Ambachew Abate Dejene
On 2 May 2001 the 7C conducted an interview with Ambachew who was visiting the class in the English lesson. We were all highly impressed by what he had to tell about his life, his career as a marathon runner, how patiently he answered the students' questions. All the students were able to write a complete portrait from their notes, like the following one done by Peter.
You might ask how we got to know Ambachew. Well he was hosted by the Rabensteiner family whose members are all runners, Frau Dr. Rabensteiner is Austria´s best female marathon runner, Peter seventeen is among the best in Austria his age group in various distances.
On 20 May 2001 Ambachew won the “FRÜHLINGSLAUF” in Vienna covering a distance of 15, 8 km in 51min 57 sec.
Due to an old injury in his leg which he has been suffering from since he got shot on his escape from Ethiopia he could not take part in the marathon run.(H. Braidt)
He was born on the 23rd July 1975 in Awassa, a town 250km away from Addis Abeba, the capital of Ethiopia. He was in junior school and he graduated at secondary school when he was 17 years old. He didn’t have a chance to study. He would like to become a professor. He likes literature, he reads a lot and tries to write.
Now he lives in Kenya as a refugee.
Why did he become a refugee?
In May 1991 he saw the fall of president Mariam (his father was in the government), which led to a wave of devastating reprisals and retaliatory measures by a new military government. Several times he and his whole family were imprisoned. In 1993 he decided to flee to Kenya to save his life, but was shot at during his escape. It took him 8 months to recuperate and then he could move into a refugee camp, where he stayed for 3 years.
The camp is located in the desert, near to the border to Sudan and Uganda. It is a very hard life in these camps, because he gets very little food there and almost no medical care. There are many illnesses, especially malaria -many people are seized by this infection due to a lack of resistance, caused by the shortage of food. He is accommodated by UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of refugees), which is very corrupt (e.g. they help you to settle in town when you pay enough money.)
He hasn’t seen his family for eight years, now. He sent a letter to them from Austria, but there was no response. He misses them, sometimes he can’t sleep. They were prosecuted for political reasons.
He is here to run the Vienna City Marathon. For him Vienna is a lot different to Africa; it is very cold and he was much impressed by technologies he had never seen before – a dishwasher, racing bicycle and car wash for example. In Vienna he likes to go to the fitness center, in particular to the sauna and steam-bath.
He met Mrs. Rabensteiner in a stadium in Nyahururu (2400m above sea-level), Central-Kenya. They ran together and exchanged ideas. She invited him to come to Vienna. He was sponsored by the Wien Energie Half-Marathon, where he finished 2nd (results:
What does he expect for the Vienna City Marathon?
He wants a time of 2:12:20. He trained hard, but everything can happen.
In summer 1996, he began his running career. He started to run, because he was impressed by Abebe Bikila who won a gold medal for Ethiopia at the Olympic Games. He is always striving to be like him, to attain recognition and fame.
In his first marathon, he ran 2:20, one year later even 2:15:20. Due to his achievements he was invited to the Fukuoka Marathon in 1999. There his dream got a severe setback. Running with the later winner, he dropped out at km 40, because of a torn knee. The result was that he started to train even harder. Now he is training two to three times a day – starting at 6 o’clock with 45 minutes running; in the late afternoon he does speed work or a long-jog; the afternoon is dedicated to regeneration- easy jogging.
Why are Africans so good at running? He presumes that there are basic reasons: They always run away from their problems –political, natural and especially a lack of food and money. In the second place, they often have to run long distances to their school or job; but above all, it is the high attitude which is very favorable to endurance.
He avoids eating fat and sugar. In Kenya he eats whatever he can get, mostly porridge. He doesn’t eat anything before the training and so he does before a marathon.
After the marathon he flies back to Africa. If he runs a good time, he will be able to choose any big marathon - maybe New York – and get sponsorship. He believes there is no age limit for the marathon. “30 is the best age!” He also likes soccer, but he has to take care of his legs.
He will keep his dreadlocks until his dream – to become a recognized and famous runner and therefore to give the large number of refugee children a sign of hope – is fulfilled.
The motto of this resilient man is: “I will never give up; I will always try, and try again.”
Ethiopians seldom learn English at school, because Ethiopia has never been colonized and so the people are proud of their language. Ambachew learned it by talking -in Kenya everyone speaks English- and by writing to his 23 pen pals.
There are over 100 different languages (the official language is Amharic) and 85 tribes in Ethiopia. They have their own alphabet, numbers and calendar Gregorian: they have the year 1993 now, their new year is on september 7, Christmas is one week after Europe.
Ethiopians don’t have surnames- the first is his own name (e.g. Ambachew), the second his father’s (Abate) and the third his grandfather’s (Dejene).
He assumes that the reasons why there are many dictatorships in Africa are on the one hand that there is a tribal rivalry, on the other hand the people don’t have enough experience in governing a country. Furthermore, the boundaries were drawn arbitrary, without any consideration for ethnic conditions.
Links: 19 March 2001)