BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
The cover of the book is embroidered by a mass of youth, old, trekking via desert, water bodies, air transport and vehicle and on foot. The cover depicts how migration is a great phenomenon that we should ready to deal with in a constructive fashion.
The book has got the title Louza Ze-tse-at (Louza the exodus) published in 2022. Merid Estifanos Wondimu the writer of the book. He is now residing in France. Prior to that, he had been working as a journalist at private newspapers at the rank of editor.
He was forced to travel to France following the 2004 national election in Ethiopia, at the moment he was penning his convictions and belief as well argue on various issues. He was known for his plane critique against the then Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) led political arrangements of the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). His passion was to be a voice for voiceless, but he could not able to do that because the government is not interested to entertain freedom of press. He had been imprisoned for a number of times. Many senior leaders of EPRDF were not happy with his work. Though he was convinced danger was coming, he kept on struggling to write. He had been writing on the injustice practices and the maladministration through the nation. Though he was determined to serve his country practicing in a free press practices, but could not sustain and forced to leave Ethiopia via Sudan, Libya to Europe.
The writer questions how one could find the purpose in life. He holds, life purpose is one of the intrigue test that everyone pass through and how some to get easily other through hardships.
“Still this land has personalities who are willing to share with integrity.”
Louza ze-tse-at a kind of a novel book with extremely powerful story, that tries to depict and tell the true experience and reflection of migration. We hear and sense group migrant telling their stories.
It is a perceptive novel that makes you think about a variety of themes and standards values and integrity while concurrently enjoyable and fascinating readers with its characters and setting. Merid’s Louza ze-tse-at is a kind of novel that tries to figure out how one could handle to lead contented life and the way to accept ourselves and others weakness and strengthen, without taking advantage of it.
He asks why the value of humanity, trustworthiness and integrity is smashed in the systems we are entertaining that lead us not to share life challenges and fortunes. The book urges not quite our trying and faces the challenges and distances ourselves from hasty generalization.
“The harmony among the migrant is unique there is unity in diversity, I think what drive them to behave like this is that the similarity of their life challenge or their similar interest.”
In the novel, we will find Melaku one of the characters. His performance is like the guardian and protector of the group, he seems to try not to be impressed by money, status or job title, he is more impressed by the way people exert effort and act to treat others for they are human beings. He was a father of all migrants his home was a destination for all regardless of color, sex, religion, and academic readiness. He is the one who is able to restore the fading humanity value.
“Delusion hurts because it is assuming unrealistic as if it is realistic”
In the novel he also calls on his readers to critique religion and other cover up intentions like any other topic in the public square and remove the mystique surrounding religions ‟protected status”. He preaches to be free of any kind of delusion towards God and other immoral practices. He detests the delusion among religious leaders and other practices who try to exploit their own greed in the name of God, and profession.
In my view, though Merid was planning to cherish life in his home country with his beloved families, that could not happen, through time he find himself trekking in the route to migrate to Europe, because his life purposes are lined by a number of pushing factors, he cannot help, despite all challenges he took courage to accept it and face it.
Though his will and thirst for his countrymen is not quenched for various reasons, and yet many are leaving behind Ethiopia in search of good fortunes. He holds the idea; “everything will be alright”, if we try to restore humanity.
Though the events of the novel were purely fictitious, they resembled the real-life events which occurred all throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe and in the other part of the world. In the novel we have a number of characters that have plan to migrate to Europe and USA, Australia among others in search of good opportunities. The migrants who happened in the route created a wonderful mosaic of relationship that sustained to the destination through time and space forced them to quite.
The writer is one of the migrant who has been trekking through routes to Sudan and Sahara desert and in the town of Libya and the Mediterranean Sea, stepped on the streets of Paris. In my view the writer is free from personal delusion; he is trying to stand on the point and try to expose the crude fact of the experience of migrants, that some are trying to put it as it is rosy and cozy while asked by fellow friends and mainstream media.
After reading the book, I had learnt the book underlines ways to discover who we are and why we perform the way we do, we have to know the full picture of life experiences, our own story and others in fair fashion. Also urges it is important to be courageous and enthusiastic to discover our previous is a significant treading stone on the road to considerate ourselves and becoming who we want to be.
The Ethiopian Herald 4 September 2022
