Classroom in Woodson HS
Girma G. Tessema
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to Education |
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Management |
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| My destiny |
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educational websites |
| Acknowledgments |
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One day, while Yeshi was walking to a market, behind her arrived a woman on a mule. While passing by, the woman looked at her and realized that the one who was walking on foot was her relative and at the same time pregnant.
She descended off the mule and called her,
"Yeshi". Yeshi turned around to see the face of the woman. She knew
that it was Elfinesh, her close relative. They greeted each other and
Elfinesh invited her to mount on the mule because of her visible
pregnancy. But Yeshi refused. Elfinesh, before she was back on to her
mule, thought of something. She hesitated to speak it out for seconds.
Then 'ehhhhem' a signal of tiredness came from Elsinesh. "Yeshi" she
called. "Oo", responded Yeshi. Elfinesh continued, "I know that you
have more kids- why do not you give me this one to me, since I do not
have one to talk with". When
Yeshi discovered she was pregnant, she was disappointed because her
husband
abandoned her without telling his where abouts. She had been frustrated
by her
condition. In addition to her pregnancy, she would be responsible for
most of
the farm work to feed herself and her 3 other children, who were not
mature
enough to help her. She had to fetch water from distant water well and
go to
the market at least once in 2 weeks. While her mind was waddling,
Elfinesh
further said, " please give me the baby, be it a boy or a girl, I will
take care of it as your kid will be my kid". The way Elfinesh
approached
her was so 'convincing', she decided to give her the baby. Elfinesh was
extremely happy and kissed her several times on her cheeks and
forehead. Yeshi
who was aware of the death of Elfineshs’ son and the recent death of
her
husband, promised to give her the baby and then they departed. Girma was
born in a place called Shenkora on June, 06, 1962. He was taken by
Elfinesh
when he was 8 months old. The woman who had lost her big son due to
accidental
death was happy to have this baby with her. She took the maximum care
possible
giving him as much warmth. Elfinesh used to keep a number of cows that
were
giving milk, and little Girma was comfortable drinking fresh milk.
She was
kind to her neighbors and in her busy time she had assistance to take
care of
the baby. She also hired a lady to serve as a maiden at home. At the
age of 4, Girma had a teacher at home that Elfinesh employed to teach
him the
alphabets of Amharic (Ethiopian National Language) and of course to
teach him
reading and writing also. Elfinesh herself was an illiterate woman but
intelligent enough to handle her share from the land tenure system
through oral
calculations. And she was hoping that little Girma would help her with
this
when he knew how to read. In
addition to her land in Shenkora, she had also a piece of land in the
lowland
area near a small town called Wolenchiti, 125 km East of Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia.
When Girma was 5 years old, Elfinesh moved to this town. By this time,
Girma
was able to recognize all the letters in thealphabet and was starting
to
connect the letters to create words and attempting to read. In
Wolenchiti,
Elfinesh rented a house and then eventually built her own. Elfinesh,
being the follower of Orthodox Christian Church, wanted Girma to be
familiar
with the beliefs of Christianity. She used to take him around to the
churches
on Sundays and holidays. Her ambition was for Girma to become a deacon,
so she
sent him to a church school not far from her home. Elfinesh
used to travel a lot, visiting
monasteries like Menagesha and Debre-Libanos in
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