Religion and its Power

Last time I have published an article about what religion the Yem follow and i have indicated that no particular religion is followed by Yem people. Like any other group in Ethiopia, Yem people follow Christianity, Islam, and traditional religion. However, Christian dominates all other religions. Ethiopian coptic church followers and protestant Christians are common in the area. The first Coptic church was founded in 1800's in Fofa area.
I felt happy to learn that we have religion to follow as a people. I believe religion has various benefits to a community regardless of what kind it is.
I know that we were following our own traditional religion from the beginning. It has no particular name. Christianity and Islam are later additions to this community. We almost lost our religion and we are following their religion. We are ignoring our gods and following theirs. I do not blame anybody for injecting their philosophy into us. It is our fault to accept their dogma and ignoring ours. What is the name of your religion, Yem? Who is your messenger, Yem? Where are your religious books? What are the names of your gods?

Moving to SAJA: Cost-Benefit

District government of Yem decided to move the seat from Fofa to Saja. I believe the move is very important in terms of connecting the people of Yem to other parts of the country. Especially Saja is right on the road to Addis Ababa and is strategic area to trade and transportation.
On the other hand, I am so much concerned about the people down near to Fofa. They may be far from government services. They are farmers and need assistance from agricultural workers (DAs) and health services from the local government. They need to be supplied with these services no matter what.
Some concerned people are seeing the possibility of having own college, university, and everything one city can hold in Saja as it is convenient in terms of infrastructural facilities.
In order to preserve the language, culture, music, and unique nature of Yem, connecting it with other cities might help a lot. This move is appreciated. We really want to see these in SAJA:

• college that promote our culture and language
• referral hospital
• city hall
• roads that connect other parts of the district such as Deri

 

Marginalizing Women and tribes in Yem

Women in Yem are so much marginalized that they are forced to raise children and serve the man or their husbands. This is not of course unique to Yem. It is common practice in Ethiopia in general. However, since the majority of women in Yem are living in the rulal area , they are by far the victim of marginalization by their male counterparts. It is common to send the male to school while keeping the female at home to serve the family.
Nowadays, the people are awakening and have started sending their female children to school. House servants in neighboring cities like Addis Ababa, Welisso, Wolkite, Jimma, Agaro etc are women from Yem and they are obliged to work as house servants due to lack of education and marginalization in the main land.

On the other hand, I have come to understand that Yem has been structured into various tribes. But the major ones, based on their status, include:

1. Muwa
2.  Fuga (tanner-potters)
3. Yirfo (smiths)

This classification was based on the occupation of the people. the muwa clan or tribe supposed to rule or lead the Yem, the Fuga clan are tanners or potters in the society , and the Yirfo are the ones who work on metal....they are the smiths.
This is an old structure in Yem and it is no longer practiced these days. However, marginalization based on occupation was a dominant culture in Yem. You may see the remains of this kind of marginalization of the Fuga and the Yirfo in the main land.

I recommend you to read the following book:
Peripheral People: The Excluded Minorities of Ethiopia
By Dena Freeman  and Alula Pankhurst
page 46