What we are doing
Ethiopia’s Music May Day
The long awaited EVERY ONE Music May Day is finally on the road in Ethiopia. As a group of talented artists and musicians tour the southern towns of Ethiopia, you can follow their journey here, thanks to Hiwot Emishaw, Save the Children Ethiopia’s Communication Manager.
It is finally starting!
Saturday 9 December 2011
8am: I woke up with a sense of excitement this morning. Today is the day the EVERY ONE Campaign Music May Day troupe travels to the regions to start its wonderful tour to raise awareness on maternal and child death.
The preparations have been draining for both the young artists of Music May Day and the small EVERY ONE Ethiopia team. Contractual disputes, problems getting permission to perform in certain areas, conducting three rounds of screening for government and partner experts took its toll on all of us.
But today is finally the day the tour begins.
So I woke up excited.
Some scary news
10am: I was sitting in a café with my husband sipping our morning macchiato and reading the newspaper when I got a text from Tesfu Gessesse, Head of EVERY ONE Campaign (my boss). Tesfu had travelled to Hawassa a day earlier to wait for the Music May Day team there, to take part in the long anticipated tour to five towns of southern Ethiopia.
I looked at the text and stared at my phone in shock. This is what it said “Hi Hiwot, Show in Hawassa Cancelled because the bus had an accident. Three children in Black Lion Hospital”.
When I recovered from the initial shock, I frantically called the Executive Director of Music May Day, Derese. I asked where he was and rushed to the Black Lion Hospital to see what was going on.
I could not believe what had happened. There were 58 talented young people on that bus taking this important message to our community and now they were in the hospital.
Arriving there, I saw Derese standing by the emergency entrance at the hospital. He told me it wasn’t too bad and only three of them needed medical attention. So, with a big sense of relief, I went in to see the young artists.
Three of them had sustained minor injuries. The rest were just shocked about what had happened. I thank God and started talking to them.
“There is no way we are not going”
1pm: To my huge astonishment, the group were now insisting they still wanted to travel and perform as planned. “We have to go Hiwot, this is something that needs to reach the community. We have worked so hard on this and there is no way we’re not going”.
After going back and forth with the doctors that treated the injured and with Tesfu over the phone, I half-heartedly agree they should go on the trip.
Music May Day treated everyone to a wonderful group lunch at and by 3pm everyone was ready to go. The bus and the driver had been changed and everyone was now feeling excited again.
Yet another problem
6.30pm: When I rang to check how everyone was doing, Atsede, one of the coordinators, told me, “We are at Mojo” (80 km from Addis Ababa). I say “Still at Mojo? How come?” Atsede responded “You are not going to believe this but the radiator of the bus burst and we are now waiting for another bus from Addis to come get us so we can continue travelling”.
“Still not there”
10pm: I call Atsede once again to inquire about their current whereabouts and she tells me “We are not there yet but everything is fine. Don’t worry”.
But I worried. These young performers have been like young sisters and brothers to me over the last seven months of preparing for this important trip.
The next morning, she told me that they had arrived in Hawassa at midnight and they were all in good spirit to go to their first performance.
EVERY ONE creates a buzz in Dilla
Sunday 10 December
Dilla, Gedio Cultural Hall
2.30pm: Thanks to the wonderful outreach work that had been done by the Music May Day team earlier, the Gedio Cultural Hall in Dilla quickly filled up with people from all walks of life.
Over 300 men and women of all ages were sitting down in the hall anxiously waiting for the EVERY ONE Campaign awareness raising show to begin as the band started to play.
The programme officially began when the City’s Head of Health Bureau; Ato Belay Zewde, welcomed everyone to the show and invited Tesfu Gessesse, the head of EVERY ONE in Ethiopia, to say few words about the EVERY ONE Campaign in Ethiopia and the purpose of the tour.
The EVERY ONE jingle was the first performance of the afternoon. One lead singer and seven others were singing the official EVERY ONE Campaign song: “Lemin Timut Enat?” (meaning “Why should a mother die?”).
Right after the song, the stage was set to one of the most provoking community plays by the troupe “Tiguaz Muzikegnoch” (“Musicians on the move”).
The play shows a group of street children who have all lost their mothers in child birth, challenging traditional birth attendants and traditional views about institutional delivery.
The powerful dialogues in the play had made quite a lot of the viewers burst into tears.
The show also included another play “Azmari Bet” (“Singers’ House”) where a group of villagers debated views on early marriage, maternal and child death and other important issues using lyrics and songs that are both funny and strong.
The play featured a strong poetic argument between an elderly man who had married five very young girls and a community health worker who was criticizing his ways and guiding him to the truth.
After the EVERY ONE dance routine, a monologue and a few musical performances that entertained the audience were given. A prize ceremony for two outstanding Health Workers in Dilla was also conducted. The prizes were portraits of the recipients done on the day of the show by Music May Day Artists.
The Oath Ceremony
The Dilla show was concluded by an oath taken by all present to help reduce maternal and child death. To signify this, all participants at the event made their mark on the” Promise Board” which will be kept by the city’s Health Bureau as a reminder of the commitment made on this day.
Feedback Time
“We have learnt a lot today. This has been a wonderful way of teaching and reminding us of a reality that we can no longer afford to ignore” said three women who approached Tesfu after the show. “We promise to implement all we have learnt today and teach others about it too”, they added as Tesfu expressed his gratitude to them for coming to the show and for the overwhelmingly positive responses.
