Keetan Beeksisaa to Yaadannoo Caaltuu

June 16, 2016 ·

History of Onesimos Nesib and Aster GannoOnesimos Nesib (in Oromo orthography,
Onesimoos Nasiib; about 1856 – 21 June 1931), was a native Oromo who converted to Lutheran
Christianity and translated the Christian Bible into the Afan Oromo . His parents named him
Hika as a baby, meaning"Translator"; he took the name "Onesimus", after the Biblical character,
upon converting to Christianity.Onesimos Nesib is included in the American Lutheran Book of
Worship as a saint, who commemorate his life21 June. The Mekane Yesus Church honored him
by naming their seminary in Addis Ababa(Finfinne)for him.LifeBorn near Hurumu in modern
Ethiopia, Onesimos lost his father when he was four years old. According to an account he later
wrote for the Board of the Swedish Evangelical Mission, he was kidnapped by slavers in 1869,
and passed through the hands of eightowners until Werner Munzinger freed him at Massawa(in
modern Eritrea) and had him educated at the Imkullu Swedish Evangelical Mission in that port
city.[1] There he proved a good student, and eventually received baptism on Easter Sunday (31
March 1872). He was sent to Johannelunds Teologiska Högskola in Bromma, Sweden for five
years to receive further education; upon his return to Massawa, he married Mehret Hailu.He
attempted to immediately return to his native Macha Oromo people, and to circumvent the travel
restrictions Emperor Menelik II had imposed on foreign missionaries attempted to reach Welega
by way of central Sudan. His party got no closer than Asosa, and were forced to return to the
border town of Famaka, where Onesimos suffered from a fever. The party was forced back to
Khartoum, which they reached on 10 April 1882 just as the Mahdist revolt broke out. Onesimos
recovered from his illness, and found his way back to the Imkullu Mission, where while waiting
further instructions he began the first of his many translations into Oromo. After attempting
another unsuccessful mission to reach Welega in 1886, he began his translation of the entire
Bible.Unfortunately, Onesimos found that he lacked adequate knowledge of the words and
idioms of his native language for he had not lived with his people since childhood, and he was
forced to seek help. This came from Aster Ganno (1874–1964), a young girl who had been had
brought to Imkullu Mission, freed from a slave ship bound for Yemen by the Italian
navy.Although she provided much of the material for the translation (which was published in
1893), Aster failedto receive any acknowledgementfor her contributions.It was not until 1904
that Onesimos at last returned to Welega where he was greeted with great honor by its governor,
Dejazmach Gebre Egziabher. Unlike his predecessor, Onesimos preached to his flock in the
Oromo language, which the local Ethiopian Orthodox priests could not understand, and incurred
their hostility. This, combined with the esteem the local Oromo had for him, led to the priests
alleging that he was blaspheming the Virgin Mary. He was brought before Abuna Mattheos in
May 1906, who ordered that he be exiled upon the accusations of the local clergy. However
Emperor Menelik reversed the Abuna's decision, and ruled that Onesimos could return to
Nekemte, but could no longer preach.[2]While Onesimos limited his public actions in the next
few years to teaching in his school at Nekemte, the threat of exile from his homeland continued
to hang over his head until 1916 when Lij Iyasu granted him permission to preach his faith.
Although Lij Iyasu was deposed the next year from his position as designated(but uncrowned)
Emperor, his edict was not rescinded, and Onesimos continued to distribute his translations and
preach until his death.ASTER GANNOAster Ganno (c.1872–1964) was an Ethiopian Bible
translator who worked with the better known Onesimos Nesib as a translator of the Oromo Bible,
published in 1899.She was born free, but was later enslaved by the king of Limmu-Ennarea. She
was emancipated in 1886 when Italian ships intercepted a boat which was taking her to be sold
on the Arabian Peninsula, then took her to Eritrea where the Imkullu school of the Swedish
Evangelical Mission took her in. Aster (by Ethiopian custom, she is referred to by her first name)
was educated at their school . Onesimos quickly “discovered that Aster was endowed with
considerable mental gifts and possessed a real feeling for the Oromo language” (Arén 1978:383).
She was assigned to compile an Oromo dictionary, which was first used in polishing a translation
of New Testament published in 1893.Aster also translated a book of Bible stories and wrotedown
500 traditional Oromo riddles, fables, proverbs, and songs, many of which were published in a
volume for beginning readers (1894). She later worked with Onesimos in compiling an Oromo
hymnbook. Arén reports that a large amount of folklore she collected isstill unpublished,
preserved by the Hylander family (1978:384, fn. 71).Aster and Onesimos completed translating
the complete Bible into Oromo, which was printed in 1899.The title page and history credit
Onesimos as the translator, but it appears that Aster's contribution was not, and still is not,
adequately appreciated.In 1904, Aster, together with Onesimos and other Oromos, were able to
move from Eritrea back to Wellega, where they established schools, Aster serving as a teacher at
Nekemte.

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