People together like bees / ሰዎች አንድ ላይ እንደ ንብ ይወዳሉ
In this episode, Wellesh and Aziza talk about their experiences in their countries of origin and in the US and how they see history, family and community. They also share details about the important historical figures from their homes, Woldeab Woldemariam in Eritrea and King Yohannes IV in Ethiopa and how translating and telling these stories created a sense of confidence.
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[Speaker 1]
Speaking in Amharic
[Speaker 1]
King of Yohannes was born in 1831 and he died March 10th, 1889, Metemmam Sudan. Emperor of Ethiopia…
[Speaker 2]
Welcome to Storytelling Translationships. You were just listening to a clip of Aziza telling us about King Yohannes IV in Amharic and in English. You can find the full versions of this story in both languages on our website, translationships.net. I'm Taiko Aoki Marcial, and in today's episode of the Storytelling Translationships Podcast, I'm talking to our guests, Aziza and Wellesh, about their lives and about important historical figures that have impacted their countries.
(music)
[Speaker 2]
Wellesh, you want to start?
[Speaker 3]
Aziza start.
[Speaker 2]
Aziza can start.
[Speaker 1]
Okay. Okay. My name is Aziza Mohammed. I was from in Ethiopia. My dad, his name is Masood Mohammed. And then my mom, her name is Herkmu Mohammed Berhan. My dad, he come from Ethiopia. My mom, she was from Eritrea. So I have six brothers and one sister. So my mom, when I was six years old, my mom, she died that time. I don't know her, but my dad, he told me, she's very nice mom. And then she take care of the kids nicely. And then she's so smart too. And then he loved her so much. And then after my mom, she was died that time, my dad, he's not married another woman. But that time, all of my brothers, they are so young. So everybody, they depend of my dad. So life is so hard for him because he didn't marry, nobody's not helping him, just he worked, and then he come back, he take care of us. So my dad, he's my teacher too, because he told me every day, for his life and my mom's life. So he's so nice personality. And then I love my dad so much. Last year when he died, it's for me, life is a lot of struggle. I don't know, because he's my everything. If I'm sad, I will call him and then that just like happened just like that or something. He advised me a lot. He just like my friend too. I didn't do for him nothing, you know, that's why I'm crying a lot. And then it's too much for me. Life is a struggle for me.
But Alhamdulillah, I'm okay now. But I love my brothers and then my sister. So we are now independent for other people. Like we do working, we do everybody, they do work like independent. So they do like work harder. And then I'm so happy right now in my life. And then I go to school. I did my duty. And then sometimes I work with my friend's salon. If she have customers I'm working with her together. So, I'm so happy right now. Inshallah in the future. Right now I start my school of cooking because I have a future for like three or five years. I have to plan to open my own Ethiopian fusion restaurant. And then because most of the food is so nice and delicious. So like I make for like with other foods, with other cultures. So, like, maybe for other people, I will show them how make combination of with other foods. So, I will make a nice customer too, Inshallah. Next winter, I'll go to school to my accounting. I have to plan just like that. Thank you for you listening to me. Thank you, teachers. Thank you, Wellesh.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah, of course.
[Speaker 3]
Thank you. It's very nice.
[Speaker 2]
That’s so, it's very nice. I think that there are many good Ethiopian restaurants, but it's interesting to think about a fusion, right? Because many good Ethiopian restaurants, but I don't think I know any Ethiopian fusion restaurants, you know, that have like different stuff. So that's a that's a good idea. Interesting idea, Aziza. Thank you.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Thank you so much.
[Speaker 2]
You're welcome. Hi, Wellesh.
[Speaker 3]
Okay, hi. Okay, thank you very much for this chance give me. My name is Wellesh Gebrekristos. I am an Eritrean. I am married and a mother of three children. I have in Seattle area with my husband and my two children. I have a happy family. I am working in the University House as a food worker. I love my co-workers. When I come, I came from my country to the USA. I wanted to improve my English. A friend told me about Literacy Source. There in Literacy Source, I improved my English. I improved my English it helped me to, to community with people and my co-worker. So I wanted to say thank you to Literacy Source and to all my teachers. Thank you for listening.
[Speaker 2]
All right, so now going back, Aziza, maybe you could start and just kind of, you don't have to tell the whole story, but like a short summary of what you shared in the class? Like just a short version of your story so that people who haven't heard it yet can understand?
[Speaker 1]
Okay. My history was as a Yohannes IV. I like, because he's a very nice king. And then he was born in Tigray. And then he's born on July 1937. And then he died in March 10, 1889. He fight with, you know, the Sudan Mahdist or, and then with Italian too, because the Italian, they come like the takeover Ethiopia, but they don't, they cannot take for like, they do like warn something, but as Yohannes he's doing like they do military for the, he do train to military and then he's very, how can I do explain? Because I'm sorry.
[Speaker 2]
No, that's okay.
[Speaker 1]
Last time I knew a lot of things, but I forget right now.
[Speaker 2]
No, that's no problem. I read a little bit more about the King Yohannes and I read that he was a very like skilled, he had a lot of military strategy so that he was able to kind of push away the people who were trying to come into the territory, like the Italians at the time and Egyptians, right?
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, no, Mahdist Sudan, Mahdist yeah.
[Speaker 2]
Okay, that's who. Yeah.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
Oh, thank you. Thank you, Aziza.
[Speaker 1]
Thank you so much.
[Speaker 2]
And Wellesh, you also, you are also talking about a person from history. Can you say just like a short little bit about them as well?
[Speaker 3]
Woldeab Woldemariam. It is the first freedom, yeah, in the Eritrean independence.
[Speaker 2]
Okay.
[Speaker 3]
Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
All right.
[Speaker 3]
He's very struggled people, yeah.
[Speaker 2]
All right. Well, going into a little bit more about how did you, your memories or details around the story, like how did you learn this story? Who did you hear it from? Where were you? Who told it to you?
Wellesh and Aziza speaking in Amharic
[Speaker 3]
Oh. I because is many Eritrean peoples and the any meeting any about talk about in Eritrean independence. Who is started it? Like that, is this guy, this guy, this is many. It is told me in my families and I yeah. It's that time I I living in in Ethiopia.
[Speaker 2]
All right, so then I was going to ask Aziza kind of a similar question, you know, like when did you first hear this story? Who did you hear it from? Like where?
[Speaker 1]
First, I hear my dad, he told me about of him. He's a very strong guy, and then he told me, nice things, like he protect for Ethiopia too. So after a while, when I go to school too, they teach us like history classes. And then my teacher, he told about of, he's very strong guy. I learned more in school too. My dad, he told me some history. And then after all, my teacher, he teach me a lot.
[Speaker 2]
Well, then I was wondering, when we were doing our classes, you both told your stories in Amharic and in English, right? What was that like? Was it similar to tell the story in Amharic and English? Did something change? How did that process go?
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, like maybe the words, you know, sometimes now I'm talk like easy way, like it's not formal, you know, about like I reading the about of his history and then it's formal and I change to translate in English. I think the last time was so, kind of a little bit different, I think.
[Speaker 2]
So first in Amharic, it was like not so formal and just conversation. And then you looked up some information and made it more formal and then translated it as well.
[Speaker 1]
Yes.
[Speaker 2]
Wellesh, when we were in the class, you know, and you were telling the story in Amharic and then in English and then writing a little and explaining. How was that? Was it similar? Was it different? Did something change as you told the story in different languages?
[Speaker 3]
No, you send me in the translator, it's good.
[Speaker 2]
Oh, right. The translated one, it was the same?
[Speaker 3]
The same, yeah.
[Speaker 2]
How was it? But the first part, when you were translating for yourself from, in your mind, you know, like you had the story in Amharic and then you were saying it in English, writing it in English. How was that? Was there certain things that were easier or more difficult? Were there words that were difficult to translate? Like how did it feel to try and translate that story into English?
[Speaker 3]
It was good because I see and my husband too. My husband is translator, so it's a good translator like that, he told me. Yeah, it is. I understand that many people is understanding about that. Yeah, good, good understanding for English and come back in the Amharic. Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
Did you talk about it with your husband, like during the class when you were when you were coming to class and stuff?
[Speaker 3]
Oh, yeah. Again, he is he is he in the translating you send me in the same. Yeah, it's good. It's good translator. Yeah, it's nice.
[Speaker 2]
Okay, good. All right. More questions. So both of you, in your story, Aziza, you said he's important because he protected his country from outside powers like Egypt or Italy and Wellish. You said that he was one of the original kind of proponents of Eritrean independence. Right? So can you say maybe something more about what these outside powers like Italy or Egypt or Britain or maybe even the US have done in the area in Ethiopia, in Eritrea?
[Speaker 1]
That time as Yohannes, he live in Tigray, like out of the border of Ethiopia. So, of course they come that side. So he's a military too. So, he like, he, you know, he train of the people like military and then he like defended the country against extra, prepated to Egyptian and then Italian and Mahdist too. So, especially Italian, they need to colonize to Ethiopia. They need to colonize, but they didn't do colonize to Ethiopia because the inside force is very high. You know, the Italian force, like they fight war, like they were on the, you know, the gun or something. But inside of the King of Yohannes, they fight like, I don't know, what they call, you know, the, not the gun, (speaking Amharic to someone in the background) but sword, they fight with sword. They don't have like gun or something.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah, I read a little bit about both of these people. Yeah. And I'd learned that they really wanted, they wanted to unify their people, right? In different ways so that the people would be strong and together. And there was a lot of difficulty, you know, for both of them.
[Speaker 3]
Very, very difficult. Yeah, yeah. It's very, the Eritrean’s history is very, very, very, very, very hard passes because this before Ethiopia and Italian England in the like yeah after that Ethiopia again is in together is push after that he's in struggles with many peoples is die the the peoples like honey like what is honey the like bees, like bee and like, is out in the like the bee.
[Speaker 2]
Like bees?
[Speaker 3]
Bees, yeah, bee. Yeah, bee is like honey stuff, bee.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah, yeah, like bees. Bzzzzz.
[Speaker 3]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a people's, maybe Eritrea, any neighborhood thing like Ethiopia, maybe is touch in Eritrea and the peoples is together is like bees.
[Speaker 2]
Like many bees coming?
[Speaker 3]
Yes. Yeah
[Speaker 2]
I see.
[Speaker 3]
Oh, yeah. I don't know English word. Sorry. Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
No, that's okay. That's very interesting.
[Speaker 3]
Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
So the other question I had, these are both like really famous people. King Yohannes and Woldeab Woldemariam, but I was wondering, or Cristina and I are wondering, are there other maybe not so famous people or other people who you think are important in the history of your community and the history of your areas and the history of your language who aren't so famous or people that you know, people in your community that have protected or made people stronger, you know, something like that.
[Speaker 3]
Oh, yeah. It's my brothers too, and live in Seattle. He's living is a long time this place. So he is very, very, very struggle about community and especially in the church of the community in the Americas Church. The Americas is the Orthodox Church in the Eritrean Church. So is help in the old peoples and the childs. More important is for childs. He's the always Saturday, all day and he teach in the peoples in the her language, her culture, her, and family, fathers and mothers. How do you do, her fathers? You, where are you going? It's before, after class. And like that is teaching is. Maybe one day I show you because the Saturday is many people is very tight that class in the about the class.
[Speaker 2]
In church?
[Speaker 3]
Participate. Yeah, yeah. I show you. Maybe one day is I visit you. I show you.
[Speaker 2]
I would love that. What are your thoughts, Aziza? Somebody, maybe in the past or maybe right now, people who maybe aren't so famous but are doing, who are important, who are protected, maybe an artist, a musician, or like Wellesh said, somebody in the family, a volunteer, elders, people who share knowledge and experience so it's not forgotten?
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, you know, I think that's why in education in Ethiopia, you know, they teach you like detail about of the king of the day, what they did, what they work in, and how they protect the country, they teach you a lot. We teach us, on the Wellesh, she say in a church, in a different area, they teach like how they come, how they protect the country. So, right now the technology is very high and then they in the Wikipedia, they know everything of the history. So people now they search and then they teach us more and you have to do listen and then watch and Google it, some idea of your country, kingdom, what they did. Especially me, I talk with the other people. So, they do like that, they do like that because I'm not forget for the history too. Because we do, we talk about a lot of things.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah, so people, not just people can research, people can use technology like Google and Wikipedia to learn about their own history as well. Yeah?
[Speaker 1]
Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
Is there anything else that you, from the classes or from the stories or from the experience in the class that you remember that you think is important or that you have questions about?
[Speaker 3]
And last class in this class is, it's very good, very important thing because every history you see in anything, because before I didn't see, I listen anything in this past. So right now is it teach and together in this, like this, like me and Aziza, you in conversation is very good. It's for me is very good because, I maybe the future development is like that is histories I see is any histories I read. I read. I read Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
Mhm. I love it.
[Speaker 3]
Yeah, it is good. Yeah, it is class is very nice because before I didn't see that. Right now is I see anything is see is I'm focused before I just past in I see in the past that like that.
[Speaker 2]
I'm happy about that, Wellesh.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Me too, teacher, the same of Wellesh. Because even here, you know now the history, what they did, more you learn about in Google, you search it and then you read it, more you gathering information. So me too, I'm not talk about too much to before, like people they ask me before, Where you from? I'm from Ethiopia, or OK. People, they don't ask me. I didn't talk about for the kingdom of the history, what they did, how they become now like, and it's not colonized to Africa, Libya and Ethiopia. So, we we talk we talk about for the information too I will I will talk them now, I give it to them now confidently. I talk about the history, yeah.
[Speaker 2]
That's wonderful.
[Speaker 3]
Yeah. Right now is good confidence.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah. After the class, I make a confidence still more.
[Speaker 3]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. It's very nice.
[Speaker 2]
That's wonderful.
(music)
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Credits
[Speaker 2]This podcast has been produced with the support from Humanities WA, the University of Washington Simpson Center and the College of Arts & Sciences and a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant. Special thanks to our guests for generously sharing the treasures that these stories are for their families and communities. More information on their stories and others involved in this project can be found on our podcast website, translationships.net.
[Speaker 4]
The title of our podcast was inspired by the Force 11 Open, Multilingual and Global Scholarly Communication (OMG) working group, which challenges the “global scholarly communication community [to] develop more openly and equitably “trans-lationships” (translational relationships) across cultures, languages, regions, boundaries, disciplines and worldviews” (Del Río Riande, Lujano, and O’Donnell 2020) as it appears in Spence and Brandao’s article “ Towards Language Sensitivity and Diversity in the Digital Humanities.”
[Speaker 2]
Our collaborators for this project include language and pedagogical support from Shariliz Poveda, Eloisa Aguirre, Francisco Siderey, and Bixin Fu; technology and logistical support from Frank Macarthy and Elliott Stevens.
The intro song is a remix of Mercedes Sosa’s Balderrama by Kermesse, a group from Buenos Aires, formed in 2015 by duo, Fase and Gurtz (aka Muno) licensed under the creative commons.
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