I’ve got a stupid idea..
December 5, 2008 at 1:40 pm 18 comments
Maybe there isn’t much we can do for Teddy Afro, or Ethiopia’s freedom of speech. But we can do something about this.
According to a study published by German Foundation for World Population, water scarcity would become a serious problem for Ethiopia in 20 years. This was back in 2003, when we were 63 million people and global warming didn’t appear to be a threat for those of us in Addis. The study also stated that if the prevailing growth rate continues unchecked, Ethiopia’s population would almost triple to about 190 million by 2050. Yes, before Christ comes and while you and I are still in our prime. So.. I was wondering if you and I could do something about it, you know?!. Sort of like what the Chinese did. “Andd lij, LeAnnd Welaj” type of thing. So we can help our brothers and sisters see that being Fruitful proceeded the divine order to Multiply. I’ve already started the cause on facebook. You can support it there or use your own creativity to get the message across.
Entry filed under: Latest Posts.
My e-Shoe Box 
1.
Totit | December 5, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Ereee Abesheet..I have the intention of having 4 kids…so how would I be supporting this idea…:)
2.
Girum | December 5, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Ohh Abesheet,
That’s a kind of a nice shift for our society. Really, we shouldn’t be that greedy ‘lij habt new’ case
But me have a deal with my GF to have only 5…..
3.
Duryew | December 5, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I consider 190 million with a bit of a silver lining- Yes my friend this has definitely a positive side. I think because of this population growth I will be able to fondle more women in public places and have an excuse for it.
4.
Cheap Shoe | December 6, 2008 at 12:06 pm
your articles are interesting and so useful for me. Thank you for sharing great information.
5.
abesheet | December 7, 2008 at 6:02 am
By planning to have them in Canada, instead of Ager Bet, Totiye.
Duriyew:
Lol. That is a silver lining 🙂 . Except, if we were to trust the population census made public only this week, and we don’t really have to, ‘LeSira Yalderesu LemiGib Gin Yalanesu’ seem to make most of that number. What is your stand on fondling under-age kids?
6.
chuni | December 7, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I only have one brother but my father has 10 siblings and 60first cousins. I wish I had more siblings. I can only imagine what it must be like for the lonley kid. But i don’t think our problem is lack of resourses per se but rather our inefficiency when using the resources we already have.
7.
Mazzi | December 8, 2008 at 4:04 am
I wish we have a viable way of managing our growing (at an alarming rate!) population. The one child policy (Chinese style), however, is probably too harsh especially for the Ethiopian culture :-). I think one child per family is toooo lonely, two is only one removed from being tooooo lonely, so I say three is a crowd :-). It is nice when there is a ‘me’, ‘you’, and ‘the other’ in a sib-ship. So three is the magic number in my book… (says the woman who is not even sure about motherhood!)
One of my best friends here is a young woman from China who is a product of the one child policy. All her cousins are also the only child in their respective families, and as a result first cousins are usually as close as siblings. She has uncles and aunts because the one child policy only started with her generation. Assuming the one child policy in China will be standing for the foreseeable future, her generation’s offsprings will miss out not only on siblings but also on aunts and uncles! And married couples now and in the future, who both are the only children in their families, might end up having to take care of their four aging parents all on their own as they won’t have siblings to share the responsibility with. And in general, certain Asian populations have a long life expectancy!
Often forgotten negative side effects of this one child policy in China are preference for sons to carry the family name at the expense of daughters, the undue pressure put on such children without siblings to succeed at all cost so they can eventually take care of their families, and the tendency for some families to spoil such children rotten and raise them with a huge and unquenchable sense of entitlement in life.
It is illegal in China for health professionals to tell pregnant ladies the sex of the baby they are carrying. However, families usually abort female fetuses in secret anyways after finding out the sex of their unborn baby through ultrasound until they find themselves pregnant with boy babies. Daughters have enough trouble as it is without being accepted as the lesser of the two genders for a one child family. Apparently in certain Chinese societies, men already outnumber women (thanks to preference for boys over girls) so much so that some men remain unmarried because they simply can not find single women to marry in their own class or society!
Before we Ethiopians have to resort to such a drastic measure, I wish we learn to implement effective social policies intended to curb our population growth. But as long as wealth, status, and respectability of families is measured by how many kids they manage to raise, we shall always find it difficult to convince people not to reproduce as much. And as long as child marriages (longer time for the woman to bear children) and high infant/child mortality are a reality in most Ethiopian rural communities, parents will always feel compelled to have multiple children even if birth control is available to them. That way they can play the game of chance of how many of their children will eventually make it to adulthood.
An average fertile woman is capable of having as many as sixteen children (!) in her child bearing years (from onset of puberty to menopause) assuming she does not use any form birth control!!! Can you imagine?! And sadly, such a large number is a reality for many Ethiopian women if we count all the children they gave birth to and not just the ones who survived. Sheesh!!
But I support your idea even if we do not agree on the actual number :-).
8.
abesheet | December 10, 2008 at 5:10 am
Lol, Mazziye. Three it is then. *changing her cause’s name to “Sost Lijj LeAnnd Welaj”*. One question though. How are we going to deal with those parents who thus far has only produced one or two children 😉 ?
a. YeGezeb Qitat
b. Hard Labor
c. See to it that they start procreating immediately (examine bed sheets every morning, if we must)
d. b&c’n abro masked yichalal
9.
Mazzi | December 10, 2008 at 7:42 am
I am honored Abesheet that you are giving my ‘three children per family option’ a consideration :-). Even this is imperfect because I come from a family of three kids, and though I have two brothers, by God all through out my childhood I wanted a sister sooooooooooooooo bad!! So there is no end to human greed I tell you.
As for families with fewer than three kids, I say punish the ‘offending’ parents with options ‘b’ and ‘c’ provided above until they return with the right number of children :-). All in the name of preserving the ‘perfect’ family number of course.
After interacting with many ‘one child policy products’ Chinese friends in school, I learned how their relationships with their parents are even more intense (for better or for worse!) considering they do not have any siblings to share their lives with. Since the policy in China is fairly recent (within this young generation only), at least my friend’s age mates in China still have aunts and uncles on account of their parents having siblings and therefore also first cousins.
The next generation kids (descendants of current day lone children to their families), however, will not even have any aunts, uncles, or first cousins as extended families!! That is kind of scary, coz if a child does not get along with his/her parents, there is no place to run. I love my parents as much as the next gal with all the challenges many Ethiopian families face. But geese, I don’t know if I like them enough to have them as my only closest relatives :-).
So “Sost lijj leAnd welaj” it is :-).
@Sistu… my humble greetings go your direction. I have enjoyed reading your comments in Abesheet’s blog for a while as I have been a long time ‘quiet visitor’ at Abesheet’s cyber bett even before deciding to leave comments.
To answer your question in your last comment…. I don’t know if ‘gut-wrenching’ is equivalent to ‘anjet mekoret.’ I think it might be closer to ‘anjet mebeTes’ as there is a slight difference in the connotation of the two expressions. And then there is ‘anjet mebelat’ which is entirely something else all together.
What would be equivalent to ‘weshmeT meqoret’? That is even a hard one! I can ‘feel’ the meaning of the expression in Amharic, but I sure can’t think of an English equivalent! ‘Lost in translation’ malet yihew aydel? :-). Hmmm….
10.
sistu | December 10, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Mazzi Mazzi Mazzi, may the same greetings find their way right back to you weldew* kebdew. (*sost)
Well I have been enjoying reading your comments during my zemene-zimita too, so it looks like we have been tag-teaming this humble hostess of ours. aytal. But i do have a bone to pick with you, lest you think i am the pleasant lemada insisa sort: it seems like you waited until i fell silent to start commenting, and as soon as igre weta kemaletu, there was Mizz Mazzi talking. what’s up with that? sawera afe yishet neber ende to repel you like that?
just playing, thats my attempt to form a special bond with you, which i like to have with Abesheet’s denbegnoch (i tend to think i would have thrived in a tej bet setting) like Abyssinia whom i’m sure you are aware of and whom i never miss an opportunity to address and for whom i have the following message in case she is reading: yet nesh weizereet, beka wede-tidarish (this comments section) memelesun ashaferegn alsh?? i do miss her comments.
yikir beyign, there is no excuse for using anjet mekoret instead of anjet mebetes, so could gtwrnchng be anjet betash? anyways this is the very interesting article i mentioned:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/linguafranca/stories/2005/1526031.htm
its called gut feelings. i really enjoyed reading it, enjoy.
11.
Mazzi | December 10, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Selam Sistu,
Thanks for sharing this very interesting article on gut feelings. It truly is amazing how just about every culture and language has references to body parts and organs to express emotions, both in similar and sometimes contradictory manners across languages. And of course our own Amharic language is full of those that are often difficult to explain in plain terms in other languages and vice versa.
I liked the Tej Bett scenario where the regular ‘denbegnoch’ make a home out of the host’s humble abode (Abesheet’s blog), sometimes whether the host is present or not :-). If it seemed as though I became a ‘denbegna’ to Abesheet’s cyber Tej Bett while you were taking a low profile, it was only to warm up your regular seat the way I wish I have a person whose sole purpose in life is to warm up my car and its seats in these cold and freezing winter mornings before I have to drive my car in the snow and ice. But I might have my own moments of hibernation sometimes (Wuqabe alebish tilalech Enate when she can’t explain my self imposed withdrawal) and in those moments, I shall request you to return the favor and warm up my seat in the Tej Bett till ‘metaphorical spring’ comes back again :-). That way, Abesheet’s Bett will always be buzzing with regular denbegnoch as well as new comers as long as Abesheet has it in her to dish out Tej in the form of her opinions on issues :-).
I knew of a Tej Bett seferachin akababi back home called “Atilefugn Tej Bett.” Isn’t that the coolest name you have ever heard?! I have often fantasized owning an Ethiopian restaurant on a cool and busy downtown block in a major US city called “Atilefugn Ethiopian Restaurant.” Patent pending on the name…
Thanks again for the article link.
12.
abesheet | December 11, 2008 at 11:55 am
That indeed was a cool link, sistu. BeNeNa BeTejj Bete teGelGayoch sim misGana yiDresish 🙂 . The minute I finished reading it, I’ll share my impression. Till then, I hope your Zemene Zimita has been broken for good and you are here to stay. You and Mazzi humble me. (Abby is a delight, totit the voice of conciousness and winta/spacefog/habehsaviews my stern critique). Still, I love having you all around.
Or, to put it in a metaphorical language – using body parts, *pointing at readers*, *making a circle*, *pointing to self*! For a pictorial representation go here.
*abesheet can over do the flattery*
13.
sistu | December 11, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Abesheet, I first read your ‘tegelgayoch’ as ‘tegelagayoch’ so I was very excitedly about to tell you that I, too, see the need for some sort of yazugn-likekugn action on your site and that I am really doing my best to entice violence. I won’t target Mazzi coz I think she might be a pacifist who may respond to an attack by offering the other cheek as well like the good book says to do. Speaking of Pacifisim, Mazzi, min asakekesh about asking someone to warm your car seat. As my [wildly witty female] cousin used to say before hopping on, nothing like ‘yelijagered chin’ for comfort, so ney tekemech. Abesheet, ere censor me. Ihe afeko mayhon iyehone new. but does my offer remind you of the concept of deret memtat with your maid’s chest? it was supposed to.
the article sort of captures my very big point of fascination which is abt the culture attached to language and how you just can’t/shouldn’t cross the linguistic border with some words. Even if you have the meaning available to switch from one to the other, if u know what i mean.
and oh yeah, Abesheet doth flatter. Thank god. min yiwiten neber if she didn’t. Nobody else does.
14.
Mazzi | December 12, 2008 at 12:30 am
‘Tegelagayoch’ could be just as fitting as ‘tegelgayoch’ for an active Tej Bett environment where under the influence and spell of Abesheet’s Tej, a brawl could break out any moment! So a bit of ‘yazugn liqequgn’ might be absolutely necessary once in a while. At such moments, it looks like Sistu will handle her business just fine.
I have been taken for a pacifist before, but I look at it differently. Offering my other chick is definitely not an option however. Even God himself over the ages did not/does not offer his other chick when mere mortals offend his godly sensibilities. He definitely lashes back as he sees fit, and takes the opportunity to practice his twisted sense of humor at the expense of his own creation. After all, he is sitting up there bored as hell (pun intended) to his core looking for ways to entertain himself.
In the above environment, I see myself calmly trying to finish my last drop of Tej in my birille while dodging other flying birilles thrown by other ‘tegelagayoch’ that are crashing over people’s ginbar and Abesheet’s walls. A strange thing happens to me once in a while when I find myself in a brawl. I get taken by a bad case of the giggles and start marveling about what gets people so worked up. Upon finishing the Tej I paid for, I would then leave my generous tip on the table and simply stagger home till a day comes when I too will feel compelled enough to start throwing my birille at someone’s ginbar over something that is so dear to my heart.
It is a matter of choosing what battles are worth throwing my birilles across. And trust me; I do have few of them! However, somebody has to deserve my anger let alone my compliment, for me to even bother about them. Mostly I feel pity for people who have their heads buried in the sand, look at the world from a clear black and white perspective, and not feel an ounce of shame when they operate from a sense of righteousness at the expense of others. And those who try to preach their bias one dimensional religious views on blogs in the name of comments come to mind! I say do us all a favor and get a life, a real life ….. please!
Lol! @ “yelijagered chin” reference. That was very funny :-). I had an amusing Kenyan friend who used to lament not having “yelijagered chin” to keep him warm in bed during the cruel winter nights. He hated having to climb his cold and lonely bed night after night in winter. So he used to come to us, his fellow African female friends, and say… “I am not asking you to help me out all year round! Just during the unbearable winter nights!” Priceless.
Cheers.
15.
sistu | December 12, 2008 at 11:03 am
“Upon finishing the Tej I paid for..”
Let me tell you my favorite thing about you, Mazzi. You have a calm way of describing things which, as Abesheet would say, is very humbling to [us] the kelkalas out [t]here. Obamaye nesh biyeshalehu. ayiii Mazzi gin, my heart sank at the sight of that generous tip on the table. i think much of the promise of ambua-guaro in such places has its sources at our refusal to pay the basic price, let alone a tip. Could it be that Atilefugn iyale iyelemenesh, you never heeded? not to worry, we will make it happen one day even if its at your Atilefugn. (btw, Hope that dream comes true for real. I could use a few yezemed wagas around here).
now, i will ask what everybody else might be wondering: were you a friend indeed to your Kenyan friend in need? [please imagine a smiley face here.. i just can’t bear the yellow ones]
and, Mazzi, I might be one of those who are tainted with that one-dimensional religious bias, so please accept my yeYikirta kebd for future cases when I will, no doubt, come across as such.
and, Abesheet, I am sorry that we have introduced foreign elements such as tej and chins to what should have been a family-friendly post.
16.
Mazzi | December 13, 2008 at 5:15 am
Selam Sistu,
“Obamaye nesh biyeshalehu” … I am honored, as I think Obama is as cool as a cucumber, though who knows if he will be that once he officially inherits this mess come January.
“…my heart sank at the sight of that generous tip on the table” … min ladirg bilesh neww…. Ferdobign, I have a soft spot for tej asalafiwoch on account of having been one for years and years myself in foreign Tej Betts where the local tej was far from being familiar, and denbegnoch far from being generous with their tips. The way I sympathize with tej asalafiwoch, Abesheet is lucky I did not linger behind after the brawl to help clean up all the broken birilles and splashes of blood on her walls. I drew the line with my generous tip I guess :-).
Consider yourself having a life time ‘yezemed waga’ at my own Atilefugn Restaurant/Bar, where among other things tej will be offered like a weraj wuha.
As for my Kenyan friend, I sure was not a friend indeed to a friend in need (my own bed was not as cold as his after all :-)). Eventually bichegirew guwazun teqlilo he permanently moved to a willing but not necessarily lijagered’s bed in a milder climate on the left-coast :-). I am sure he complains about being cold no more!!
Sorry Abesheet for corrupting your family-friendly Joint :-).
17.
Mazzi | December 13, 2008 at 5:23 am
P.S … 🙂
“I might be one of those who are tainted with that one-dimensional religious bias, so please accept my yeYikirta kebd for future cases when I will, no doubt, come across as such.”
Qebdun teqebiyalehu for future incidents, and your ‘pass card’ shall be sent to you in 5-7 business days.
Cheers.
18.
Mad Bluebird | May 30, 2009 at 6:20 am
They used junk science and lies to get DDT banned the facts are it wasnt cuasing any harm to birds RACHEAL CARSON LIED