BY BETELHEM BEDLU
“We are one Africa and our cultures tie us as one people. Just like the EthiopianKebero: drum, I came in playing the Ghanaian dondo to represent the unity in Africa. We can never talk about unity without talking about Ethiopia.”
Dressed as queen Sheba of Ethiopia Dr. SetorAbraNorgbe, Ghanaian ladyuttered the above remark while delivering her speechin a beauty contest held recently in Ghana.
Appearing in the most adorned beautiful Ethiopian cultural dress, Dr.Setor, Medical Practitioner, Psychiatrist and an Author, presented to the dignified audience the unique and incredible facts of Ethiopia.
With the Ethiopian traditional music in the background, she welcomed the guests to Addis Ababa which is the home of the African Union and the capital city of Ethiopia, she went on talking about the instrumental role that thetwo iconicmen namely Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Emperor Haile Selassie I played for the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) which is now known as the African Union (AU).
Shesaidin her own words that they both understood that Africa would be stronger together by saying ‘United we stand, divided
we fall’. She expressed her wish that the souls of these great pan-Africaniststo go marching on.
The Ghanaian winner who chose to talk about Ethiopia took the audiences through a cultural, historical and insightful tour to Ethiopia. Reminding the fact that Ethiopia is rich in having various historical, cultural and archaeological destinations; she told the audiences that there are sites that they might want to visit when going to the country.
With its high peaks, deep valleys and sharp precipices stretching over five hundred meters, the Siemen National Park was the first site to be mentioned by her.
She also gave the audiences insights aboutthe ruins of Axum which represents the heart of ancient Ethiopia when the Kingdom of Axum was the most powerful between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia.Moreover, Tiya which is an archaeological site in the center of Ethiopia, south to AddisAbaba was pointed out.
Having diverse landscape and rich culture, she highlighted the cities that people might want to visit in Ethiopia which includes Addis Ababa, Gondar, Lalibela among others.
She has also proudly stated that “being the second most populated country in Africa; Ethiopia is the only country that has never been colonized by the westerners.TheItalians tried to create a colonial crack on Africa through Ethiopia but were defeated at the Battle of Adwa.They hit on the hills looking down at the valleys of Adwa with their guns both an arrow and defeated the Italians.”
Requesting her audiences if they knew that Ethiopia is the only country with a 13 calendar system,she made a humorous joke about being7 years younger as everybody else is in the year 2021, she mentioned that it is still 2014 in Ethiopia.
The lady who didnot fail to surprise the audience wished Ethiopiansa Happy New Year in Amharic by saying ‘MelkamAddis Amet‘ and let the audiences know Amharic is the official language in Ethiopia.
According to her, Ethiopia prides itself with over 80 languages and 200 dialects. ThoughAmharic is the official language in Ethiopia,English and Arabic are widely spoken all over.Butshe stressed that one cannot leaveEthiopia without enjoying its nice deliciousmeals adding that her personal favorite meal is the DoroWot and Injera which is a hot spicy stew with flat bread.
While admiring the quality of the coffee,she stated Ethiopiaas one of the leading producers of coffee in Africa.
Again she went on asking that if the audience has learnt that Rastafarian Movement was actually evolved from Ethiopia.There were so many Rastafarian movements from Jamaicabut then she noted that the best place of theRastafarianMovement is inside Ethiopia. Ras is a word which means ‘chief’ in Amharic and Tafferi was the name of Haile Selassie the first.Hence, this movement positsSelassie as an incarnation of God, she added.
The woman did not dare to skip without mentioning the heroic winner of Olympic medalist AbebeBikila,one of Ethiopia’s best Marathon runners;and in fact the first to have ever won a gold Olympic medal for Ethiopia and for Africa. She also expressed that she cannot finish talking about Ethiopia.
Finally she said: “And just like the Olympics, we seek to bring everybody together. The next time you come to Ethiopia and you hear good morning, how are you doing and you pay the next taxi driver with the Ethiopian birr, always remember that you didnot come home to Ethiopia you came home to Africa!”
The Ethiopian Herald September 16/2021
