There were times when the ferenji who came to this country and stayed a little longer than tourists were from a few parts of the globe. Way back they were Americans or westerners who we were nice enough to call by the collective name of “Americans,” then it was the Russians, East Germans and what have you. Of course they too were more or less called by the collective name of the Russians. (With the East Germans we’ve these memories of the draft beer they took with jumbo mugs. Once a few of us young goons were counting how many jumbo mugs of the draught beer this really heavy set ferenji (Synonyms with ‘East German’…hmmm) drank. By the way it was lunch time. We counted twenty-eight and made it the breaking news of the year. Other friends didn’t believe our story for a long time.
Then there were our real good friend The Cubans. I can tell you those guys really mingled with the society. Me hailing form one of those notorious by reputation but not seen as notorious by the residents villages do I have stories to tell one of these days! I’ve to come out straight here. About a quarter of the area was a red light district. The talk was university students went into manhood at the place. And in those days especially on Saturday afternoons the Cubans made it a real lovely place. They ate what we ate, they drank what we drank. And we bought them box guitars for the cheapest prices. They needed the cash!
In the latter days of that era there was so much ‘official’ suspicion of light-skinned foreigners that there were all kinds of scary things you heard. In fact at one place the staff were gathered and warned, “It’s forbidden to talk to any ferenji! Anyone caught talking to one will be dealt heavy punishment.” Yes that really happened! Talking to any ferenji was not a sign of you trying to know more about other places; it was treason! So there was this fear of talking to our brethren whose skin color was too light for comfort.
Even after those days were long gone such suspicion lingered. A decade and a half or so back we once heard that a young lady at some media organization was put on the chopping block at a certain meeting. As if she was in the docks for some ‘crime of the decade’ or something at one court or another all kinds of accusations were thrown at her was, “She was seen talking to a ferenji woman!”
What about now? Well, I could have told you if I had any idea. That was me being nice, and I can tell you that idea or not, there are many issues that really threw us off the train of thinking all the nice things about foreigners, especially the Westerners. No more Shangri la! We’ve a thousand and one issues concerned with ‘the ferenjis’ and others. I can tell you that perception have changed drastically. Especially after the battle in northern Ethiopia broke out questions, many questions were asked; long-held near mythical treatment a of ferenjis’ was no more.
Now don’t get me wrong; this isn’t some new-found paranoia or anything like that. It was not about not liking or hating people. It is about confronting the issue face to face. The western political establishments have not been anywhere close to nice concerning us. I mean this is not an age where you just can fool millions of people and go away with it. No, sir; No! Hollywood has lost its muscles of changing perceptions. Look, I was one of those guys who were crazy about cowboy films! How can you be so heartless as not to admire the guy who could shoot eleven rounds hitting his targets with every one of them? And all that form a six-shooter without reloading! And then there Red Indians! Our hero who scares an entire town goes out and demolishes about forty, fifty ‘Red Indians!’ Hip, hip hooray! That’s our hero. Who is to tell us that the real narrative wasn’t bout heroism!
Mankind’s knowledge has seldom been tested as it’s being now. You think that everything is out in the open and it’s only later you learn that’s not the case. We think we know but we don’t. Some foreign entities governments or otherwise think they know everything about us; no they don’t. Hey guys you know practically nothing about us! Had you known, you have been the nice kids on the block! We’d have been willing to give you the benefit the doubt; “may be they just innocently erred and they no mean no harm to us!” Wouldn’t’ it have been nice to hear such uplifting comments? But that’s not to be! But then with the mess this world is in, it would be wishful thinking to expect avocado fruits from the peach tree!
Now isn’t that a nice way of putting things… avocado fruits from the peach tree!
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 24 JULY 2022