by Naol Hulufe
Seven thousand, seven hundred forty-seven miles away from her for six years, the only way I was in touch with her was through a phone call once every two to three weeks. And that was only possible when their service was good, which was rare in the city of Assela, Ethiopia. She was my angel, my life, and most importantly the best grandmother any human being could ask for. She was a well-known person: first, for being the only daughter of her father, who was a great Oromo warrior and one of the best horsemen during the First Italo-Ethiopian war, which is also known as the Battle of Adwa; and second for her generosity and devotion to help those in need.
While her story is long and is only documented orally, in June 2018, I had the opportunity to interview her for a short amount of time due to health issues she was facing at that moment. This visit was intended to be a vacation for my family and myself. However, as I was packing my bags for the flight, I was determined to spend as much time as possible with her. She left everything she had in the countryside behind and moved to the city to take care of her grandkids.
On the day of the flight, the childhood memories I had with her started flashing through my mind. While packing, I started to reminisce about those childhood memories and I was impatient to see her. On the flight day, I couldn’t wait for the plane to take off already and land.
Flying back over the same ocean and land that I had first flown over six years ago felt thrilling: this time, instead of heading into an unknown continent, I knew exactly where I was heading, and I knew who was waiting for me in my homeland. This time I knew exactly where I was heading, and I knew who was waiting for me on the other side of the world. I was excited and my eyes were sparkling out of joy like the stars in the sky. The flight felt so long even though I had traveled this path once before. Beforehand, I googled the total travel time from Atlanta to Addis Ababa. The result said, “17 hours and 45 minutes with 1 stop,” which was the same as the flight my family booked. When I looked at the time on the screen in front of my plane seat, it said, “landing in Addis Ababa in 15 hours.” I couldn’t believe there were 15 hours left to land. I felt like I had already flown 20 hours, but it had only been 2 hours. At that point, I gave up and stopped checking at the time, instead, I started watching a movie to distract myself from my eagerness to land in Ethiopia.
After flying overseas for nearly 18 hours, which felt like 48 hours, I was there. As soon as I saw her, tears rushed down my cheeks and I ran towards her and hugged her as tight as I could. At that point, someone behind me said, “Don’t kill her now, she’s too old for that kind of hug.” I smiled and let loose. Everyone greeted one another, which itself took about 20 minutes due to the amount of family members who came from different parts of the country to welcome us back. After six years of being apart, I had the privilege to see my favorite person and was able to visit the city I was born in.
She used to call me Tahir, which is an Arabic name which means “pure” or “virtuous”. She was the only person who called me that. We talked about how she used to call me in for a quick snack while I was out playing with my friends. And I mentioned to her how she would invite other kids to come and eat as well. I mentioned to her how she was very protective of me and never let me leave her sight. We talked about how I used to walk her to the mosque and how she would ask me to lead her in a prayer when I was a child.
It was during this visit that I was able to find a true meaning to what happiness is and how one can find happiness in small things. It was during this time, that I was able to understand how I wanted to live my life, which was to cherish small moments. Within that journey, my grandmother was the person that sparked such a realization. Before coming back to the United States, which was the last time I saw her, I asked her what advice she has for me and she simply said, “be there for those who are in need and love others as you love yourself. And my dear Tahir, most importantly live your life to the fullest no matter what you end up doing.” That made me think a lot about how I have lived my life and it got me questioning how one can truly live up to that principle. At that moment, I realized that she was the true example of that exact advice because she truly has lived up to that.
Within that one-month visit, I learned a lot more about myself and how I wanted to live my life from here on. I spent every day of that month reliving most of my childhood memories and laughing with my favorite person and family members. I took pictures with my relatives, visited my favorite childhood places with my childhood friends, and got the opportunity to spend time with my grandmother who I was extremely excited to see.
Her name was Faayoo Hamdaa, but I used to call her Aayyoo, an Afaan Oromo version of grandma. Due to the lack of a birth certificate, her exact age was unknown, which is the case for most Ethiopian senior citizens. However, she estimated her age to be around 94. She passed away around the age of 95.
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