Menghestu Lemma’s two marriages

By Richard Pankhurst

When we were students in England at the London School of Economics (LSE,  one of our dear friends, and object of great admiration, was an Ethiopian student named Menghestu Lemma. Not yet renowned on the wider stage he was already propounding his view that Ethiopia shouId not be classed only in relation to neighbouring Middle Eastern or African countries, but should aim higher, and seek to be compared with the most progressive countries of the world. *** Menghestu, the son of the notable Ethiopian Church scholar Alaqa Lemma, was by then, dear Reader, also expounding his thesis that Ethiopian poetry should be “traditional in form, but progressive in content”. He tended to be critical of African writers who wrote in “colonial languages’’, declaring that he for his part preferred to write in Amharic, the language he learned while drinking his mother’s milk – and he contended that his writings could always be translated into foreign languages later. I saw a lot of Menghestu at our house at Woodford Green because he was writing on the Ethiopian church schools, which he had himself attended, and on their teaching of Qene, or church  poetry. This was a subject in which my mother was then deeply interested; and his recollections formed the basis of a chapter in my mother’s mammoth volume Ethiopia. A Cultural History. But I also met Menghestu almost daily at LSE. There was the to-us famous occasion, dear Reader, when the renowned British philosopher Bertrand Russell came to the Old Theatre at LSE to propound his thesis on the need for coexistence between East and West – as a substitute for nuclear war. The West, he argued, should not interfere in the affairs of Eastern Europe – and the Soviet Union should leave Africa and Asia alone. This, the speaker assured us, would obviate global conflict. When question time arrived, Menghestu popped up at the back of the theatre to declare that he, as an African, was not prepared to remain under European colonial domination to suit the great philosopher’s thoughts. I did not remember then, but many years previously, as an infant, I had attended Mrs Bertrand Russell’s model school… *** Menghestu, dear Reader, was always a source of much wit  and humour. There was the story of his prolonged stay in a British hospital outside London where he sought to entertain the nurses by telling them all sorts of cock-and-bull stories about his then little-known country. He told them on one occasion that in Ethiopia he and his friends lived like monkeys at the top of the trees, and on another occasion he informed his excited audience that he was a Muslim with four wives. This latter statement caught the imagination of the young British nurses, so that when Mary Tadesse and three other Ethiopian women students came to visit their entertaining patient, the nurses all rushed to his bed, saying, “Mr Lemma, Mr Lemma, your wives have arrived!”. ‘Mr Lemma, your wives have arrived… which one do you want to see first?” Quick as a shot Menghestu – who had of course no idea of his visitors’ identity – replied: “Tell number one to come in first!”. *** On another occasion, Menghestu used to tell us the Pope had enunciated a new dogma, and Menghestu shortly afterwards was obliged to visit a London dentist, who happened to be a Roman Catholic. The dentist, having placed the young Ethiopian in the dental chair, asked him, by way of conversation, ”You do believe in the new dogma, don’t you?”. Menghestu, observing the dental pincers threateningly in his mouth, quickly answered in the affirmative. *** So much for a few memories of Menghestu, the man – but what of his writings? These are important because he developed into one of modern Ethiopia’s greatest poets and playwrights. *** It is indeed gratifying to note that English translations of two of his Amharic plays – both comedies on the theme of Ethiopian marriage – have recently been published in Addis Ababa, by that go-ahead publisher Arada Books. These publishers are warmly to be congratulated on this initiative, which should enable English readers to read Menghestu, as he wished to be read: in foreign translation. These two plays give many fascinating glimpses of Ethiopian society – and of its foibles  – as seen by a brilliant Ethiopian observer and social critic. These are plays well-worth staging as well as eminently readable. *** Menghestu’s first marriage play Snatch and Run, or Marriage by Abduction , tells the story of a group of childhood and school-day friends who plan to abduct a young wife for one of them in the traditional manner The play’s opening sense of anticipation is captured in the Introduction to Act One, Scene One, which goes into immense detail – almost like a painter. Menghestu, we must not forget, dear Reader, was himself an artist of no mean ability. The opening passage begins: “When the curtain rises we see the living room of Fitawrari  Merrine Tekuas’ villa, about 30 kilometres from the city of Addis  Ababa. Part of the country home is used by his son Wondimayehu, as a weekend and vacation retreat, specially in the disagreeable Addis rainy season. His friends often use the house as a retreat and are perfectly at home. The living room, which we now see, appears comfortable and inviting. The presence of a record player and telephone indicate not only the comfortable wealth of the owner but is also a witness to the extent modern civilisation is invading the peaceful Ethiopian countryside. “On the left we see a huge mirror in a heavy gilt frame. On the opposite stage is an impressive portrait of a man whose hair is done in the traditional “Gofere” style which can only be managed by the traditional wooden comb. A “bandolier” or cartridge belt passes over his shoulder. He wears sandals and puttees. From his left ear huge male golden ear-rings are suspended. In his left hand he holds a light machine-gun, while his right hand rests on the butt of a pistol. He stands proud, legs apart, with knitted brows and eyes staring boldly. Obviously this man was a great Arbagna (leader of the resistance) during the Italian occupation and a crack shot with a pistol… “The most imposing architectural feature of the living room is the large bay window which fills the back wall, through which the audience sees the top of eucalyptus trees. The sky is cloudy and overcast but the room is gay and brightly decorated with paper buntings. The electric bulbs are gaily decorated with hats and shirts of bunting, indicating a festive event. A large assortment of bottles is visible on the bar..’’ Clearly something, dear Reader, is afoot in the Fitawrari’s house, but what it is I am not going to tell you: buy the book for yourself! *** Menghestu’s second play published by Arada Books is Marriage of Unequals in which Baharu, an educated young man of the  modern Ethiopian elite – a very pleasant young man by all accounts, plans to marry a simple uneducated country girl. This, dear Reader, shocks the young man’s aunt, Lady Alganesh Dubida, a bigoted and far from egalitarian noblewoman – who explodes at the idea – and tries in many devious ways to persuade her nephew to marry instead into the landed aristocracy. She has, she explains, found the ideal candidate in Birbita, a wealthy young woman, whose lineage went back to Emperor Galawdewos  in the 16th century – and who had been sent to a finishing school in Europe. Luckily, Lady Alganesh assures us, the young lady’s “Europeanisation” is “only on the surface – a matter of clothes and hair-do, of Amharic accent, of the way she walks and talks. It has not percolated deeper”. Lucky indeed! A Christian Alaqa and a Muslim Hadji add to the fun. *** And if you read Italian take a look at Menghestu’s play Anticolonialista, published in Rome by the Comitato Internazionale per lo Svilippo dei Popoli.