Kalamino Special High School:My Adoptive mother

 Prelude:

On Saturday, January 31, 1980’s (It may surprise you that the exact year is still not verified but it is typical of  individuals like me who come of an illiterate family) a baby boy was born out of marriage … you can call him ‘bastard’ as some members of his commune and even close relatives used to. I’m not sure how his parents met but an aftermath story goes on this way: the boy’s so-called father committed a homicidal crime and fled his outskirt, a very far away country side, to dwell in another village of a to be born boy’s mother… a safe haven hideaway. The yet to be a mother was a lovely teenage girl who could arouse the middle aged man an urge of erotic love. Ironically, the lucky criminal, who should have been locked behind the bars, was heedlessly granted a gorgeous girl to lustfully devour her. During his unfairly blissful time, the man, already a father of four children, made the girl bear two siblings who were condemned to grow only out of their luck. After an outstanding success to quench his womanizing desire, that very man gave in to the military junta of that time. Derg made him swear in socialism and gave him a gun to kill some more people.  The youngest one, a marvelous baby girl, was not allowed to live over a year and a half after which her luck must expire. So, an angel of death was send from out of the blue with his belly full of measles just to belch them at a mass of children. The messenger savaged the defenseless baby unripe. But, the older one miraculously survived and is, now, able to expose the ‘bastard’s’ short story… what a little bastard!

That socially stigmatized boy suffered the agony of unbearable sore of losing an only true companion of his childhood. That sore left him with an incurable scar to this very day. He could still remember her babyish laugh and sob bitterly as though it happened just today. To make the boy’s misery worse, his mother abandoned him technically alone and went in search of her once lover. The boy was warned not to tell anyone who his father was let alone to swear by his name. When he insisted why, his granny plainly told him lest the boy might be a victim of enraged avengers. To his rescue, his grandmother made him forget everything and enjoy childhood ecstasy under her amicable nursery. She completely instilled her selfless love in the boy’s little heart. Even after his mother came back, from her unsuccessful trial of reclaiming her first love, he ignored her and preferred his granny. As time went by, the boy regarded his mother like an older sister who was there to bully him.

Their affection got worse after she remarried to another man. That man became the boy’s step father who used to scare the hell out of his little being. Only those who have an experience of a devilish step father or step mother can understand what I mean. That illiterate villager had no idea how to command a child. He could shout to his throat like a demon, reminding the boy some ghostly monsters in some stories. This way, he used to scare the boy to lash him afterwards and leave him with agonizing gashes all over. The sever he tormented the boy the naughtier he became.   
At school:
October 1995, the boy started school with the help of his granny and stood first from his class. His teachers encouraged him to stay at school in spite of the chaos at home. They could give him a pen or exercise book if he had not any. Granny was in his side as well, though she looked older and weaker due to undiagnosed chronic disease. When he reached grade seven his granny, an only and one reason of his survival, died to his hopelessness. That was the greatest loss of his life. He could hide among the big black stones and got soaked in tears. No one could stop him. He could cry bitterly and at times humiliate himself as much as he could endure. That self inflected anguish was a relief… his pent up. It was a sheer demise. For him life was nothing but an absolute darkness. And hence, he used to contemplate to commit suicide!

During such testing time, the only people who could understand his misery were his teachers. He never told anybody what happened to him, yet the teachers were adept enough to infer his internal suffering. As a result, he continued with his education. At grade eight he took ministry examination and scored the second highest in his class. To attend grade nine and above he had to travel 35 kilo meters on foot and fined a rent house there. But who could pay the rent? Who could give him something to eat? It was a dead end; he had no option but to kiss a good bye to school.
The Adoptive Mother: 
Kalamino special high school was giving a life saving scholarship to 60 outstanding students from all over Tigray. To the boy’s astonishment he was among the four students who were short listed to take an entrance exam to Kalamino in Michew which was at that time the biggest city for the country boy. Among those listed for the entrance exam made fun of him all the way to Michew because of his obsolete style. He was not sure if he could pass the exam. However, after a month or so a national radio, Demtsi Weyane Tigray, broadcast names of 60 students who passed the exam. To boy’s amazement, he was learned the greatest news of his life by third party informants. At first, he could not believe them, but it was as inevitable as death. Another turning point, but this time to his advantage happened to the boy. On November 05, 2001 he officially joined Kalamino Special High School and that became his adoptive mother. Once more, the boy was born out of marriage but this time, no one called him bastard. The little ‘bastard’ I told you before shared dormitory, class, café and library with the genius students of Kalamino Special High School...what an opportunity. And that poor flow ‘bastard’ …was…me! This story belongs to me even if it was not something to be proud of. To be alive and unmask oneself is a blessing.

Finally, I would like to thank members and supporters of TDA, Beloved classmates and doormats, Teachers, café and library workers, the nurses at the clinic, guards and all people over there who directly or indirectly contributed for the realization me. All of you extended a precious hand with a magic wand at such a critical time which makes it indelible from my memory forever. Without you life would have been dangerously different.  

   Thank you so much! TDA