Final part interview with Dad……….. Question: As a child what things inspired you? What was your childhood dream? Dad: Being a soldier ( he laughed) I also used to love singing. I had a good voice but singing at that time had a bad name. In Tigringa we call it ‘watinet’, ‘Wata’ buda (evil)…etc… Society would see people who sing and play traditional instruments like ‘masinko’ (chira wata) with suspicion. So, I did not want to fall into that category. Myself: You are terrible when you dance Tigrigna or Amharic..lol but you have a wonderful voice dad. I love your voice. I feel like you have wasted that talent…lol Question: What kind of music do you like? Dad: I love Raya traditional music. Question: Did you willingly join the Derge regim? Dad; I did but soon I hated it. Question: Tell me how the idea of going to Saudi came to your mind? Dad: It was a very horrible time.The civil war in Ethiopian was very bad.So, like all Ethiopian young men at that time, I had the chance of burning in either of the two fires. Derge or weyane. I had a beautiful wife & two children (Your brother & you). I was happy in my life. I did not want to die. Question: I saw many people really admiring your whole scenario of running from Derge. Can you tell me about it? Dad: I talked to one of my best friends & relative. He was also a soldier. So, we decide to secretly flee together. We got fully armed to protect ourselves just in case. Few hours after we started our journey we started hearing sounds of guns coming our way from behind. It was a jungle. It was easy to hide & run still very dangerous. We had to run for hours with few breaks in between. Soon, they caught my friends but I would just blindly shoot back & run. I am sure I did not kill anyone..lol Finally, i ended up in a "free zone" Lands that were under the control of Weyane and Shabiya. ( both of them anti-Derg fighters) Then I requested Weyane to write me a letter of support so that whenever stopped by weyane or shabiya soldiers I can show that letter. Weyane gave me a full support with a big political mission which was to organize other Ethiopians in Saudi to fight Derge from all corners of the world. Question: Did you keep your promise. Did you support Weyane from Saudi? Dad: I did, I fully supported them. I did everything on my power (including financial support) to see them succeeding. Question: What happened to your friend & uncle Gebrekidan? Dad: They arrested him for more than a year then turned him into a soldier again. He died in the war. Question:Tell me about your journey to Saudi? Dad: We were 9 people in a small boat and we had one little box of biscuits to eat. Right after we started our journey, high Wave started shaking our tiny boat. We found a little island & pulled up. We stayed there for five days eating the little biscuit & no water to drink. You can no drink from the sea since it is very salty. Our challenge was not only the sea wave and starvation. We also had the fear of being the target of the Derge missiles. Question: What happened after five days? Dad: We took out some oil from the boat and painted a big sheet & fired it at night hoping people will come and get us. They did.They saw us from the distance and came with water & food. The storm also calmed. We continued our journey. Finally we made it to Saudi. Myself: So inspiring dad. Question: What happened on your first day in Saudi? Dad: We had to be very careful to not be caught by the policemen because we are illegal immigrants. But we had to just go wherever our feet took us. We do not know the country. We were so hungry. Around 10: 00 in the morning, We stepped into some house we found on our way. There was an old man at the door. A very kind man, he served us with food (kita), clean water and showed us a direction using his hands. We followed that direction and found Ethiopians/Eritreans. We started working. Question: Obviously, you knew no Arabic, never watched a TV. You knew nothing about other cultures. How did your communications with people from Saudi went ? Dad: Life will teach you everything. Question: What was your first job? Construction (the labor part) Question: How soon did you send money home? Dad: After 45 days. I sent 800 Riyals & clothes. Question: When I was little, I used to hear people saying. Weldemihret would just build a house in a day...lol Is it true? Dad: No, I do not build a house in a day. But I used to work so hard. I had so much energy. Question: What other things did you do to support your family from Saudi? Dad: I had a laundry service. I also had a very tiny restaurant. Question: Is that how you learned to be a good cook. I love your Doro, shiro, your pasta, rice everything? Dad:I had a smart mom. she taught me how to cook ‘Doro’ when I was 15. Also since I lived all of my life alone,I had to learn to how to cook. Question: Do you have any message to people of my generation? Dad: You are in a good time. There is no war. You have so many Opportunities & to learn, to work, to change. Take advantage of your age and time. Myself: When I see you, do you know what I see, Dad? I see strength, I see a big heart, I see strong family values, I see living for others & service.I see courage. I see brilliance. I see a responsible, loving father. *I SEE A MAN. I also see big weaknesses. I am so proud of you. Thank you for being my father. Dad: أحبك ابنتي الجميلة The end!!
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:41:26 +0000
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