It depicts something that most of us don’t see. For those who knew my dad, it’s just a picture of the Emperor and his foreign minister. That’s what I also see at first glance. As I take a second glance, I see something interesting. I see an Emperor, who traces his bloodlines to the Solomonic dynasty, comfortably seated with a young man of a very humble background. This is a picture of two men from different generations and different backgrounds, but how did this happen?
My dad, Ketema Yifru, was born in a small village of Garamuleta, Harerge to parents who could barely make ends meet. They had no ties to the Emperor. They were just living their lives as they only knew how. Little did they know that their lives would change forever. Chaos ensued when the Italians attacked Ethiopia in the mid 1930s. My grandfather was forced to take his family away from their village. They ended up in Kenya, where my dad was able to get some education.
As the war came to an end, my dad had an opportunity to pursue his education in Addis Ababa. He ended up in a high school where he became schoolmates with the Emperor’s son, Prince Sahle Selassie. It wasn’t easy to get there, and the details will be in my upcoming book, but he made it there. It was incredible.
A kid from rural Ethiopia becoming schoolmates with Emperor Haile Selassie’s son was simply amazing. But there’s more to come. He and his fellow students were sent abroad to pursue a higher education. My dad would end up in the United States where he would receive a MA in political science from Boston University.
To make my story short, my dad would start work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mind you, he was not promoted to the rank of minister despite the fact that there was a shortage of educated personnel. He had to get some experience and he would learn from the best.
The years went by, and one day, out of the blue, the Emperor decided to make him his foreign minister, which takes me back to the picture at hand. The Emperor could have chosen one of his own or one from the nobility, which the royal families had created throughout the years. Yet, he chose the kid of humble background. In other words, the Emperor chose to reward merit over wealth and social status. This is what I see when I look at this picture. The smiles on their faces says it all.
