When children are born they are endowed with biological parents. But in Ethiopia they are traditionally blessed to have more other parents with respective social responsibilities. Among the most common such parents are Ye Nisiha Abat (confessor), Christina Abat /Inat (God Father/Mother), Ye Kelem Abat /Inat (teachers). Coupled with other relations like uncles, aunt, cousin, and the like families used to have strong social bond.
These relations actually originated from the tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC). Befikadu Belay, Theology Scholar at Ethiopian Orthodox Church EOC says parents are the primary agents to enabling children grow into healthy, responsible, and mature adults. Due to its indispensable role for strengthening social bond of citizens, EOC’s lesson of paternity suggests that a child is supposed to have about five fathers, he asserted.
The father, as the child’s biological parent is supposed to provide every basic need for his child. He is also responsible for the child’s every status. According to him confessor is the second father who is supposed to be a clergy man. He acts as a child’s counselor up on each religious and other issues.
And God Father is the third father in Ethiopian Christianity. He is particularly responsible to the child’s religious life as it is stated on Fitiha Negest Chapter 3 – 20 which declares that God Fathers and Mothers have a responsibility to teach religious and societal ethics for their God children, he stated.
As to him Ye Kelem Abat, meaning father of literacy or knowledge is the fourth father for a child. And this father is responsible for educational status of a child. He should follow and support the child in educating modern education.
Ye Ayin Abat is the last but not the least father for a given child. This father is supposed to help the family with any economic and social problem of the child and its family. According to Ethiopian culture Ye Ayin Abat is a one who will be beside the child at a time of circumcision.
He further stated that these fathers have a great role to create a very responsible generation for a country. But such cultures are fading away due to different reasons. As illustration Christian parents are giving their child for Arks rather than for God parents, he avowed.
As to him, such fathers have indispensable role for the society to share people’s anxiety and happiness too. “Currently, there are massive family councilors across the world with expensive price per hour, but such fathers were acting like councilors for Ethiopian families with no price,” he said.
Therefore, he suggested that religious fathers, government and the society should avoid discrepancies and work admittedly to develop this culture and share it for the others.
A social institution is an interrelated system of social roles and social norms, organized around the satisfaction of an important social need or social function. Thus, family is the most important social unit in any society. It is the building block of any society with a function of reproduction and socialization.
Mekonen Abera, Sociology lecture at different private colleges in Addis Ababa on his part said that the way parents nurture, train and care for their children vary according to forms of family organization. Which is also similarly and more advanced way from those religiously defined and socially accepted Fathers’, he noted.
For example, In Ethiopia context those who are considered as “Father” a title used for persists in religion, elderly people in the community or religiously assigned as “father of Repentance”. In Societal context, those who are assigned as “Father” in any type are expected to guide their followers to confirm the social norms, values, and rules.
He additionally pointed that apart from the father of repentance, “Yetut Abat, Ye ayin Abat, God Fathers, Yekelem Abat” and the like are part of a given society in Ethiopia particularly in rural areas. Thus, these “Fathers” are responsible for social as well as religious disciplines. The more they create Individuals’ with better conformity the larger community will benefit in different ways.
As to Mekonen, for countries like Ethiopia these people are respected by their followers, by their community, by their family and the like. “If we go through them; the norms, rules, values and regulations becomes accepted and respected. However currently these are not yet practical especially in urban society due to the influence of globalization’” he noted.
The larger community will benefit from them to create and sustain a society among natural enemies/phenomena’s by articulating certain rules of conduct and their enforcement instrument so that people can co-exist peacefully and resolve their conflicts by peaceful means.
Moreover, Religious leaders have set up their own platform where they can meet and deliberate on issues threatening peace amongst religious communities and in the society as a whole.
The joint committees will be their platform for communicate with the government in matters of concern to them. The government should work jointly with them and promote such kind of institutes to encourage them to work for better social cohesion, Mekonen suggested.
The Ethiopian Herald April 25/2020
BY HIZKEL HAILU
