AN URGENT PETITION TO SAVE KALKIAD EYOB TISFAY, A YOUNG POET AND MAID

Dear Sirs and Madams,

We are writing to express our strongest concern over the life of KALKIAD EYOB TISFAI. We are asking you to give your immediate attention to the situation of young KALKIAD, an Ethiopian citizen, who is through her poetic talent, has acquired fame in her nation and abroad, who will also face a serious persecution if returned to Ethiopia. The political and economical situation in Ethiopia forced her to escape to Lebanon where she had no other choices than to serve as a maid. At this moment, the warfare between Israel and Lebanon made this courageous girl make yet another escape to Turkey where she is stranded alone, without any help, risking every day to be sent to Ethiopia where she will surely suffer persecution for her patriotic poetry and views.

Saving KALKIAD is not important only for her and her relatives; it is vital for all patriots of Ethiopia, scattered around the world and suffering in the nation’ s prison who have come to depend on her inspirational poetry to help them regain belief in the future of their country and its people. Her voice is one of the loudest in modern Ethiopian literature and evokes a lively response from all interested in the destiny of the country. You can hear her motivating, spirited voice in these lines:

“ Mothers and fathers!
Brothers and sisters!
Ethiopian patriots!
My people and compatriots
Rescue us before we perish,
Don’ t cry if we die in anguish!
Don’ t hurt your eyes in sorrow!
Shade no tears for us tomorrow!
Before our lives waste away
Do something right today

Yet for all her talent, the girl is in mortal danger after she has, in her own words, “ cheated death in the city of Beirut” . If she is taken to Ethiopia, the current regime will certainly want to revenge her for her free-loving poems, shoving her in prison with other opposition leaders, talented and educated people like herself. The tyrant will never forgive the truth she is speaking in her poems. Torture, starvation, and fear of death will become her everyday reality. KALKIAD is a very brave girl, but at her young age these tribulations may be more than anyone should ever experience.

To help this promising young talent to survive and develop, we humbly ask and beg the UNHCR to give her situation immediate attention. KALKIAD does need much to improve her current position. In the years she had spent in de-facto slavery in Lebanon, she suffered a lot of fear and insecurity. Today, she only needs shelter and safety that she can get only in a nation other than Turkey. In her present residence, she can be kidnapped and taken to Ethiopian prisons every minute.

We strongly hope that the UNHCR will find resources to help KALKIAD find the “ safe haven” she dreams about in her poems, immediately. Her destiny is so typical of Ethiopian youth deprived of opportunities in their home country and reduced to heavy labor abroad, and yet different from the rest through her unique ability to appeal to people’ s hearts through her poems. She is an active fighter for peace, freedom, human rights and democracy. Helping her move the souls of people in Ethiopia, you will be helping liberation and development in every corner of this world.

MAY GOD BLESS ALL MANKIND!!
NO YOUTH SHALL BE SUBJECTED TO MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSES!!

Respectfully & humbly,
Concerned Citizens of Ethiopia