Hailu Gebre Yohannes (Gemoraw-P.N.):
A Short Biography
Hailu
Gebre Yohannes (better known as Gemoraw Nede
Biltasor or simply Gemoraw) was born in 1935, in Addis Ababa,
in a traditional Ethiopian home, at the very spot where the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) building stands today.
As a small boy, Hailu was given church education by his father
Merigeta Gebre Yohannes, who had the ambition to see his son,
young Hailu, become a priest. Some of the unique happenings
include the following. In the Theological School, the vast majority
of the teachers were following the Old Testament. But as a teenager
Hailu opted to study modern education instructed in English
at Menelik High school while at the same time offering church
service, as a Deacon, at the Holy Trinity Church at Arat Kilo.
It was at that time that Hailu began gaining fluency in Geez
and Amharic and eventually became sharp and solid in them to
the extent that he could write dictum filled with polemic interpretations;
and even converse secretive matters in Geez with priests and
literate monks.
|
|
Upon
completion of his learning at Menelik High School, Hailu joined
the Trinity Collage of Theology at the Addis Ababa University
where his search for and query about the mysticism of life,
nature and the natural milieu began to gain momentum. To quench
his youth dreams about life, Hailu focused his curiosity on
and attempted to examine about creation and the inter-links
lying between humanity and her ever-existing surroundings. He
pondered more about life and death as well as life after death.
Eventually, just instinctively and intuitively, Hailu got seriously
immersed into the philosophy of life and death. Indeed, and
very truly indeed, the major question that stroked his mind
was - Why is life so much full of the art of making life itself
and that of causing the horror of death? Thus, to Hailu, life
is surrounded by lots of potential causes for an actual death.
Likewise, death is surrounded by lots of creatures, each carrying
a momentary life, which will be dispossessed by it at any time.
Principally, death gives the resurrection of life and life gives
the rebirth of death. Thus, one lives momentarily to die and
one dies in due time and space to give more room for the predecessors'
future life. In short, Hailu realized that all the time somewhere,
somehow, while someone’s life goes away at that very moment,
somehow, somewhere, the making of life goes on. In Hailu’s
own words: "life goes and life goes on". Although
a young student of theology, Hailu's personal inclination tilted
more and more towards knowing more about physics, astronomy,
astrology and chemistry. Particularly, his focus was put on
the search and research about the seismic structure and the
volcanic contents found both underneath the center of the earth
and at the bottom of the oceans and seas. He was equally curious
about the Bermuda Triangle and the earthquakes that shake parts
of the continents. Regardless of being known by the Collage
staff and his student friends as an outstanding, bright and
youngest student of the Trinity Theological Collage, he was
ultimately thrown out of his class accused for raising some
philosophical questions about the unquestionable creator of
the Heavens and Earth.
Later, Hailu shifted to the Ethiopian Language Studies of the
then Haile Selassie I University where he pursued his studies
of classical morphology and phonology of linguistics. Soon after
he joined the Linguistics Department at the Faculty of Arts,
he won popularity among students and most of the University
staff for his ability of writing dynamic, three dimensional,
powerful and penetrating dictums in Geez, Amharic and English.
Among the most popular poems that won awards for his ability
of writing poetry one was Hailu's famous dictum known to this
very day as: BEREKETE MERGEM. This work remains to be popular
among students majoring or studying Amharic.
The 1960s were a decade of radical student movements, not only
in Ethiopia alone, but also in the rest of the Western World.
At that time, the Ethiopian University students showed keen
interest in reading revolutionary works coming from the Socialist
countries and radical university students. Thus, during his
initial exposure of his literary work at Addis Ababa University,
Hailu wrote a poem that appeared on a famous campus contest
entitled SEOL, literally meaning: Predatory. He wrote this dictum
after the May 1960 Military Coup de estate. One could observe
Hailu zealously held busy writing since his early days at the
Department of Theology and at the Institute of Ethiopian Language
Studies, Haile Selassie University.
The 1960s was also the period when Hailu (Gemoraw) was considered
by the secret police in Addis Ababa as 'the man with a poisonous
pen'. He was thus suspected to be one of the ringleaders' known
to conscript young university students to revolt against the
then government. While under police surveillance, Hailu was
thrown out of the university, once again, for his radical political
and socio-economic outlooks. Thus he had to move between his
parent's home and jail several times.
Amidst this turbulence, during the inaugural ceremony of the
creation of the Organization of African Unity in 1963, Hailu
composed a small book entitled: ONENESS, which he personally
read at the opening ceremony and distributed copies to African
leaders attending the Inaugural ceremony of the time. To his
dismay, Hailu was taken back immediately to the central jail
suspected to have included statements in that book attacking
certain Ethiopian officials of the time. When freed from jail,
Hailu turned out to be one of those unique and exceptionally
few precious, selfless, far fetching sons of Ethiopia. Groomed
in green, yellow and red colors of his national symbol, this
fellow called Gemoraw by most students of the 1960s, started
to live for Ethiopia and write about her to his fellow Ethiopians
of the current and the distant future. Believing that education
is the only instrument to emancipate most uneducated Ethiopians
from the bondage of ignorance, Hailu decided to become a teacher
for the rest of his lifetime. Accordingly, he went to the Technical
School and later to the Teachers Training Collage at Addis Ababa
where he resumed his teaching career. Most of his literary works
since then are thus direct reflections of his vested interest
in teaching Ethiopian masses. Having read numerous books, Gemoraw
acquired lots of knowledge, which enabled him to publish 30
works out of over a hundred manuscripts, some of which are bound
and ready for publication. Today, Gemoraw's contribution to
Ethiopian literature takes a big share of the Amharic Literature.
Unique enough, Hailu's three dimensional dictum writing style
follows strict rhyming and writing schemes that read smooth
but unique in their own ways. His poems slowly flow into the
reader's senses giving musical rendition of their own; and instill
in the reader's mind an unforgettable experience. His greatness
and unique style of writing are reflected at once in his powerful,
nagging, giggling, ticklish and blemish poems.
His books of prose are equally attractive, serving the young
Ethiopian generation as a source of inspiration. In addition
to his own original writings, he has also translated and presented
the works of some of the Chinese greatest authors in an appealing
and readable style. Hailu's books of poetry, fables, play stories,
history, philosophy, development and various other subjects
which he single-handedly prepared, were widely read by thousands
of Ethiopians both at home and elsewhere in Diaspora.
Through numerous writings and famous poetic works, this living
legend, Novelist, Poet Hailu Gebre Yohannes has already won
the minds, taken the souls and stolen the hearts of numerous
Ethiopians. Reading his literary works takes his readers through
a long sticking journey of learning the African, Oriental and
Western cultures and social setups. His mastery of many languages,
his ability to capture and poetically paint the beauties of
Ethiopian nature and humanity are striking. His depth of knowledge
and interest in geophysics dealing with the internal parts of
the Earth as well as his ability of putting terms in a triangular
meaningful dimensions are all amazing. His works are engaging
others in discussions and his philosophical touch on human and
natural resource development and logic are simply enlightening
our perception beyond the level of mere knowledge. His philosophical,
idiomatic and three-dimensional dictums remind readers about
his well-expressed outlook, mainly based on one of the Laws
of Dialectics, ... that life is full of contradictions and that
life itself is the cultivation and the harvest of the struggle
taking place between two opposing bodies (be it humans, animals,
plants or other living beings including mother Earth). His artistic
talent of capturing the characteristics of humanity as well
as the fauna and flora out in nature, through a three dimensional
interpretable penmanship enables literature lovers to recognize
man's linkage to nature and the dynamic episodes taking place
in the wombs of Mother Earth.
Hailu’s numerous scripts and literary works written in
Amharic (Amarigna), Geez, English, Chinese, Norwegian and Swedish
have encouraged many Ethiopians to open up their eyes, unveil
and understand the contextual relations between humanity and
nature, between heavenly and earthly functions, between the
oceans, seas and rivers, between plains and mountains as well
as between different climatic zones. His humorous, ironic, sensitive,
sarcastic, critic, comedy and tragedy centered dictums and plays
have been igniting the flame of revolt, the joys of festivities,
the melancholy of the missing ones, the dream of the lovely
ones in the hearts, souls and minds of his readership.
His three dimensional Tran-disciplinary approach to the real
world situations transcends in all spheres of life, as it is
a gathering of views from theological, social, anthropological
and humanistic and scientific perspectives of the early times.
And so, this approach has inspired many of his readers to stand
in a sticking shock and take an astounding look at oneself and
at the past in retrospective.
Hailu’s basic thinking originates from the fact that Ethiopia
is the origin of everything and every-being. No more no less.
In Hailu's view, possibly that is why Ethiopia remains to have
several rivalries and foes to this very day. As a mother, she
remains to be the center of affection, attraction and adornment.
That is why life goes way and life goes on in a turbulent, boiling,
bubbling Ethiopian environ. To name few among his unique and
master literature contributions and scripts suffice to list
nine of them herein below:
• BEREKETE-MERGEM, INATKIN-BELULIGN, BENATEKO SET-NEGN,
• ZERO-FITAWRARI, YEMENGOLE-TIRRI, KORTEHAT-TALILIGN?
• ZAR-NEW-BESHITAWA, YESHIGIGIR-DEBA, WOIZERIT-WOIZERO.
.
Most of Hailu's works are filled with predictive and visionary
wisdom, initially giving early warnings to the Ethiopian society
at large, indicating what might take place for lack of prompt
reaction in due time. His literary works are treasures, storing
the beauties of Amharic - the Ethiopian National language -
not only for the present generation alone, but also for generations
yet to come. His deep-grabbing love for languages, fine arts
and music are all reflected in these writings and spoken expressions
of Geez, Amharic and Chinese tongues. The sophistication he
adds on his paintings, the pictures he takes and the songs he
composes are all amazing and amusing to those of us who happen
to know Hailu a bit closer. He is the man behind the three dimensional
dictums that we all mumble every now and then. He is behind
the camera that took some fine picture we got as presents from
him. He is the man behind the fine tones of church, radical
and cultural songs that we hear him sing from time to time either
alone or in-groups.
Hailu (Gemoraw), through his unique literary works, reminds
us the Ethiopia that we know of as the mosaic of a conglomerate
of people, culture and landscape giving the society its entity
and ever-graceful beauty. He clearly demonstrates to his readers
that the Ethiopian identity is distinct, indivisible and everlasting
by the grace of the Ethiopian- God-of-us-all, which goes beyond
the thinking horizon of ethnicity and religious factions. In
Hailu's view, Ethiopiawinet is an identity of people who live
in contradictory conditions of life dynamically interwoven in
socio-economic-political fabrics that tempt one to struggle
in order to overcome the daily challenges of life and the essence
of living.
Hence, Hailu attempts to harmonize and depict about the average
person struggling to win one's daily breads either out in the
villages or in the tightly settled townships of Ethiopia. His
lifelong works attempt to catch and put into picture the contrasts
between the people living in the highland cold and in the lowland
hot climatic conditions of Ethiopia.
Hailu’s expressions manifest the pride on one's own nation
and society. They remind readers the serious need to defend
the national collective treasures given as endowment at one's
own place of birth, the farsightedness, the cultured attitudes
and manners, the linguistic diversities as well as the character
of attending known religious and traditional ceremonies.
In mid-1960s, when he left the central prison in Addis Ababa,
Hailu resumed teaching at the Technical High School and later
as a language course instructor at the Addis Ababa Teachers
Collage. Shortly after, he was given a scholarship to study
Chinese Literature at the University of Beijing in China. Three
years after his arrival in China, Hailu won popularity among
Chinese and international students for his fluency in the Chinese
language and for his observation of the strong and weak points
of Chinese philosophy. His initial Chinese poem on Mao was highly
acclaimed by all. Nevertheless, even on a foreign soil, Hailu’s
dynamic pen caused him to face political obstacles from the
Chinese authorities and government.
Upon completion of the basic studies of the Chinese language,
Hailu composed a large Chinese-Amharic dictionary and a Chinese-English
phrase book. Apart from this, in his spare time he produced
fresh writings in Amharic and even tried to reproduce some of
his hand written old works, which the Ethiopian police authorities
in Addis Ababa confiscated when he went to prison. Meanwhile,
as partial fulfillment of his doctoral thesis he began to write
on: "The Influence of Anarchism on Chinese Literature:
With a particular focus put on the case "Ba-Jin".
Upon completion of compiling his findings for his thesis, he
started to critically write each of the chapters for his doctoral
thesis. But the title of his thesis in itself became a costly
venture, which forced him to surrender his entire initial thesis
work to the Chinese authorities who felt that his thesis was
loaded with political criticism on Chinese literature. He was
thus, asked to leave China immediately. In Ethiopia, the aftermath
of the Red Terror made his wish to return home unrealistic and
dangerous. Consequently, he had to appeal for his rescue from
the country where he lived for seven years. Just as it like
in Ethiopia, upon his departure from China, he had to leave
without taking his books and personal belongings he had while
in Beijing.
Amnesty International and UNHCR came to his rescue and brought
Hailu to Oslo, Norway, where he was given political asylum.
While in Oslo, Hailu found out that he could neither publish
most of his hand written works nor could he continue his studies
on Chinese philosophy. Ultimately, he had to move to Stockholm
where he lives to the present day. While in Stockholm, Hailu
was admitted at the Chinese Language Department of the University
of Stockholm. His advisor and Hailu tried to secure entry permission
for Hailu to travel to Beijing and bring with him the necessary
documents to finalize his thesis but in vain. The Chinese Embassy
denied him entry visa claiming that he is under persona-non-grata.
To add insult to injury, the Norwegian government deprived of
Hailu's residence and work permit claiming that Hailu had lived
long away from Norway, without reporting to the Norwegian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs.
Meanwhile, he applied for political asylum in Stockholm. But
the Swedish government denied him the right for an asylum claiming
that there is no more any threatening cause for Hailu if he
returns home to Ethiopia. The Swedes felt that a new government
with whom Hailu has no serious confrontations is running Ethiopia.
Thus he leads an unsettled and a turbulent life of a lonely
lion. Hailu still remains on the move trying to secure residence
and work permit elsewhere.
His life goes on while the lives of many, who he knew in the
good-old-days, have persistently been passing away without his
physical presence to share the respective family mourning.
Particularly, while living in exile, he lost most of his dear
and near relatives as well as friends. Those who died include
his parents, whose loss touched him most. Notwithstanding the
turbulent challenges of life, which he continues to face, Hailu
Gebre Yohannes is listed (by a monthly published Ethiopian Magazine
named Rai) as one of the most famous Ethiopians of the Century
(for details, see Rai, April 2000). In the meantime, an attempt
is being made to bring Hailu to Canada. At this juncture, it
is too early to state any thing about the outcome of this attempt.
Overall, he is a great example of an enduring man for all of
us. Unlike many of the intellectuals of his generation, he has
not turned his back upon Ethiopia. His enduring commitment to
and zealous struggle for our country and his altruistic fight
for the freedom of Ethiopians during the last 42 years is something
that deserves our appreciation as Ethiopians. Hailu has been
fighting against all odds, atrocities and mediocre inundated
in clandestine organizations in all the continents of the globe.
He has spent lots of his lifetime and energy selflessly working
for and denouncing the wanton killings and massacres of innocent
Ethiopian citizens left out on the cold, without entering into
the issue of ethnicity or ethnic politics. One can thus safely
conclude that this great man of a powerful pen is an author
and translator, as well as a philosopher, researcher, poet and
a great teacher.
In remembrance of his literary contributions, a get-together
feast was organized and held in 1998 by a group of Ethiopians
living in Sweden. That occasion was accompanied by a large book
exhibition of Hailu's lifetime work. Likewise, at this juncture,
this all rounded man of our nation deserves recognition from
those of us who are of the same offspring, sharing and breathing
the winds of common upbringing in and suffering for mother Ethiopia.
October 31, 2000 Tadesse Zerihun (Ph.D.) 623 Columbus Ave. #
3 Boston, MA 02118 USA
Go
Back to the Home Page
