What Is Driving Many Young People Away From Our Country?
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By Seble Teweldebirhan
23/01/2012
Source:
http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Page=heads&NewsID=3196
going middle eastAddis Ababa, January 23, 2012 (Ezega.com) - A friend of
mine told me this joke. Former Ethiopian military leader Colonel Mengistu
Hailemariam was passing by the Immigration Authority when he saw many people
in line outside the Immigration Affairs office. He asked one of his guards
why all these people are lined up. The guard told him they are trying to get
passport so that they can leave the country. Disappointed and frustrated, he
decided to get a passport for himself, thinking since everybody is leaving,
there is no point for his stay. So, he went to the people who were already
lined up. Recognizing who he was, everyone gave him a way so that he will be
at the front of the line. After he finished the passport process when his
turn came, he noticed there was no one left behind him. He asked: where did
everybody go? One of the guards told him that they decided to go home
because if he was leaving there is no point for them to do the same.
This joke might be one of the many humors Ethiopians make out of their pain
and frustration. However, it made a of lot sense when I went to the
immigration office last week. If any of you know the immigration office in
Addis Ababa, the line of people who apply for a new passport reaches from
the front gate of the office to the Black Lion Hospital. Thousands wait
almost the whole day to get an appointment so that they will come back and
receive their passports. The appointments can take two to three months
because of the number of people who want passport is exceeding the capacity
of the office to process them.
The big difference between the generation during Mengistu who lined up for
passport and the present generation is probably the former knew why they
wanted to leave and understood what they are running from. They were mostly
educated and fought for changes but frustrated for several reasons.
The present crowd, however, does not seem to figure out why they are in a
hurry to leave. Most are very young, at their late teens and early twenties
with no exposure to real life to begin with. They never tried or explored
their options in Ethiopia. They gave up before they even started. For this,
it is easy to come up with many reasons including the economic situation of
our country. However, there is one other reason that, I think, must get due
recognition, which is the confusion the present generation is facing between
modern and traditional life styles. Traditional way of life had figured
things out for women and to some extent for men. Especially women's defined
place as a wife and mother used to make them less uncertain of the future or
worry about what they should do with their life. Most rural women knew what
their life is all about or where it is headed at an early age.
Today, modernization has reached the rural areas without the infrastructures
and the attitudes of the society changing. Women are told they are more than
wives and mothers without enough opportunities to explore different choices.
Here, I am not arguing the traditional life style is in favor of women.
However, when culture and life style change, it is necessary to change the
living situations at the same time. Otherwise, the divergence creates a
confusion we are witnessing in most small towns and rural areas in Ethiopia
today.
With lack of especial training, entrepreneurship skills, with the poverty
and the discrimination and abuse still existing in their everyday lives,
women are expected to make something out of their lives. Taking this
advantage, illegal brokers and legalized agents approache them with
'exciting' opportunities of working in the Middle East. For the young women
who are unable to see any better, the offer is irresistible.
>From my observation, those who lined up out side the immigration authority
do not have the clue up to what they are getting into. Women from Addis
Ababa and regional capital cities are relatively informed about life in the
Middle East, the working and living condition, the payment and the risks
they assume by going there. The new immigrant crowd is not in a position to
understand all this. For Most who do not speak Amharic and in some cases do
not have any exposure of modern households, it is easy to assume what they
are about to find out might easily shock them.
Curious with their youth, I have talked to some of them about where and how
they are intending to leave. Most just finished high school or waited until
they turn 18 and started the process through brokers and in some cases
agents recognized by law. Their families mostly cannot afford to cover the
expense whether through illegal or legal means, which is mostly between
10,000-15,000 birr. Therefore, if you ask some of them, how they intend to
cover the expenses, they will tell you their parents had to sell the only ox
or cow they owned, borrowed money, or take a risk on their entire savings so
that their daughters, in some cases sons, go to the Middle East.
This is not a small price to pay for both the parents and the children.
However, it is important to focus on what caused the diva that makes rural
women see beyond borders at such a young age. We might argue that
globalization and information played significant role stealing the hearts of
our youth in general. However, now, we are talking about rural girls who
never had the exposure to western TV, Hollywood movies, or internet. These
girls do not have a neighbor or a relative in Europe and they did not grow
up dreaming the wonderful life abroad.
In the past, the only part of a society the country can rely on for better
or worse was the rural society. The farmer and his family are trusted to
stick to the country on whatever we are going through. What makes the
current immigration turn bad news of all time is that the farmer is selling
his ox to send his daughter to the Middle East. You can imagine the
discrepancy considering that just a few years back the farmer would not let
his daughter out of his side unless she got married.
Of course, the answer I got from most girls lined up outside the immigration
office is poverty made them choose going abroad. However, poverty is not
something that happened for Ethiopia overnight. It has always been here and
regardless of it, the rural community kept its ties strong with the land and
the country. It valued its culture, tradition and fought to survive without
considering abandonment as a choice.
What changed today is clearly culture and life style. Unfortunately, this
change came out of nowhere and our community seems to have a great deal of
confusion in adopting it. It seems women do not want to be a homemaker or
mother any more, and men have a less appetite of settling down at an early
age.
Everyone is expected to make it by his or her own and with this seemingly
modern attitude; the situations is not allowing for coping up. Middle East
seems the only place available as a choice for these young people. They
believe they can make a difference in their life if they just go there and
work for a couple of years. However, by talking to them, it is obvious they
did not think the whole thing through. Some say that they will save their
entire salary but do not know how much that is. Others plan to pay their
debt and still do not seem to consider how long that will take.
All this forces us to think if modernization is doing us more damage than
good. Of course, one might be happy to know that women are to some extent
making life decisions on their own. It takes a lot of courage for them to
decide to go somewhere they have no idea what it is. However, whether that
courage gets them where they wish to be in life is the big question.
I met Obse outside immigration office standing in line to get an appointment
for her passport. She is only 19 years old. She came from Fiche in Oromia
Region with a promise from a broker to get her to Saudi Arabia. The broker
so far sent five of her peers from the same neighborhood to different Middle
East countries. Obse hardly speaks Amharic and she never been in Addis Ababa
before. She says it blew her mind when watching the traffic and the
buildings in Addis.
For her though, there was no other option in life except the Middle East.
She says she planned this for the last two years. "I wanted to finish school
first," she says. "That is why I didn't start the process sooner."
I asked her if she has any information about life in the Middle East. The
only thing the broker told her is she will be doing household work. She
assumed the work would be the same as in her mother's house. "How hard can
it be?" she said. "I do everything for my parents in our house. I cook, wash
cloths and take care of my little brothers and sisters. The broker said I
would do the same thing over there. He told me they would teach me if there
was anything new," she said with a broken Amharic.
Obse grew up in a household where she was told a women's pride is getting
married at appropriate age and become a good wife and a mother. She thought
that is where her life was heeded. However, out of the blue, few years back,
some girls from her neighborhood went to some Middle East countries. They
started sending money and clothes for their families and the entire
neighborhood started to envy their success. Now, families changed their mind
about their daughter's future and that included her father.
One of the most disappointing deeds we Ethiopians share is evasiveness. We
have a hard time telling the exact truth, including our successes and
failures. Sadly, that leaves our children with only one option: learning the
truth through experience, and usually the very hard way. Girls like Obse are
victims of this practice. The girls who went to the Middle East before them
do not share what life looks like outside Ethiopia in plain terms. The
message they convey is limited to the money and clothes they send. What
those girls have to do to get the money or clothes they send remains a
secret except when some serious crimes are committed on them or by them, and
it goes to the headlines.
Using my mobile phone, I showed Obse the globe and asked her to show me
where Saudi Arabia is. She had a hard time locating the country she longed
to go to. However, it did not bother her at all. "I will know when I get
there," she said smiling.
The definition of success by our society has never been something that
benefits either the individual or the country. Unfortunately, it seems like
we live in a society that has become to value a few dollars than its
children and the country's future in the long run. If we are to care about
our children at all, girls like Obse are better off in Ethiopia helping
their husband in agricultural work and raising children who might grow up to
have a better day some day and to make a life of their choice. Otherwise,
the case will continue making everybody we care about a loser and only
benefiting the brokers who do not really care about the children or the
country.
_______________________________________
Seble Teweldebirhan
Seble Teweldebirhan is Addis Ababa based Reporter for Ezega.com. She can be
reached by sending email through <
http://www.ezega.com/ContactUs.aspx> this
form.
Received on Mon Jan 23 2012 - 10:55:36 EST
