Kumche Ambau and the Football Fieldቆምጬ አምባውና ኳስ ሜዳው

Amharaአማራ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Daniel Legesse

Once upon a time during the revolutionary era there was a person called Ato{footnote}“Mr.” in the Amharic language.{/footnote} Kumche Ambau. He prepared a very big football field and called many people to the opening ceremony. One of the guests who was invited to the opening ceremony was from Addis Ababa. He was a senior government official.

Kumche Ambau delivered an opening speech, “Dear guests, I would like to apologise because you have come here before the football field is painted with cow dung.”{footnote}Compacted dung is sometimes used to make the floor of a hut.{/footnote}

And everybody laughed.

Then there was a match between two football clubs.

The guest from Addis laughed and asked, “Why are these people using one ball?”

“It’s because we are not economically developed. As our economy develops I will let every player have one ball.”

ቆምጬ አምባውና ኳስ ሜዳው

በዳንኤል ገሠሠ የተተረከ

በአንድ ወቅት በአብዮቱ ጊዜ አንድ አቶ{footnote}አቶ በአማርኛ የወንድ መጠሪያ ነው፡፡{/footnote} ቆምጨ አምባው የሚባል ሰው ነበር፡፡ እናም አንድ ትልቅ የእግር ኳስ ሜዳ አሰርቶ ለምርቃቱ ብዙ ሰዎች ይጠራል፡፡ ለምርቃቱ ከተጋበዙት ሰዎች አንድ ከአዲስ አበባ የመጣ ከፍተኛ የመንግስት ባለሥልጣን ነበር፡፡

ቆምጨ አምባውም እንዲህ ሲል የመክፈቻ ንግግር አደረገ፡፡

“የተወደዳችሁ እንግዶች! የእግር ኳስ ሜዳው በእበት{footnote}የከብቶች እበት አንዳንድ ጊዜ ለቤት ወለል መለቅለቂያ ይውላል፡፡{/footnote} ሳይለቀለቅ በመምጣታችሁ ይቅርታ እጠይቃለሁ፡፡”

ሰው ሁሉ ሳቀ፡፡

ከዚያም በሁለት የእግር ኳስ ቡድኖች መሃከል ግጥሚያ ተካሄደ፡፡ ከአዲስ አበባ የመጣውም ሰው በመሣቅ “እኝህ ሁሉ ሰዎች ለምንድነው በአንድ ኳስ ብቻ የሚጫወቱት?” ብሎ ጠየቀ፡፡

ቆምጨ አምባውም “እኛ ገና በኢኮኖሚ ያደግን ስላልሆንን አገራችን ወደፊት ስትበለፅግ ለእያንዳንዱ ተጫዋች አንድ አንድ ኳስ እሰጣለሁ፡፡” አለ ይባላል፡፡

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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

What did Kumche Ambau prepare?
Why did Kumche Ambau apologise in his opening speech?
Where did one of the invited guests come from?
What was the job of the guest from Addis?
What question did the guest from Addis ask during the match?
What reason did Kumche Ambau give for using only one ball?

For discussionለውይይት

Why do you think the guests laughed when Kumche Ambau spoke about the cow dung? What does this tell you about him?
Kumche Ambau said that as the economy develops, every player will have one ball. What do you think he means, and is this a good idea?
What does this story teach us about the difference between rich places and poor places?
If you were a guest at the opening ceremony, how would you feel and what would you say to Kumche Ambau?