I met Abenezer yesterday after making that vlog at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa in front of all those green buses ready to depart for Awasa. My destination was Shashemane, the Rastafarian town 30 minutes before Awasa. After I had settled in my seat, Abenezer came and sat next to me. He was also going to Shashemane. “Great, I now a resident of Shashemane to answer all my queries.” I thought.
Except that he didn’t live there. He was only going to spend the weekend with his wife who works at the Shashemane hospital. They met at a diploma school in Addis and she went back to Shashemane after finishing her course and taking his heart. They got married only this year and have since been making these weekend trips to be with each other. He has his job in Addis, she is finishing her compulsory internship at the Shashemane hospital. So they have to manage this way.
I commended him on their commitment and wished him best for the plans to acquire a small condo once she gets a transfer to a hospital in Addis.
“What do you do and what brings you to Ethiopia?” he asked me.
We then discussed my travel in Ethiopia and we both agreed that I wasn’t planning well. “I will see how can I go back to Addis tomorrow at the bus station” didn’t really satisfy him and he actually got worried for me.
“You will not find a bus, what are you going to do then?” He asked. I will catch any local bus, it’s alright. I tried to satisfy him. But he wasn’t taking any of it. He called all four bus companies that operate from Awasa and asked if there was a seat for Addis the next day. There wasn’t any with the first three companies but we finally found one with the last company. He was more relaxed than I was.
“Let’s meet at the dinner today, if you and your wife don’t already have plans.” I told him before we departed at the Shashemane bus station.
We sure did meet at the dinner. His wife, Yamsirach, is a charming Ethiopian girl who grew up in the countryside. She, he told me, is the true Shashemane girl, while he was a typical Addis boy, born and raised in the capital city. She knew fine local languages. He only knew Amharic, the national language. He only had three other brothers while she had 11 brothers and sisters.
At this point, Abenezer said he only waned two kids and that it was the right decision keeping the city life in mind. She rolled her eyes at that and he started laughing, telling me “she wants to bear many children.”
“Why is that?” I paused for a while and asked. Some times you get unexpected answers if you ask people why do they want what they want. Abenezer also got excited at this saying she has never told him the reason.
She gave it a thought and reploed, “I want to show my life through the many children.”