Ethiopian Colonisation:

Because of the ethiopian colonisation they couldn't do trading food and stuff and selling items. Because of that, unless you have a farm, food is hard to get.

But every one in the village was carrying them so they shared spare food that they had until the colonisation was over.

Early Life

My Grandma was born in 1928 in a small village in Ethiopia called .My Grandma’s dad, my Great Grandad, used to work as a farmer in the same village where they lived. At that time, farmers used to get paid a lot. He use to own a slave which was very normal at this time in history. As he was a very rich man it was expected of society that you would have a slave and slavery had exsisited for some time. Grandma’s parents had a garden where they would grow food to sell. Her mum, my Great Grandma, would also make curtrual decorations and sell them. At this time in Ethiopia paved roads and car ownership was not a thing. Their transportation was using horses or donkeys and maybe sometimes cows.

Childhood to Adulthood

When Grandma was a child she was known for her kindness and caring for the community. She didn't go to school because there wasn’t a school close to the village. Grandma and her parents lived a peaceful life until she got to the age of fourteen and was forced to marry a man who was 20 years of age. At that time marriage was arranged by your parents and being married young was a normal aspect of life. Unfortunately, one day her dad was in an accident. He was crossing a road and got hit by a car. After this my Great Grandma married another man.

Her life in marriage

The man that Great Grandma married was poor and couldn't afford much at all. Then when Great Grandma’s Dad heard about the poor man that she had married he disapproved. Great Grandma ended up marrying 5 men and then finally her Dad was happy. Five marriages meant that she had a lot of children!

Grandma then decided to relocate herself and five of her children to Gonder. This was when she found out she had cancer. She was 58 years old. It was a hard time for her in Gonder. She struggled to find housing, struggled financially and was left without a husband again. Eventually she managed to find a house and the government encouraged her to learn and get an education. This proved tricky as she had never studied before.

National events that happened in her life

Many events happened in her life and one that was prominent was the presidential vote. Normally in Ethiopia there isn't any vote. Well there is, but the vote doesn't really count for much - it is more a token gesture. There are people that want to be president for justice and some for peace. Many presidents have been know to target the people that didn't vote for him and in some cases kill a lot of people. The candidates are known to fight each other over who's going to win. The president who loses normally heads to Nigeria in order to not be killed as the president that won obviously stays and makes his civilization bigger.

Schooling

During her school years she had only learnt the alphabet. At the age of 35, whole living in Gonder she started to further her education. Grandma was considered as not retired at that time so she was forced to learn at school in Gonder. They were told it was important to be able to write her name as she would need this for important documents in the future.

Times that were hard to go through

Times in her life that were hard to go through were when had been really sick and unwell many times and this has been going for 2 or 3 years straight. Each month she would go to the doctor or hospital around 2-5 times which was difficult because her children had to take her there.They had to stop whatever they are doing no matter what they are doing they would sacrifice it for the sake of their mother being alive. Another hard time that she had to go through was when she lost one of her children. One of her children was learning at school when she stopped at the age of 18. She didn't stop because of her grade but she just wanted to do work. She was going to a farm but she never returned from work and was never seen for a long time. This was stressful for her for a long time because every mum indeed who loses a child will be so stressed and might not even fall asleep because of the loss.

The Ethiopian Government

The Ethiopian government wasn't fair even after the colonisation ended because the president at the time became a president unfairly. Life went as nice and as good as you would expect it to because the government kept on putting the price high on items. The President then created groups like Amarah Group and Gonder Group and would do something to make them fight. Then once war started he left his place and position in the war and did other jobs and roles like preparing speeches for people and didn’t care about the mess he had created. This has affected a lot of people because there was a lot of fighting and killing in the war between groups of people.

How my Grandma will be remembered

She taught her children her culture by sharing the skills needed to make cultural decorations. Grandma also did alot of story telling and teaching of techniques.

The impact that this had on me from her telling her children's culture is that her children (my parent) taught me the culture and showed me that I can keep it alive. It has helped me to know who I am because it teaches me good behaviour. It also helped to shape my good personality by teaching me to do kind things that would help others and shape me in to the person that I want to be in the future.

She sacrificed the wealth that she used to have to travel to Gonder and support her children, the next generation.

A message from my Dad about his mum, my Grandma

I share my culture with other people and teach other people my language and that's what my mum taught me to do. She also told me about my religion and the way to amongst the people who are the best believers. She also taught me how to read the Quran, our holy book and helped me memorise it which I still do till today. She taught me the way I should do things like folding clothes, making my bed and the way to be a tidy person.

The most important thing she will be remembered for is her effort to make peace in the village. She was one of the oldests and respected elders of the community that are involved in settling peace in the area. She was an example of peace and respect where people see her and christian friends as idols of the ideal interaction between christians and muslims in the village for a peaceful society. She would gather her peers together whenever she hears there is a conflict between people in the village and she would be the first one to resolve the conflict. However, sadly, now that she and few of her peers passed away, no other person would stand up to take her place and spread peace in the community, which caused a huge conflict between the christian and muslim communities in the village. We have people getting killed just because of their religion and identity, which I have never witnessed when my grandma was alive. This shows me the importance of elders and people of respectful mentality; and that I need to use the knowledge, culture, and skills that she passed down to my family and me in order to stand up and make peace in my community.

She died in Gonder in 2021.