የምኞቴ ፀሃይ

It all started with a tweet on Sunday, the 13^th of November. A tweet that includes a picture of a young girl from Chacha, Shewa, 90 kilometers away from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the person who tweeted the picture, a teacher from Debre Berhan University. I spoke with him and the team behind the book drive via DM on twitter on Tuesday, 22Nov2022.

Part 1 – Conversation with Mezemir Girma (@authenthiopia)

Thanks for doing this. Let’s start with this…Please tell me a little bit about yourself.

Mezemir: Thanks for having me. My name is Mezemir Girma. At Debre Birhan University, I teach English Literature. In 2015, I translated Left to Tell into Amharic under the title ‘Hututsi’, then self-published and distributed it. Following this, I created the Ras Abebe Aregay Library in Debre Birhan to fill the reading gap in my community. A variety of programs are offered at the library, and it is well known both inside and outside Ethiopia. My book was reprinted 20,000 times during the COVID pandemic, and I conducted media interviews on genocide prevention. I have written two other books in addition to the first, which is also translated into Oromigna.

Oh nice! Do you still teach at Debre Birhan University?

Mezemir: Yes, I do. I do all the activities I mentioned alongside my teaching job and with my employees.

የምኞቴ ፀሐይ ቤተመጻሕፍት፣ ጫጫ ከተማ
በግሏ ሕብረተሰቡን በነጻ የምታስነብብ ወጣት የፋብሪካ ሰራተኛ። pic.twitter.com/koH2muZx6m

— Mezemir Girma (@authenthiopia) November 12, 2022

Thanks for your hard work and mentoring…I have checked your social media pages and saw your other activities. I really appreciate it. I have a question about that image that has inspired many people. Would you mind telling me when this photo was taken, who is the person standing next to you, and why you decided to share it with us?

Mezemir: Thank you for your compliment. On that day, I had two appointments in Addis Ababa, one at the Hager Fiker Theatre and another at Purpose Black. Due to a bus problem, I ended up getting off at Chacha town, over 20 minutes away from Debre Birhan, and cancelled the plan to go to Addis Ababa. Following that, I decided to visit Yemignote Tsehay Library, which I had read about on social media. The library was founded by Mignote, who is in the photo next to me, and is named after her and her mother, Tsehay. No books are sold by her, and no money is derived from lending. This is what I want to see in the private library sector in the future, and I really appreciated her work. As a way of informing people of what I saw on that day, I shared I ton twitter. There was no intention of raising funds. The photo inspired people to collect books and raise money for the library.

Wow, that’s a great story. I read somewhere that Ras Abebe Aregay Library is a private library and you are telling me that Yemignote Tsehay is also a private library. Is there any library that’s not privately owned in Debre Birhan area?

Mezemir: Yes, both libraries are private and offer free public services. Debre Birhan town had two libraries under its Culture and Tourism Office. Amhara Development Association built one of them, which is still operational today. Another one was Debre Birhan Children’s Library, which was demolished for the Haile Gebre Silasie Hotel project and is no longer operational. The books and shelves are now in the culture and tourism office’s compound. As an Ethiopian representative of the Advancing Library Visibility in Africa Project of the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA), I registered that library before it was demolished. Despite my social media campaigns, no one helped me force the rich athlete to replace it.

I’m sorry to hear that your efforts went unanswered. Ras Abebe Aregay Library…I saw videos of the library on your YouTube channel (from four years ago. Is it still one small room like seen in that video? I am referring to this video Ras Abebe Aregay Library, Debre Birhan

Mezemir: Yes, ours is a roadside thirty-square-meter reading room. I feel that we did what we aspired, and our next plan is to help other individuals in the country have small reading spots like this one. Building a big library is not my plan for the time being. I just want to show a light by indicating that a library can be done as a private initiative.

I see. I’m guessing you are also covering all the cost related to Ras Abebe Aregay Library

Mezemir: Yes, The books are purchased by me and all costs, including the rent and the librarian’s salary, are covered by me. In the past, we had a branch in town, but we closed it since few people read there.

Is it possible for you to tell me how much the library costs each month?

Mezemir: It costs 5200 Birr per month. The library contains about 3000 books, and a lot of them cost me a lot of money to buy. It was covered by the proceeds from my books, my salary, and consulting fees. A person without a steady income or a passion for community service may not be able to or willing to cover such costs.

For a government employee, that’s a lot of money, right? I also wonder that keeping the library open goes beyond covering the costs, so why would you do all of that?

Mezemir: Yes, it is a lot of money. I do it because I have an interest in and passion for community intellectual development. I know I could pursue my Ph.D. or do something else with the time I devoted to the library in the past seven years, but I chose what I am doing, and the decision is worth it! I am really elated!

Let me ask you one more thing about Ras Abebe Aregay Library before I ask you about Yemignote. You helped raise funds for Yemignote Tsehay Library. Can you tell me about your fundraising efforts for Ras Abebe Aregay Library?

Mezemir: Most of the time, I reject donations because I am a bit rigid when it comes to accepting them. In the last seven years, three institutions have donated 200 books to the library, and the Ethiopia 2050 project recently purchased sofas and paid for Wi-Fi. I have received books from individuals and tables and chairs from friends. Other than these I am the only one who is covering the costs. There are people who ask me to seek land and build a library building, but I don’t want to go that far and stress myself out. I love self-reliance as well. That’s why I didn’t follow up properly when a foreign agency asked me to build a building for Ras Abebe Aregay Library’s use a few years ago.

That’s interesting! My respect goes out to you for your decision … Having said that, I am ready to move on from this topic …We can discuss it further some other time, but I don’t want to dwell on that right now. I must admit, I really enjoyed reading your blog post on mezemirethiopia.blogspot.com.  Is the blog only written by you or do you have contributors?

Mezemir: Thank you. I am the one who is writing in most cases. Very rarely, I invite contributors.

Nice. Let me ask you about Yemignote Tsehay Library. Before you posted that picture, did you know anyone who volunteered for the book drive? I’m talking about @BeteBerhanu, @IKalimelese, @amsaletobit, @medhanitgg, @awodaje, and @Tesafari

Mezemir: I know Betemariam Birhanu. He is from Debre Birhan and he came to Ras Abebe Aregay Library in person a few months ago. We are also friends on social media.

I’ll talk to them individually and get their opinions as well. It would be great to hear what they think about the book drive and the work they’ve done so far. Do you know how old Yemignote is?

Mezemir: I think she could be in her early or mid-twenties.

The other day, someone gave me her phone number. I’ll call her soon, but I left her a Telegram message, but I guess she doesn’t answer messages from unknown numbers.

Mezemir: I will inform her about it

Thank you! I think you have answered all my questions. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I’ll get back to you again after I’ve spoken to everyone.

Mezemir: My pleasure!

Have a good night!

Part 2 – Conversation with Betamariam  Berhanu  (@BeteBerhanu)

My name is Betamariam, and I’m originally from Debre Birhan. Twitter has been more than just a social media platform for me for the last nine years. The idea of book drive for Mignote Teshay’s library come after Mezemir, (@authenthiopia ) posted the story of Mignot’s on 13th November. Mezemir, who has also the first private library in Debre Birhan posted a picture, an innocent looking girl with a smile on the doorsteps of her library. Mezemir wrote that Mignot let Chacha youths read her few books for free.

The story and picture touched me, and I offered to help her. I asked Mezemir to DM me her information so I could offer her free books and cash. Tese (@Tesafari) brought up an idea of involving larger donors after seeing my reply. We started organizing people who can collect books from people who can give books after I accepted his idea. As a result, I managed to get three people and Tese got three more. We started collecting books with these volunteers and formed a small group to discuss ways we could help Mignot’s library project. Tese was the De facto leader of the group. With the goal of collecting 1000 books and 100000 Birrs within a week, we opened a joint bank account with Mezemir and Mignote.

 After Mignote told me she works for Komarit Beverages, I tagged Mr. Sam Rominson (@SamRosmarin) Komarit’s co-founder with the story of the library. The company’s co-founder Ato Kiffle Yohannes (@Kiffle_Y_Abebe) later contacted one of our group members and told her the company would donate the same amount of books and cash we collected for Mignote. We ordered bookshelves on the fourth day of the campaign after we collected around 57k, and they were delivered within two days. Over the course of a week, we collected 1475 books and 157,900 Birr, which was a huge success.

The books were brought to Chacha by Tese and Kalkidan (@IKalimelese) and their friends on 20th November. We notified Komarit Beverages (Arada Beer) about the amount of books and cash we collected so they can fulfill their promise, and I heard they are working on it. Also, we are trying to contact the Chacha sub-city administration for assistance.

Part 3: Conversation with Tesafari

 እስቲ ስለእራስህ ትንሽ ንገረኝ እና ከዛ እንዴት ወደ መፀሀፍ ስብሰባው እንደገባህ ንገረኝ

እኔ ተርታ ግለሰብ ነኝ እከሌ ተብየም መጠራት አልችልም ገጠር የተወለደ ለትምህርትና ለንቃጸ ኅሊና ቀናኢ ልብ ያለ ግለሰብ ነኝ.  የምኞቴን መጽኃፍት ቤት ጉዳይ በተመለከተ ለመጀመሪያ ጊዜ መዘመር ጉዳዩን ለጥፎት ባየሁ ጊዜ. የተወለድኩበት ስፍራና ጊዜ እንዲህ ያለ የቤተ መጽሃፍት እጦት እና እጥረት ያለበት ስለነበር በጣም ውስጤን የገዛው ነበር. በዚያ ላይ በከባቢው ላለው በሁሉም ዕድሜ ላለ ማንበብ ለሚችል ሰው ሁሉ ያለው ዋጋ በቀላሉ የምረዳው ነበር. በመቀጠል እኔ ማድረግ የፈለግሁት 5 መጽኃፍት ለእሷ መቸር በዚያ ግድም እግር ከጣለኝ ጠጋ ብየ የፋብሪካ ሰራተኛ ሆና ይህን ለመከወን እንዴት እንደተነሳች መጠየቅ ማበረታት ነበር ፍላጎቴ ሆኖም ለምን ሌላም በጎ እሳቤ ያለው ሰው ከተገኜ አሰባስበን የተወሰነ ነገር አናግዛትም በእሷ አድርገን የአካባቢውን ማህበረሰብም አናግዝም በማለት ለመሞከር አሰብሁ ይህንም ሞከርነው.

ከዛ በፊት መዘመር ወይም ምኞቴን ታውቃቸው ነበር? ትላንት ማታ ለትንሽ ግዜ ከመዘመር ተጫውተን ነበር የሚገርም ሰውዬ ነው ብዙ ነገር አጫወተኝ ከእናንተ ጋር ከተጫወተ በሁዋላ የፃፈውን አንብቤ ነበር

መዘምር የ12ኛ ክፍል ፈተና ወቅት ስለ ፈታኞች ተሞክሮ የጻፈውን ከማንበብ ውጭ አላውቃቸውም። መዘምር ብዙ ነገር የቧጠጠ ብዙ ሰው ነው በጣም በአካል ያወራነው ደግሞ ሌላ ነው። ከምኞቴ ጋር አንድ ቀን። ሰላምታና ትውውቅ ቤተ ማሪያም አገናኝቶኝ እንጅ የእሷን ስልክ አላውቀውም አንተ ስትጠይቀኝ ተቀብየ አቀበልኩ ፣የቲቪ ፕሮግራም ሊሰሩ የሚፈልጉ አለ የተባለ ጊዜ.

አዎ የቴሌቪዥን ኘሮግራም የሚሰሩ ሰዎች ጠይቀውኝ ነበር.  መልካም ሰው እንደ ምኞቴ አይነት ታሪካቸው ለብዙ ሰው መድረስ አለበት.  እሺ ከዛ በሁዋላ የሰውን ተሳትፎ እንዴት አየኸው?

ከጅምሩ የመጀመሪያው ቀን አንድ ሰው 7 መጽሃፍ አምጥቶ ሲሰጠኝ ከ200 ብር ጀምሮ ያስተላለፉበትን ስሊፕ ሲልኩልኝ በጣም ነው ውስጤን ያንሰፈሰፉት አሁን ባለው የኑሮ ጫና በተለይ አገር ቤት ሁሉም ደልቶት እንደማይኖር እንደማህበረሰብ አባልነቴ ጠንቅቄ አውቃለሁ ካለው አጣቦ ይህን ሲያደርግ ይበልጥ እኔን የሃላፊነት ጫና እያሳደረብኝ መጣ መጽሃፍትን ከሸልፋቸው ገልብጠው የሰጡኝ ቤተሰቦቻቸው ቅርስ የሆኑትን የለገሱ ከሩቅ ቦታ መጽሃፍ ተሸክመው አምጥተው የለገሱ ከውጭ አገር መጽሃፍ እንድገዛ ያዘዙኝ ፊልድ ላይ ሆነው ይህን ዓይነት መጽሃፍ ግዛ ብለው ገንዘብ የላኩ አሉ ስራዬን ትቼ በሃላፊነት አደራየን ለመወጣት ይበልጥ እንድተጋ አድርገውኛል.  ነገሩ የመጠን ጉዳይ አይደለም ለግብረ ሰናይ ያለ ዝግጁነት በአቅም ተጣጥሮ በጎ አላማን ለመደገፍ የሚደረግ ሙከራ ይበልጥ ጉዳዩን በሃላፊነት አንድይዝ አንዲትም ነገር ዘዘባ እንዳትል ማድረግ እንዳለብኝ አስተምሮኛል

መፀሀፎቹን እና ገንዘቡን ይዛችሁ ስትሄዱ ምን አሉ?

መጀመሪያ ከደብረ ብርሃን የሚመጡት የቡድኑ አባላት እንዲመጡ ቁርስ አየበላን ጠበቅን መዘምር ቀድሞ ደረሰ, መዘምር ደወለላት, ቤተክርስቲያን አንደሆነች, እየተመለሰች እንደሆነ አሳወቀች

ከዚያ ቤተ ደረሰ, ሌላም የአካባቢው ተወላጅ ደረጄ የሚባል ጠበቃ, እንዲያግዘን ተጠርቶ መጣ ቡና ሻሂ ጋብዘን ተያይዘን ሄድን ምኞቴ አለደረስችም. ከዚያ ከደቂቃዎች በኋላ ደረሰች …በጣም ተደናግጣለች ይቅርታ እያለች ወዲያ ወዲህ አለች ቤተ አስተዋወቀን ከዚያ የሰፈሯን ልጆች እንዲያግዙን ጠራች …እሷም ገና ወጣት ናት, ወዲያ ወዲህ ትላለች…በመቀጠል ከመኪና አውርደን ስናበቃ መጽሃፎቹን በመልክ በዓይነት ከተዘጋጁት መደርደሪያዎች ደረደርን ቆጠርን

እናቷ ቡና እያፈሉልን ነበር ዳቦም ቀርቦ ነበር, ወደ ቡናው ሄድን ዳቦውም ተቆረሰ…ተጠጣ ተበላ, ምሳ ሊጋብዙን ፈልገው አይሆንም ብለናቸዋል

በመቀጠል እኔ መዘምር ቤተ እና ምኞቴ ተነጋገርን እንዳንድ ነገሮች እንድታውቅ የተሰበሰበው መጽኃፍ የተሰበሰበ ገንዘብ ከየጽ እንደመፃ ማን እንደሰጠን ሃላፊነቷን እንድተወጣ ቀጣይ ስራዎች…እንደምንሰራ

ቤተ መጽሃፍቷን የበለጠ የማደራጀት ስራ እንደሚስፈልግ ጥበቃ እና አስተዳደራዊ ስራዎችን በጥንቃቄ እንድታካሂ  ወንበር እንዲሰራ እያንዳንዷ ነገር በጥንቃቄ ተከውና ለለጋሽ ሪፖርት እንደሚቀርብ ተነጋገርን

ቀጥሎ

እሧ ክፍለ ከተማዎችን መተን ማነጋገር እንዳለብን እንድንረዳት ሰፊ ቦታ ብታገኝ እንደምትፈልግ ነገረችን…ለዚህም ደረጄ አንደሚረዳን ቀጠሮ አንደሚያስይዝልን ተነጋገርን

ያለን ሁሉ ነገር አድሮገህ ወደ አዲስ አበባ ስትመለስ ምን ተሰማህ?

ከፍተኛ የውስጥ ርካታ ለካ እንዲህም ይቻላል, እፎይታ

ያ ከእናቷ ወ/ሮ ፀሀይ ጋር የነሱትን ፎቶ የለጠፍከው ግዜ የተሰማኝ ስሜት እንደዛ ነበር

እያገዛችኋት ነው ወይ አልኳቸው “መቼም” አሉኝ

በአካል ተገናኝተው የማያውቁ ሰዎች ተረዳድተው መልካም ነገር ሲያደርጉ ማየት የመሰለ አስደሳች ነገር የለም

አልቅስ አልቅስ ብሎኝ ነበር የስብዕና ንጽህናቸው, የምኞቴ ሩጫ, እናቴ መርቂልኝ ስትላት እጇን አጣምራ አጠገባችን የምነግራትን ማዳመጧ ሽቁጥቁጥነቷ

ነገ እደውልላታለሁ ብያለው

ማለፊያ

አንተም ከሚገባው በላይ ምርቃቱ እና ምስጋናው ይገባሀል። በሁሉም ሰዎች ስም አክብሮቴን እና ምስጋናዬን
ላቀርብልህ እወዳለሁ ለሰጠኸኝ ግዜም አመሰግንሀለው

ጋሻዬ እኛም ምኞቴም ለበጎ ስራ ድልድዮች ነን ሰፊው ወገኔ ግን በስማም!!

በጣም

ይበልጥ ለየትኛውም ሰው ይበልጥ ሃላፊነት እንዲሰማን አደረጋችሁ ስንጠራችሁ አቤት ብላችሁ ስንጠይቃችሁ አምናችሁ በብዙ አከበራችሁን ሁሉም መሻቱ ይሁንለት

አክብይረኸን ሀላፊነቱን ወስደህ በሚያረካ እና በሚያኮራ መልክ ተወጣኸው

ፈጣሪ አያጉድለን መተሳሰቡን አያጉድልብን ከአፍቅሮ ነዋይ ጠብቆ ለበጎ ምግባር ያነሳሳን

ጉልበትህን ይባርክ የሚጣፍጥ ሽሮ ሰርታ በምታበላ ይካስህ

ሰጦኛል እሷን ነው ያላመሰግንኳት ጣይቱ የምላት ሸጋ ሞገስ የሆነች ምሽት አለችኝ

አዎ አዎ ምስጋና ይገባታል

በርግጥ በጣም ተደስታለች በጣም. ወዳጄ ልቤ ተባረክልኝ አንግዲህ ሌላ የማግዘው ካለ አለሁ።

እግዚአብሔር ይስጥልኝ ያለኝን ሁሉ ጥያቄ ጨርሻለሁ መልካም ቀን ይሁንልህ

Part 4: Conversation with @amsaletobit

I’d like to know how you felt when you first saw the picture of Minote and Mezmur?

I was tagged randomly by a tweep here and coincidentally, 2 days after I went to visit an IDP center in Debre Birhan for work related purpose. I felt hope, kindness and future when I saw the picture.

What inspired you to join the book drive team? Then how did that happen?

As I mentioned earlier, I was tagged by a tweep to help out but books are close to my heart so I didn’t hesitate to jump in. I didn’t want to just contribute money or donate books and call it quits.

Have you talked to Minote or visited the library yet?

Unfortunately no. I don’t even know the people I was volunteering with lol..Except Tesafari

I was about to ask you about it. The act of helping a total stranger isn’t something you see every day. You and the team raised about 160K Birr and close to 1500 books.

I had nothing to do with the monetary contributions. But helping out someone who gave what she had back to the society is our individual responsibility. This girl opened her home to strangers for free. The least we can do is give her a better environment and space

Totally agree…Your small business @afriquisine was a proud… hmmm I don’t want to use the word sponsor …may be a “proud encourager” fits better…lol… I just want to thank you for using both of your platforms for this cause. I hope I get to taste your Shiro soon

Let me know when someone comes your way. It would be my pleasure to send you some. Thank you for being a great contributor and drive.

I’ll be there soon. I get it myself.  I don’t trust ppl with my Shiro. Thank you for your time. You’ve answered all my questions.

❤️❤️❤️

A few minor corrections have been made to the interviews conducted via Twitter direct messages. Interview conducted and edited by Dahabesha