A Life of Too Many Ups & Downs

Page 10 (Amharic & English)

Since the appointee of the treasure house was an in-law on my mother's side, he used to give me sugar every now and then, to my heart’s content. Since I am a big sugar fiend, I saw that sugar I cherish being stolen from me; I became a victim of robbery. Donning the only soft traditional blanket I had, I placed my remaining sugar in a sack and tied the knot, awaiting the proclamation of our journey, around the evening, the journey began.

I carried my sack over my shoulder and continued my journey. As we were going to a vicinity called resurrection, when I was traveling with them, it was getting dark, and I was struggling to carry my sack, so I started to pull back.From the right flank, the spearmen of belesa had arrived, finding me alone in a ditch, shutoff from the world, taking away my traditional blanket and sugar, they lightened the load of my journey.

Since I thought of myself as an important man, even though I had just been violated and my sugar was taken from me, I swiftly began walking away. Although we were close to resurrection, because the country is highlands, the cold harmed me a lot. I think I was at the tail end of the last contingent of the army. As the cold refused to relent, sleep and fatigue stopped giving me the time of day. Then, without knowing it, finding a mound, I fell asleep.

The God who may seem to abandon but does not leave you abandoned, provided the spearmen of Gatecommander merso ayaléw, coming from behind as a backup guard, with a male servant of his called beleTe who was my mother's relative, traveling ahead of me. Other people reached the place where I was sleeping. When they said that a child was sleeping here, he quickly reached and picked me up without doubting that it was me. Putting me on the back of a beast of burden, he started traveling with me, and on the next day, I arrived with him at the highland plateau camp of Duke ayaléw.

My tale was told. They heard that my traditional blanket and sugar were taken from me. Another traditional blanket was given to me. My body was so cutup I couldn’t get up for a few days. Nevertheless, since the work of patriotism had begun, it was inevitable that I would move from place to place, so I began getting used to the matter of the road. Someone may ask me, “why were you so susceptible to fatigue?” Yes, the answer is absurd. My upbringing involved me never getting down from the back of a mule.

As soon as Duke ayaléw biru began his work of patriotism, he traveled to the vicinity of St. George’s Hill, and fought with his countrymen who had lined up in support of the Italian government, and emerged victorious. For a long time, they fortressed up in debarq. In order to attack the Italian army, which had been fighting for a long time, myriads of the patriots of gwender had begun to encircle, so Duke ayaléw’s army made a front in the direction of weqn. I also came to the same place, because the local people fled from the war, and leaving their villages, and burying their grain in pits, leaving the army with a difficult living problem. For the second time, I had a starvation problem. Some of us, in the vicinity of the villages, would spend our time getting tired using a walking-stick to shove the ground looking for the pits of buried grain.

የግምጃ ቤቱ ሹም በእናቴ በኩል አማቻችን ስለሆኑ በየጊዜው ስኳር እንደ ልቤ ይሰጡኝ ስለነበር ፣ የስኳር ትልቅ አመለኛ ስለሆንኩ ያ የምወደው ስኳር ሲዘረፍ አየሁትና እኔም የዘረፋው ተካፋይ ሆንኩና ባለችኝ አንድ ስስ ጋቢ ስኳሬን ቋጠርኩና የጉዞውን አዋጅ ስጠባበቅ ወደ ማታ ገደማ ጉዞው ተጀመረ። እኔም ቋጠሮዬን ተሸክሜ ጉዞየን ቀጠልኩ። የምንሄደው ወደ ትንሣኤ አካባቢ ስለነበረ እኔም አብሬ ስጓዝ ጊዜው እየጨለመ መጣና ቋጠሮ ተሸክሜ መሄዱም እያቃተኝ ወደ ኋላ እጐትት ጀመር። በቀኝ በኵል የበለሳ ጦር ደርሶ ስለነበረ ከአንድ ጐድጓዳ ቦታ ላይ ብቻየን ሳዘግም አግኝቶ ጋቢየንና ስኳሬን ነጥቀው ጓዜን አቀለሉልኝ። ራሴን ትልቅ አድርጌ ስለምገምት በመደፈሬና ስኳሬም በመወሰዱ ያዘንኩ ፈጠን ባለ ሁኔታ መራመድ ጀመርኩ። ትንሣኤ ለመድረስ የተቃረብን ቢሆንም ሀገሩ ደጋ በመሆኑ ብርዱ በጣም ጐዳኝ በመሠረቱ ከሠራዊቱ እኔ የመጨረሻው የነበርኩ ይመስለኛል። ብርዱ አልበቃ ብሎ እንቅልፍና ድካም አንጓለለኝ። ሳላውቀው ስንደዶ ተንተርሼ ተኝቻለሁ። ጥሎ የማይጥለው አማላክ የደጅአዝማች መርሶ አያሌው ጦር ደጀን ሆኖ ከኋላ ይመጣ ስለነበር የእርሳቸው አሽከር የሆነ በለጠ የሚባል የእናቴ ዘመድ ቀድሞ ይጓዝ ስለነበር እኔ ከተኛሁበት ቦታ ሌሎች ሰዎች ቀድመው ደርሰው አንድ ልጅ ከዚህ ተኝቷል ብለው ሲናገሩ እኔ መሆኔን ሳይጠራጠር ፈጥኖ ደርሶ ስላነሣኝና ከአጋሠሥ ላይ ጭኖ ይዞኝ በመጓዝ በማግሥቱ ራስ አያሌው ከሠፈሩበት ደጋ መረባ አብሬ ደረስኩ። ታሪኬም ተወራ ጋቢየም ስኳር ተቋጥሮበት መቀማቴ ተሰማ ሌላ ጋቢ ተሰጠኝ ሰውነቴ ተቈራርጦ ለብዙኅ ቀን መነሣት አቃተኝ። ቢሆንም የአርበኝነቱ ሥራ የተጀመረ ስለሆነ ከቦታ ወደ ቦታ መንቀሳቀሴ የማይቀር በመሆኑ ያደረ የዋለ የመንገዱን ጉዳይ እላመደው ጀመር። ለምን እንደዚህ ደካማ ሆንክ የሚል ጥያቄ ሰው ያነሣ ይሆናል። አዎ መልሱ ሞልፋጣ ፣ አስተዳደግ ማለት ከበቅሎ ጀርባ የማልወርድ ደካማ ሆኜ በማደጌ ነው።

ራስ አያሌው ብሩ የአርበኝነቱን ሥራ እንደጀመሩ ወደ አምባጊዮርጊስ አካባቢ ጉዞ አድርገው የኢጣሊያንን መንግሥት ደግፈው ተሰልፈው ከነበሩ የሀገሬው ሰዎችም ጋር ተዋግተው በድል አድራጊነት ተወጡት። ደባርቅ ላይ መሸጉ ለረጅም ጊዜ ከባድ ውጊያ በማካሄድ ላይ የነበረውን የኢጣሊያ ጦር ለመውጋት የጐንደር አርበኞች በብዝኃት ከበባ ማድረግ ጀምረው ስለነበር የራስ አያሌው ሠራዊትም በወቅን በኵል የነበረውን ግንባር አደረጉ። እኔም ወደዚሁ ቦታ አብሬ የመጣሁ ስለሆነ የአካባቢው ሕዝብ ከጦርነቱ በመሸሽ መንደሩን የተወ እህሉን በጉድጓድ የቀበረ ስለሄደ በአካባቢው የሠፈረው ሠራዊት ከባድ የኑሮ ችግር ገጥሞት ነበር። እኔንም ለሁለተኛ ጊዜ የረሃብ ችግር ገጠመኝ። አንዳንዶቻችን በየመንደሩ አካባቢ የተቀበረውን የእህል ጉድጓድ ለመፈለግ ዘንግ ይዘን መሬቱን በመውጋት ጉድጓድ ፍለጋ ስንደክም እንውል ነበር።