A Loud Whisper
An Oromo Story
by Sheiko Nagawo

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“A Loud Whisper” his very first children’s picture book is based on a true story of a boy born to a semi-nomadic family of 1950’s Ethiopia. The Oromo, a nationality to which the author belongs remains a marginalized majority in Ethiopia. As a protest to occupation and oppression, Oromos of this region refused to be part of Abyssinian learning institution until a villager, a man known to the author’s family was arrested after delivering a letter of his own arrest to authorities. The incident awakened his poor sleepy village. They gathered, lamented the arrest of their fellow villager and decided to send their first born sons to school so what happened to Daybaso Gohare is not repeated. He was the first born son and first to go to school from his village of Achaba in Arsi Did’a.

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A Loud Whisper is based on a true story. The author was born sometime in the 1950’s in a village called Achaba Arsi, in Oromia region of Ethiopia. They did not keep birth records during his childhood. At a very young age he was plucked away from village life he knew so well to spend time in unfamiliar city learning a new language and culture. The transition from village life to city was difficult and the alternative, even worse. Sheiko Nagawo is a proud father of three, Nalalei, Mirkana and Baati. He holds credentials from Bellevue College, the University of Washington and Heritage University in Washington, USA.

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Contributors

Author

Sheiko Nagawo

Illustrator

Nicole Stremlow Monahan