This is my story

President Lee C. Bollinger
Office of the President Columbia University
202 Law Library 535 West 116th Street
New York NY 10027

Dear President,

I am a naturalized US citizen, originally from Ethiopian, a researcher in the field of health informatics. It is a miracle that I am alive today to share my story with you. Thirty three years ago, I was forced to flee Ethiopia and cross the border into the Sudan to save my live from the brutal military dictatorship of Ethiopia - many of my friends and relatives were brutally murdered. Twenty-eight years ago, together with my wife two young sons, I was so blessed and fortunate to be allowed to come and live in this great country of the United States of America. But, living in and enjoying the benefits of this great nation, has not, for a single moment, made me forget where I came from and how lucky and fortune I am to still be alive to witness the tremendous transformation that Ethiopia has and continues to undergo.

I was born to a family who eked out a living engaged in subsistence farming, like the 85-90% of the population of the country at the time. Not only were we the poorest of the poor, but, to make matters worse, regular drought devastated our livestock, and locust invasions every few years decimated our harvest. You can imagine the face of famine you have seen on TV, but in a smaller scale, we suffered tremendously and continuously, year after year. But our story was never told, we suffered silently, unknown and uncared by any government. So I grew up experiencing regular famine and hunger and misery. It was a miracle I survived to be 1 and then 2 years old, and then to live to be 5 years old, for infant mortality was one of the highest in the world for our time and our lot. And then, the history of magnanimity of the USA played a pivotal role in my going to school at the age of six. You see, an illiterate father who loved the American people for what they have done for us in time of our greatest need, a father who so loved John F Kennedy that he sobbed bitterly when he heard the assassination of the President - a strong love stemming from the helping hand that stretched all the way from America during those tough times - said to himself, “I want my son to go to school and then to America”. And it was a miracle that many years later, his dream was fulfilled, although it took many turns and twists, and without anyone planning it. But, all those years I lived in the Sudan, and the years from 1982 to 1991 in America, I was not able to, I could not, visit or talk to my family. I could not visit because anyone who left the country was charged by the military junta with treason for illegally leaving the country. I lived in fear for my family that they might be incriminated because of me.

Now, I am able to talk to my family, relatives and friends in Ethiopia who live far away from the cities, thanks to the cellular network installed by the current government even in the most remotest areas. I can talk to my Mom in her house anytime, in that same house I grew up in. There are a few cell phones in our village, no land-line telephone, but they do have cell phones! I can visit my homeland at any time without fear (and so can the most ardent and violent opponents of the current government). My family and our village now have running water in the middle of the village, whereas we used to spend over 90 minutes fetching water from the small streams that dried up regularly. Now our village folks do not worry about dieing of hunger, even during times where there is shortage of rainfall, because they now can work on local governmental infrastructure projects and supplement their income so they have enough to eat and live on. They can now send their children to a school located within 15 minutes walk, and then on to high school and college. All adults can attend literacy classes during the evenings and weekends. It event gets better. I remember the days when one of our women would suffer for 2-3 days during labor with no chance to go to the hospital which was located 50 kilometers away with no other way to get there except being carried on a stretcher (which would take many hours). I know of so many women neighbors and relatives who died in the process. I lost 3 of my sisters in their teenage years to malaria. Many names I still remember in our village who died of simple infections and preventable deaths. Now, we have a clinic within walking distance and a hospital 15 kilometers away. Our people now enjoy education for their children and themselves, accessible healthcare, running water, no fear of starvation and famine, modern communication.

All the advances my people enjoy are beyond my wildest dreams, I never imagined I would live to see these days in the life of the people of my village. So you see, why my people have the highest gratitude and respect, as I do, for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and his government. The government of Meles Zenawi has lifted the suffering masses of Ethiopia out of poverty and continues to struggle to do so. Their system is not perfect and they have a long way to go to help our people achieve economic independence, but this is the only government in our history which has cared and continues to care for our people, for the downtrodden. Some Ethiopians who oppose him have never lived as I lived, they have never faced what my people faced. Their only grievance is that they are not ruling and controlling the country as their relatives have done for decades in the past and saw my people going through untold suffering and misery without lifting a finger - on the contrary, they added to their misery by brutally and mercilessly ruling my people.

The God of heaven and earth has declared to us: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8). And this is my prayer, that the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi continues to act justly and to love mercy - for the greatest of mercies is to care for those who are suffering, to care for the poor, and the helpless. His government has shown nothing but justice, love and mercy to my people, my village!!

So I would like to express my support and gratitude to you personally and the prestigious Columbia University for inviting Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to give a speech on the current global economy and its impact in Africa. God bless you and long live the USA and Ethiopian friendship that my father saw and loved and dreamed about over 50 years ago.

Drar
Sep 21, 2010