Africans should follow Ethiopia’s leadership

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OPINION

By Simon Kaheru

While watching some random American TV Series the other week, my head jerked up when the characters casually mentioned Uganda and Ethiopia in terms linked to famine and poverty.

I had not yet visited Ethiopia by then, but just knew the reference was wrong. I have internet access to start with. Surely, they should, too?

By coincidence, I had a trip scheduled to Addis Ababa and headed out there with that silly American TV comment still on my mind, thinking it would be good for the American TV people to also visit someday.

Within minutes of leaving the airport into Addis, I realised that we needed more people to visit, besides those American TV ones.

I can’t review Addis Ababa enough in one piece of this nature — the amazing architecture of the city made us draw quick breaths every single time we stepped out of a building, day or night.

The grandiosity of the work they are doing is rare on this continent, and the speed and efficiency with which they are executing it even more so.

Ethiopians are different from most other Africans, even though there are many genetic similarities between us.

Their pursuit of excellence and depth of a values-driven culture combine to make their main city, at least, shine brilliantly out of a continent where confusion and chaos have become an acceptable hashtag.

The Ethiopians have managed to undertake various colossal projects simultaneously, while fighting a couple of serious wars and changing their economy quite significantly over the last few years without becoming dizzy.

One of those projects is the Adwa Museum, which I visited on the morning I left Addis and appreciated one of the key reasons why Ethiopians are so special as Africans.

The Adwa Museum was built to commemorate the victory of Ethiopia over Italy in 1896, making Ethiopia the only African country to fight back and avoid being colonised.

All Africans need to visit Ethiopia. All Africans need to visit Addis Ababa. All Africans need to visit the Adwa Museum. I have heard and read the story of this amazing victory before.

What struck me more during this visit was that the war kicked off over a ‘small grammatical error’. Rather, it kicked off because the Ethiopians were too clever to be fooled by a seemingly small grammatical error.

In 1889, the Italians and Ethiopians signed the Treaty of Wuchale that recognised Italy’s claim over Eritrea as a colony. In that treaty, Italy promised financial and military assistance to neighbouring Ethiopia.

The Ethiopians, however, later read the treaty very carefully and noticed that the Italian version of the document was a little different from the Amharic one.

Article 17 of the Italian version of the Treaty stated that the Emperor of Ethiopia would conduct all foreign affairs through Italian authorities, yet the Amharic version said the Emperor “could” use the generosity of the Italians if he chose to.

The Ethiopians caught the Italians out, but they were not just good at identifying errors and trickery, they were brave enough to stand their ground — literally.

Being very proud Africans, they refused to take nonsense even when the Italians threatened them with military force and... they went to war.

The Ethiopians mobilised from far and wide and a few months later had humiliated the Europeans so badly that people held protests in Europe.

And it started because the Ethiopians were too clever to be fooled by a seemingly small grammatical error. The Ethiopians taught us that if you can’t identify spelling errors and typos and confusing language, you can lose your entire nation; or that you will get fooled with long-term consequences. They taught us we have to be serious all the time.

Long ago, one of my children’s teachers told me he was amused at how I sent back corrections to their letters or homework sheets that had typos in them. Once I even wrote a note in a school book correcting the notion that Speke had “discovered” River Nile.

Not only that, I’d send the corrections back through the children — who were normally aghast to be put in that position, but had little choice, but to deliver.

In my brief discussion with that teacher, I explained that if I didn’t point out mistakes and make corrections, I was part of the problem. The school would not bother with getting every single thing right and my children would get a mediocre education.

Our little conversation was a simplification of how Ethiopia refused to be colonised and built up a work ethos that has built up a proud nation of people whose impenetrable self-esteem has created a society where the atmosphere reeks of excellence.

www.skaheru.com @skaheru