2. Early Childhood Memories, 1941-1945
Notes
Return of mother from Italy
Restoration of Emperor Haile Selassie
Going to church school
Household life
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Okay. We're back. It's, now 2010. January 3, 2010. This is episode 2 of, of the, of the of the, series, which everybody's been waiting for.
And I think we're, we're not gonna have the pleasure of having, Tazita join us because I think she's working. Oh. And she's probably working a lot of Sundays. So I I don't know. But she you know, I don't know if I told you, but she heard the, the CD ROM, the the recording of the first session, and, she was thrilled.
So Yeah. Yeah. So we have one fan already, and hopefully we'll get more. Okay. So, according to our calendar, today's session, was to cover schools, and I think we left off last week having talked about the Italian effects on the family, the Italian imprisonment of your parents.
So, I don't know I don't know where, you were thinking of starting, but, please go on. Okay. Let me go back a little bit and say a few words about the Italian occupation and what I remember of it. Okay? Is that alright?
Absolutely. Yeah. Well, my memories of the Italian occupation really very blurred, hardly any because I was only like, when the Italians arrived, I was less than 3 years old. You know, they came in 1935 or 36 is the occupation. So I was 2, 2 something.
And by the time they left in 1941, I was only 7 years old. So I don't really remember much. But there are a few things I remember towards the end of the Italian occupation. And, certainly, when the Italians left and the English came in, the English troops came in. So so just let a little bit about that.
That'd be great. I remember air raid sirens for instance. Sure. As the Italians left and the English mechanized, troops arrived in Addis Ababa. There were air sirens.
I'm I'm not 100% sure who was, making those sirens, whether it was the departing Italians or the arriving English. I'm not sure. But we were told, to cover the roof of our house with eucalyptus tree so it would not be seen from the air. I guess they were they were afraid of some bombings. So, we put eucalyptus, leaves on top of our roof.
And we were also asked to darken the glasses of the window panes, you know, the glass panes are on in the house on the doors and windows. Did you ever see planes? Yes. I saw some planes. I can't remember whether they're English or Italian either.
But I also remember some of the African troops that came with the English. They they were just going around the village, the various neighborhoods. And we were saluting them. Everybody called them Jambo. Apparently, they're from Kenya.
Mhmm. So Jambo became a popular word after the, after that. So whenever we saw those African troops, you know, military with military attire, we would could say jumbo and salute them the way the Italians saluted. We were we were, required to salute the Italians, you know, the fascist way. So the Kenyans or the some Africans actually marked marched with the English?
I never knew that. Yes. Yes. Yes. Indeed.
Oh, yes. Indeed. You see, the the English decided the British decided to assist Aries Lassier, to regain his throne when Italy joined the war in 1940. Yeah. With the on on on the side of the, of the Germans.
At that time, this was June 1940. The British decided to help Iris Lase who was already in England, because they were the British were afraid that unless they can clear the Italians from behind their lines in Ethiopia, you know, all their colonial troops would be endangered, the ones in Kenya and Tanzania and so forth. So, actually, the British brought in colonial troops all the way from South Africa. Smuts, general Smuts was one of the generals who came from on the southern front. Wow.
So this is concurrent. I mean, so at that time, Italy and England were already at war in continental Europe? Yes. After June 1940? Yeah.
Yes. Yes. They were at war. It was the Rome Berlin axis. So the, English were helping Alice Lase.
Well, there was self interest as I said because they didn't want any enemy troops behind their lines because they were already fighting in in in Europe. So they started to clear Somalia, which was already an Italian colony. And, also, they took clear off Italians from Somalia and from Ethiopia and Eritrea. And the troop on last week, I talked about how the war started in the north in Tigray. Yes.
I should have mentioned that it was actually a 2 pronged war. There was also a war front in the south. It, from the because the Italians are Somalia. They thought it was called Italian Somaliland. Yeah.
And so there too, they attacked on the Ogden front. And the law so and some of Ethiopian generals were fighting, the Italians on the southern front. You know, the RAS Dasta, for instance, and, RAS, the, the and others. So this is at a time when the Ethiopia, you know, was under Italian control from the most part. Right?
It was almost simultaneous in the north and the south. It started in the north, but almost concurrently, there were Italian attacks from the south as well. So the emperors sent some of his troops and some of his generals on the to the southern front and but the bulk of the Ethiopian army was sent to the north. Wow. So at the end of the war 2, the when the Italians were being chased out, it was again, you know, a 2 pronged attack.
From the south came, colonial troops, South Africans, Kenyans, and so forth. Clearing Italians from Somaliland, from the Ogaden, and and moving north to Addis Ababa. Yeah? Yeah. And and the emperor himself by then was had been flown from his exile in in in England to, Khartoum in Sudan.
And he was given some troops, as well as Ethiopian troops who managed to join him. He came in from the west, from the from the Sudanese border and, fought his way into Ethiopia on on the west from Gorjem, you know, from the Lektania area. And another English group from Eritrea down south, moving south to Addis Ababa. So the Italians were attacked from all three directions. It was funny because we always sort of heard, you know, the Italians came from Eritrea to Ethiopia and, you know, there was, of course, a battle, but their exit, you know, at the hands of the British and Ethiopians, I don't I mean, at least, you know, where I I learned it or heard about it was kinda downplayed.
You know, it was kind of like a an afterthought. And and in here, it's like a, you know, a major war in in the sort of the major front in the colonial the colonial front of the World War 2. Yes. I mean, you're right. Not much has been written about them, but there are, nowadays, a few books written about them.
The leader of the Italian force on the south was Graziani who later became viceroy of the whole of Addis Ababa. You remember we talked about the Italian massacre of Yucati 12, 1929, Ethiopian calendar. Yes. Or February 19, 1937, Gregorian calendar. He became later on viceroy of, the whole of Ethiopia.
But at the beginning, he was the, general who headed the Italian attack from the south, from Somalia, through the Ogaden, Harar, Awash into Addis Ababa. A very interesting episode. If I can just digress a little bit is the Italians, you remember I said, entered Addis Ababa in May 1936. Mhmm. May 5, 1936.
Mhmm. Whether it's by coincidence or by planning, I think it was a latter. The emperor, when he returned from the you know, as I said, he he he fought his way into Ethiopia from the Sudan. Mhmm. He entered Addis Ababa the very same day, May 5th, 5 years later, 1941.
Wow. Yeah. So it was the same day. There are stories, I don't know how true they are, but several well, a few others say that the troops of the English the colonial troops coming from the south with general Cunningham and others fighting their way through the Ogaden into Harar and Addis Ababa. They could have arrived in Addis Ababa earlier on, earlier than May 5th.
Mhmm. But, they were told to await the emperor's entry, from the west. You know? It it it was a matter of a week or 2 weeks or maybe a month. So there was a bit of planning in that sense.
But in any event, it's it's very interesting to know that the occupation lasted exactly 5 years, May 1936 to May 1941. So do you remember the emperor coming in? I mean, that that must have been a good idea. Yes. Vaguely.
I remember flags, being hang all over the town. People, humiliating, you know, wearing their best clothes, so women and the men. Beyond that, not much. Vaguely remember his first radio address to the in the nation, but not much. Yeah.
So you were you were 7 then. Right? I mean, that's a Yeah. I was 7 exactly. That's a pretty big event.
What do you remember anything that happened, like, at that point, you know, they've been around for, you know, 4 or 5 years in your world. Right? Were there Italians leaving or, you know, like, what what changed, you know, these Italians that were there and that have been around for a while? Well, there was euphoria in the in the country, in the city. People who are afraid to, I mean, during the Italian war, occupation, the Italians brought in, with them.
Very, very strong color, apartheid kind of thing. There are areas in Addis Ababa where the locals local Ethiopians were not allowed to go into in the Piazza, for instance. Wow. They they established Mercato. They call it Mercato indigino indigenous market.
So the Ethiopians would go shopping only in the Mercato, not in the Piazza. That was for the foreigners. Mhmm. So there are things like that. Whenever you saw a foreigner, a white, Italian, you have to salute him.
All those things stopped when they, when they were chased out. That's amazing because they didn't I mean, they sort of had the reputation of being less racist, overly racist than the British. Right? I mean, that's not what you remember though. What?
No. You see the Italians went through several phases during their occupation. Although they said only 5 years, there are 3 different vice Mhmm. The representative of Mussolini or of the emperor, Vittorio Emanuele, Vic Victor Emmanuel, the Italian king. His representative work on viceroys.
The first one was de Bono, general de Bono. He was the one who was heading the Italian troops, when the war first started in 1935. He became a viceroy after the Italians won for about a year, maybe a year and a half, 36, 37. Then he was replaced with Graziani, Marshall Graziani. Mhmm.
He was the ruthless ruthless, viceroy. It was mostly during this tenure as viceroy that these old Karl Barnes and the Italian, massacre of 1937 took place. Yeah. And, a lot of were committed during his during his tenure as, as a viceroy. Then Graziani, when things became completely, impossible and and the Italians felt, I mean, the authorities in Rome felt that they were losing grip over Ethiopia.
They replaced Graziani. In any event, he was wounded. You remember the That was the bomb. Yeah. Yeah.
He was wounded and so forth. So he was replaced by a more, a kinder, a friendlier, viceroy called In fact, he was he was, from the royalty. He was a duke. Duke of Aosta. Mhmm.
Duke of Aosta as, in Italian, he was called duke of Aosta. He was more humane. It was during his tenure that the Italians decided to release the prisoners from Asmara. Oh, no. Asmara.
Sorry. From Asmara. Mhmm. Yeah. As well as those who had been imprisoned in, in Somalia And, in the I I on an island in just off the coast of Eritrea, a place called Nokra.
Mhmm. So so he was a more human, a more, well, he was trying to get some kind of an indirect rule. He was try look out look of Oostar tried to get, to regain the confidence of the various rasses who who are defeated but still in Ethiopia. Yeah. I mean, in in the country.
Mhmm. So he was trying to rule through them, rule Goyam through the through the ruler of Goyam and rule. And, similarly, the Oromo regions of Olagga and Ilubawi through their, traditional chiefs, that they were there. You know, they discovered Xavier, they, you know, and many others. Yeah.
So the sort of the British model. I mean, the British had perfected this. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
Exactly. But by then, you know, the the the war was end it was winding up and, you know, the British were coming in. Exactly. So so but while the occupation was still, you know, fully alive, they released the prisoners. I mean, they didn't release the prisoners, you know, when they were going down.
They released them when they were still in power. Well, when they are trying to, make themselves more popular, when they're trying to get a grip over the country, You know, during the Graziani, when he was viceroy, all the patriots as we call them, they were really fighting the Italians, hit and miss hit and run kind of battle. It's all about career warfare throughout the country. They were attacking the railway lines, the telephone lines, and so forth and so on. Yeah.
So think things became very ungovernable, very shaky for the Italians. So to counter that effect and to get the, to to be more popular and to get the, more the traditional chiefs on their side during the viceroy, era or or or or when took over as viceroy. Yeah. They became more tried to be more humane and tried to be more, try you know, more friendly. Yeah.
So did so go ahead. Go ahead. So they so the Italian, policy changed. You know? It was up and down, as I said, you know, because depending who was at the top Mhmm.
And how bad things were going for the Italians, you know. When they released us, not our people. Who came home? You mean from my family? Yeah.
My mother and Kifli and Zimam, they came home. And then a lot of the other, good many of the other prisoners from Asmara were also released. I mean, you know, there were about 300 something in in as in. I don't know how many of them were replaced or released. But I know, one of the big generals, major generals, Ras Amuro, who was head of the Ethiopian forces that came that attacked it the Italians from Gojjam via Begimdur towards, Takase.
Mhmm. Rasemuru, had been put in a prison in an island just off Italy called Ponza. He was not released until even after the emperor returned, after 1941. Because he's actually dangerous, I mean, to them. Yes.
It's maybe they forgot him too. He was in a small island there. I don't know what happened, but he he didn't come until, I don't know, when 42, 43. The emperor returned in 41. Yeah.
So so gosh, Keflez and his mom came home or Keflez and his mom came home. What do you do you remember what they said when they came home? I mean, they were even smaller. Right? Did they did they have anything that they remember?
I'm sure they remembered a lot, but do you remember what they said? Well, not all that much, but I remember vaguely their, the clothes they're wearing, you know, very different from what we were wearing. Yeah. Those of us who were still behind, they were had a coats, you know, carport overcoats. Had European women's attire.
I mean, she was only what? She was only 5 years older than me. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And, yeah. And I remember they were, they didn't know in Jalan Wirth that they had forgotten or whatever, but they wanted the 12 European Bridge, double. That kind of small little things I remember. And they were just running around, in a way. Whereas, the rest of us would, you know, it was the habits at that for Yankees of that age to be calm and not to talk unless they are asked and Yeah.
To stay by the by the wall. You know? Yeah. They they become westernized. Yeah.
Yeah. They didn't do that. You know? Just a while. Same thing with that when we came here.
Yeah. So what so what changed when they came home? I'm I you know, did the did the household, you know, kinda go back to the way it was before? Or, you know I mean, I guess your dad didn't come back, obviously. No.
He didn't come back. No. Well, my mother took, resumed her, you know, she went into the big house. Not the big house that the tenants were renting, but the house where she lived until the until her death. Yeah.
And, I think I told you a little bit about how, she and my, were arguing in front of her about, the money not having been given to my Oserob, mama Wafana, for our upkeep. And, but what I remember also is shortly after that, less than a year later, a a news came that our father had died in Italy. Uh-huh. And my mother, I remember, was telling me, has been tell was telling us that my father who was following the political situation in Europe. He was much more aware than than the rest than many of the other his countrymen.
He was always hoping that if the Italians joined war, against the English. If they join if they, joined sides with, Hitler and declared war on the on the English and and and the western powers. That would that would fasten the, liberation of Ethiopia. Mhmm. But he he died before we were told before the Italians actually joined.
But but but only a few months before they joined. He must have died, in the spring of 1940 because the Italians joined the war in June of 1940. So it was only a few months Yeah. Before he knew that the the Italians had joined the the, Germans. And and and therefore, Ethiopia's liberation was Was imminent or yeah.
Was imminent. Exactly. Yeah. But still there were signs, so he he must have Yeah. And there were signs we're gonna be combating each other.
So but he was not so he I know you told me, but was he in imprisoned with the rest of the family, or they're in different places? No. No. Different places. He was in Lungobuco mostly.
Lungobuco Mhmm. Is on the main Italian peninsula, you know, the Italian booth, towards the end of the Italian booth. If you if you can visualize the Italian, the map of Italy. Yes. You know, it goes down and then there is a a booth on one side and then another one on the left.
The, Lungobuco is somewhere between the two tips. You know? Mhmm. But on the mainland. Whereas, our mother and the rest of the Ethiopian prisoners were in Azinara, which as I said last week was off the island of, Sicily.
Between Sicily and the mainland, there is a small island called Azinara. In fact, it's a group of islands, arch archipelago kind of islands, between Sicily and the mainland. So and one of them one of these islands, small islands was called Asinara, and that's where they were. So they were not together today to make a long story short. So we assume they had no communication.
Right? It seems they this they they knew something about each other as situation, but not much. But an interesting tale here, Rafael, is that when together with among the people who are with my father, Ilungabuko, was Balambaras Manu. Oh, no. Yeah.
Your grandfather on your mother's side. Yeah. Yeah. He was, he told me later, after I married your mother that, he was in the same area, perhaps even in the same house as my our as my father. And he said he he was making tea and and and, you know, preparing, small, how do you call them?
Shine, and and coffee for our father when he was ill. So so they knew each other from the from the prison days, from their days in prison in Italy. Do do you know what he died of? I mean, was he was ill? Or do you what do you know?
That's that's what we were told. We were told that he has some liver condition, but, we have no way of confirming it. Does anybody think he was killed, or do do we is there any reason to think that? Well, some wild well, I wouldn't say wild, but there's some like, his, his brother, Ababa. Mhmm.
Gashababa Ali, Tamur's father. He he was a close brother of, our father. He never believed that our father died a natural death. But but he, you know, he's just a matter of suspicion, and, I don't think he has any yeah. Maybe, yeah.
He wasn't there? No. No. No. No.
No. He he fought with him in the northern fronts and and, you know, they were in the same army against the Italians. But when our father took, the Italians took, our father prisoner, Gashababa, his brother, his younger brother was not among those who was jailed or or detained. Right. So now that you're now that all the the 3 kids are back, wait.
Where's Tiyadis and, Tiyal Finesh, that's, Miss Le's mother. They were they were kept at the American Mission School. I think I mentioned that last week. They were given, to the directors of the school. Oh, yes.
Yeah. Yes. So show missus, I can't remember her name. She yeah. It's just there are boarding schools at the American Mission in Gunlala.
The mission that, was started by the American Presbyterian mission. It was attached to the hospital, headed by doctor Lamy. So they were schooling there. So now so she never left. But so now all the kids are back.
So did you go to school while, everybody was gone? I mean, I guess No. Between 37, you're home? Yeah. I was home.
I was home. I was very close to my Moxie. Mhmm. But I didn't start school. That's, the next phase of, I don't think I I started school until 1942, late 42 or early 43.
Which is how old are you? 42. I would have been, like, 8. Okay. So so here, you'd be a second grader probably.
Right? Yeah. Or pushing to 1st, 2nd grade. Yeah? Yeah.
Or or even 43, perhaps. Even 3rd grade? Yeah. But, even then, I didn't go to, you know, the the western schools. I went to a traditional where the Yazimam, Kifli, and I, went to, started our schooling at, one of those traditional schools run by a priest where you learn the Ethiopian alphabet and reading and writing and so forth.
Yeah. Church school. The most of those schools are attached to a church, but not all of them. The one we attended was an it was a a a neighborhood school. There was a priest, Yanita Oldhamadin.
Yenita is the the name we usually give to our teachers. I think it's etymologically, it's probably, my lord. But what I would call them. I remember him very distinctly. He's, he was from Aksum.
He was our teacher. He had 30 or 40 kids. He was, giving lessons from in the home of, a friend of the family, Thomas Taferia, Wolde, near the Lazarus mission. Yeah. I don't think you would remember it, but it's some north of where Gulale.
It's the northern part of Gulale between, if I don't know if again, you remember between Rufail Church and Madani Adam Church, somewhere along that line. So the 3 of us would, walk maybe 2 kilometers from our house to the school there and spend the whole day there. Wow. And and and it's very interesting to reflect on what those traditional schools like. I mean, it look like there was this one teacher who would have 30 or 40 students, sometimes even more.
They are different, of different ages, different levels of education. Some were just starting their their alphabet. Others were able to read and write, but they were all there, and he would manage the whole school just from where you are sitting. Wow. Sometimes you would have the more advanced, pupils teach the ones, who are just starting.
So those who are reading the, reading might be able to help him teach the ones who are who are just starting the alphabet. But on the whole, he was, I mean, all those teachers were fantastic. One one class schools. You know? One classroom schools, the kind of thing.
And and also in the middle of the city. I mean, it's not, you know, it's not a rural area. I mean, there's, you know, a lot of distractions and, you know Yeah. Yeah. And kids coming and going.
I mean, that's, But at that time, really, it felt the that part of Gululeli was virtually empty. I mean, there are full of trees, eucalyptus trees. Sometimes we were afraid to walk even through those trees. And sometimes a a servant would have to accompany us to take us to the school because, we were afraid that, you know, something might happen. My dogs, my my wild dogs, or my attackers.
Anything can happen. But, anyone, we were young. So it was myself, Kifley, and Zima. And, I Yeah. I'm I managed to complete the curriculum there, so called curriculum, which is, reading the Psalms of David.
That's the end of the tradition. The first stage of the traditional school is when you finish Dawits. The the Psalms of David. Thouwit Dagama. He's he's recited the the Psalms thus.
The the phase of the equivalent of primary school in the western, system. At that time, the teachers were rewarded, were given it as a reward. In my case. In our case, he was given, what the Durif. Durif is a a very expensive kind of Gabi, given specially to for all which is worn on only on special occasions.
Wow. So when your teacher gets done, that means you you know, he's done a good job. So the reward, the teacher, not the pupil for finishing this. So he gets the graduation gown. Yeah.
Yeah. So so when you guys were walking to school, the 3 siblings, what what were the ages? Well, 7 or 8 in my case. Kifre was 1 year younger, so 6 or 7. Zimam was 3 years older than me, so she would be, instead of, 8, should be 11:11 or 2.
Yeah. Isn't she? Yeah. So, I mean, that's sort of like our girls, you know, like Leah and Henna walking, you know, a mile to school by themselves, you know, through the woods. Exactly.
Then coming back. Yeah. So when do you so, I mean, everybody does this? I mean, this was the norm? I mean, like Yeah.
Yes. Yes. This was the norm. And then and then after that, you went to I mean, what was primary school then? Like, after that, what would the kids do?
Okay. After, I com I completed the the first level, Dawid Magam, finishing the, Sons of David, Incidentally, maybe I shouldn't say this, but Kifli and Zimam didn't do so. They went halfway, but they didn't manage to finish it in 1 year. Normally, you're supposed you're expected to finish it in a year, maybe a year and another month. Anyway, Kifli and I were admitted to the Tafari McConnell School.
That must have been 1943 or 44. This was, through the help of, our, the Jasmaj Iguzo. Jasmaj Iguzo is our grand uncle kind of thing. I mean, if you want to be very specific about it, she was the brother of our grandmother. Of your grandmother so your father's mother or your where your mother's mother?
My mother's mother. Okay. And the Jasigazoo are brother and sister. Okay. Okay.
And he was a a jazmaz. He was a very very close to the emperor. In fact, he was a cabinet minister under Menilek. Wow. Yeah.
So he's an older man. He was exiled the whole time during the Italian occupation. He spent the whole time, in, the Ethiopian monastery on the in the Ethiopian monastery in in Jerusalem along along with the emperor's wife, empress Menon, and the royal family. They were all kept in the holy land in the Ethiopian monastery. A lot of it's well, the high ranking people.
I didn't know that. Yeah. Raskasa and many others were were kept there. Yeah. And that that was self imposed?
I mean, they they fled to exile? I mean, they were imprisoned set by the Italians. No. No. No.
They went with the emperor. Actually, when the emperor left for, exile Yeah. They accompanied him all the way to, Jerusalem to the Holy Land. The emperor continued his, exile into Europe and and into England. But the other the entourage and many of the his wife Mhmm.
And the the judge Gazoo, Ras Casa, and many others. The ministers of the FEN, services Haile. They all stayed in, in, the holy land in the Ethiopian monastery. So it was a self exile. I mean, they went in on the same train to Djibouti with the emperor.
Took the same boat from Djibouti to, the holy land. And and then the emperor continued, as I said, while the rest of the his entourage remained in the Holy Land. And and if the Italians knew they were sailing, I mean, they would have tried to shoot the boat, I would assume. Right? I mean, they they had to sneak?
But at that time, they, I mean, that part of the, Middle East was British controlled. Oh, I see. The Italians had not joined war against them. This was in 1936 we're talking about, you know, when they when they were exiled. Emperor left the Addis Ababa, in in, 1936.
He left Ethiopia in 1936. Yeah. So that he could get away with it. I mean, he was sort of as soon as he sort of left where he crossed the Red Sea, he was sort of out of Italian danger? Yeah.
He was assisted, I think, by the British because, because I think they, helped him with the transportation, getting the boats, the the ship that took him and his family and his, entourage, and, passes through Europe. And when he was he came to when he finally landed in oh, yeah. To in, in England too. I mean, there there were some assistance on the part of the English. That's amazing.
And perhaps and perhaps some other, European powers as well, but certainly the English. So now the the Jas the Jasemath said helped you to go to Tafar e makonnen? Yes. In what sense? Well, he, when the well, he you had to have special permission in those days, to enter the the schools when they were boarding schools.
You know, there are, lots and lots of children of our age, but only so many places in the schools. You know? Yeah. So you had to first priority was given to people who whose who those pupils rather children whose parents, had served their country or had died during the war, or of, you know, closer to the emperor's court and so forth. So, the Justice Gazzo took it upon himself that the sons of Nagarasodaijo should be allowed to go to Tafari Mokonin School, you know, because of their father's service to the country.
Wow. So the 2 of us, and I went to Tafari Mokonnen School, were admitted to Tafari Mokonnen. Free. Boring. Yeah.
And our sisters, 3 years a month. And, this went to, empress Benin School, which is the sister school not too far from the Farimakon School itself. How where is that compared to Golale? Oh, not just north of the, November the university. Yeah.
So in Sudeikilo, they're just north of Sudeikilo. So it's a boarding school but he could have gone home. Well, I mean, there are rules that they didn't allow us to leave. I mean, there are very strict rules. That you weren't you weren't allowed to leave, but I mean, you know, but it was still in the same city.
I mean, it wasn't Oh, yeah. I mean, there are day schools. There are in addition, there are it was roughly 1 third boarding and 2 thirds day schools. Oh, okay. So it was not just all of not everyone was a, boarding boarding student.
So what were you? You were a day or boarding? No. No. Boarding.
Full boarding and, free. So that was that was advantage. I mean, you know, in in this country, you'd you'd wanna be a day student, but, you know, that's different back home. Yeah. No.
No. This was the considered great, privilege. And I we stayed both Kiefel and I stayed throughout my our primary and secondary schools at the Farimakon school. We wouldn't go to any other school. Begun and finished there.
One thing to note here is that both schools, both Tafarimokounen and Empress Marin existed before the war. Tafarimokounen was established in 1924 by the, by the regent Rastafari Mokonnen. You you know the the emperor before he was he became emperor. Yeah. He was regent, and he was called Rastafari, Tafari Mokonnen.
Yeah. So it was named after him. He he started it in 1924. Wow. 6 years before he be he was crowned as emperor.
He was crowned as emperor in 1930. Mhmm. And, the scrolls started in 1924. And and a few years later, I think, like, 2 or 3 or 4 years later, the empress, his wife, empress Mellon, started another school for girls, not very close to Tafari Mokon School for Girls. So those 2 schools existed before the Italian war.
But during the Italian occupation, the they were no longer schools. The the family members served as some kind of a storage, storeroom facilities for the Italian army. So there it was closed. So it was only reopened after the emperor arrived. Almost within a year of the emperor's arrival return from exile.
It was started. So so it's a miracle you guys got in. I mean, there must have been a huge Exactly. Pressure to get in. I mean, you know Exactly.
Exactly. That's why the intervention of the jazz machine goes to help the a lot. Yeah. In 19, 43 or 44. Yeah.
I was I was gonna say, who are the teachers? But go go ahead. Oh, yeah. I was going exactly. That was Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, when I say, we joined the school, don't make it look like it was, like, church school, the school like I said. Yeah. I mean, it was a very, very rudimentary school. Remember, the world is still raging in Europe.
Yeah. We're talking about 40 2, 43. The war didn't stop until 1945. Yeah. So there were there was virtually no nothing by way of school supplies, exercise books or chalks or blackboards or deck.
There was nothing of the sort. There were no trained teachers. Obviously, the few that were trained before, that were educated Ethiopians before the war were massacred by the Italians. So Yeah. Very little left by way of, Ethiopian teachers.
So what happened was the, the emperor, and and his assistants, his advisers rounded up whoever was available in the city. Greeks, Sardinians, Egyptians, and a few leftover Ethiopians, to start school, at the Farimu Korone. There was no nothing like grade 1, grade 2, grade 3. Like, when I entered the Farimuqonin school, just as an example, again, in 43 or 44, the school start had 36 grades. You are either class 36, and then you move way up.
You you move your way towards 1. Grade 36, 35, 34, 33. When you enter grade 1, then you finish. So I I was assigned to grade, when I first arrived. I think I I was assigned into grade 33.
That means 3 years 3 grades above the beginning. Grade 36 is the beginning. I was in grade 33. The reason was because I had already been to the traditional school, and I was able to read. So when the when the teacher had me read something and I was able to read it fluently even though I may not have understood what was what I was reading.
Yes. I was put into grade 33. The very same day, another teacher comes and gives me something in English, and I couldn't read it. Yeah. I didn't know word of English.
I didn't know I didn't know the alphabet. Yeah. So the so so that teacher took it up on himself that I was not properly in the proper classroom. So he moved me to, grade 33, from grade, no. I was I was grade 33, then he no.
No. Sorry. From grade 33, I was the teacher who, noticed that I was reading well. I'd moved me to 22. Sorry.
22. From 33 to 10 years? I mean, you get it. No. You can move to 3, 4, grades in a year if Okay.
Okay. So I was moved to 11 grades, to 22. But when I couldn't read English, the second teacher, the same day, moved me to grade 26, and that's where I stayed. 26. I mean, the school had I mean, this was immediately after the war.
So I mean, you know, the whatever education there was before the war was discontinued during the Italian war. But the kids started kept on growing. So when Tafarikokun School opened, there were kids aged between 827. Oh my god. Yeah.
In my own schools, there were, in my own classroom, there were people who were quite old. We would call them because they were older. Their their fathers are, were living in the in the in the country, and had died during the Italian war in in some of the battles. So they were allowed into the Tafari Mokon school, but they were not, as young as we were. Wow.
Yeah. And the school really started the Harry Mokon school really started to reorganize and become a proper western style school beginning 1945 with the coming of Canadian Jesuits in 1945. And I suggest we stop here because after that, after 1945, Tafari Mokouni was a different school. It's a different phase of education. It was more like, Western education as we know it here.
But if there is something I can remember about what happened at the traditional school or at the unorganized Farimokono School. I'll mention it. But, but beginning 1945, with the Canadian teachers when they came, the Canadian justice teachers, it was reorganized, on proper western style from grades 1 to grade 8, by age, by level of learning learning. So it it it was a different setup. What did, where did, Gaskafly start?
Oh, I don't remember. Well, just a little below me, I think. Yeah. But, you know, it would be it when we start next time, I will, try to say a little bit about how the emperor selected the Canadian Jesuits' father. Okay.
And, why Canadians? Why Jesuits' fathers? How come he gave them the existing school instead of letting them start their own school? And also how he managed to cope with the resistance of the traditional orthodox priest, who who didn't welcome Catholics there were Jesuits, who were very close to the, emperor, and they even managed to convert one of our, emperors, Susenhos, in 16/30 something into into into the Catholic faith. And the civil war emerged, you know, developed as a result of that.
So that yeah. Yeah. Which were which which didn't make him very popular. Yeah. But Susenius later, renounced his Catholic faith, and he died as, as an Orthodox Christian.
That's what we say and what we believe. And that's probably what that's what happened also. So it wasn't an easy choice to choose Canadians who are there. You know, they were not known too much. French, Jesuits, Catholics, and that's a very, very interesting, choice.
And Good. I think it will be starting we'll start with that next week. Next week. Wonderful. Okay.
Great. Thank you again. This is fantastic. We'll talk again next Sunday, and I'll stop here. Okay.
Can can we just, how do you say it? Suspend it a little bit so I see if there is anything in my note. Sure. Go ahead. One, item I should have mentioned is you remember I had said that, Kiefel and I were admitted to Tafari Mukden School.
Yes. And, Zimam and Adis, were admitted to Empress Menon School. That leaves Erfinish, the eldest sibling Yeah. Miss Le's mother. She didn't, well, she was not she she was not she didn't she didn't go to any of these schools.
She was considered too too old, I guess. I don't know what. But shortly after that, she was married. She was married away. You know, she was married off in 1944 or 45.
So she didn't go to I mean, she had gone to the American Presbyterian Mission School in Gulalia, as I said, during this other occupation. But after this, I just came, she didn't join her 2 other sisters, the mom, and, had this to go to, Empress Madon. Empress Madon. That's one. And then I think I mentioned about how soon after our mothers returned from, Azinara, we had heard of our father's death, and that was, of course, a very sad event.
And, as many as I think I told as I said last week Yeah. As many as our mother had many of her relatives and her nephews and uncles and so forth had died in the course of the war, and was crying. You know, one of the first things I remember as as I told you is the perennial Luxo Yeah. After they returned because so many of her our relatives had died. This was yet another one, you know, when she heard about her husband's death Yeah.
Shortly after he returned. Yeah. I think I'll stop here. Well, yeah, actually, I I wanted to ask also. I mean, you you didn't say anything about this, but I would imagine at that time, you know, it was not common for girls to go to school.
I mean, was that was that not remarkable in and of itself that there was first a girl's school, school, you know, and Yeah. That, you know, then all the kids, all her you know, your mother's daughters, you know, went off to secondary school. Is that not a was that normal or unusual? Secondary school. Well, I mean, at the time, they went to primary school.
Right? But is this I mean, what proportion of the city kids went beyond church school at that time? Very, very little. Very, very few. I mean, but as I indicated, those 2 schools had existed before the war.
But the enrollment situation, at the time, like in Tafarimu Khodin, for instance, in 1945, it was roughly 1 third boarding and 2 thirds day school with a total student population of maybe 4, 500. It's a little less in, in in empress man in school. So this was just the beginning of, modern education or or at least, yeah, after the occupations of a little very few. It's a it's a drop in the bucket. I mean, you know, 400 kids out of Addis Ababa.
I mean, you know, much less Ethiopia. Yeah. Yeah. And and then all the kids in one family went there, which is just amazing. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. A little later, other schools were also reopened in Addis Ababa. Menilek School that had been established by Emperor Menilek in 1907 was was also reopened. So the that also took some of the, weight.
Also, Madani Adam School or Baraba School in Gulale. That was also reopened shortly after the emperor's return. A few such schools were opened in Addis, and then, it's maybe next week or sometime during the our sessions. I will say a few words about how much education expanded between 1941 and 1951. In in 10 years, this was, you know, education was the emperor's main focus Mhmm.
Immediately after his return from exile. In a matter of 10 years, they, between 1941 and 1951, they had the emperor managed to this, of course, the the Ethiopia, I should say. But the emperor, as it said, established primary schools, secondary schools, commercial school, a technical school, an engineering school, and even a university college. The university college that I I attended was started in 1950, 51. Just in time?
Yeah. Just yeah. I'm on the 1st to to enter it. I was in the second group that was admitted in 1951. The first, entry was in 1950.
Wow. So so it was a fantastic leap forward in terms of how much they did in the field of education. Establish the curriculum was being written. Teacher training schools were established. I mean, when I say this, I should say they will be gone because, you know, it was only it's a small drop in the bucket.
Yeah. I mean, you know, all of these schools added together wouldn't make, the enrollment ratio even 5% of the school age population were not in school. A very small percentage of the school age children of Ethiopia were in school. But at least a a start to start be a start, it was a good start. Yeah.
It was a seed. It was a good seed, and it was multifaceted. Teacher training, technical, vocational, commercial, advising the curriculum, writing the textbooks, hiring teachers, all of those things simultaneously with virtually nothing in the government's treasury. Wow. Yeah.
That's the emperor started with borrowed money from the English of £3,000,000 and that's how the government was reestablished in 1941. But that's a topic, worse Okay. Session by itself. Wonderful. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Thank you very much, and, good night. And, we'll talk again soon. Okay.
Okay. Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye bye.