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Menachem's Writings A Foundling in Addis Ababa I had never met a foundling. But here I was, sitting opposite Ezra, in the lounge of the just opened Ethiopian Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa. We’ve read about foundlings in novels, perhaps from Dickens’s time, from periods of immense poverty, but nowadays? Even in a country with much poverty — and there is no shortage of poverty in Ethiopia. Notwithstanding, Ezra was found by a seventy-something year old widow, abandoned at the bus terminal in Debre Markos, 300 kms north-west of Addis Ababa. As Ezra’s narrative unfurled, I became more and more spellbound. I didn’t misdoubt his story. As he continued, I began to comprehend how some people in a disadvantaged situation manage to overcome their handicaps, while others in more privileged situations fall by the wayside. The strength of spirit. Ezra estimates that he was about six months old when he was deserted. It was likely in 1992. His only distinguishing mark, which he carries until this day, is a scar on his back. He is inclined to hope that it may have originated from his mother, perhaps in order that at some future point, he could be identified by her, though it could have been from something which occurred later. But as many matters from his early life, much is guesswork. Needless to say no-one has yet come forward. Whoever left him, most likely his mother, also left a plastic bag filled with baby clothes and the pouch in which she probably carried him. He continues searching for new information, but as time progresses, the chances of finding anything grows ever slimmer. By the time I met him a second time, three weeks after the first encounter, he was in contact with someone new, who lived in the neighbourhood in which he grew up. This man, who was in his late teens when Ezra was found, was able to append some enhancing morsels. It appears Ezra’s mother started a conversation with a bus station tea-lady. After a while, she told the lady she was going to have her hair cut and asked the tea-lady to mind her baby until she returned. She never did. Can we assume that the point of the conversation with the tea-lady was to determine whether she was likely to look after her baby? What Ezra does know is that the kind tea-lady did indeed take him home and cared for him. The tea-lady had a servant from the countryside living with her. The servant had a daughter about the same age as Ezra, as well as two much older sons. As is so typical in Africa, there was no husband in the picture and the sons were of a different father to the girl. These sons, old enough to leave home, lived to the north of Ethiopia, Bahir Dar, literally "the seashore". Ezra has failed to make contact with them in recent times. Recently local people told Ezra that they remember the tea-lady leaving Ezra outside her house in the perhaps vain hope that his mother may return to fetch him. Some report feeding him while he was there outside, often with food inappropriate for his age. Whether or not this indeed occurred, no-one ever came to recover him. Sadly the tea-lady passed away some two years after adopting Ezra. She had three sons, all professionals, two living in Addis, the third in Germany. While they attended her funeral, it seems they had had little contact with her, although Ezra recently learnt from neighbours that the sons were aware of their mother adopting Ezra and had even assisted her financially with his expenses. Not surprisingly they had no interest in caring for Ezra following their mother’s demise. Ezra has no further information concerning them. Upon the passing of the tea-lady, the servant presumed she could inherit her employer’s rights to her heavily rent-subsidised housing. She, together with her daughter and Ezra, continued residing there. However her plan did not succeed, the local council retaking possession of the house. She was forced to move into accomodation far more expensive than she could afford. She earned a meagre living brewing and selling tella, a traditional beer, typically fermented from teff or sorghum. Ezra remained with the servant for some time. Eventually she too obtained government-subsidised housing, similar to that in which the tea-lady had dwelt. As education in Ethiopia is government funded, Ezra was able to start school, continuing to live with the servant until the start of sixth grade. However their economic situation was never good and she even had trouble clothing Ezra. He would from time to time receive clothes from various neighbours and others. He remembers in second grade receiving a pair of trousers from someone, perhaps a teacher, but they were far too large for him. He kept them tied on his waist with rope and rolled them up above his knees. He lived very far from school but had no shoes. He would run barefoot across mostly cold, dew covered grass to reach his school, invariably arriving after class had already commenced. Ezra recalls one morning, while running to school, one of his trouser legs becoming unravelled as he ran. He tripped over, right at the school gate. One of the guards beat him with a stick while he was facedown on the ground. They were authorised to strike children who arrived to school late. During sixth grade, the servant too passed away. Her sister came from the countryside, taking over the rental of the house and caring for her niece, the servant’s daughter. Understandably as she had two even younger daughters, she lacked interest in caring for Ezra. Now, at around the age of eleven, Ezra had nowhere to go. He moved out to the street, supporting himself at this tender age by carrying baggage at the bus station. Living on the street obviously had many disadvantages, one being a lack of washing facilities. At least he was now working, and could afford to feed himself, though not purchase clothes. From his unkemptness and resultant odour, his teachers became aware of his predicament. I do not know how common this was at the time for primary school aged children. (Or still is. I have witnessed people sleeping on the footpaths of Addis streets. Driving though the seemingly deserted thoroughfares before sunrise, I did not at first notice any evidence life other than the ubiquitous little blue taxis. Then my focus shifted to kinetic motion on the footpaths, waves moving, undulating along the edges of the main roads. The homeless were rising with the sun, a new African day was dawning. I have also noted this phenomenon in India, and perhaps surprisingly in Paris too, though smaller numbers.) There was little the teachers could do to assist. Some brought him old clothes as well as some school material such as notebooks and pens. In Ethiopia, primary school continues to eighth grade, followed by four years of high school. Other than in the final two years, all schooling is half day, alternating between a week of mornings, followed by a week of afternoons. The final two years entail a full day of lessons until 4 p.m. High school too is government funded. With class only half a day, Ezra had the requisite time to support himself as a porter, albeit residing in the street, certainly not a safe environment, especially not for a child. From a tender age Ezra realised, that without pursuing an education, he was doomed to a frightful destiny. His inspiration came from observing the plight of older people living on the street. He saw schooling as his sole ticket out of his onerous situation. He pondered much about his future, contemplating many years forward, how to achieve what may have seemed like impossible dreams. His peers on the street criticised his forward thinking, wondering why he was not satisfied, as they, simply living for today. Fellow students bullied Ezra because of his predicament. Teachers did not intervene. A girl in his class often helped fend off his tormentors. For this he was grateful. Towards the end of eighth grade, he related his life story to her, and mostly his concerns and dreams for the future. She wanted to help him. Her parents owned property and cattle. She recounted his history to them, requesting that they house this wonderful lad. They agreed. He was given a number of daily tasks to perform in exchange for food and board. He was off the street but still needed to supplement his income by working as a porter at the bus station. At around this time he procured his first ever pair of shoes. Ezra started high school — ninth grade. At this time, even with all his disadvantages, he had risen to be an A grade student, continually topping his class. Eleventh grade — school was now a full day. It became difficult to complete his assigned daily chores. His tasks were modified to allow for the new reality. Each morning before school, he delivered food to the cow herders at their various locations, still managing a couple of hours at the bus station of an afternoon. He was approaching the end of his high schooling, preparing himself for the national matriculation exams, on which university entry is based. Then, just a few weeks prior to the exams, Ezra overheard the lady of the house complaining to her servant, “Why are you giving the boy so much food?” Ezra was shocked. He immediately stopped taking food from the family, which meant he now had to spend more time at the bus station. This effected his ability to study and of course his resultant achievement in the exams. He should easily have achieved a mark of well over 500 (out of a maximum of 700). However as a result of his recently altered plight, he managed merely 431. But a miracle occurred, perhaps another in a long line in Ezra’s life. He had always wanted to study mechanical engineering. And the cut-off mark for acceptance was 431! As university was in Addis Ababa, Ezra moved to the capital. Tuition at Ethiopian universities is free and includes food and board, so, while not living to the highest standard, Ezra now had a permanent roof over his head and food on his plate. During the three month winter break, as Ezra had nowhere to go home, the university allowed him to remain in the dorms, essentially alone. But food was not included in the deal. Being a top student, Ezra worked helping other students with their CAD projects. As in the past, Ezra knew how to fight for survival. He was assisting some twenty students, even though this was contrary to university regulations. He worked confidentially, continually ensuring no-one would know. Fortunately, his secret was never revealed. Additionally he was employed by the university’s maintenance department, welding, fixing broken chairs, tables, blackboards etc. This part was legal. At the end of the requisite five years study, Ezra graduated with distinction. He was appointed a lecturer’s assistant. Now he was earning a steady income, while continuing to reside on campus. In parallel, he started work towards his masters degree, which he just finalised. I asked Ezra if he thought his mother had purposely abandoned him or perhaps she really went to the hairdresser and something happened on the way to hamper her return. He thought this an unlikely scenario, given that the country was at peace at that time. We discussed my question further and perhaps there was more lurking in the situation than was obvious. There was in fact much turbulence around the time Ezra was born, soon after the civil war which led to the defeat of Mengistu’s communist dictatorship. Additionally there were tensions and conflict on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border. Soldiers moved throughout the countryside, many looking to be with women. Many became pregnant, perhaps hoping the boyfriends would return to claim their offspring. But of course none did. It’s possible this was Ezra’s mother’s story. An unwanted pregnancy with no ability nor financial means to bring up the child in a poverty-stricken region. Ezra responded that indeed, during his time working at the bus station, he had seen bodies of small babies dumped in the refuse. He was thankful that at least his mother had the compassion and desire to want her son to live. Judaism Ezra, who was brought up in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, told me that from a young age he has had many questions about Israel. For example when something good or terrible occurs, an Ethiopian will exclaim, “god of Israel”, or “god of Avraham, Yitsḥak and Ya’acov” rather than invoke the trinity. What was the source of this custom he puzzled? Other church practices puzzled him as well. For a long time his queries remained unanswered. Thus began Ezra’s quest into Judaism. He took the name Ezra in place of the Ethiopian name he was given when he was found, S’totaw meaning a “gift from God”. People in the neighbourhood called his surname, Emawa, which was the tea-lady’s name. Later the servant, gave him the surname of her sons’ father, Mengstie. I assume she wanted him to officially be her child. Did she love him or was there only a financial incentive? As time progressed, Ezra connected with Israel in whatever way possible. The more he learnt, the more mitzvoth he began observing: shabath, ḥagim, reciting brakhoth and more. He was thrilled a few years ago when he encountered what he thought was a practicing Jew in Addis. He joined his congregation. However after about two years, Ezra realised that they were not the real thing and immediately left their synagogue. They were a messianic congregation [of which I have encountered quite a few across Africa]. He connected with chabad in Addis, but soon also realised that they were interested in people like him, non-Jews, purely in terms of Noahidism. Conversion to Judaism is not on their agenda and they made this clear to him. He continues to attend lessons there, though gains most of his Jewish knowledge and education via the Web. He asked the chabadnik to teach him Hebrew, something for which he ostensibly should have plenty of time — there is little Jewish tourism in Addis, to the extent that he even closed his restaurant. However he rejected the request as it is "unnecessary knowledge for a Noahide". Ezra’s heart yearns for the God of Israel and for His Land. He pines to be part of the Jewish people, in my observation, not for any economic or social advantage. He does understand that a component of being Jewish is living in Israel. Studying the tragic history of Jews in the diaspora until their eventual return home, especially the events leading to the reestablishment of the state, the many wars Israel was forced to fight, has further inspired Ezra. He is able to discern the many miracles which God wrought on behalf of modern Israel. He understands the non-probability that these events could have occurred naturally. He bases this on the disproportionate size of the Jewish population and its land area. He sees the Divine hand in all of these events. The more he reads, the more he is inspired by the today’s State of Israel and desires to be a part of it. While he realises that haShem’s help is a key factor, he also understands that the Jewish people must have both the determination and the action for survival. haShem performs miracles only for a people who are willing to help themselves. He notes rising anti-semitism around the world, fully understanding that Judaism and nationalism are two parts of the one whole. He is truly one of the lost souls of Israel.
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