An Open Letter to the Cathedral School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
CC: To the Ministry of Education
The punishment does not fit the crime
I knew this child who is sixteen years old. I was impressed how smart he was I decided to help him financially by getting him to a good school. He got the opportunity to take the entrance exam at the Cathedral School in Addis Ababa. He did well and he was accepted. He has been going to the Cathedral School for the last two and a half years. I closely follow his progress at his school and he has been doing very well. His grades so far have been As and Bs. He took the 10th grade exam last May/June and did very well and moved on to the 11th grade.
Recently I received a letter from him informing me that he was kicked out from the Cathedral School. The reason as he stated is that two fellow students asked him to hold their purses so that they can free their hands to have a drink of water from a pipe (fountain) in the school campus. Later both claimed to have lost their purses. When they went around asking if any body saw their purses, this young man kept doing his school work and apparently not paying enough attention to what was going on around him. Eventually when the school authorities started searching for the lost (stolen) item they found both purses in his possession. He claimed that he forgot the girls had given him their wallets to hold for them. As it turned out the girls also claimed that they did not remember giving their purses to him. Based on this scenario, any body can form their opinions. I know I have . For the sake of argument let us assume that he had stolen the purses. He is sixteen years old and he made a mistake. He probably thought he was going to get away with it. He is at that age where boys act up and see how much they can push their parents and the system. Since they are young they do not realize how bad the consequence of their action could be. Children do darn things. That is why they need their parents, teachers or any monitor to guide, navigate and help their way in life. Stealing is not acceptable and should be followed by some sort of serious punishment. That could include taking away things that the child likes most for a specific period of time or what ever the adult thinks is appropriate. That should teach them a lesson that when they do something wrong there are consequences. But the punishment should fit the crime. When you are only sixteen and made a mistake, may be you should be suspended from school for few days. Or make the child clean the campus of the school or even the bathroom so he would not do the same mistake again and let him back to school. You do not throw away a child from school in the middle of school year. Especially when it is a first time offence. By imposing such punishment, the school will be doing the child, society and the country at large a huge disservice. Instead of becoming a good influence in the child’s life the grown-ups are becoming a reason for his distraction. Who benefited here? Why do we discipline? I believe it is to teach children right from wrong. Of all places the Cathedral School run by a Catholic Church should know that human beings are inherently weak. I think the Bible makes that point very clear. We all make mistakes.. The only thing we would hope for is that we do not do the same mistake again and again. We all know that Catholic Churches have been accused for the last few years of different child abuses here in the USA and elsewhere. I think it is inappropriate for any one of us to think better than thou. What the Abba (father) should have done is take the child to his office and talk to him. Council him. Give him pep talk and guidance. Stealing is not the right thing to do. Call his family and talk with them to further follow up on the child’s behavior. Find out why this child did what he did and then try to help as much as possible so that the child would not repeat the same mistake again. The good father should have asked if this child has a problem at home with his parents or with his friends. He should have use this opportunity to try to establish trust with this child so next time this boy has some sort of problem he could go to him and get the help he needs. Instead the good father, just without a one week or a month notice to his mother so that she could look for another school just kicked him out from his school. What a cold heartless thing to do by a priest. The man who is supposed to be closer to God. The man who is supposed to know and teach about forgiveness and hope in life. He just almost took his life away. I don’t think God likes that. As far as I know God teaches us to be compassionate, forgiving and give second chances to those who make mistakes. The child has a lot of years ahead of him. I promise you if he has done it he will learn from it and he will forgive himself and go on with his life. Further more I like to assure you in the coming ten years, this child will grow up and will have a respected title in front of his name and he will prove the Father and the school wrong. He will be bigger and hopefully forgive the Father for what he has done in attempting to almost ruin his life. Now he will go to another school and he will do well. Abba, you might have taken your school from him but not his faith, destiny, dignity and his thirst for learning. After I read the letter this young boy sent to me I started calling people that knew him. Friends and neighbors. They could not believe the school did this to him. They all thought that he is one of the best behaved children that they knew. He helps his single mom in the house. He even sometimes bakes injera when ever his mom is buy to do it. He plans his time very well. He has time to help in the house and do his home work and study and gets great grades. One of the contacts I talked to told me that this kid happen to be a Muslim and as the constitution of Ethiopia permits he exercise his right to pray when ever it is time to do so , in the campus of the Cathedral Church and it is suggested to me that the Abba(father) did not like that and that may have been the reason for kicking him out of school and refused to give him a second chance. I know Ethiopia and Ethiopians would like to believe that there is no discrimination towards Ethiopian Muslims but we know better. If what I am hearing here is the truth this is called discrimination and most likely illegal. Ethiopian Muslims were very much discriminated during the emperor’s era. They were addressed as Muslims living in Ethiopia. In the middle of the mix during the Derg some of the rights of Muslims was established. It is great to know that the present government did not reverse these rights or taken away. I believe Ethiopian Muslims are very peaceful and patient and most of supportive of the present administration. But when discriminated against it’s every Muslims responsibly to write and speak out about it.
The reason I am writing this is to bring attention to the hidden discrimination that any one could suffer because of their religion, gender, ethnicity, culture or political view. We have to learn tolerance. I did not mention the name of this child since he is a minor. I hope the school honors that. I am also wondering if the school has to write on this child’s school record why he is dismissed…..what reason would they use?
God bless Ethiopia
Nurit Adem