GrandParents in Ethiopia

Why I am attending a Girls’ School?I am writing this letter after sunset when the moon and the stars are high in the sky, It’s 9.30 p.m. The Ethiopian TV just gave the program called Female Horizon along with the songs of Abeba and Tigist who sing about the condition of females in Ethiopia. Before going to bed I reflected about it and put down on paper some of my thoughts.

These songs express the common feelings of all African women and I, as a part of them, want to add my own feelings. Why, for instance, am I attending a girls’ school? Well, first of all I get an education that has more value than all the money you can get. Secondly I feel more secure. For example. Just a few days ago in our town at a mixed school a girl was shamefully raped in the toilet, the boy was unpunished.

In our country people think that females do not have the same rights of males, I think that we are equal to them. I can work like they do and anywhere in the country. We, Konto Girls, can do what men can do, in fact our society relies on women and on their energy, African women shall overcome.

We have a proverb, applied especially in the rural area, that says that women must not be rude to men, they have to show ’sisterly’ feelings by sharing their happiness and sadness.

Let me tell you and Indonesian proverb: if a man lets a woman know what he has in his saving box she will marry him. Which translated into Amharic it says that women will marry for money and it means that women will be dominated by man and live in a backward way.

In our country and all over the world women shall marry to grow and to age together with husbands helping each other and loving each other. I even dare to say that we women are superior

The disadvantage of attending a Girls’ school is that we have no chance of meeting boys. However we have greater advantages in comparison with the girls that attend the nearby mixed school as I mentioned before. Well, we are patient, after the eighth grade, if we continue schooling, we will go necessarily to a mixed institution.

Girls looking for fruits during school break

Among the girls that came in late this morning and were punished by kneeling on the bare ground with their hands up there was a seventh grader I recognised immediately as she is the only other person in the compound to wear glasses besides me. Funny, she seems to wear a pre-maman. Nothing strange over here, clothes have no style, or may have any, you just put on anything you can grab and wear it until it falls apart. But something arose my curiosity. Sister Abebech confirmed: she is pregnant. She must be about 14/15 years of age. I checked her records. In the previous semester she was absent from school for 20 days and her rank is 28th out of 29 students, parents were also informed of her frequent absences. She was assisted by the Canadian Christian Fund Organization like many other needy school children, as a consequence of her pregnancy she is now off the list. The distressful moment that Zinabua Dea, her name, is living should represent a perfect occasion to practice Christian ideals (Maria Vaeri docet.), what happens to these organizations is appalling. It seems, however, that her family is helping her.

Seeing my concern for her, Sister added that also an 8th grader is pregnant, but she’s married to a Moslem. Good for her, she’ll have it easier.

China, our auto electrician employee, resigned today from work. He wants to go back to his family in Addis Ababa. Poor man. The reason: he’s afflicted by HIV/AIDS. From Focus magazine I read that from 15 to 30% of the population in sub Sahara Africa is afflicted by it, and this accounts for 40% worldwide. But Africa has the record of casualties: 75% of all deaths in the world caused by HIV/AIDS.

Anti AIDS sensibilization in the school

Luis Durnwalder, president of the Bolzano province, with his entourage of 14 people, stopped for one hour on the way from Endebir to Awasa, visited the girls’ school and promised to help financially. Doris Guderer and Pamela, two young doctors from Bolzano who had dinner with us last year and were enthralled by the enthusiasm of Lina, have presented a 32 thousand euro project to the province for the new buildings, we’ll know the outcome next June. The visit of the president was preceded by two members of the World Doctors, Toni Pizzecco and Manfred Brandstatter, precious people with attention to humanitarian cooperation, open views to social problems and broad international experience. It was pleasure to listen to them. They also cooked for me.

Today there was also the consecration of Rodrigo the new bishop of Soddo Hosanna, a Jesuit from Colombia, born also in 1938. I don’t think he knows the problems facing him. Good luck.