and my stepdad was not willing to support me. He was a callous man. I have 4 siblings from my Mum’s side and 5 from my Dad’s side so we all together..10. They are all still in my country. My Mum was determined to send me to school so she was ploughing the fields to send us to school. It was tough for her. Mum’s work wasn’t enough to support the whole family. We were a poor family in a village. We had the cattle but unless you slaughtered them….You know!
When I was in Grade 7 I had to move 22 kms away from my Mum to go to school. I had to rent a room, cook for myself and look after myself. When I came to Grade 11 I had to move another 22 kms away again. It was becoming tougher but my Mum’s words were the fuel for me to defeat all the challenges. She said, this pain is not going to last long and I was comforted by this. Even growing up this way I was so confident that I can achieve whatever I want.
I finished Grade 12 and went to University. The good thing at that time was we had a really great Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and all students at Uni were allowed to eat free. Education is still free in Ethiopia. That was an excellent solution for me. I also stayed at that time in a dormitory that the government provides for free as well. I still had to support myself though, if I wanted to go out or buy something I needed but I was fortunate though because the top students were allowed to give tutorials to the Juniors. I was tutoring and getting paid and I also had a cousin who was supporting me. His name is Mebrahtom and he is a Colonel in the military.
I graduated with a degree in Soil and Water Engineering and Management and the University recruited me as a Graduate Assistant. I stayed for 2 1/2 years supporting senior teachers and Professors and I got a scholarship in Australia. That was very special but I have a story before that.”