Adunia Bogale

Father's name: Demete Waga

Mother's name: Werka Tessara

Year of birth: 1966

Place of birth: Balhoi, Chilga Warda Koreh neighborhood in the city of Gondar, Gondar

Region in Ethiopia: Qwara

Main occupation in Ethiopia: Farmer and merchant

The language of the interview: Amharic

Adunia Bogala, nature, agriculture, shepherding, judge, hunting, merchant, lions, sewing, studies, deliveries, market, games, judge, legal system, rulings, weapon, shooting, trade journeys, camel train, spices, Amharic, Sudanese, sesame, Italians, Derg, Haile Selassie, rebels, Balhoi, Chilga Warda Koreh, Gondar, Qwara, Gojjam, Sudan, Bahar-Dar.

Summary of the testimony:

Adunia explains the structure of his family, what his neighborhood looked like, and talks about the local history. As a child, he helped work in the fields and made deliveries to the nearby market. His parents taught him to sew, read and write. In his free time and on the sabbath, he used to play various games with his relatives.

According to tradition, the reigns of leadership were given to the strong. Adunia’s father, who was a lion hunter, was appointed as a judge and tax collector. When Adunia was ten years old, his father taught him to shoot a gun, and at the age of 11 he joined his father in the court. Adunia describes his father’s role as a judge, the hierarchy of the courts, and the way trials were conducted during the regime of Emperor Haile Selassie. Many trials dealt with disputes about agricultural land, trade or theft.

Adunia talks about the hunting trips his father went on and the preparations for them. He lists the tactics they used to catch various animals, which animals they looked for and which they had to trap, as well as the customs of kashrut and ritual purity connected to each animal. He also tells of a lion cub that his father gave to the leader of the Gojjam region. The cub lived in the regional zoo until the Derg party came to power.

When he grew up, he got married and set out on his own. He became a farmer of his own lands. From the harvest season until the following planting season, he would work in trade. Together with other merchants, Adunia would travel for three days to Sudan and back, bringing merchandise in demand to and from Ethiopia. So, for example, he would take sheep, cattle, and cannabis to Sudan and return to Ethiopia with spices, clothes and radios. Adunia talks about his journeys, the secrets of trading, the routes he travelled and their many dangers.

Adunia learned Sudanese and began to earn money and enlarge his wealth. When he heard that the path for immigration to Israel via Sudan had opened up, he began to work in Sudan for a wealthy merchant who hired his services as supervisor of the transfer of sesame seeds in a train of camels. After working and waiting for six months, Adunia understood that there had been no development in the immigration to Israel. He returned to Ethiopia, built his house and established a family. He carried on working in agriculture and trade until he immigrated to Israel with his family.