Fortune News | Jul 13,2020
October 16 , 2021
By Eden Sahle ( Eden Sahle is founder and CEO of Yada Technology Plc. She has studied law with a focus on international economic law. She can be reached at edensah2000@gmail.com. )
It is getting to a time when we start to consider conflict, death, displacement, homelessness, and hunger as normal aspects of being Ethiopian. These situations reflect the massive degradation we are sliding into as human beings.
Sustainable development of the nation has much to do with development-focused activities that strive to enhance and promote economic and socio-political welfare. But conflicts kill people. They destroy property, hamper economic activities, and deflect resources away from development and health care. The endless nationwide problems are stressing us beyond description. As a result, some are taking drastic measures to flee the nation for good.
One of my college friends is among the many people putting their hopes in another country. He graduated with distinction and did not dream of living anywhere but in Ethiopia. When we were at the university, we promised ourselves to continue living in the country and contribute to society, improving the lives and livelihoods of our fellow citizens.
We did not see the coming of all the sadness and deprivation that was to follow. Our dreams, it turns out, were nothing but illusions. It did not take us long to realise that resources would be wasted, services undelivered and citizens, particularly the poor, denied legal, economic, and social protection.
Citizens such as my friend are thus discouraged. He paid close to two million Birr in a scheme to a woman that has an American passport so that they can marry and he can fly to the United States. It was devastating to those of us who knew him and his dream for his country that he left the country in such an illegal and undignified manner. He aims to get away and hopefully start over in a place where he can hear little to nothing about his beloved country.
Many others take it personally when their country is in a quagmire. They prefer to flee at any cost instead of witnessing tragic realities daily. Those of us who remained in the country need a bigger heart and certainly a belief in miracles.
My friend gave up on his dream of staying to contribute to his society in search of his mental sanity. He cried for the life he knew, for leaving his country and the people who understood him in a way that nobody else would. But he needs to make sure that he does not lose his mind living in a country that seems hopeless.
Leaving a country always involves loss, even when it is under personal free will. It is catastrophic to those who are departing the nation without their wish, fleeing war and poverty. Nothing is of their choosing, including the destination. In that case, the loss is bound to be all the more awful as people quickly lose their sense of self and hope.
All countries and societies have their moments of hardship, and a time when it seems like the current crisis is just one of those periods that will come and go. It looks like we are wrong. Like previous generations, the young are now worried about their offspring’s future, slowly giving up on their own. Sadly, peace and development remain just an elusive idea that exists in our minds as we continue to grapple with instabilities.
It is saddening that all generations in Ethiopia have in common war and the need to leave the nation by whatever means. Both the educated and uneducated do it primarily for lack of better options.
Let us expect things to get better anyhow. Hope is a great thing, even if what one is hoping for may never come. This is not to say those who leave or those of us who stay do not pay the price one way or the other. But we do not hold out, there is nothing else anyway.
PUBLISHED ON
Oct 16,2021 [ VOL
22 , NO
1120]
Fortune News | Jul 13,2020
Viewpoints | Sep 11,2020
Featured | Sep 28,2019
View From Arada | Aug 21,2021
Radar | Sep 19,2020
Viewpoints | Mar 06,2021
Agenda | Jan 01,2022
Radar | Apr 26,2019
View From Arada | Mar 27,2021
Radar | Aug 24,2019
Photo Gallery | 50371 Views | May 06,2019
Fortune News | 45386 Views | Jul 18,2020
Photo Gallery | 42043 Views | Apr 26,2019
In-Picture | 40352 Views | Dec 14,2019
November 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
November 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
October 16 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI
Residing in a country with no capital market, an organised marketplace for trading se...
August 28 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI
The streets of Addis Abeba are as varied as they are many, although too many of them have yet to be named. From the narrow alleyways of the...
May 14 , 2022
Diana Yohannes is one of those actively engaging in social media platforms with her T...
May 7 , 2022
The Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA) recently proposed the formation of a macroec...
April 30 , 2022
There is no ambiguity in the UNDP's assessment of Ethiopia’s economic performance a...
April 22 , 2022
Most African countries top the list when ranked on the prevalence of conflict, food i...
May 14 , 2022 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
The mismatch is apparent. Federal budget planners want to slash expenditures for the...
May 14 , 2022 . By TSION HAILEMICHAEL
Thousands of employees of a sputtering state-owned sugar estate have received a settl...
The federal government is to introduce an arrangement that would allow investors and...
May 14 , 2022 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Regulators at the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) have issued a stern warning to seve...
Loading your updates...
Put your comments here