Yirgedu Worku
Yirgedu Worku is 38 years old and lives in Ad’aa Wereda at a place called Sirba. Yirgedu came to this place in 1985 when famine affected most of the northern regions of Ethiopia. The government forced young people to move and resettle in the south and southwest of Ethiopia. Yirgedu who was 20 years old was brought from Gojam to Sirba along with her two brothers. Their parents were left because they were old and weak. When Yirgedu and her brothers reached Sirba they were given land to build their huts but no land was given to them to grow crops. The government provided them food ration enough for two months and they had to fend for themselves after that. Two years later her two brothers were taken away, to the army or for some other purpose she never knew and she has never heard or has seen them since then. Nobody came looking for her and neither she tried to look for her relatives.
In 1991, when the new government took power, the resettled people applied for land but to no avail. The reason was that no land redistribution took place in the southern region of the country since the first land distribution took place in 1977. There was no spare land either.
Yiregedu continued to live in Sirba working as daily labourer in a place where she did not know the language and where the culture was alien to her. Nevertheless she survived. Ten years ago she met her husband who is now fifty years old and also a displaced person from the South. They now have four children. Ato kebede, her husband, owns no land or any other asset. Like his wife he lives on daily labour.
Yirgedu bakes injera knd of bread for other people and earns Birr 10 per month. In addition, Yirgedu goes to the mountains two to three times a week to fetch firewood or cow dung (also for fuel). She sells a bundle for Birr 2-3. ‘ I leave for the mountains early in the morning and come back in the evening.’ Says Yirgedu.
What Yiregedu and her husband bring to the home is not enough. Their elder son has to work for better off people. He earns his food and a 100-kg of grain at harvest time, which his parents take. Their Eight year old, Mekdes is adopted by some people in Addis (she did not want to mention who they were). Yirgedu is not sure if the people who adopted Mekdes were going to send her to school. As to the others, she does not think they will ever have any education either. She often worries about their food and clothing. “If I give them food today, I start thinking, 'Will I be able to get them food for the next day? I am not sure of anything any more.” Yirgedu feels that she is a useless person.