የሶሻል ሚዲያ በገጠር ለሚኖሩ ያለው ፋይዳ - Social Media in Rural Ethiopia (Yem Special Wereda)

የሶሻል ሚዲያ በገጠር ለሚኖሩ ያለው ፋይዳ! በመጀመሪያ የሶሻል ሚዲያ (Social Media) ምንድን ነው? የሶሻል ሚዲያ ማለት አንድ ህብረተሰብ ባልተደራጀ መልኩ ዜናን የሚቀያየርበት የመረጃ መቀያየሪያ መድረክ ተብሎ ሊተረጎም ይችላል:: ሶሻል ሚዲያ የኢንተርኔት ወይም የመረጃ መረብ ሚዲያ አይነት ሲሆን ከባህላዊና የተለመደው ሚዲያ በተሻለ የተቀላጠፈ መልኩ ግንኙነትን መፍጠር የሚያስችል፣እንዲሁም አሳታፊም የሆነ መደረክ ነው:: የሶሻል ሚዲያ ምሳሌች- ፌስቡክ፣ትዊተር፣ኢንስታግራም፣ዩትዩብ ዋነኞቹ ናቸው። ይህ ሚዲያ በገጠሪቱ የሀገራችን ክፍሎች ለሚኖሩ ምን አይነት አስተዋፅዖ ሊኖረው ይችላል？
የብሮድባንድ ያለመስፋፋት የሶሻል ሚዲያን ሊገድበው ይችላልን? የሶሻል ሚዲያን ለመጠቀም የተለየ ትምህርት መማር ያስፈልጋልን？ የሶሻል ሚዲያ ከባህላዊው የማስ ሚዲያ በምን ይለያል？ ገበሬው በዚህ ወቅት የሶሻል ሚዲያ ለመጠቀም ዝግጁ ነውን？ የሶሻል ሚዲያ ምርታማነት ላይ ተፅዕኖ አለውን？ የሶሻል ሚዲያ ዲሞክራሲን የማለምለምና አንባገነንነትን የማዳከም ባህሪ አለውን？ የሶሻል ሚዲያን የማስፋፋት የማን ሃላፊነት ነው？ የሶሻል ሚዲያን የኛ ሰው እንዴት በሚገባ መጠቀም ይችላል？

Technological Advancement - What can we contribute? ቴክኖሎጂና የኛ አስተዋጽኦ

ቴክኖሎጂና የአንድ ሃገር እድገት ቀጥተኛ ግንኙነት አላቸው:: ቴክኖሎጂ የሚገዛ ብቻ ሳይሆን ትኩረት ከተሰጠው አገር ውስጥ ሊተከል፣ሊበቅልና ሊያድግ የሚችል ነገር ነው:: ዛሬ ዓለማችን የደረሰችበት ማንኛውም ዓይነት እድገት ምንጩ ቴክኖሎጂያዊ መነሻ አለው:: ቴክኖሎጂ  የሚለው ቃል ከግሪክ ቃል "ቴክኒ" የተገኘ ሲሆን በግሪክ "ጥበብ፣ችሎታ ወይም የእጅ ስራ" ማለት ነው:: ቴክኖሎጂ የቴክኒኮች ጥርቅም፣ምርትንና አገልግሎትን የምናመርትበት ወይም ደግሞ ሌሎች ግቦችን በቀላሉ የምንመታበት ዘዴ ወይም ሂደት ነው:: ቴክኖሎጂ የቴክኒክ ወይም የሂደት እውቀት ሊሆን ይችላል:: በሌላ መልኩ ደግሞ ማሽን፣ኮምፒውተር፣ፋብሪካ እንዲሁም ሌሎች ነገሮች  ውስጥ ተደብቆ የሚገኝ ነገር ሊሆን ይችላል::

የሰው ልጅ ቴክኖሎጂን መጠቀም የጀመረው ገና ጥንት የተፈጥሮ ሃብትን ወደ ቀላል መሳሪያዎች መቀየር ሲጀምር ነው:: በጥነተ ታሪክ የሰው ልጅ እሳትን ያገኘበት ሁኔታ ለምሳሌ የሚጠቀስ ነው:: በቅርቡ ከምናውቃቸው ቴክኖሎጂያዊ እድገቶች፡የማተሚያ መሳሪያ፣ስልክ፣ኢንተርኔት፣ዘመናዊ የጦር መሳሪያዎች ወዘተ ተጠቃሽ ናቸው::

ሁሉም ማህበረሰብ ወይም ግለሰብ ለሰው ልጆች ሊያበረክተው የሚችላቸው ቴክኖሎጂዎች ይኖራሉ:: በኢትዮጲያ ታሪክ ለምሳሌ የህንፃ ግንባታ ቴክኖሎጂዎችና ውጤታቸው በአክሱም፣ላሊበላ፣ሃረር፣ እና ጎንደር በስፋት ታይቷል:: የእርከን ቴክኖሎጂ በኮንሶ ታይቷል:: የሙዚቃ ስርአቶች በያሬድ ተዘርግተዋል:: ዛሬ ታዲያ የምንጠይቀው ጥያቄ እኛ ለሰዉ ልጆች ወይም ለኢትዮጲያ ህዝቦች ብሎም ለራሳችን የሚጠቅም ምን ዓይነት ቴክኖሎጂን አበረከትን የሚል ነው:: ይህ ጥያቄ ግለሰብንም ማህበረሰብንም የሚመለከት ስለሆነ ልናስብበት የሚገባ አይመስላችሁም?

ወደ መሬት ስናወርደው፣ ቴክኖሎጂ የሰው ልጆችን ህይወት አብዮታዊ በሆነ መልኩ ሊቀይር የሚችል መሆኑ ታውቆ፣በመጀመሪያ ስነልቦናዊ ብሎም ምሁራዊና ቴክኒካዊ ዝግጅትን በግለሰቦችና ባጠቃላይ ማህበረሰብ ወስጥ መፍጠር ያስፈልጋል:: የአንድ ማህበረሰብ ዕድገት ከሚለካባቸው መንገዶች አንዱና ዋነኛው ማህበረሰቡ ለቴክኖሎጂ ያለው ግንዛቤ ብሎም የራሱን ችግር በራሱ ልጆች በተፈጠሩ አዳዲስ ነገሮች መፍታት ሲችል ወይም የመፍታት አቅምን ሲያዳብር ነው:: እኛ ራሳችንን አዳዲስ ቴክኖሎጂዎችን ለመቀበልም ሆነ የፈጠራ አስተዋጽኦ ለማድረግ ምን ያህል በግለሰብምና በማህበረሰብ ደረጃ አዘጋጅተናል?

ቴክኖሎጂን ቀላል፣መካከለኛና ከባድ ብለን በመክፈል ማየት እንችላለን:: ትላልቅ ቴክኖሎጂውች በጣም ብዙ ወጪ የሚጠይቁ ብሎም ብዙ ጥልቅ ምርምርን የሚፈልጉ ሊሆኑ ይችላሉ:: ለምሳሌ የሮኬት፣የሳተላይት፣የአውሮፕላን ቴክኖሎጂዎችን ትልቅ ወይም ከባድ ቴክኖሎጂ ሊባሉ ይችላሉ። በአንጻሩ ደግሞ መካከለኛ የምንላቸው ቴክኖሎጂዎች እንደኛ ባሉ አዳጊ ሃገራት በግለሰብ ደረጃም ባይሆን በመንግስት ሊተገበሩ የሚችሉ ናቸው። ለምሳሌ የመኪና፣ባቡር፣የህክምና ቴክኖሎጂዎችን በዚህ ክፍል ልንመድባቸው እንችላለን። በዋናነት ግን ለኛ በአብዛኛው በዚህ ጊዜና ሁኔታ የሚጠቅመንና ልናተኩርበት የሚገባው ቀላል ወይም አነስተኛ ተብለው የሚታወቁትና መሰረታዊ የሆኑት ቴክኖሎጂዎች ላይ ነው። አብዛኛው የኛ ማህበረሰብ በእርሻ ስራ ላይ የተሰማራ በመሆኑ ምግብን በብዛትና በጥራት ለማምረት የሚያስችል ማንኛውም ቴክኖሎጂ ሊተኮርበት የሚገባ ነው::

ቴክኒካዊ ብቃትን በማህበረሰባችን ውስጥ ለማስረጽ፣ ህጻናትን ከታች ጀምሮ መቅረጽን ይጠይቃል። በተለይ በሂሳብና በተፈጥሮ ሳይንስ ጥናት ትኩረት ሰጥተን ልናስታጥቃቸው ይገባል። በተለይ የኛን ችግሮችን መቅረፍ የሚችሉ አድርገን ልናዘጋጃቸው ያስፈልጋል።

Identifying our competitive advantage

It is very important to understand the competitive advantage of one nation or community over the other in order to to tap its potential resources. I was asking myself about what are the things that are abundant and can be marketed in our area and I have identified the following:

• "Enset" and its related products like "kancha", "Jibba" etc
• bamboo tree (Kerkeha)
• Chatt
• Coffee
• Grains ( Wheat, Maize, Sorgum, beans, peas etc)
• cattle and its products
• Minerals

I do not exactly know the area very well and i cannot specifically say producing this or that is a competitive advantage for us. Someone may give his opinion on this. However, those i mentioned above seems to me good areas where we can produce and take advantage of.

It is amazing that our capital Saja lies on the road to Addis Ababa. I believe this is an advange to ship and sell our products to the vast market in Addis Ababa area. The main road from Addis Ababa to Jimma help us to transport our raw materials and finished goods to and from Saja. Jimma , Illubabor, Bonga, and welega are also very crucial areas to sell our products. We are in the middle of the west and central part of the country and I believe that is a very good advantage for our people.

In addition to the highway, I believe that establishing a rail road from Saja to Addis may give us the chance to mobilize the products and raw materials easily and with low cost. Who can build this kind of infrastructure to the advantage of our people?

Our heroic and honest people are our advantage to maximize our wealth as a community. It is the responsibility of each of us to outsmart others and make a real difference to the good of our people. Creativity, collaboration, effectiveness and flexibility would count in the process of creating and preserving the wealth of our people. For this cause , we encourage the young to focus on science and technology, mathematics, engineering and business. We are few in number and it is hard to compete with others. We can beat any competitor if we focus on quality. Quality of each individual we have really matters in the success of our people as a community. What do I mean by quality of individual? By quality I meant in terms of education, finance, knowledge, wisdom, competitiveness, heroism, excelling in all walk of life be it in professional or nonprofessional activities. That only makes us recognized and respected as a people.

Living in a nation as a Minority

As I have indicated before, the number of Yem people living in Ethiopia are so few that it is less than one percent of the whole population . Is this an advantage or disadvantage to the Yem people? I wish we were the majority and speak our language Yemsa, and listen our language on TV, Radio, Newspapers and so on. Unfortunately, this is not so. We do not have that advantage of living as a majority. This chance is given to our brothers like the Oromos, Amharas and others in Ethiopia. They have all the benefits of being the dominant in that environment. We use their language, we celebrate their holidays, we worship the same gods as theirs and most importantly our culture is shaped by them. 
However, I am thinking is there any benefit to a community living in a nation as a Minority. Believe or not we cannot change this situation in a short term and even it may not be changed forever. What we can do is accepting our minority status and maximize the best benefits out of it.
I believe the Yem people have the opportunity to create a strong personal bond among each other. In other words, we can know each family and individual as a member of the community and help each other.This is not possible in other majority communities. We have a great advantage of connecting to each other to the good of Yem people.
In addition, we can create several projects that would help our community easily. Job creating , self advancement, educational, and health related projects can easily be implemented and evaluated.
Third, it is great to be unique. It gives you a different perspective to life. I have my own ancestor which is different from the guy who stands next to me. I have a music that is different. I have a different weeding, funeral and festival ceremonies different from any other group in Ethiopia. Is not that great? I like to be different.
Thus, i am always happy to be a minority in Ethiopia. I tap all the advantages of living as a minority. I will do all my best and pledge to keep my heritage , language, music, culture and dignity. God bless YEM, God bless Ethiopia.
Yemni Nano

ታሪክ ማወቅ

ወደፊት ለመራመድ የኋላውን ታሪክ ማወቅ አለብን !!

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