Ever since We were entrusted with the responsibility of
leading Ethiopia, one of the several wishes We cherished for Our people
has been to witness the arrival of a time when Our people will be able
to realize their problems as well as potentialities and through mutual discussions
come out with solutions for improvement. In order to bring about the fulfillment
of Our idea, We established the ministry of National Community
Development eight years ago.
Our first directive to the Ministry was in short to go
down to village level and give instructions by which the people can
improve living conditions and solve social problems. This project has
been remarkably expanded since then. Many people who received proper
training at training centres set up by the Ministry at Majite, Awassa
and other places are currently engaged throughout the Empire in drilling
wells, cleaning pools, maintaining village sanitation, starting schools
and other activities designed to assist the community at large.
It gives Us great satisfaction to note the enthusiasm
shown by the many young men wherever they have been assigned in carrying
out this programme, as it has become apparent from the undertaking of
the 10 places in the District of Ada.
Although great effort is being exerted by Our government
by way of planning and formulating ways and means of eradicating
community problems, it is not sufficient for the people to rely on
government support alone. As has already been manifested by your
endeavours the people themselves must come to realize their own
difficulties in the development of their community and try to solve them
by collective participation following an order of priority and taking
their potentiality into account. It is well known to you all that
recognizing one's problems and striving hard to challenge them is a mark
of an attempt at self-sufficiency.
A country belongs to both leaders and people. The mutual
co-operation between them is testimony to this fact. Unless the people
help Us, Our attempt to help them will be fruitless. Why did We become a
leader? Is it not for the benefit and welfare of the people?
This year more than ever before the people of Ethiopia,
motivated by their own will and diligence, have awakened to the task of
raising their standard of living. You hear every day that people are
engaged in raising funds to either construct roads or to use them for
whatever projects they have in mind. How noble and great a deed is the
act of sacrificing one's wealth, land and money, to one's needy community
instead of for selfish purposes! The gratitude remains forever.
If the programme of "self-help" is pushed forward
with this same degree of motivation, you will undoubtedly leave a
tradition worthy of remembrance by your children. It is believed that
having seen your children lined up in front of the schools, you have
realized that your efforts in taking the initiative to compete in the
programme of self-help undertaken by all to build these four schools We
just visited were altogether rewarding. One who does not contribute to
his community and the coming generation remains to be a burden to his
society and an object of ridicule to outside observers.
By building the schools near your village, you have
spared the time and energy of your children from travelling to far away
places for their education and moreover you have secured the opportunity
of seeing them grow up under your close care. And similarly if you
continue to consult one another and strive to get rid of the other
handicaps, say problems of obtaining clean water, better roads and
sanitation for your community, you will find that the accomplishment is
within your capacity.
It is the responsibility of the governor as well as the
elders to create harmony among the people in encouraging them to discuss
their common problems and work towards the betterment of their standard
of living. There has not been a single Ethiopian who has not been filled
with pride and rejoicing in hearing of the great efforts and
co-operation manifested by the people of Guragie in the fund-raising
scheme to finance the construction of the roads linking the people of
Bale, Addis Ababa and the provinces. These efforts being made by the
people of Our country towards progress have also served as a means of
influencing Ethiopia's overseas friends.
We also pledge, therefore, those elders and community
leaders to study and formulate methods on problems affecting their
respective communities such as schooling, water supply, community and
home sanitation, roads and agriculture in addition to their
long-practiced profession.
The co-operation, and what is more, the active
participation in working along with the people played by you, the
members of the IEAF, the Airborne Division and the Farm Experiment
Station in helping the people living in your area achieve a better
standard of living has highly pleased Us.
The principal idea toward this motive of assisting your
fellow neighbours lay in the fact that some of you have been fortunate
to witness the progress made in other countries while most of you
collected experiences from reading books at home; and it has been this
spirit of enthusiasm to witness the same trends of progress being
enjoyed by your brothers at home that led towards this objective.
There is no single soul who would not cherish the
introduction of progress to Ethiopia and want to partake of the benefits
thereof. It is but through co-operation in working side by side with the
people by way of setting up schools, drilling water-wells and the
construction of roads, and it is through the realisation and devotion in
solving these problems that wishes can be interpreted in terms of
tangible forms. As We have been informed you have in constructing these
schools equally shared the work with the people, quarrying stones,
fixing the frames and mixing the mud, which no doubt will earn you the
love of your neighbours.
All among those gathered here have come through the same
process of the historical past. Therefore, assuming that 100 schools are
set up for a population exceeding 20 million and even if these numbers
were increased to a million, there is no one who would not still judge
them insufficient. Self-help, in the benefits to be acquired through
education, will save the individual from having to ask for assistance.
We hope that this exemplary act of yours will serve to
create the same spirit among the entire people of Ethiopia and the Armed
Forces, the Naval Force, the Boy Scouts, students and particularly those
people engaged in the world of business. We are confident that if these
and all other organizations combined follow the same path in working
closely with the people, they will easily overcome problems of
water-supply, education, roads and house sanitation within their
respective communities and We further believe that this would enable the
people to achieve the desired standard of living which all of Us hold
dear.
The text of Our previous speech delivered during Our
return from visits abroad is available in writing. Work and wealth are
at your disposal. You should recall Our previous saying that
"activity and helping each other are of importance to all of
you." May God bless all that has been accomplished and the words We
have said.
January 12, 1963
