MIJUU HAQAA Premiers in Stockholm: Captivates Hearts & Brings Back Memories of Home in the Hearts of Many July has planted its roots deep into the lives of the Diaspora Oromians as the month for the reaffirmation of the commitment to the struggle for freedom. Though the main focus turns mainly towards our compatriots who reside in North America (rightly so), the Gurmuu Hawaasa Oromoo Swidin has attempted, for the first time in recent years, to open its doors to all Oromians & celebrate together. While Oromians in North America celebrated this year with a special event to mark a mile stone in the lives & works of the living legend Dr. Birraa, the tiny Gurmuu Hawaasa Oromoo Swidin marked its festivities by ushering in a young talent to the stage as one of the new Oromian cultural ambassadors who shall carry forward the torch brought so far by the giants like Dr Birraa. The highlight of the celebration was the talented & promising young writer & film producer Gammadoo Jamal. Gammadoo is a humble & shy young man whose intelligence & resolve belies his age. For those of you who are left a few months behind, an update is in order. Gammadoo Jamaal is the young Oromian who wrote & produced the new film titled Mijuu Haqaa. When Jewar Mohammad, with firmness of conviction, declares that he is first & foremost an Oromo, Gammadoo Jamal echoes; “that’s right brother! That’s why we tell our own narratives, the way we experience it & the way our people had lived it. That’s why, brother, we project our future the way we aspire it to be,” through his work Mijuu Haqaa. Oromo as a nation, despite enormous challenges, has made a tremendous march forward over the past few decades in many aspects of its life. But there remain a huge gap when it comes to the representation of its life narrated through the pens, brushes, voices & other medium of creativity that would depict the soul & the unbreakable spirit of Oromians more than any other thing. Save for male singers and a handful of female vocalists & occasional videos production, the vast spectrum of art have not yet been properly exploited. Admittedly, great minds of Oromian descent have produced wonderful works of various artistic genres but Oromians hardly relate to any of them for nearly all those works don’t reflect their experiences. Material production & the resultant possession of wealth might give enough cushions to certain aspects of the lives of a given society but these by themselves do not reflect the depth of the sophistication or lack thereof of a true fulfilment of life by that society. It is rather the stanzas of soul piercing pieces of poetry, the lyrics of transcendental songs, the momentous yet eternal life captured on the canvases, the sculptures that immortalize the flesh, the combination of musical instruments that seem to defy comprehension by the use of mere sense organs that defines how rich a society was/is above & beyond any other measure of richness of a life. It is with this notion in mind that the arrival of an Afaan Oromo film, by Oromian writer, producer, actors & crew was greeted with much joy & celebration. Mijuu Haqaa premiered on July 6, 2013 in Stockholm courtesy of Gurmuu Hawaasa Oromo Swidin. Mijuu Haqaa revolves around the lives of two generations of an Oromo family that are subjected to physical & psychological traumas perpetrated by the state & its agents. The story starts in Norway where three young educated Oromians find themselves at turning points in their individual lives. Kenna, the eloquent & educated young Oromian, had left Oromia with an oath to commit his entire life towards elevating his people & his country from subjugation. The tides of IRRBU abandoned are rocking the sheep of his life from within. His spirit is restless & his mind is critical of his own life. What value does being educated has if knowledge is not translated into tools that advance the lives of ones own people- questions Kenna of himself & his dear friend. As so not fewer young people do, he seems to have retreated into drinking to ride the tides of inner voice into nonexistent shores of solace. At night, drunk & mumbling to himself, we see Kenna staggering on the streets of Norway all by himself. The chocolate skinned beauty, Hawwii, though grew up in Norway is determined to embark on a mission to reclaim her complete identity. As long as she sees it, identity goes deeper than simply speaking Afaan Oromo or exhibiting certain cultural characteristics. She has decided to travel back to Oromia & fulfil her dream. But her life does not belong to herself alone. She has a fiancé who is deeply in love with her & to carry out her mission she needs to convince him. The laid back Firaanboon seems possessed with only one dream…marrying his sweet heart Hawwii & living in happiness in Norway. Would Hawwii succeed in talking Firaanboon into her project? Would they ever get married? What brought these three young Oromians to Europe in the first place? What are the motives that thrust Hawwii, the girl who came to Norway as a toddler & grew up in a modern country and now leads a relatively comfortable life into the murky waters of search for identity? As the segment of the story is cast in Oromia, we are visually taken back to Oromia from Norway. It is not the joyful dances & celebrations of Oromians that comes first to the screen. It is rather the other aspect of life, the aspect that Oromians keep firm in their memories while those who perpetrate it upon them vehemently deny that it had ever happened or wash it down as a trivial thing that happen to everybody & not worth mentioning. That aspect of life is state sponsored violence. It is the sheer terror carried out by agents of the central government that welcomes us to Oromia. From a modest hut situated on a rural farm comes out the heart-wrenching & too familiar wailings of a terrorized pair. The desperate voice of the wife urges her husband to run away & save his dear life before “they come & take him way”. Anyone who is not familiar with the gruesome history of Oromians would be forgiven if they think that the poor farmer is some kind of a fugitive or an outlaw. An innocent, hard working young farmer is forced to leave his wife & life behind & run away to save his life not from bandits or gangsters but from a central government. Yes, Oromians, the great majority of them had never been the owners of their own lives….they were the properties of the central government and through it were/are temporarily place in the custody of local masters the predominant majority of whom were settlers. “Where is your husband?” shouts the armed state agent in that too familiar Amarigna phrase, the language that draws a clear & immediate boundary between who belongs to the masters and who should remain among the subjects, into the ears of the wife who has shrunk into silhouette due to fear. “Where is your husband?” or “Where is your son?” is the question that successive Ethiopian governments tormented millions of Oromian families with through their armed agents. Those who could not answer that question to the satisfaction of a particular government agent or officer were executed, tortured, raped, thrown into concentration camps or made to flee their ancestral land just to save their lives. This writer had the opportunity to talk to hundreds of Oromian families who are now dispersed all over the world but whose journey into exile began when they were not able to answer those simple questions: “Where is your husband? Where is your son? Where is your daughter?” The terror that gripped that otherwise serene looking rural village immediately evolves into beatings, chasing & gun shots fill the air. Neighbours crawl in horror while government agents rage in furry. Sweat, tear & blood in one hand confronted by furry of power on the other hand. Gammadoo weaves together history he has gleaned from his people with what he himself has observed & experienced into a deeper conversation about a small yet significant part of the gruesome history that nearly all Oromians families have experienced either directly or indirectly through the fates of at least one member of a distant family Mijuu Haqaa depicts a chapter from the several volumes of the history of Oromia. We’re invited to share the narration of that chapter through the eyes of a young intelligent man. The talented actors & cast played their roles remarkably well. If method is still the staple of acting, these actors and cast representation of the local custom, norms, and manners, appropriate usage of words & expressions as well as body language are effortless. They lived the lives of the characters they played & demonstrated to us how talented Oromians are. This is one film that every Oromian community and other association should screen & then reflect on their experiences collectively. Those of us who spent our youth watching foreign movies were made to reminisce, with jealousy, how disadvantaged we were as compared to the new Oromian generation. A generation blessed for having the likes of Gammadoo among themselves to enjoy narratives, stories, tales that they can easily relate to, conversations that they can fully participate in & indentify with and dreams & aspiration that they can mould their lives after. Throughout this tiny personal reflection, this writer has refrained from delving into the details of the stories as they unfold, as most of you might have noticed, because many people are still awaiting its screening in their places. Due to the wide spread infringements on intellectual property rights many writers, singers, actors and producers (we are talking only about Oromians here) were literally left empty handed unable to enjoy the fruits of their labour & continue serving their community. Accordingly, the producers of Mijuu Haqaa informed me that they did not see any value in releasing the film on DVDs. Hence, the better option at the moment is for various Oromo organizations & groups to contact Gammadoo & his crew personally & make arrangements. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude & appreciation to the ever Bashaasha Oromian, Obbo Hailemariam Dhaabaa, for inviting me to the event. Fayyaa Argadhuu- Dhaabaa! by Manaamtuu Balchaa
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 21:49:52 +0000
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