Zumra’s four principles, which he conceived at the age of four, and the fifth principle, which he conceived around the age of eighteen, are considered essential for all human beings to put into practice.
For many years I practiced these ideals on my own. In 1972, when I founded the Awra Amba Community with a handful of friends, I shared these principles with my new friends and showed them how to put them into practice in a way that was relevant to their lives and to all humanity.
1. Respecting women’s rights
My mother and father were farmers. They worked together on the farm. When they returned home in the evening, my father was done for the day. But my mother’s work continued in the house.
My mother’s duties included cooking wot (traditional sauce), baking injera (traditional pancake), collecting firewood, fetching water, nursing babies, washing the feet of my family members, grinding grain by hand, etc. These household chores were my mother’s regular duties.
In addition to these, my father would give her more tasks when we were asleep at night; she would stay up and finish her work.
At dawn, she would get up early and begin the tasks that needed to be done during the day. Even if she worked around the clock, she could not finish all the housework.
If she did not finish something on time, my father would scold her: “What are you doing sitting here?” She was attacked, insulted, cursed, and sometimes beaten.
When I observed this situation, I couldn’t tolerate what was going on. Did my mother have more energy than anyone else? Housework was only her duty, no one else’s. Farm work was divided between my mother and father. The children who lived in the house and were taken care of were both of their children.
Why didn’t my father help my mother with the housework if she helped him with the farm work? Why did he beat her when she could not do all the housework and farm work? Does my mother have extra strength? Why didn’t my father at least wash his feet himself?
I couldn’t find a way to help my mother. When she was busy with all her different tasks, I wanted to help her. When I tried to help my mother by grinding grain on the mill, I realized that I was too small to reach the mill.
So I put stones in a row and climbed on them and tried to grind, but the grains went through without being ground. My failure to help my mother made me feel disappointed.
One way I found to help my mother was to fetch water. We had a koda (a small metal flask). I used to help my mother fetch water many times during the day.
When I went to the stream to fetch water, I often met young people there. They were impressed by how well I could speak.
They would make me stand in front of them and ask me to say various things out loud. They were amused by me, but I felt uncomfortable. I was too busy helping my mother.
When I observed the division of labor between men and women, I thought it was just a problem between my father and mother. But when I looked at life outside my family, I realized that it was just the same in other families.
The division of labor between men and women was not the only problem. When a husband and wife quarreled and then divorced, the husband would say to his wife: “Get out of my house. I will lock you out of my house. The husband would then lock the house and beat her.
I know many women who suffered in this way. This situation hurt my spirit. Why did it happen?
If it is because of physical strength, I thought, why don’t we use that strength to work instead? A woman and a man (mother and father) should have equal rights.
Men are able to do what women do. And women can do what men do. The only tasks that men don’t share with women are pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding.
We should avoid dividing work according to gender; rather, we should divide work according to ability. While my wife was giving birth, I did all the housework and took care of her and our children.
We are equal in the work we do, in managing wealth, and in making decisions. There is no difference in status between my wife and me.
2. Respecting children’s rights
Children as young as three or four years old were given work beyond their capabilities. If the work was not done properly because of their inability to do it, they were reprimanded. Why did they fail? Without considering their ability to do the work, they would be physically punished.
It was then that I began to ask questions about why this was happening to children. “Aren’t they human beings too? Why are they given work beyond their ability and then punished?”
Our parents didn’t give us a chance to study. It really affected our lives. We shouldn’t repeat that situation for our children. We should work and send our children to school.
Our children should grow up with their rights respected. When they leave school, they should be given jobs according to their abilities.
But if children are forced to work beyond their ability, they are likely to be insulted, cursed, and beaten. This shouldn’t happen.
However, it is important to involve children in household chores from childhood, in parallel with their academic education, so that they understand what household chores are. We should also allow them to distinguish between what is good and what is bad.
In Awra Amba they are advised to practice good things and avoid bad things. We shouldn’t look down on their opinions, and we should accept them as equals.
If their thinking is good, we should encourage them. But if they make a mistake, we should advise them not to do it again. This is fundamental to creating a quality generation.
3. Taking care of people who are sick or unable to work
I observed people who were unable to work and who would fall to the ground because of age and health problems. The people who were able to work and support themselves enjoyed eating, drinking and laughing with each other.
But no one thought about the people in need. These people are human beings just like us. They need to eat and drink just like us. But they have no ability to work. If we ignore them, who will come to help them?
Only we human beings can help other human beings. If we leave them behind when they need us, we may find ourselves in their situation in the future.
When we are old and sick, we will need people to help us. Since we will need help from others, why don’t we help those who are in need?
4. Eradicating bad speech and bad deeds
I saw and heard people insulting, cursing, and lying. Then we saw people stealing, snatching, beating, and sometimes killing each other. Since these acts represent bad speech and bad deeds, they should be eradicated.
Instead, we should promote cooperation, honesty, love, compassion, humility, kindness, truthfulness, and peace. Putting the above four basic principles into practice should be natural.
We should do to others as we would have them do to us. No one needs to do terrible things to others, and everyone wants good things to happen to them.
Therefore, we should avoid doing bad things and spread good things. We should also show this to people by putting it into practice. If we do to others what we don’t want to happen to ourselves, what makes us different from animals?
Animals are designed to be animals because they don’t discriminate between what is harmful and what is useful; they don’t let themselves be guided by plans; they kidnap their relatives; they kill their fellows; they don’t help their fellows when they are in need.
Because animals don’t think about their relatives, they are called animals. If we don’t think about our relatives, and if we do bad things to our relatives, what makes us better than animals? When I was young, my parents used to say: “You don’t care what other people think. You don’t want to do what other people do.
If you are like that now, how will you be in the future? We don’t think you are doing this on purpose, so you must be mentally ill.”
When they told me that I was mentally ill, I began to doubt whether I really had a mental problem. But I couldn’t figure out my illness.
All I said was: “Let’s trust each other, cooperate, work together, so how am I sick?” But, since I was considered sick, I stayed with my parents for many years.
5. All human beings are our brothers and sisters
My family and the community in which we lived did not accept my ideas. As I grew up, I could not find peace within myself because of the events I witnessed in our society.
I hated my life at that time. To find relief, I used to help people in need. My family and community would frown upon this and scold me for helping those they considered unrelated.
Among human beings, who do you consider your relatives and who do you not? To me, everyone is equal. No one can decide whether he is black or white.
It is the Creator’s job to make someone black or white. Having a color is not only for us human beings, but also for other creatures.
We come from Adam and Eve, and we all come from the same root. So how can human beings not be related to each other?
When I asked this question, I was told that I was mentally ill and could not distinguish between relatives and non-relatives. They said that after seven consecutive generations you are no longer related.
Who has the power to decide the exact moment when people are no longer related after seven generations? And when you reach the seventh generation, who says that you are no longer related?
Humans have created the idea that we are not related unless we are from the same family or ethnic group. This idea brings enmity; and enmity brings fighting. Human beings frighten other human beings like wild animals.
I thought that if we could live by considering all human beings as sisters and brothers, there would be no difference or hostility among human beings.
When I founded the community in 1972, we began to live according to all these five principles.
We try to create a peaceful life by increasing trust, love and cooperation with each other, no matter what race or ethnicity we come from.
