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Joanne's Testimony Joanne’s Testimony My roots in the Tigray province of Ethiopia are long and deep. My grandmother, Bizunesh Atsbeha, came from a long royal lineage in the northern region of Tigray, Ethiopia called Agamé, and she lived there until she passed away a few years ago. I spent many years visiting with family there and I developed deep friendships and connections in the region. I am very “Toronto”, I’m mixed; my dad is half Ethiopian (born and raised there), and my mom is a white Canadian with British and Scottish roots. During my time in Ethiopia, and especially in Tigray I found that even in communities experiencing abject poverty, even in households that had no knowledge of my Ethiopian connection or my grandmother’s lineage, I was always welcomed by open hearts into open homes. Ethiopia has spent years battling the bad press of famine from the 1980s and there is much to be celebrated about the country. It is home to the Aksumite Empire, one of the greatest empires in history. It boasts the origin of coffee, the source of the Blue Nile, a delicious culinary culture, a diverse landscape and a rich cultural history. It is one of the two countries on the continent of Africa to have never been colonized, and it’s the site of an incredibly important battle in global history, the Battle of Adwa, which repelled a colonizing force and became a symbol of strength in Africa—helping to mobilize black communities around the world. Ethiopia is also a religious nation, primarily composed of Christian and Muslim people. In Ethiopia, Christians and Muslims have lived side by side, together in peace, for a very long time. But over that same time there has been division over ethnicity. The Ethiopian government responded to this tension by adopting a democratic form of ethnic federalism with the aim of establishing equality of all ethnic groups in the country. However, historically it has had difficulty managing these inter-ethnic tensions. According to the Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahbiy Ahmed the Ethiopian National Defense Force began a military operation in November 2020 to quell a rebellion in Tigray. What has resulted is a joint operation by Ethiopian national forces, Eritrean forces and Amhara militia that the USA and UK have publically labeled as ethnic cleansing. There has been mass extrajudicial killing, forced annexation of land, mass displacement of people, indiscriminate shelling, a widespread villainization of Tigrayans across the country and rape and hunger are being used as weapons of war. There is some safety in numbers, so at the moment my family is gathered in cities in the east of Tigray. The west has been decimated; there are many rural communities the world has not heard from in months, making people fear the worst. In response, the EU took strong measures against Ethiopia months ago. The US and UK are also leading efforts to address the violence. Canada has yet to step up with any strong action. The UNSC has not currently intervened or even been able to make a statement because a few countries are using the situation in Ethiopia as a proxy war to make a point about a nation’s internal sovereignty. Of the 7 - 10 million people in Tigray (the last census as in 2007), 4.5 million are in need of emergency food aid. Before the conflict broke out in 2020, there was an unusual and catastrophic plague of locusts that destroyed crops in Tigray and 1.2 million residents were scheduled to receive food aid. The way that number rapidly increased to 4.5 million in a ‘food emergency’ is by troops being permitted to torch harvest fields, pour laundry detergent in bags of grain and slaughter animals in village after village. This is a man-made food crisis using hunger as a weapon of war. Doctors Without Borders has reported a systematic aggression toward Tigray’s health facilities. 70% of the health care clinics are currently unusable. 180,000 people who have chronic, non-communicable diseases, including diabetes and hypertension, have had no healthcare, treatment, or medicine for months. The head of the International Federation of the Red Cross, Francesco Rocca, who oversees disaster relief around the world, said that “the sheer extent of the ‘enormous needs’ in Tigray, including the suffering unleashed by a healthcare system on its knees, is “something that I’ve never seen before in my life.” Other prominent humanitarians have said they have never been to a place that does not have a simple antibiotic present. Tigray’s robust health care system with many clinics, hospitals, referrals, and ambulances is intentionally being aggressively destroyed. Unfortunately the federal government has denied these reports, claiming that health care has been restored. This is not unusual as they have denied most of the reporting coming from the province. Food, medicine and other life saving aid have also been deliberately slow walked into Tigray by denying access and implementing administrative hurdles, although there has thankfully been some improvement in aid access during the last few weeks. The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (which has extensive partnerships in Ethiopia & around the world) said last month that he has "rarely seen an aid response so impeded" in his 40 years of work in the humanitarian field. Alex DeWaal from The World Peace Foundation states, “What we are seeing in Tigray over the last few months is that at every step, the worst case assumptions turn out to be well founded. The worst case scenarios are unfolding under this blanket of denial of access and denial of facts.” Churches across the province of Tigray have been targeted, many priests have been killed and nuns are being raped. In the limited areas of Tigray that have been assessed, 22 church buildings have sustained damage. 41 have been burned to the ground. Church congregations appear to be targeted because there are frequently a large number of relatively defenceless people gathered in one place. When I asked why people continue to gather the response I’ve heard over and over is “Nothing, nothing, nothing will stop us from going to church.” When I expressed outrage on twitter over another church massacre, a member of the Tigrayan diaspora replied with a statement along the lines of “it’s a better way to die, at a church, worshipping our Saviour. Don’t fear, our God sees all and will provide justice.” The widespread accounts of rape in various horrific forms and what the survivors have been telling the world is causing the international community to question whether what the people of Tigray are enduring amounts to genocide: CNN Because of an intentional information blackout, it is still hard to verify information coming from Tigray. However, under immense public pressure, Ethiopia has recently permitted a handful of international journalists to report what is happening in the region. Despite the blackout, journalists, human rights organizations and aid organizations have been tirelessly working to expose the truth. Here are a few articles if you are interested in learning more: Axum Massacre Maryam Dengelat (Church) Massacre The Burning of Homes Debre Abay Massacre Eritrea's Involvement in Ethiopian Civil War Humans Rights Watch Report on Unlawful Shelling Video: Sky News Reports on Refugees Fleeing to the Town of Shire Video: Sky News Reports on Rapes Committed These reports coming from Tigray are horrifying. Evil. I probably underuse that term in my life, but this situation in Tigray, this is evil. Yet, the other day I was reminded of the passage we just went through in Mark’s gospel where Jesus said he will build his church “and the gates of hell will not stand against it.” Gates are a protective object that keeps a combatant out. Because of the reconciling work of Christ, our prayers and actions as a church are a strong offence. In a recent Sunday service, we learned that it’s often during the darkest of times that the church shines the brightest. I am praying for this to be true in Tigray, Eritrea, and all of Ethiopia. While this has been an incredibly trying time for me personally, where I am pleading with my Creator to spare my family and friends, I have also felt mobilized to do everything I can to stop the suffering. There are many organizations on the ground now who are providing life saving assistance. They need donations. While there are human rights violations happening all around the world, rarely are they happening in a country where the global community has so much leverage. Half of Ethiopia’s annual budget comes from international development assistance. They are one of Canada’s largest international development recipients of aid, receiving 200 million dollars annually. Ethiopia is also about to restructure its debt with the World Bank. We have a real diplomatic opportunity to press Ethiopia to end the hostilities in Tigray. If you are willing and able to make time and space, you can be a voice for the voiceless right now with me. Please consider writing to your federal representative, the Foreign Affairs Minister, and the Prime Minister of Canada. Even a short note protesting Canada’s relative silence on the suffering in Tigray can be impactful. For further information on petitions to sign and actions to take, please visit www.OmnaTigray.org, www.StandWithTigray.com or connect with me personally, Joanne Hodges, on Facebook or Twitter. I am deeply grateful to serve a God who sees all, promises justice, and offers forgiveness. Please join me in praying for all the perpetrators of violence and disharmony, as well as those who are living and breathing anguish today.
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