Good bye to Kuraz by Ashruka
I grew up in small coffee rich, southern Ethiopian town, Haru (10 km from Yirga Chefe) with no electricity. Until I reached grade 5 I studied in a traditional lighting source called Kuraz, which uses Kerosene. The next day most family members noses were full of dark matter & our roof was also black due to the smoke.

My mom used to cook using firewoods, all our businesses, baking bread and making a local drink Tejj were running using wood as an energy source. You can imagine the effect of the smoke as an individual level & as a society. Huge health & environmental impact.

All community activities including health facility services were with no electricity. One day in the evening while I was grade 3 accidentally I almost lost my left hand 3 fingers, I should go to the hospital right ?. But, can you guess? the clinic near by couldn’t handle the situation. No electricity mean no good health service. But, thanks to my family & to the community they took me to a nearby town Yirga Chefe carrying me on their shoulder for a surgery. Wait its 10km away say whatttt. Don’t think about the metro car wasn’t also available due to poor infrastructure.

Oho then Don’t think about TV, we barely watched some news and entertainment on a community TV. We used to listen a radio using batteries, to speak the truth it was unaffordable. May be we bought once in a month. The sad reality this wasn’t in the place where I brought up. But, still now in most part of Ethiopia they are living in a similar condition.

I said good bye to Kuraz, Now 19 years later, I am in Italy studying renewable energy related masters degree. Never worried a second how I gonna cook , study or take shower or any related stuff. I have a good access to health care , I can watch what ever I want. I can use what ever technology I can afford. This is awesome & everyone deserves this.

I want similar situation to happen for all Ethiopians. I believe GERD will change the way many Ethiopians live , help to reduce pollution from a place where I grew up and may other towns. Children will grow up in a better mindset by getting Information from all over the world using internet. The youth will have access to more technology & more work opportunity.

Women that die due to poor health care will be saved. Transportation , cooking, washing & getting information will be easier. GERD will be for a greater good for Ethiopians & the region.

So please help me raise money for Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Let us change change the future together. Let us support to finish GERD. #itsmydam Thanks a lot.

Ashruka

ኩራዝ ደህና ሰንብት በአሽሩካ

ያደኩት በደቡባዊ ኢትዮጵያ ውብ የገጠር ከተማ የቡና መፍለቅያ አከባቢ ሐሩ (ከይርጋ ጨፌ 10 ኪ.ሚ ርቀት ላይ) ነበር ። የልጅነት ጊዜዬ ከማስታውሳቸው ነገሮች እስከ አምስተኛ ክፍል ድረስ ያለማብራት በኩራዝ ማታ ማታ ከወንድሞቼ ጋር ሰብሰብ ብለን ስናጠና እና ስንጫወት የነበረውን ጊዜ ነው። ቲቪ የማይታሰብ ነበር። ሩጫ ሲኖር እና የሻማ እንባ ድራማ ፣ የሕብረ ትርኢት የመሳሰሉ የመዝናኛ ፕሮግራሞች በህዝብ ቲቪ ተሰብስበን እንመለከት ነበር።

እቤታችን ምግብ የሚበስለውም በእንጨት ነበር ፤ ልብስ ስናጥብ ስናስተኩስ የነበረው አብዛኛው ኢትዮጵያዊ በሚያከናውንበት መንገድ ነበር። እቤታችን ለንግድ ሲከናወኑ የነበሩ ነገሮች የጠጅ መጣል ፣ የዳቦ መጋገር ሁሉ ሲከናወኑ የነበሩት እንጨት እና የሰው ጉልበት በመጠቀም ነበር።

የእግዚአሐብሔር ፈቃዱ ሆኖ በትምህርቴም ጥሩ ደረጃ ደርሼኩራዝ ደህና ሰንብት ብዬ ዛሬ ከ19 አመታት በዋላ በአውሮፓ ጣልያን ከታዳሽ ሐይል ጋር በተያያዘ ሁለተኛ ዲግሪዬን በመስራት ላይ እገኛለው።

የማብራት ነገር አሳሳቢ ሆኖብኝ አያውቅም። ትምህርቴን የማከናውነው ፣ ልብሴን የማጥበው የምተኩሰው ፣ ምግቤን የማበስለው በማብራት ነው። ላፕቶፔን ስልኬን “ቻርጅ” ለማድረግ አንድም ቀን የሐይል መቆራረጥ ሀሳብ ሆኖብኝ አያውቅም። ይህ እኔ ያለውበት ሁኔታ ሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊ ሊኖርበት የምመኝለት እና የሚገባው ነው ብዬ አስባለው።

እናም ይህን ነገር እውን ለማድረግ የህዳሴው ግዳባችን ትልቅ ለውጥ ያመጣል። ለዚህም ነው ሚድያዬን በመጠቀም በተቻለኝ መንገድ መደገፍ የምፈልገው። ሁላችንም ኢትዮጵያውን እንደ ጀመርነው እስክንጨርስ ድረስም መረባረብ ይገባናል። እባክዎ አብረን እንሳተፍ ደግፉኝ። በተለይ በውጪ የምንኖር ሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊ እኛ ያገኘነውን እድል ያገኝ ዘንድ እንተባበር። ግድቡ የኔ ነው ግድቡ ያንተ ነው።

እጅግ ከልብ አመሰግናለሁ።

አሽሩካ