Let's Connect Ummata Oromo

It is a Friday today. Quite boring as usual because there is no-one to pass time with added to the fact that everyone is too beat or exhausted to bother phoning friends. That is quite understandable; except the special girl in my life and close friends, I never usually contact anyone on this day of the week. I find it too demanding - finding a topic to discuss and discussing it when your mind is crying, "SLEEP GOD DAMN IT! WE BOTH NEED REST YOU FOOL!" This time, I am paying no heed to what my mind relentlessly tells me; I am following my HEART and taking this day to get to know my Oromo peeps all around the world. 

The reason I say this is that, truthfully, I never had Oromo friends in the not-so-distant past. I am a person who once disassociated himself from his people for many years. Blind I was, simply following other races and ethnicities while denying my own. Living in the UAE all my life, I was made to be ashamed of even my name - the symbol of my very identity. I called myself a different name to "fit in". Yet, as much as I tried, there was no way I could become anyone but myself. There was no point, actually; a leopard has never changed its spots nor can it. God has never made anything but perfect choices in regards to his creation. I am Oromo - PROUD, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. My name is Magarsa M.Q. Wedaaye. Laugh at me, giggle at my name! I am impervious to words for my soul is, now, iron to the core. In my moments of self-criticism, I berate at my old self. However, history belongs to the past as garbage to the dustbin - something to be thrown away but not to dwell upon. 

I want to take this golden opportunity and get to know my Oromo brethren. What's past is past, but I can still make up for my past mistakes. Making better choices is in the realms of the present. I know we are a dispersed folk: we live in all corners of the world - from America, Africa, Europe as far as the isolated continent "Down Under". We have all flown our separate paths like birds of flight. Yet, it is vital to remember that we were all hatchlings of the same nest. There is no shame in a bird returning to its nest once in a while. Enough with the metaphors I guess: lets seek our roots by first connecting with our own!

Make not my mistakes and, if you do, cut out the habit of denial. I propose setting a day for us to chat together. Make friends, and even find love in our Oromo Forum. Let's call this day and other Fridays to follow, "Friends Meet" Friday. I do not know how many people are following this, but I am lucky, nevertheless, to get in touch with even one follower. For that was more than a not-so-distant past when foreign to me were my own people!