David Meheret

Father's name: Samai Meheret

Mother's name: Shasheinet Taklein

Year of birth: 1968

Place of birth: Ardo Adohu, Wefarrgef, Welkait

Region in Ethiopia: Welkait

Main occupation in Ethiopia: Shepherd and blacksmith

The language of the interview: Amharic

David Meheret, nature, agriculture, shepherding, village guard, riddles, word games, summer, winter, birth, milking, immigration to Israel, epidemic, building a house, snake, hunting, fire, weapon, repairing weapons, blacksmithing, guns, blood feud, robbers, Derg, Ardo Adohu, Wefarrgef, Welkait, Sudan, Lemba, Sulla, Humera.

Summary of the testimony:

David describes his family tree, his village, and the local history. He describes the social and family life during his childhood, for example evening bonfires during the summer at which they would tell riddles and play word games.

David describes how different life in the village was in the winter, compared with the summer. During the winter, people worked in the fields and herded sheep and cattle. The summer was the season for rest and weddings.

As a child, as was customary, he accompanied the adult shepherds and cattle herders and learned the trade from them. During the winter months, he would take the cattle every morning and escort it to the shepherd. In the evening, he would collect them and bring them back to the cowshed. He also protected goats from thieves and wild animals, and made sure they did not eat crops from the fields in the area.

When the cows and goats gave birth, David and the other shepherds would help them. Primarily, they would ensure that the mother licked its calf after it was born. If she did not do so on her own, they brought the calf to its mother until she recognized and licked it. Otherwise, the mother would be estranged from the calf and it would be impossible to milk her.

In 1979, a serious epidemic broke out among the cattle. 11-year old David was forced to leave his home and transfer the cattle to the village where his uncle lived, in Lemba, to avoid the epidemic. He stayed in Lemba for several weeks and from there transferred the cattle to his grandfather’s village, Sulla. There, the herd struggled with mountainous and thorny grazing conditions. After several weeks, his uncles decided that David and the other herders must take the cattle to an uninhabited valley where enough plants grew. The cattle herders worked together and built themselves a house near a river. The herds ate all the vegetation and the river dried up. The group cut down the trees and burned the site, as was customary to prepare the land for agriculture, to be used by their uncles. David and the other cattle herders wandered about and found another place to settle. Thus seven months of herding, hunting, and protecting themselves from wild animals passed.

Over time, rumors began to trickle in about immigration of Jews to Israel via Sudan. When David returned the herd of cattle to his parents’ house, he saw convoys of young people who passed through his village on their way to Sudan. David began to help his father and brothers with blacksmith work, mainly repairing weapons. They were very busy during that period, as groups of rebels against the Derg regime (such as EPRDF, Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU), and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front.) were gaining power. The head of each family carried a gun to protect his territory from robbers, rebels, or the regime. David describes the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of weapons.

Gradually, all of David’s neighbors left their homes and moved to Sudan. The village became an interim stop for Jews from distant villages and began to be a target for criminals who came to rob the immigrants. In 1981, David and his family decided to set out on the journey as well. They joined a group of soldiers who took them to the town of Humera, on the Sudanese border. They stayed there for a month before they crossed the border and immigrated from there to Israel.