Awra Amba RJ 300612 EN - Contacter un comité local d'Attac

Awra Amba, a current experiment of utopian socialism
(later in life he learned to sign and write a few words, but is unable to read a newspaper or a book),
the episodes he recounts were the source of his inspiration. From the age of four, he allegedly (we
are sceptical) started wondering about the unfairness of the gender inequality, the maltreatment of
the elderly, labour exploitation, cruel punishment of children, and dishonest dealings among people.
When he was a child, nobody can answer properly his questions on the reasons of such behaviours.
His extraordinary behaviour being considered abnormal, his family and his neighbours considered
him not surprisingly to be mentally ill, not only because of his support of equality between men and
women but also because of his opposition to institutionalized religion, in a very religious, traditional
and patriarchal Ethiopian society (Habtamu, 2009; Me09/32).
"When I was child, I was furious about what I saw around me," says Zumra Nuru. "I found it unfair
that while my mother helped my father to sow and harvest, he never helped her in the home. I swore
to myself that I would change things when grew up" (France 24, 2009). "My both parents spent the
whole day in the farm but when they came back home, it was time for my father to rest but never for
my mother. After she has been through the same tiring day as my father, she had to do everything at
home. She was expected to cook, clean the house, wash my father’s feet with warm water and serve
the traditional meal. On the top of that, when my mother could not do all that on time, my father
abused, insulted and sometimes beat her. I just wondered why this had to happen to my mother, as if
she had extra strength or something. But I realized later that this was not an isolated event that only
happened in our house, rather it was happening in all families" (France 24, 2009; Habtamu, 2009;
Me09/31).
He still remembers today one of the first times he questioned the established rules, when his mother
accused him of eating Christian meat at their Christian neighbours. Zumra asked her why he was not
allowed to eat meat while the meat was similar to the meat they have at home. She answered,
“Muslims are not allowed to eat Christian meat and vice-versa”, snatched the meat from him and
gave it to the chicken. He was not at all satisfied with the arguments of his mother and went on to ask
questions: why, how, when and from where does come this difference in food, since we are all
human beings and the meat comes from our animals (Halpern, 2007; Ya08/63; Habtamu, 2009)?
At 13, preoccupied by the unfair distribution of household duties and responsibilities between
husbands and wives and between brothers and sisters (Me09/31), he was more or less thrown out of
his family house (Crespo, 2011). Yassin (2008/63) thinks it is the age when Zumra developed his
ideas after understanding the negative impacts of the traditional culture. He lived during five years in
different places of Amhara region: Debre Markos (Gojam), Simada (South Gondar), Sedie Muja
(Gayent, South Gondar), Feres Bete (Gojam), in the Fogera and Dera woredas (South Gondar),
Belessa (North Gondar) and Dessie (Wollo), therefore within a distance of 250 km from Awra
Amba. He was mainly weaver and helped the poor. "I travelled to find people who would accept my
ideas", he said (Halpern, 2007; Habtamu, 2009).
At the age of 18, therefore in 1964, he came back to the village of his parents and asked his family to
arrange marriage for him (Ya08/66). That's the way he married Zeyda (or Zubayeda acc. to Ya08/66)
Muhammad, with whom he lived more than thirty years in happiness according to At05/29.
Nevertheless, a representative of the community said us the first four wives of Zumra had divorced
before a year, mainly because his circle considered him abnormal; Crespo (2012) confirms his first
wife Zeyda divorced for this reason. According to this same source, Zumra would have married
again Nane, with whom he still lives (Question 2 in Annex).
Like the other young men of the area, he was farmer and had to help his family (At05/29). At 19, a
quarrel arose with his immediate family members, since he used his income for helping the poor and
the elderly in the village (Me09/33). He became a wandering preacher of his own ideals, travelling
for sharing his ideas and finding supporters. During the dry season, he went to the neighbouring
villages of Yesho Michael, Shimie Mariam or Kechin-Wonz Kidane-Mihret to spread his message of
brotherhood, respect for women, protection of children as well as special care for the aged and the
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