Poet and refugee saw his work as a medicine

Writing was a ‘‘medicine’’ to Ethiopian-born poet Yilma Tafere Tasew. It had been the tonic that helped him come to terms with displacement from his homeland and the experiences during the years he spent in Kenyan refugee camps before settling in New Zealand.

‘‘Writing is not an adventure,’’ he once said, ‘‘writing is amedicine, a pain relief.’’

It was certainly a portal through which he lamented his difficult journey, from a respected primary and secondary school teacher to an exiled agitator.

Born in the small town of Aleta Wendo, in southern Ethiopia, he grew up in a rural area where his mother was a homemaker and his father a trader.

He was a keen student and, after secondary education, hewent to the teachers’ training centre in Kotebe, Addis Ababa, graduating with distinction.

He was a vocal advocate for freedom of expression during the civil war, which raged in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991, and was arrested and imprisoned for being a sympathiser of the opposition party.

In 1991, he was forced to leave Ethiopia and live in exile in Kenya’s Ora Walda Kakuma Refugee Camp. While there he was a voice for thousands of refugees who were seeking resettlement in other countries. He worked as a social worker for the Lutheran World Federation at Kakuma Refugee Camp and was the founder and chairperson of the Ethiopian community there. He established the first refugee news bulletin and library for refugees in Kenya.

Tasew took refuge in reading and writing. Hewrote of the Kakuma camp: ‘‘Malaria, typhoid and hunger killed people every day. Unknown armed gangs in the bush often killed refugees. You heard guns firing every night and the sound of munitions exploding in the camp. You didn’t know what would happen from one day to the next.’’

In 1995, with the collaboration of two Australian students who came to visit the camp, he published an anthology of refugee writing. Tilting Cages was a collection of poems and stories from 28 refugeewriters, including Tasew.

In 1997, he began working as a translator, interpreter and caseworker for the UNHCR’S International Organisation of Migration. He spent eight years in Kenya before being resettled in New Zealandwith his then wife in 1999.

In Wellington, he began writing poetry focusing on human rights, reflecting the lives of the displaced, specifically African refugees. He wrote several books, including Broken Wings, The Plight of Black Africans, Silent Voice, Thank you Thank you and Agonising Wounds.

Diasporic Ghosts: A Discourse on Exile and Refugee Issues brings together his own poetrywith essays written by New Zealand academics and refugee workers.

His book launches at the Wellington Town Hall were big and colourful events that inspired many to take notice of refugee issues in the Kiwi community.

His blog, Harmonious Black Africa, was a platform for his personal reflections on the world of politics, Ethiopian affairs in particular. He co-founded the Writers International (NZ) group to enable networking between foreign and local writers, and co-founded Africana Journal, a collection of ideas about Africa and the African diaspora.

His quest for learning continued at Victoria University, where he graduated with a BA in political science and international relations in 2007.

He became a public speaker on refugee and diaspora issues, and presented papers for government, NGOS, universities and conferences around Aotearoa New Zealand. He worked as an independent researcher and consultant on African and refugee issues and as a translator for the New Zealand Translation Service.

He was a research associate for the New Zealand immigration Service and a cross-cultural worker for the Refugee and Migrant Service.

In later years, he became a local identity on Wellington’s Cuba St.

He befriendedmany people in that part of town. Ahlam Ayoubzadeh, who runs an IT business on Cuba St, said Tasew dropped in most days. They would discuss politics and human rights. She said his poetry was dark, but told the brutal truth.

The late poet and critic Teresia Teaiwa said you couldn’t come away from reading some of Tasew’s poems and declare that you enjoyed them.

You shouldn’t be able to enjoy this poetry because refugees should not have to leave their homes or lose their family members along the way; they should not have to suffer the indignities and violence of refugee camps, she said.

Describing his voice as ‘‘punk metal anti-aesthetic’’, she hoped his poems would long continue to strike dissonant chords in a city that prefers to hear symphonies. – By Bess Manson

Sources: Stuff (Rebecca Palmer, Tom Hunt), Ameha Wondirad, Ahlam Ayoubzadeh, Mark Pirie, New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre.