Derbo has admitted defeat in becoming
self-sufficient in Addis. After some two and a half years as a migrant from
Lalibela in the north, he is returning home to his last remaining brother and
two young sisters, and his disease-riddled mother.At least he is brave enough
to return home rather than join the burgeoning street sleepers who are are
forced to piss and shit on the streets of the city.
I feel desperately sorry for him. I have
wanted him to to gain self –sufficiency after Gloves and i were able to fund
his diploma in Tourism. But nothing has gone right. In much of Africa, and
other continents too, it’s not what you know, or how much initiative you show,
it’s who you know. And Brother Derbo knows no-one outside his other poverty-stricken
friends.
I pass on Pa’s old suitcase, give him a
couple of shirts, a radio and few thousand Birr to pay his fare back North, and,
as customary, buy a few small gifts back to his village. He has cost me a small
fortune, but i will his friendship, insights, and not least his first-hand tales of vampires
and wizards.
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