ETHIOPIA - The country that was never colonised.

"Women marched alongside men to the battle at Adwa 126 years ago. Just like their men-folk, Ethiopian women were ready to sacrifice themselves to prevent colonialists from sneaking into their country, thus forcing their children to live in servitude.

Empress Taytu Bitul is clearly a symbolic women she was not only a diplomat and stateswoman with resolve, but also an ingenious commandant versed in the art of war, a tactician par excellence. Taytu collected ten to twelve thousand women in the camp and issued water jugs to all of them, the army of another kind filled their jugs at the river and were ready to carry water to those who fought, wherever they stood. The Italian colonizers even appealed to her on the behalf of their commander as they started suffering from thirst.

“Women’s role at the battle of Adwa revealed the truth that nothing can be done without the participation of women and it would be an exemplary deed for today’s effort to recognize women’s participation all over the world. We generally hear that Ethiopia won the battle. But we ignore the fact that women played decisive role in the victory. There were ten-thousands of women who prepared their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons for the war in which they also took part. 

All in all women were the leading force behind the victory of Adwa, they were preparing food and water, providing medical care for the wounded and they were following the soldiers with a slogan of ‘freedom or death’. Lets not forget the role of our great grandmothers.”

History is a terrible thing. It chooses to remember those it wants to remember and forgets those it wants to forget. For those it remembers, it breaks the story to pieces and tells it from the beginning to the end, passing it from generation to generation. And for those it refuses to tell, it doesn’t mean that history forgets. It can tell the story some other time or in a different way. Yes, history doesn’t forget a single thing.

 

Chief Nwakpuda was a known king a brave warrior in his time who said that the rail line should not pass through his village. After the rail line was built, he still insisted that he would not allow the train to go through because it could carry away women of his kingdom.

 

What killed chief Nwakpuda of ancient Umuahia 

 

The British colonial masters, in a bid to develop part of then East, had carved out a rail line that passed through his village to Port Harcourt. 

 

But, Nwakpuda, was so passionate that he swore that no train would pass through his father’s land. So, on the day the train was to be test-run, he had heard from the town-criers of the event and the brave warrior he was, he decided to enforce his vow and got ready.

 

 Apparently without further revelation of his plans, lest he be impeded, he sharpened his war cutlass and off he went to the rail track. The train driver saw him from afar as he stood with his cutlass at the ready and continued to blast his horn. But Nwakpuda laughed at the approaching “animal,” quipping derisively - I’ve not even touched you and you’re crying - stood firmly and ready to smash it with his weapon. Of course, the inevitable happened. 

He was crushed on the rail track.

 

But you know what? The white man didn’t allow it to go. Such heroism they thought! So, in the place where Nwakpuda died, they built an epitaph in his recognition. So, Nwakpuda, didn’t die in vain. He was a hero and a legend.