Ethiopia's dream to qualify for World Cup 2014 in Brazil came to an end last night with the loss of 2:0 to Nigeria. I am genuinely pleased to read so many peoples status who say, they are so proud of our Antelopes (our Walia's) accomplishments and they are still happy. Well I wish I could say the same
I believed this was a perfect storm for all Ethiopians to cheerfully celebrate together, a reason to unite with pride, an opportunity for Ethiopia to display its beauty on a world stage, bring something cheerful news in a weeks of terrible news to Ethiopians, another chance for the world media to cover Ethiopia on a positive note and indirectly promote a wave of investment and tourism. I wanted to see us qualify so bad that my expectations might have been too high, perhaps I was overly ambitious. Because, I have been arguing with people why the Walia's can win in Nigeria albeit the challenges. My expectation was based on how good the Walia's played against Nigeria about a month ago on their first leg match in Addis Ababa. Unfortunately yesterday, that team seemed to show up on the 68th minute. They played great for about 15 minutes from there on (we lost the connection and can't say how they played for the rest 8 or so minutes after that...)
There was so much disappointment and hopelessness on a lot of our faces. This morning, I was walking around Addis in the sub-city locally known as Haya hulet (22) and I saw this boy pictured here who seemed to be riding his thoughts, I said to him "hi Walia, Selam new?" (hi Walia how are you?) I said Walia because he was wearing his Walia Jersay. To my amazement he was unfazed with my effort to get his attention; he glanced at me as to only say I heard you but, I am not interested. I felt a sense of respect for his peace & even intimidated to try to engage him again. I felt he was an adult in his own word in a child's body.
I passed him by, then I walked back to snap two pictures with out saying anything. To me he seemed to be drowned with deep thoughts of mixed feelings of disappointment and long term solution. The expression on his face I thought was a shared sentiment with my own feelings inside. My interpretation might be just a reflection of what was on my mind, but when I looked at these two pictures multiple times during the day, one phrase comes to mind "eske-meche?" (for how long?) how long do we continue to be satisfied with efforts. When do we raise the expectation & be satisfied not with efforts but rather results. We are not less than anyone else and we should learn to take disappointment with a loss. To be frank I feel sick of waiting and hoping for next time. Let the light shine on Ethiopian today, tomorrow & all the days to follow as it makes its way back to her glorious days.
On unrelated subject the famous Eritrean singer Yohannis Tikabo better know as Wedi Tikabo just released his first song since he stayed behind in the US to ask for Asylum instead of returning back to Eritrea. There always is so much depth to his lyrics, here is the entire lyrics to his new song Hadinetna which tries to digest the Eritrean current events as he sees it (sorry for any mistakes and some were inaudible).
ክሳላ ኣንታ ክሰሃላ
ክሳላ ባዕለይ ክሰሃላ
ክሳላ ነዛ ኣብ ጥቃይ ዘላ
ዘሕምቆለኒባ ናቶም ስድራ
ምድሪ ኩላ ርሒቃ ገይሻንተላ (2x)
ገይሻ ‘ላ ‘ምበር ተትህሉ ገድሊ (2x)
ታይ ደኣ ሞ ዘይትርአ ኣብ ከውሊ
ሕማቅን ጽቡቅን ክተለሊ
ገይሻ ‘ላ እምበር ገድሊ ተትህሉ (2x)
ምረኣና መሰላ ክትሕሉ
ምረኣና መሰልና ክትሕሉ
ታይ ድዩ ዝብል ዘሎ ህዝቢ ኹሉ
ከም ኢዱ ኣይረኸበን ካብ ምቃሉ
ደላዪ ፍትሒ ክሰምዕ ጽን ኢሉ
ዕድመ ክልተ ጎበዝ ተመንጢሉ
ታይ ይኸውን ኣሎ ቃሉ ኹሉ
ተሰዊሩ ኣይኮነን ተኸዊሉ
ይኸዱ ዶ የለውን ን ኣጋ ምሸት የ
ደሃይ ስኢኖም ገለ ዞም ቅልዑት የ
ይጥቀሙና ለው ዛ ኢንተርኔት የ
እንታይ መዘዙ/መርበቡ? ድኣ ታይ ስክዒት የ
ንሶም ይገፉ‘ለው - ብዘይ መለሳ የ
ዓለም ከ ባሕሪ ኾይና -
ንሕና ኸ ዓሳ ዶ ንሕና ኸ ዓሳ የ (5x)
ኢረይ ንሓድነትናዬ -
ሸጥ ማዓንጣና
ንሕና ንሓድነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ኢረይ ንሓድነትናዬ -
ሸግ ማዓንጣና
ንሕና ንሓድነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ኩርኩሞና ናይ ሰላም ቅኒት የ
ዕላማና ሓንቲ ሓድነት የ
ይኣኽለና ዚ ሞት ወዲ ሞት የ
ጸላኢና ጸሊም ይቀነተ የ
ኣስምዑና ጥዑም መለኸት የ
ኣይተሳእነን ኣሎ በረከት የ
ኣቅስንዋ ወላዲት ሓየት የ
ኢልና እንዲና ስጋ ስዋኣት የ
ኣይትበደል ምድሪ ስዋኣት የ::
ንበል ንሓድነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ንሕና ንሓድነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ንሕና ንሓርነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ንሕና ንሓድነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ደቂ ባሕሪ ሰብ …ቆላ?
ኣይንበላዕ ብቆሊ ማሽላ?
መንገዲና ዘጋግይ የብላን
ታይዶ ይምቅር ካብ ዕረን ወለላን
ደሃይ ሰላም ጥዑም መለኸት የ
ናይ ፈጣሪ ኳሎ በረኸት የ
ክነቅስኖም ወለዲ ሓየት የ
ኢልና እንዲና ስጋ ስዋኣት የ
ኣይትበድል ምድሪ ስዋኣት የ
ንበል ንሓድነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ንሕና ንሓድነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ንሕና ንሓርነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ንሕና ንሓድነትና የ ሸጥ መዓንጣና
ይኸዱ ዶ የለውን ን ኣጋ ምሸት የ
ደሃይ ስኢኖም ገለ ዞም ቅልዑት የ
ይጥቀሙና ለው ዛ ኢንተርኔት የ
እንታይ መርበቡ? ድኣ ታይ ስክዒት የ
ኹሎም ይጠፍኡ - ብዘይ መለሳ የ
ዓለም ከ ባሕሪ ኾይና -
ንሕና ኸ ዓሳ ዶ ንሕና ኸ ዓሳ የ
ንሕና ኸ ዓሳ ዶ ንሕናስ ንዓሳ
ንሕና ኸ ዓሳ ዶ ንሕና ኸ ዓሳ የ
ይነኻኸሳ ዶ - ይነኻኸሳ
(Last verse Repeats)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLaOmHR0tHw&feature=share Cheers,
Daniel
