Many Ethiopians Still Dream of Going Abroad
for Better Life
14 November, 2011 | By Seble Teweldebirhan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
almost all the problems of our neighbors since they were educated
than almost anyone around. As a child, the husband treated me
several times for different sicknesses. Comparatively they also had a
better life. Their home was beautiful and, as children, we were
advised to make them a role model since they were examples of
everything good. Life for them in our eyes was as good as it could
get.
In one of the nights though, the couple came to our house and told
my mother they won Diversity Visa commonly known as DV
lottery. She was very happy and we began to congratulate them. I
could see in her eyes that they thought they were the luckiest people
in the world. All the neighbors heard her shouting and in a few
minutes, everyone was in our house. The elders told the couple it a
blessing to get an opportunity like this and the celebration continued
until late night. People brought food and drinks and it looked like, to
my memory, a second wedding for the couple. However, at the
time, the only thing that was running in my mind was “who will treat
everyone when they get sick if these people leave.” Especially
because I had some health complications as a child, I was worried
about myself because I did not want to see another doctor.
No body took my worries seriously and those golden couple of our
neighborhood left the country. Whenever someone got sick in the
neighborhood, for a long time, every one used to remember and
wish their presence. Still, whenever I see those signs of DV lottery
these people come to my mind. I say to myself that they are the
nicest and most talented professionals and the country should not
have lost them.
As DV 2013, for the last month was in the air of Addis and the
regions for the youth to try out what they consider a chance of a
lifetime, it got me thinking of the people who do anything just to
leave this country. From those who never give up and try every
year, to the new comers who just turn 18 or decided life will never
change here no matter what, every one was focused in filling the
forms and making sure they do not make any mistake that might
disqualify them. The little internet kiosks were crowded with people
who send their forms online.
Teachers and students, patients and doctors, government officials
and the self employed, workers and unemployed all gave a shot at
DV lottery this year hoping it will get them to the dreamland, USA.
Even at the time when we have some serious information about
unemployment rates in USA, people seem to choose being idle in
America than trying anything in Ethiopia.
For many, the reason they play DV lottery or for that matter,
anything that might get them out of this country is purely economic.
Others blame the politics and some consider it as an adventure. No
matter what the reason might be, every single year the country loses
considerable number of working force to DV. In addition to plenty
of people who leave Ethiopia every day to Europe, Middle East and
just anywhere but not here by whatever means, DV kept taking
some of the most valuable citizens of the country.
For this, the government seems to care less. Prime Minister Meles
Zenawe, once asked about his opinion of considerable number of
people who immigrate by whatever means necessary, said that he is
not worried at all. “We can’t obsess with people who leave. Those
leaving are not our concern but only those who are staying,” he said.
He also added that as long as the country is not losing its farmers we
would do just fine. Of course, people do have a right to leave their
country whenever they wish as long as the destination country is
willing to accept them. Legally, a country can do nothing to stop
immigration except in cases of illegal means or turns to be human
trafficking. Therefore, the PM might have a point when he answers
about immigration the way he did.
However, as a nation, it is irresponsible to take a neutral position
when a considerable number of citizens choose to be anywhere but
not in the country. Smart countries, including the US, are doing
everything possible to attract the best and the brightest into their
country. The DV lottery for one is not meant for charity - far from it.
It is meant to build America even better by bringing more capable
people who will not only support themseleves, but also pay taxes
which will go into building bridges, schools, hospitals, IT
infrastructure, the military, and caring for the elderly, the number of
which is growing by the day. Great many distinguished US scientists,
artists and business people were immigrants, as are the countless
number of Ethiopians now serving in the US: doctors, engineers,
scientists working for top-notch companies and universities.
After watching so many people filling a DV form and praying to win
the lottery, I have decided to do a little experiment on everyone who
I met for the last one month. Starting from day one, for the full
month I have asked 342 people, around 11 people per day, if they
filled a DV form and if they will be willing to leave Ethiopia for good
if they got a chance. Around 120 did fill the DV form and 245 said
they would, without hesitation leave Ethiopia for good if they got a
chance. Some even said it does not matter where or why. Even
those who doubt if whether they will be willing to leave the country
for good have exceptions. If they got a better job offer, or if the
country they are going to is somewhere they want to end up, these
people said leaving is something they will give it give a try. Canada
and Scandinavian countries are places almost everyone likes to go if
they got the chance.
For many, winning a DV lottery or getting a chance to leave
Ethiopia by any means is a once a lifetime opportunity. A chance
that can never be missed and even if it is missed it will certainly be
regretted not only by those who missed it but also by family and
friends. Those who choose to came back to Ethiopia from abroad,
unless they came back filthy rich and become investors or
something, they are considered foolish. People still pray for their
children, family and friends to get a chance to leave Ethiopia. In
churches, you hear people giving a lot of money because their
prayer for their loved once to leave the country got answers.
It is also becoming a common knowledge if Ethiopians happen to be
out of the country, it is highly unlikely that they will come back. Just
a few months back, someone I know went to USA to take part in a
Moot Court Competition representing Ethiopian law schools. He
did not come back and he applied for asylum claiming the
government is after him because of his political view and his ethnic
group. I have known this person my entire life and he never had a
political opinion or mentioned his ethnic group as an issue. At this
point, you might think DV is a much healthier way of abandoning
Ethiopia. Here we need to recognize that there are people with real
problems and does not have a choice but try to get asylum.
However, most are using this as an excuse blaming the country and
adding up a story for our already ruined image.
Now, we also reach the point where parents prepare their children
to live abroad by doing everything they can to make foreign
languages their mother tongue. Many are proud of their families and
relatives who live abroad regardless of what they are or what they
do in the countries they live in. The mere fact that someone is in
western countries is a success. Saying my son is in USA or Germen
equally brings a pride as saying he is a doctor or an architect. The
pride sometimes is even better in the former case. For our youth it is
‘cool’ to have a family who lives abroad and to have a prospect to
go there.
Through this, we are losing so many by simply telling them we are
more proud of you if they leave than stay and serve your country.
As society has a power to define what success is, our definition of it
is driving people away, making us a total losers. We are losing, in
addition to the many work forces, the few talented professionals like
doctors, teachers, lawyers, economists and accountants we have.
We are losing people who are experienced and may have solutions
for the countless problems our country has. While the western world
is doing everything it can to braindrain Africa, here in Ethiopia, we
are doing everything in our power to drive away the brains we
cannot afford to lose.
Of course, it goes without saying the situations in Ethiopia have
never been compelling for the majority to stay when they have other
choices. However, the main question I would like to ask in this
article is whose fault is that? From a generation that learned nothing
but quitting when things got tougher, do we really expected any
better? Are we ready to change our view of success and tell our
children, it is actually winning to be able to serve a country, to teach
in rural schools, to fight for whatever they think they deserve in the
country and to pay a price for a better tomorrow? Without this,
there is no way the five or ten years plan for transforming the
country can be realized. Towards economic development,
professionals tell us that enhancing human resource and promoting
national teamwork spirit has to be the heart of the strategic means.
As one Chinese person who works in Ethiopia rightly observed, we
act as if we have another country. In my opinion that came from the
fact that most of us are not here by choice and most certainly we are
absent by spirit. If we won DV lottery or get any chance to leave,
we will just do it in a second. Saddly, a considerable number of
people are waiting for that moment, saving a great deal of time and
energy.
Courtesy
for Better Life
14 November, 2011 | By Seble Teweldebirhan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- About 15 years a go, in the
neighborhood I grew up,
there were a married couple
who were a nurse and a
doctor. They were one of
the most high profile
couples in the neighborhood
since whenever people are
sick they treat everyone
almost all the problems of our neighbors since they were educated
than almost anyone around. As a child, the husband treated me
several times for different sicknesses. Comparatively they also had a
better life. Their home was beautiful and, as children, we were
advised to make them a role model since they were examples of
everything good. Life for them in our eyes was as good as it could
get.
In one of the nights though, the couple came to our house and told
my mother they won Diversity Visa commonly known as DV
lottery. She was very happy and we began to congratulate them. I
could see in her eyes that they thought they were the luckiest people
in the world. All the neighbors heard her shouting and in a few
minutes, everyone was in our house. The elders told the couple it a
blessing to get an opportunity like this and the celebration continued
until late night. People brought food and drinks and it looked like, to
my memory, a second wedding for the couple. However, at the
time, the only thing that was running in my mind was “who will treat
everyone when they get sick if these people leave.” Especially
because I had some health complications as a child, I was worried
about myself because I did not want to see another doctor.
No body took my worries seriously and those golden couple of our
neighborhood left the country. Whenever someone got sick in the
neighborhood, for a long time, every one used to remember and
wish their presence. Still, whenever I see those signs of DV lottery
these people come to my mind. I say to myself that they are the
nicest and most talented professionals and the country should not
have lost them.
As DV 2013, for the last month was in the air of Addis and the
regions for the youth to try out what they consider a chance of a
lifetime, it got me thinking of the people who do anything just to
leave this country. From those who never give up and try every
year, to the new comers who just turn 18 or decided life will never
change here no matter what, every one was focused in filling the
forms and making sure they do not make any mistake that might
disqualify them. The little internet kiosks were crowded with people
who send their forms online.
Teachers and students, patients and doctors, government officials
and the self employed, workers and unemployed all gave a shot at
DV lottery this year hoping it will get them to the dreamland, USA.
Even at the time when we have some serious information about
unemployment rates in USA, people seem to choose being idle in
America than trying anything in Ethiopia.
For many, the reason they play DV lottery or for that matter,
anything that might get them out of this country is purely economic.
Others blame the politics and some consider it as an adventure. No
matter what the reason might be, every single year the country loses
considerable number of working force to DV. In addition to plenty
of people who leave Ethiopia every day to Europe, Middle East and
just anywhere but not here by whatever means, DV kept taking
some of the most valuable citizens of the country.
For this, the government seems to care less. Prime Minister Meles
Zenawe, once asked about his opinion of considerable number of
people who immigrate by whatever means necessary, said that he is
not worried at all. “We can’t obsess with people who leave. Those
leaving are not our concern but only those who are staying,” he said.
He also added that as long as the country is not losing its farmers we
would do just fine. Of course, people do have a right to leave their
country whenever they wish as long as the destination country is
willing to accept them. Legally, a country can do nothing to stop
immigration except in cases of illegal means or turns to be human
trafficking. Therefore, the PM might have a point when he answers
about immigration the way he did.
However, as a nation, it is irresponsible to take a neutral position
when a considerable number of citizens choose to be anywhere but
not in the country. Smart countries, including the US, are doing
everything possible to attract the best and the brightest into their
country. The DV lottery for one is not meant for charity - far from it.
It is meant to build America even better by bringing more capable
people who will not only support themseleves, but also pay taxes
which will go into building bridges, schools, hospitals, IT
infrastructure, the military, and caring for the elderly, the number of
which is growing by the day. Great many distinguished US scientists,
artists and business people were immigrants, as are the countless
number of Ethiopians now serving in the US: doctors, engineers,
scientists working for top-notch companies and universities.
After watching so many people filling a DV form and praying to win
the lottery, I have decided to do a little experiment on everyone who
I met for the last one month. Starting from day one, for the full
month I have asked 342 people, around 11 people per day, if they
filled a DV form and if they will be willing to leave Ethiopia for good
if they got a chance. Around 120 did fill the DV form and 245 said
they would, without hesitation leave Ethiopia for good if they got a
chance. Some even said it does not matter where or why. Even
those who doubt if whether they will be willing to leave the country
for good have exceptions. If they got a better job offer, or if the
country they are going to is somewhere they want to end up, these
people said leaving is something they will give it give a try. Canada
and Scandinavian countries are places almost everyone likes to go if
they got the chance.
For many, winning a DV lottery or getting a chance to leave
Ethiopia by any means is a once a lifetime opportunity. A chance
that can never be missed and even if it is missed it will certainly be
regretted not only by those who missed it but also by family and
friends. Those who choose to came back to Ethiopia from abroad,
unless they came back filthy rich and become investors or
something, they are considered foolish. People still pray for their
children, family and friends to get a chance to leave Ethiopia. In
churches, you hear people giving a lot of money because their
prayer for their loved once to leave the country got answers.
It is also becoming a common knowledge if Ethiopians happen to be
out of the country, it is highly unlikely that they will come back. Just
a few months back, someone I know went to USA to take part in a
Moot Court Competition representing Ethiopian law schools. He
did not come back and he applied for asylum claiming the
government is after him because of his political view and his ethnic
group. I have known this person my entire life and he never had a
political opinion or mentioned his ethnic group as an issue. At this
point, you might think DV is a much healthier way of abandoning
Ethiopia. Here we need to recognize that there are people with real
problems and does not have a choice but try to get asylum.
However, most are using this as an excuse blaming the country and
adding up a story for our already ruined image.
Now, we also reach the point where parents prepare their children
to live abroad by doing everything they can to make foreign
languages their mother tongue. Many are proud of their families and
relatives who live abroad regardless of what they are or what they
do in the countries they live in. The mere fact that someone is in
western countries is a success. Saying my son is in USA or Germen
equally brings a pride as saying he is a doctor or an architect. The
pride sometimes is even better in the former case. For our youth it is
‘cool’ to have a family who lives abroad and to have a prospect to
go there.
Through this, we are losing so many by simply telling them we are
more proud of you if they leave than stay and serve your country.
As society has a power to define what success is, our definition of it
is driving people away, making us a total losers. We are losing, in
addition to the many work forces, the few talented professionals like
doctors, teachers, lawyers, economists and accountants we have.
We are losing people who are experienced and may have solutions
for the countless problems our country has. While the western world
is doing everything it can to braindrain Africa, here in Ethiopia, we
are doing everything in our power to drive away the brains we
cannot afford to lose.
Of course, it goes without saying the situations in Ethiopia have
never been compelling for the majority to stay when they have other
choices. However, the main question I would like to ask in this
article is whose fault is that? From a generation that learned nothing
but quitting when things got tougher, do we really expected any
better? Are we ready to change our view of success and tell our
children, it is actually winning to be able to serve a country, to teach
in rural schools, to fight for whatever they think they deserve in the
country and to pay a price for a better tomorrow? Without this,
there is no way the five or ten years plan for transforming the
country can be realized. Towards economic development,
professionals tell us that enhancing human resource and promoting
national teamwork spirit has to be the heart of the strategic means.
As one Chinese person who works in Ethiopia rightly observed, we
act as if we have another country. In my opinion that came from the
fact that most of us are not here by choice and most certainly we are
absent by spirit. If we won DV lottery or get any chance to leave,
we will just do it in a second. Saddly, a considerable number of
people are waiting for that moment, saving a great deal of time and
energy.
Courtesy
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(Rev. Tegga Lendado, PhD)
- "We did not know how to
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did not have peace within us
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hid hatred and war in our
hearts but outwardly advocated for justice... More
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