Do you all still remember the Grade 9 biology, chemistry, and physics textbooks? አሁን ቀይረውት ካልሆነ ያው ሶስት መንግሥት ባይናችን ስር አለፈ 😂 but in the Ethiopian school curriculum. Honestly, I think that was one of the best things that happened to me in school. I wasn’t a bad student 😌 I was actually a good student😅 but before that, most of the time we were learning about scientists with unfamiliar names from Greece, Germany, Russia, or America ስማቸውን ለማስታወስ መከራ ስንበላ.
እና ለመጀመሪያ ግዜ those textbooks introduced Ethiopian scientists. ታሪካቸው ከየት እንደተነሱ ብዙም እሩቅ አይደለም እና their names felt familiar, and it was exciting to read about them. It gave you hope. It made you feel like maybe you could also become someone like them one day.
I remember the first time I read about Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher. He became my all-time favorite. When I think about Ethiopia, he is one of the first people who comes to my mind. In a way, I feel like he represents Ethiopia for me ✨🇪🇹
There were also Gebisa Ejeta and Beyene Petros. I remember being confused when I saw the name Beyene Petros in the textbook ደሞ ምን አመጣው እዚ ብዬ ምክያቱም I knew his name from the elections ከ 97ቱ, so I thought he was only a politician. I asked my biology teacher about it “በየነ ጴጥሮስ ያ የምናውቀው ብዪ “ እንዴት እንደሳቀች😂, and she told me that he was actually a respected Ethiopian scientist and professor as well. That moment changed how I looked at people in politics የተማሩም ሊሆኑ ይችላሉ ለካ የምር በፊት የተማሩ ሰዎች ፖለቲከኛ የሚሆኑ አይመስለኝም ነበር😂
My biology teacher was amazing. Her name was Tarike, ስሟ ራሱ ደስ አይልም ታሪኬ🥰 and she is still one of my favorite teachers. One thing about me is that I have always loved women teachers ✨💅🏼Even when I didn’t like a subject (but biology was my favorite), if the teacher was a woman, I somehow understood everything better. They have their own way of teaching እና ሁሌም ይገርመኛል.
She studied biology at Jimma University top scorer 🥰, and she once told us that she had met Gebisa Ejeta. አስመራቂዋም ነበር. I was so shocked and excited when she said that. I remember thinking how lucky she was to meet someone like him. At that time, he felt like a hero to me because of his work on sorghum and agriculture ከረሀብ ነው የታደገን::. ፕሮፌሰር ያለም ፀሀይ መኮንን ሴት ማግኘት እና ማየት ብርቅ ነበር ደሞም ብርቅዬ ነች🥰🇪🇹 ከሩጫ ውጪም አለም ያውቀናል ለካ ያስባለችኝ
ብቻ those textbooks and those stories stayed with me for a long time. Even later, when I joined engineering school and became interested in architecture, I started thinking more about vernacular architecture buildings made with local materials that do not harm the environment. I became very interested in environmentally responsible design.
Part of that inspiration came from my father, but a big part of it also came from reading about Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher. His ideas about respecting nature made a deep impression on me. After that, I started to think differently about the relationship between humans and the environment.
እና I proposed that idea to my professor about local designs and how we could use them without affecting our environment. እዚህ ላይ there was this amazing lecturer I don’t remember his name. He taught us only one course, but he encouraged us to design buildings that are not against the environment. I just wanted to mention him. ብቻ ያ ሰውዬ my proffesor said ተይው ይሄን የመሃይም ወሬ. He didn’t actually say those exact words, but you know… he told me it was not going to work. So we ended up doing a project on health and safety in construction areas as a group.
ለማንኛውም looking back, those Grade 9 textbooks were really special. They made science feel closer to us. They showed us that Ethiopian scientists exist and that their work matters. And for a student, that can make a big difference.
ዛሬ ምን ፈረደብን እንዳትሉ 😂
ኢትዮጲያ ለዘላለም ትኑር ለማንኛውም 😌🇪🇹