The theory and the practice of education have been around in the history of man since time immemorial. Beginning from the stone-age, may even be before that, as they say, to come up with something new and different from the previous knowledge, is what has helped man to educationally arrive at where he is now. The one-plus-one evolutionary development has proven true in this situation. The quest for knowing about the unknown is the prime pursuit of learning from the past to the present and applying its outcomes to the present demands of life, and using it as a reliable tool for the anticipation of the future endeavors. The dynamism in human nature that forces him not to, mentally and physically, limit and fix himself in one place, is a standing principle of moral and social force in human life. Unless and otherwise a foreboding internal or external force lays trap to thwart the initiatives in the person, the desire for knowing new things ever thrives. As the acquired knowledge accumulates, it creates a man of eminent character who can handle ideas of intricate nature. At this stage, it is the sign that he is liberated from the barbaric mental bondage. He is able to adequately use his mental and emotional forces to lead a deserving quality life for himself and for those around him. There is emptiness in uneducated person and that will ever be and yet education fills that void of mind.
The situation, as fascinating as it seems, it is also quite complicated requiring an unwavering determination to rise to any challenge. Through tens of thousands of years, there have been ups and downs in the process of the gradual development of education. Many have lost their life and many the relics of civilization have been destroyed in times of wars and natural disasters in trying to protect and furthering the cause of a heightened educational level.
Driven by the same impetus, at the time when the tide of the white and the red terrors abated in Ethiopia, and when the fear of being liquidated by the socialist junta was still lingering in the minds of the youth in Ethiopia, I was fortunately awarded a scholarship for higher educational in Kenya in 1976/1984. For me, the life-saving opportunity was stricken in the nick of time. The blessed chance, more than its academic benefits, was a life-saving one for me amidst the raging, blood-thirsty fire of the socialist revolution that targeted specifically intellectuals and the youth.
Comparatively addressing circumstances, at that time, from all its appearance, Kenyans were in a better situation, enjoying life free of the stress and hustles of the ideological skirmishes. Grouped in discussion cells, studying Marxism and Leninism was the fever of the time and those who keep aloof are labeled as saboteurs and become the prime targets, liable for imprisonment, torture and eventual assassination being charged as enemies of the country. On the other hand, young people in Kenya were pursuing their education or their career without fear of the intimidation by political harassment. There was a relative certainty in which they could plan for their future. In comparison, Kenyans, unlike Ethiopians, like reading books, of course non-text books as well. Related to this, one thing I do not wish to pass without mentioning is that a fourth or a fifth grade student is expected to make a book report; such task is unthinkable at that level of education. While able-bodied young Ethiopians ran from one province to the other to avoid the national service conscription, it was psychologically relieving to see young Kenyans live undisturbed. For Ethiopians, the time was when, in fact, citizens of almost all age were compelled by law to belong to one party or the other unwillingly and serve in the armed forces to combat the decades-long anti-government forces in the north of the country and the Somalia’s military aggression in the east.
At that time my academic background was three-year plus one semester college education. Soon after the Development Through Cooperation Campaign, I was employed by the Ministry of Education to teach in a certain high school in Arsi province, the time I suffered persecution that forced me quit my job and flee the area. Akin to this seemingly treasonous act, as it was believed to be so by the government and its supporters, when I applied for a passport after two years, it was demanded of me to produce evidence of where I had been after quitting teaching in Arsi. The education administrator of Arsi province almost had me arrested if I had not had taken to my heels. Somehow, later, by the help of God and friends, I was granted a passport and escaped, I’d rather say, to Kenya was a country I believed a haven of my freedom. Prior to that, as I was forced into chairmanship of the discussion group in a certain school, I was being tailed by security agents until one day about six thirty early in the morning, while I was still in bed, they knocked at my door only to drive me away to their headquarters. There, they interrogated me, and again due to God’s intervention they let me go. I did not last more than two weeks in Addis after the incidence. The day of my flight arrived; I was on board the plane to Kenya, what a sigh of relief I had!
After about two-hour flight, the plane landed at Nairobi International Airport. The children of a highly paced Ethiopian, Ato Bekele Heyi, may his soul rest in peace, were at the airport and took me to their residence where they hosted me for three days. They took me around the beautiful city of Nairobi during my three-day stay with them. Indeed, Nairobi, at that time was far advanced than Addis Ababa. And later, they paid for my bus bill to a beautiful town of Eldoret, enroute to Baraton, a town in Nandi hills, where Eastern Africa University was and is still located.
The university was well organized; the education based was on American system; the majority of the lecturers were from the United States. The ratio of textbooks to the number of students was one-to-one. The library was perfectly organized that students could easily find books of their choice for supplementary reading. The students were from various African countries. The strength of each class, during my two- year stay there, was twenty or less. The students-lecturer ratio, in the classroom, was one-to-twenty. The density of students that usually hampers easy teaching- learning process was virtually inexistent there. The absolute attention of the students to the lectures, and their goal-oriented learning enhances excellent academic performance. Upon completion of my college study, I graduated with BA in English. Towards the end of the academic year, I received a job call from a Seashells Radio Station production studio at Ngong, outskirt of northern Nairobi, where I wrote poems in English and Affan Oromo and composed music for radio transmission. I had not applied for the job, yet I accepted it with joy, and worked there for quite some time and returned to Ethiopia in spite of the offer by the management of the radio station to take over for six months while they would be away which I declined to accept because of family responsibility back in Ethiopia.
After three years of my return to Ethiopia, luck yielded to me again for the post graduate study opportunity in Kenya at Naromoru River Lodge, fifty kilometers form Nairobi. At this time everything was provided by the faith-based organization in collaboration with the government of the United States. Classes were held in the auditorium of the lodge; books as well as the lecturers were flown form the United States. Most of the lecturers were professors whose teaching aims at creating well academically equipped new generation. They are intent on making education as interesting as possible to the learner. No student leaves the classroom with any doubt concerning the lesson lectured; in case of inconvenience, the lecturers were at students’ disposal anywhere outside lecture hall. Every lecturer makes it a point to thoroughly instruct the topic until the student grasps the idea of the lesson. The fashion of randomly and carelessly presenting the subject leaving the rest, without checking whether or not the student has understood, is never accepted by the lecturers. They are convinced that teaching is not cheating as it is the case in some universities elsewhere. They do not take offense for being asked for something they are not ready at the time. Education for them is something that students should enjoy. Of all, the psychological back up made by the lecturers makes the academic performance easily achievable. Seldom one hears complaints, related to academic and social environment. During the second phase of my education in Kenya, I did International Community Development with Food security as concentration area.
The food, in the dining hall, was a thing of wonder that overwhelms the dinners by awe. It takes a fairly long moment to browse and choose among generously displayed variety of food. There is no repetitious serving at every meal; they are fresh and different from the previous ones. The lodge with a bungalow splendidly provided with many amenities such as stove, refrigerator and fire place, to make the occupant’s enjoy well-earned rest through the night. All the experience I had during my stay in Kenya ever remains fresh in my mind, with virtually no regret for being taught there. Thank God!
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition June 7 / 2020
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
