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Has Tigray of Ethiopia lost her virginity?

 

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                Has Tigray of Ethiopia lost her virginity?

Amleset Tesfay 12-12-17

 

Tigray of Ethiopia has lost its virginity or its purity. It is now invaded by the worst enemy of the society called PROSTITUTION, ADDICTION of KHAT and illiteracy of the low paid people, especially housemaids.  For Ethiopians these problems are some of the root causes of poverty and poverty is our mortal enemy. When Meles advised the young Ethiopians, he told them that the problem cannot be solved by parents alone. So, the question is, who should be involved as part of the solution or as an actor of the solution? Since I was born and raised in Tigray, my retrospective observational study about some of the root causes, impacts and its solutions to the problem are the following:

When does Prostitution started or spread?

Since the inception of Ethiopia until the time of king Haile-Selassie, prostitution and Smoking were taboos. However, In Tigray Prostitution spread like wild fire during the Dergue era. One of the main reasons was due to the permanent deployment of hundred-thousands of sexually active unmarried Ethiopian military forces for 17 years. During dergue era; however there were no KHAT SHOPS in Tigray. In Tigray a leave was only chewed by domestic animals (sheep, goat etc).  Well, today the virgin Tigray has become a place of not only Khat addicts but also the owner of rehabilitation centers for Khat addicts. On top of that, prostitution contributed to the growth of HIV patients from less than 50 people twenty-five-years ago to 100,000 people today. I did not include the undiagnosed HIV patients. The undiagnosed HIV patients may exceed 100,000 people. I have no exact number for the HIV death victims, but it is estimated the HIV or any STD related deaths may exceed 500,000 people in Tigray alone. Now, my worry and all parents worry are about how to protect the people who are alive now. So, do we have to wait another 25 years until we see a million HIV cases and deaths or do we have to deal with the root causes now? Therefore, I urge everybody to contribute their ideas and ask their representatives to make laws that prohibit the sale of Khat and the sale of a dignified women’s body in Tigray. Definitely, your model will be welcomed and implemented on other regions of our county as well.

 

What are the main causes for the problem?

There are many causes and many excuses have been given by many individual leaders about the causes; however the main reason for the spread of the problem is lack of commitment from leaders at different sectors such as the Health Bureau, law- makers and other concerned government and non-government bodies. When it comes to the above mentioned problems, no one dared to listen to the people to make a law since the past 26 years. It seems that most People in position of power, be it at the higher or lower level were not in a position of power to make a positive change in the society but just to make a living. So, they prefer to follow the usual old way of doing things rather than adopting new laws in the best interest of the people to address the concerns of our society.  

 

What are the Impacts of the invasion of the problems?

Primarily, It is detrimental to the governments core policy of Capacity –building. Today, how many of the youth are free of sexually transmitted diseases? How many of the brilliant youths have drop out of universities? How many are now in a rehabilitation center due to the addiction? How many of the thousands of Men and women who work as house-maids go to school? So, without making a law that governs these problems the issue of Capacity building cannot be easily successful. Prostitution, Khat- addiction, illiteracy at the grass-root level are overlooked as irrelevant issues, and we tend to follow the old norms rather than changing the laws that greatly impact our society’s well-being and development.

Secondly, many addicts put their addiction at the top of their list.  Their family or work is secondary or tertiary issue for them. So, an addict is easily susceptible to bribery, theft and corruption. Therefore, one of the key to fight bribery is to try avoiding the root cause. 

Thirdly, it has negative impacts on tourism. How? Most of the tourist attraction places are mainly ancient historical, Monasteries, churches, Mosques, Meskel and Ashenda. For tourists what these historical places exemplify and what they see on the ground is quite different. At least, we do not have one hotel without a prostitute. In Addis-Ababa some international tourist prostitutes come for party and prostitution. What do we get from them, Money or disease? On my trip to Ethiopia, I asked a person why he is travelling to Ethiopia. He told me for a party-night. I asked him again, why he did not do it in his home country. He said, prostitution is illegal in my country.

Some of the solutions to the problems:

  1. All solutions are at the hand of the people. A leader, who is a real servant of the people, must listen just to the people. What the people need is a law that governs the spread of STD due to prostitution and addiction due to Khat. Meles said, the problem cannot be solved by parents alone. This implies that government bodies, law-makers and police forces should be directly involved in tackling the problem. Prostitution and addiction are not jobs in democratic nation. It is an abuse of democracy and negligence of justice and the well-being of a society.
  2. As a rule of thumb, in any federal government system, any state government is obliged to follow stricter federal laws. However, if the federal government’s law is not stricter than a state’s law, like the prostitution case in Ethiopia, then the states can implement stricter laws. Therefore:
  3. States can have laws that Prohibit prostitution and Chat/Khat. Khat Shops should be closed immediately. Why a license was given to introduce addiction to a region where there was no Khat addiction? What is the job of the health bureau in Tigray? To establish khat-rehabilitation centers instead of taking primary measures? Which one is economically and health-wise acceptable?
  4. Alcohol sale should be restricted for underage people (or under 21 years old).
  5. A law can be made to fix a minimum wage for any job at your state.  
  6. Capacity-building laws can be implemented by each family who hires people at their homes. For instance, People who hire House-maids should be obliged to send the house-maids to school half a day or at least evenings; so that the house-maids can have a future. By doing so, our people will prefer to work in their country instead of going to the Middle East. Not sending a young maid to school is considered an act of slavery and it is a crime. We should change the old way of doing things. Do not forget these house-maids are the orphans and daughters of the martyrs like Amora and Keshi Gebru. So, let’s start doing justice at our home. By doing so, In Tigray only, over 50,000 house-maids can go to school. But, if we fail to do so, then we will have over 50,000 illiterate women plus their children. So, we should create a real capacity building mechanism at the grass-root level without the government paying a penny.
  7. Working as Barista is a respected work in many countries. Most of them can be married people. They can get paid a fixed minimum wage that is taxed from the alcoholic drink that they sell. An increase of cents on each alcoholic drink can help pay Baristas the wages that they deserve.
  8. If possible, in order to get hired as a public servant or factory worker one must be clean from any drug or khat blood test. This discourages people from chewing and becoming an addict.
  9. ALUMUNI of all Awrajas can give more ideas and inputs to bring a positive change in their respective districts every year. They can come up with new ideas and solutions.
  10. Ethiopian religious societies can contribute their part to tackle the problem.
  11. If “Prevention is better than curing” is the motto of the Health Bureaus, then the Health Bureau should focus on primary care. They should scientifically and professionally convince law makers to make a law. In fact, as part of primary care, they were supposed to establish a law that prohibits the sale of khat about 25 years ago instead of now establishing a rehabilitation center for Khat addicts.
  12. The act of Elite prostitution must be prohibited as a sexual corruption. For instance, the inappropriate sexual relations in exchange of grades/marks by some teachers or instructors on their own students, and bankers on their customers and so on must be considered as a sexual corruption or abuse of public-service. Many young students have become victims of HIV or sexually transmitted disease at a younger age.

Conclusion:

Khat addiction is new for Tigray. But prostitution, illiteracy of low paid people is the problems of all Ethiopians. A law should be made and enforced to send the low paid individuals to school by the people who hire them and to prohibit the sale of Chat/Khat and a dignified women’s body that is contributing to the spread of HIV or STD and the deaths of thousands of our Citizens.

 


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