Chapter 2: corruption and nepotism
Corruption and nepotism are two words that can describe Ethiopia. Some submit to the pressure and migrate or just go back to the countryside.
These days there is even talk of a revolution, but for someone like me who got swindled into the dream of education, it was too late. My only choice was to migrate or go back to my parent farm but my ego could not let me.
For the past 22 years working my ass off to get this degree, I knew from a young age I was willing to do anything to escape my poverty and Kebede could see the burning fire in my eyes.
With a little bit of nagging Kebede agreed to set up a meeting for next week. For the next week, Kebede told me a lot of stories and situations he encountered to help me with my journey and I was very grateful for this because even before I remember I was the kid who tried everything to make money, and sometimes it helped sometimes it didn't. The only thing that helped me all these years was my adaptability and intelligence.
The meeting went better than I expected by coincidence they were looking for people who could help them with authenticating the electronic parts they were shipping. The job demanded I move to the borders of Ethiopia closer with a separation of only 60 km to the Red Sea. Before my departure, I met with Kebede one last time to say thank you and goodbye.
Kebede had a lot of advice for me but the main ones were
"Question every move around you because the only friend you have in a business like this is you."
"Do what you have to do to stay alive even if you have to kill."
"Always have an escape route."
But the most important one was
"The knowledge you know isn't the true one so try to find anyone or anyplace to fill that gap."
I found a lot of gaps with his thinking but he was in this business far longer than me. Maybe he didn't go this far with thinking like this but he survived this long so I still listened.
Long story short I thrived in the smuggling business. This gave me confidence I saw myself changing in a short bit of time. I became more vigilant, I became more decisive, and assertive but the road wasn't always sunshine and rainbows some encounters taught me valuable lessons some of them being
"Try as much as possible to stay under the radar."
"Only do things that are best for you."
I followed this rule to the dot which helped me avoid the police, unlike other coworkers. The contraband business has a short shelf life. If you outlast others in your business you will have the rich. The me after a year might look similar to my former self in physique which helped to hide my sharp eyes.
Just after 9 months I became the branch leader for one of our smuggling routes. This position opened a lot of doors for me but it also painted a target on my back by the police but the danger came from other branch leaders to gobble up my profits. At the time I thought I made it and started to slip up.
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