(Oromo News, 18 August 2013)  Jiituu Dhabasa Wakjira was only five years old when Ethiopian security forces took away her father, Dhabasa Wakjira, from their home in April 2004 and nine years old when her mother, Lelisse Wodajo, was arrested four years latter in 2008.

Jiituu understood very little at the time, but remembers missing her father, whom she visited at Ethiopia’s notorious Kaliti prison every weekend – for nearly three years.

On Saturday Aug. 10 2013, Jiitu, 14, described her family’s ordeals, in a heartfelt speech that read much like a movie script, before a captive Oromo and Australian audience.

Exposed to politics, suppression, oppression and loss at a young age, Jiitu’s is a story of love, perseverance, resilience, and courage.

The following is a speech written by Jiituu Dhabasa on welcoming night for Lelisse Wodajo, organized by Oromo community on 10/08/2013, Melbourne.

https://advocacy4oromia.org/action/hello-every-one/