“Walk in the footprints of his ancestors. This land is a museum of man’s ancient history. The American has gone to the moon and found dust, he’s going farther away to look for other planets, very good. But know thyself first. That is what I would tell my American friend”
This quotation, taken from an interview on what Ethiopia means to the average American, is of a person who attended the first UNESCO-organized World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar, Senegal and the Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algiers; a person who was awarded his country’s highest literary honor, the Haile Silassie I prize for Amharic Literature in 1966 at the age of only 29. He is the late Laureate, Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin Kewessa, an Ethiopian poet, playwright, social critic and art director.
The prize opened him doors to join the ranks of such distinguished previous recipients as Kebede Michael. Plus, the prize earned him the title of Laureate, by which he has ever since been known.
Tsegaye was remembered at his birth place, Ambo, recently after his passing away in 2006. Ambo University has dedicated a cultural studies and research center to honor the life and works of the Laureate on 21 October 2019 for his contributions in advancing Ethiopian literature and theatre.
The inaugural ceremony of the center was attended by various kinds of people such as government officials, Abba Gadaas and elders, family members of the laureate, presidents of universities, artists those assume themselves as disciples of the laureate, university’s staff members and students.
As it is the custom of Oromos and many Ethiopian communities as well, the ceremony was opened by blessing of the Abba Gadaas and elders that aspires success for the occasion and peace and prosperity for the nation.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Samuel Kifle, Science and Higher Education State Minister, said: “Honoring our prominent persons is essential in order to sustain their legacies so that generation can learn from them. Though we have enough space to respect foreign nobles those have squares and centers by their names such as Pushkin, we often overlook the surpassing contributions of our prominent figures.”
He also said that the young generation, unlike their precedence’s, lack proper wisdom by which they lead their lives. “I believe generations ought to learn from Tsegaye’s famous and insightful saying, ‘I crave for knowledge. I envy tolerant, peaceful folks. I am frightened by ignorance. I loathe violence.’ We can put our country in a higher position by lifting it out of recurrent conflicts and poverty,” he added.
As to him, remembering and reflecting on the works and lives of the late Tsegaye Gebremedhin would contribute a great deal to improve our world outlook on values that cultivate our harmonious relations, togetherness, hard work, sense of patriotism and unity.
Ambo University’s President Tadesse Kenea (Ph. D), for his part, said that the university has two basic objectives when decided to establish the center. “One is to enable the new generation learn about prominent people and give them proper respect. The other is to create heroes that do even better instead of merely talking about the history of forefathers.”
He further said that the center hits these targets for it serves as a hub of education on literature, theatre and general art, research and knowledge aiming at producing well qualified poets, playwrights, and art directors like the Late Laureate. Tsegaye was not only a man of art but also an activist as his works reveal, he added.
In his presentation entitled: ‘Overview on the establishment of the center at Ambo University,’ Samuel Leykun (Asst. Prof.) in linguistics said that the beginning of everything is thought. The establishment of the center was started with a good idea to remember the laureate, known for his touching and critic ideas.
“In the center,” he added: “In addition to the laureate’s, works of other artists will also be remembered so that the new generation can conduct researches and learn from them aiming to develop their own knowledge and skills. Besides, the center becomes a museum for material and spiritual resources.”
Artist and lawyer Abebe Balcha who assumes himself as Tsegaye’s disciple, has also presented a paper entitled ‘The Person I Know.’ On his discourse, Abebe said: “I have never seen a nationalist person like Tsegaye. His works all reveal his affection for Ethiopia as he had written about every part, history and custom of Ethiopia so that his love for his country is beyond emotion.”
Therefore, he emphasized that Tsegaye has to be honored throughout Ethiopia. He and his friends who had been nurtured by Tsegaye are very happy for what Ambo University did and he, on behalf of himself and friends, vowed to erect Tsegay’s statue in the campus and the idea was positively accepted by the university’s president.
The Ethiopian Herald November15, 2019
BY BACHA ZEWDIE
