Shaded with a green big tree, I was talking of the merits of these days together with my friends unnoticing the respected elderly man who rock-pillowed his neck lied down on/under the other side of the tree. “‘Get lost!’ he shouted. ‘What nonsense are these talking? Do not feel ashamed at all! Shameless children of the time. Indeed, the time beset with difficulties, which a son is disobedient to
his father, the wife being reluctant to accept the orders of her husband, instead pursues what she feels undertaken. It is in their era that we encountered confusion and misfortune, our livestock got hard finding pasture, and shelter. What an odd era it is! The God denied us rain, the cloud hang away of sight, the august (usually the major rainy season) with no rainfall, the February (short rainy season) lack any shower, n never does the December … ’ Murmuring, as if he wanted to show the need to make a limit of the issue as is apparently inexhaustible told. He uttered, ‘May God’s mercy be on us!’ ”
Having a sort of resting pause, he then continued getting somewhat deeper into the issue. He continued, “Listen carefully boys! Man is mortal. 1 as the proverb goes, ‘The long you live, the more you happen to learn.’ In the course of time, we indeed encountered an utter upheaval. Because it is a time, in which the son advises his father, the girl commences marriage at her own will without the consent of her parents. And is the time at which the needy is denied support, the poor is never shared, the kin never lend lactating animal to who lack nor contribute livestock for one required to pay wed presents, and fathers deny, regardless of our custom, the worth of his son at his wedlock. In fact, I can mention a number of facts. Come may not, one’s clan, I am afraid may refuse to pay the life insurance of a person murdered by their member…”
While he is to break for rest, I asked “Daddy, and Dad of my peer, what about the conditions in yours time?” He replied, unhesitatingly from his reminiscence in order, as if he had it scripted, exclaiming, “our time? It is time of abundance! Where should I begin? In our time, the rainfall is ceaseless, milked and skimmed irrespective of the season, milk and butter constituted our entire consumption, and we seldom, if ever purchased the consumable ’the rubbish grains’. Believe you may or not, people very seldom consumed the skimmed milk. It served as feed of the animals flooded out homestead. Cows gave birth year after year, people full of courteous, the destitute families used to get support. Those lacking lactating cows used to borrow from others. A marrying girl adds to your livestock holding with those she obtains from the kin’s plus with those she is presented from the kin’s of her husband. A household never consume its animals slaughtered with out sharing with neighbors, as neither does the one with milk yielding animals.
In general, a household would never fall short of resources or facilities possessed by any one of one’s neighbors though one may have none to share in turns. Marriage takes place in compliance with culture and tradition. Furthermore, Due consideration is given to facilitate the marriage link and to harmonize the wedlock. If a girl reaches her marriage age, her father apparently makes sure that she is married and married to the right person. He does so, in order to safeguard the values and reputation of the girl and thus that of her mother blurred due to the girl’s remaining in parent’s home despite her reaching marriage age. With regard to men, every one ensures being engaged to a girl whose lineage is culturally acceptable to get married to the person, and the girl should be one that neither has been engaged to another person nor is a widow. She should be a courteous, virgin girl well bred culturally, and be from a family with traditionally sound background. One never accepts to get married to a girl with concealed background, who crossed rivers, arrived there, and may have exposed herself to any premarital or extramarital relationship with other men. At wedding, there certain duties the family of the bride needs to fulfill like cows given to the girl family, and others. More over the bride’s family should make sure build and maintain a favorable relationship with the families of the girl. This takes place beginning from the time of engagement through out the years that follow. In addition, all contacts between both families should be in a respectful manner and in conformation with age-old norms, like sending respected and honored community elder whenever negotiation is required.
Unlike these days, we lived a better life in compliance with our culture and traditions without facing drought and famine. In case occurs drought, lack of rainfall resolution ways made through appealing to the honored cultural and spiritual leaders. As soon as the public appealed to such honored leaders, these used to transfer the appeal to God. It yielded rain from God with out the need to wait for another hours. These prayers to God took place through respected persons in different posts, like nearly the river points on hills etc…
On occasions of heavy rainfall, we prayed saying “may the rainfall be, that which never harms the nature, which does not cut off a leaf from a tree and a single hair from the livestock, a cool and peaceful rainfall etc…
In our grand father’s time, the relationship between God and our nation was in order. It was a time in which the body of respected spiritual leaders was never buried, but was just garment-rolled put in the middle of cattle barn when after is taken away by God in a miraculous manner within some minutes accompanied by clouds. Such mysterious realities seem a folktale when narrated these days. In particular, you the present generation, to whom we never know any thing better than an infant, does. Yet, though I do not say more on this, let me just recite what ‘Gada’ singers articulated years ago on an occasion. One said,
The honored Sune of the plain,
Gracious brother of the god,
Due January prayed you yielded rain
Flown wet come the dry gully
Gracious of the valley, you Gods descendant
Appealed to him, ever, denied you not.
We threw to him the next question while he was collecting his once used tobacco bolus from underneath his outer ear making a short break. We asked, “Daddy, so why have things gone ever worse generation after generation”
He replied, “‘Myriads of reasons.’ he exclaimed. Since and ever since the smooth relationship between God and our spiritual leaders disrupted, and the subsequent loss of the ritual leaders the special privilege they had apart from the ordinary people and met the fate of ordinary people, and the deterioration of the harmony between the ritual leaders and the ordinary people. More importantly, the grand factor is eviction from our ancestral lands and denial of access to the critical environmental resources. These include, among others, dry season productive and dependable grazing lands, numerous water points along the Awash river, ritual sites etc. that retreated us to the periphery and ever shrinking resources. These counter actions by the government through its different campaigns aggravated by the subsequent expansion of urban towns, lake ‘Nogoba,’ and new nomad entrants to our land etc. These beyond impairing our livelihood as pastoralists gradually plunged us deeper in to an increasingly diminishing productivity and increasing impoverishment, languished our traditional governance system and nullified our customary grazing mechanisms for resources management system and much more. Therefore, if at all the functioning of these mechanisms are sought, they cannot serve while all the retreat able lands are at hands of the government and its campaigns, and yet the meager land left is abounded by non-native inhabitants. Therefore our mere abide by our culture and custom could no more function as a system to properly and fairly utilize our land and its resources, as well as properly manage its resilience, ever since and afterwards the borne of these counter forces. Moreover the expansion of Islam and its principles and the introduction of the government judicial system (afterwards which the public instead of resolving issues in a usual manner, begun taking them to the government court) have similarly curtailed the rest perspectives of our customary institutional system and the elements and constituents of our traditional values and cultural assets.
He further went on, ‘Lost we do our identities today, you children!’ He exclaimed. The traditional clan system to control misbehaving of its members has faded away. Today, in part of our land, Axes are clearing away trees. Brought are things, which are contrary to our development, where the benefactors are outsiders. To wit, the “Arake ”-the local alcoholic liquor, the leading predator of our culture and tradition, as a consequence of which murder between Karayyu has come a recurring coincidence.”
To worse the matter off these sullied component of the multitude took as their resort for generating cash for such a rubbish purpose, the clearing of forest and provide for sale in the form of fuel wood or/and charcoal. It would have been less regrettable had the money generated in such an environmentally hazardous way served to support the household’s insecure livelihood. Moreover clearing of forests is similarly adopted throughout the entire community, whereas the “JImaa ” consumption ( instead of the “ Arake ” consumed by the ‘Dullacha’ clans federation settled north of the highway) among the people living on the other side of the main road.
Generally, this leads to a conclusion that the people are getting irresponsible to their actions on their land. In the past, people considered land as a collective property of the multitude. Where as at present, who possesses the land in the future remains a question and is thus seem to be the cause for irresponsible intensified competition over its use. Analogous to a hired herder who never hesitate abusing the livestock he keeps whenever possible at any possible means. So is our land. Numerous are planning to grab as they or others did while others demanding to own it to put to their use. My children, I may pass away any time, it is therefore you who is answerable to the fate of our fatherland, and the generation now onwards.”
I then begun contemplating the validity of the issues raised. still, I conceived myself lazy, inarticulate and with minimal intelligence, and any other Personal qualities, call whichever you may, less than my father and much less than my grandfather regardless of the evolutionists theory as to the mental and physical developments of human being over years. I groaned to my self, Dwarf!
Reciting of what I heard and relating it with the practical world so far I know, I lastly concluded and told to myself that –practically true is all, the karayyu used to be nature lovers, nature nurturers. That is why they are naming their children with the names of their grazing land, trees, rivers, and so on. To wit the names Arolle, Eddo, Hawas, Fantalle, Bulga, Dhadacho, Lugo, Summa, Qurqura, Bosat,Ledi,Saphane, Rukessa, Wadessa, Jilo, Jajaba, Burqa, etc each corresponding to either of the mentioned natural resources category.
In the past, an Unfair use of natural resources is conceived as offending God, with a consequence of bad fates to one‘s family (people and livestock),and was a prohibited practice. Tree clearing caused a loss one‘s social image while putting him in to the rituals curse with a consequential loss soon or after. If in case one happens to make similar faults one is required to spend some stock expenditure to be forgiven by the ritual leaders…such I was reciting, when I fell asleep.
This being naked truth making an analysis of changes in livelihood status over years helps to make a valid and meaningful attitudes thus shaping ones actions in the future. Making use of resources without compromising the next generation’s share is what, who normally do not feel irresponsible do. Whereas, make use of and manage resources in a way that safeguards and secures the fates of the following generation is what a responsible being commences. Transferring a comprehensive asset kit* that one acquired, to the next generation, is a big leap to rescue from vanishing in vain. That way, one leaves his benign deeds and title aback.
So, we the present generation criticized may not for not keeping abreast of our parents in all accounts, But why do we ever then despise their status? Should we take for granted, the fact of our being able to read and write, where as our education is indeed nothing to write home about and if at all, for the very sacrifices made by them?
“Moved to the highland, you reached not there, remain home not stayed in the lowland, the present boasting generation, these years will be found out your shame.”
This is to mean that one has to master to a given field of life rather than leaping to two at a time thus no yielding achievement in either while confusing in between-like the current karayyu generation who is detached from the original lifestyle to and still not catching up with the other school of life-education based economic sustenance.
Wish to realize progress, better, we learn from parents than tempting to tell. What if we acquire the art of relating and integrating our purchased knowledge with the practical to be gained from our fathers, and then use our intuition further to further organize, reshape and replenish them in an insightful manner so as to better utilize them in influencing the future? Here, it goes without saying the very advanced foreigners knock our doors assessing knowledge from such people we despise. Had not, we been immature, we would have followed the same track and would have not kicked off our traditional base while seeking to be seen intellects. We, who lack bread and to whom provide water, our starved sisters traverse miles back-carried reach home and fall sick, as if whom fathers apart from feeding and saving themselves did not spare for the beasts! Unsavory we being, involved in unwholesome practices like exposure to HIV-AIDS, various addictions, extravagance, etc. and to worse off, spoiled our families with all these acquired ills. So, cursing you never escape these unless you keep yourself aloof noticing that these and their deadly effects are not limited to you, nor are limited in space and time. Their threat, pass to generations to come unless are publicly fought- by the adult, the youth, and in particular by men.
We need to learn from our fathers the art of acknowledging the successes of predecessors. They do it on all occasions. Among, as articulated in one of the “Gada” celebration songs called “Dambale,”
“Had lived my ancestors in place of me, my land would not have shrunk to so a …” admitting their fathers’ surpassing them. Where as we, sometimes, deny what we inherited, and at other times allege the intangibles. We are not productive, yet, consume up what our fathers saved. In the era of our grand fathers, they had kept a splendid mass of grazing land, where as our fathers only a small part of it. Now, remained at our hands is solely a tip of it -implying that grand fathers are by far better than our fathers are, as our fathers do than we.
“The riding stick of the cattle is made from the ‘Ledi ’ tree,
God, the truth is at your hands, may you forgive us!”
Excerpted from, karayyu women’s traditional song.