Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
By Mamo Birru
They say the government will fall this New Year.
They said the same thing last year. And the year before that.
Somewhere, someone’s uncle is citing an ancient prophecy; “When the donkeys outnumber the lions, the palace shall crumble…”
Meanwhile, in Addis Ababa, 700,000 children are being fed hot meals at school.
But let’s not talk about that.
No, let’s go back to the glory days…
Back when Haile Selassie gave one boiled egg and a slice of injera for lunch at Teferi Mekonnen School.The generation from that era have been telling that story for 50 years now.
With a sparkle in their eye and a tear on their cheek.
Never mind that today’s government is feeding millions.It doesn’t count.
Because it doesn’t come with a mustache, a crown, or a memory filter.
Ethiopia’s School Feeding Program has quietly expanded across regions,
Backed by homegrown initiatives, and even global support.
Children who once came to school hungry now concentrate, participate; and dare to dream.
Mothers get employment preparing meals.
Communities organize.
Nutrition improves.
Dropouts decline.
But here’s the problem:
If Kenya does it, “Bravo! See how civilized they are.”
If Djibouti offers free meals, “Look how compassionate even the small ones can be.”
If Ethiopia does it…
“Must be a scam.”
“It’s propaganda.”
“Check who won the food contract.”
“It’s the Chinese.”
“It’s the Illuminati.”
Our pride has become allergic to the present.
We salute stone churches and ancient stelae.
We post Lucy like she’s our personal grandmother.
But when something now works, we retreat to suspicion, waiting for a new revolution.
We honor emperors who once gave free eggs,
but dismiss leaders feeding entire school districts.
Why?
Because somewhere deep inside, we believe progress only counts when it’s imported.
Local success makes us uncomfortable.
Like a miracle we forgot to sabotage.
We’re probably the only nation that can romanticize the past while ridiculing the present.
The only community where feeding a child is less interesting than feeding a Facebook conspiracy.
So, here’s the curse we cast on ourselves:
“May our greatness be seen only through ruins,
And may our future forever be mistrusted unless stamped with foreign approval.”
The food is real.
The children are eating.
But we are still spiritually malnourished.
We’re not stuck because of poverty.
We’re stuck because we don’t believe in our own progress unless it wears yesterday’s costume.
And so, next time someone tells you the empire will collapse next week because the coffee tasted off—
Tell them:
“Until we can celebrate a child’s free lunch with the same passion we mourn a fallen flag,
We are not fighting for justice.
We are just proudly stuck in nostalgia.”
Warm regards,
Mamo Birru at proudlystuck@gmail.com
Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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Teachers are straving and are being feed with school children. If Parents and families of the children travell outide addis , they will be kidnapped for a ransome.Female university students are kidanpped and raped . What a legacy? Civil servants sleep in the office since they don’t afford renting one room. paid cadres like you are enjoying life .
!!!!!!
Different stories at different times. Narratives is not same. Emperors time is absolutely different. We cannot get it back again. No comparison. The children whom you talk about coming back from school, they found their dwellings demolished by a fire called Corridor development. The fire did not spare their school too. Another fire is scorching the schools in Amhara region.
‘Conclusion’: ሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊ እኮ አይደለም – እንደ የአብዛኛዎቻችሁ ዘመዶች – ከውጪ ሃገር በሚላክለት – ምፅዋት እና ፍርፋሪ – የሚተዳደረው!
(1). Haile-Selassie’s Ethiopia: Didn’t the Greedy & Incompetent Monarchy’s failure to airdrop Shewa Bakery’s 10¢-100g bread for Wollo’s famine victims hurl Ethiopia in to the Derg-EPRP-Meison Era Inferno that made Ethiopia “The World’s Poster Child of Poverty & Famine” that reverberates world-wide till today?
(2). Abiy’s Ethiopia: Didn’t Abiy turn the Ethiopia known world-wide as “The World’s Poster Child of Poverty & Famine” to the Ethiopia that is “The World’s Poster Child of Prosperity & Greenery”? Isn’t it under Abiy that ≥10 million Ethiopian school kids get ≥2 free meals Ethiopia-wide? Did anyone put a gun to Abiy’s head to force him do that?
(3). Adanech’s Addis: ≈1 million KG/Primary/Junior High school kids get ≥2 free meals. Besides, ≥30,000 needy residents also get ≥2 free meals at 22 of the 28 districts. Couldn’t she have just sat in her office and collected her salary just like all her predecessors?
(4). Abiy/Ethiopia/Democracy/Election: Ethiopia’s last election was held under on-site scrutiny of UN, EU, US, AU, NGOs, etc. Abiy’s Party won! The Party elected Abiy as the PM! Ethiopians SPOKE LOUD & CLEAR! If anybody has better ideas for Ethiopia, he/she is free to run in the upcoming election, win and lead Ethiopia! NO WHINING!
Do you really want to compare yourselves with the Emperor and his holiest Golden Age????? During his 50 years of reigning as Emperor of Ethiopia, he was loved even to these days. Even after his death; he is kept in good memory in Ethiopia and beyond…
You’re already!!! a forgotten child.
Ketta,
Isn’t it Haile-Selassie’s Monarchy that reduced Ethiopia to “The World’s Poster Child of Poverty & Famine”? Hasn’t that tarnished Ethiopia’s image beyond repair for good?
Wouldn’t the Monarchs have been hailed as Heroes had they airdropped Shewa Bakery’s 10¢-100g bread for Wollo famine victims? What held them back? Greed? Incompetence?
Compare:
1). Adanech’s Addis gives ≥2 free meals/day to ≥ 1 million children & needy residents.
2). Abiy’s Ethiopia gives ≥2 free meals/day to ≥ 10 million school kids Ethiopia-wide.
PS: Some of my Grade-9 classmates were children of ambassadors/ministers/senators/etc. although I had no clue whatever ambassadors/ministers/senators/etc. meant at the time [since I was under age for my education level].
First of all, we are asking first,and after all, let there be PEACE In Ethiopia. Without PEACE,there is no landing anywhere. Whoever,Wherever, Whatsoever pls. Let us be Peace Loving People. At the very End, without Peace in mind, Everyone will crumble into Ruins.
Regarding the Emperor’s time, I hope you’re much younger than me, to know this period of time; unfortunately.
More than thirty years ago, I was supposed to go by car and small plane to different parts of Ethiopia with clients. Almost everywhere. Which means right after the Era of the Derg. Could you believe that there were no adequate roads? One good Example is Wollo, Lalibela Airport, had no terminal; the terminal was under an Accia tree,where we received our luggage in the open Air. The name of the Airea is Shemeshea Airoprt to this day. But this is very romantic. The road to Lalibela is through rugged mountain valleys and only 9/nine/km. to the small town of Lalibela.it took us three hours/3/to reach the city. Now,you can imagine, during Emperor’s time during the famines or natural disaster, how can we blame him, for the distribution of help to the affected people? Without roads and basic infrastructure? Have you ever read a book entitled “Ethiopia with Mule” by ‘Dervela Murphy’? Even ourselves in the 1990s, we’re moving by Mules and horses in most of Ethiopian urban areas. So, we could not blame or accuse the Emperor all the time. By the way, we all try to convince each other for the well being of our Country. Thank you Sir.
Hahahaha, what a laughable piece of “jurnalism”. Do you really compare the meal given to school children 80 years ago when Ethiopia’s population was no more than 30 million who was living in the middle -ages without any electricity any industry and was a feudal kingdom quickly disintegrating…to the 21st century democratic republic of Ethiopia with more than 120mill. people, with all the technology and production revolutions that have happened since??
Moreover, Ethiopia is for 30 years getting a 1 billion $ foreign help per year, but still millions of children are out of school(fighting and destruction), millions of hungry people rely on food distribution, fear roams everywhere outside of AA.
Your argument is so laughable it makes me wonder if your comprehensive abilities are really so limited or ate you just a failed mouthpiece (the useful idiot) of this failed government. Cause if the government had any success to be proud of, it would be NOT to feed millions of children at school because the policies of the government should have made it easy for the people to FEED their OWN children!!
Be Marriam, be Alah, mr. Mamu what kind of twisted logic do I have to answer in the morning ….sleep tight you earned your 1000bir with this piece of nonsense…