Conclusion
In this article, I have tried to show that Shaykh Bakrii Saphalo was a scholar and a celebrated poet who devoted his life to teaching and the development of literature in the Oromo language. His most conspicuous talents were the production of elegant poems and his invention of a writing system. Most of his poems ". . . . deal with the political phenomena of the day and the oppression and exploitation under which the Oromo were living. . . . Bakrii articulated [Oromo] burdens and tried to arouse popular awareness to stand for their rights, humanity and dignity.”[i][i]
From his long experience, Shaykh Bakrii realized that the Oromo had no power, no unity and no organization with which to mobilize their human, material and spiritual resources to effectively challenge the oppressive Ethiopian colonial rule. He believed in the ability of the Oromo to overcome their weakness if their political consciousness is raised.[ii][ii]
Through his revolutionary poems he provided the Oromo with a fund of knowledge by showing how other colonized peoples in Africa and Asia defeated colonialism and achieved their independence. His works reflect his concerns for his people, his wishes for their freedom and his commitment to that cause. He realized that both Arabic and Ethiopic scripts are unsuitable for writing Afaan Oromoo. He faced the wrath of Amhara settlers and officials, which never deterred him from expanding and enriching written literature in Afaan Oromoo. Even after his arrival in a refugee camp in northern Somalia, he was active for a while, in correspondence with an intellectual Oromo circle in Mogadishu. His goal was to arrive in the Somali capital to facilitate the publication of his works. In sickness and health, at home and in exile, Shaykh Bakrii never stopped urging his people to struggle for their own liberation. By the time he was forced into exile, Shaykh Bakrii was eighty-three years old. He faced considerable hardship, hunger, poor health and lack of medical care all of which combined to end his remaining days on earth. "In the final analysis . . . the most important aspect" of Shaykh Bakrii's life ". . . was his self-sacrifice"[iii][iii] in the interest of his people. He made their cause the very core of his being. It was his love for his people that gave him "the strength to do what he incredibly did"[iv][iv] as a teacher, a scholar, a poet, an inventor of a writing system and a kind and generous human being. His personal suffering and sacrifice, however, was not in vain. He cultivated the soil and planted the tree of Oromo literature, which has been flowering since the 1980s and holds great promise for the future.
What facilitated the production of literature in Afaan Oromoo was the transformation of the Latin alphabet (which the Oromo Liberation front has been using since 1974) into Qubee Afaan Oromoo in 1991.[v][v] As a result in 1993 and 1994 alone eight million copies of fifty-eight textbooks were published in Afaan Oromoo.[vi][vi] Among the writers in Afaan Oromoo, the rising star is the novelist-playwright, Dhaabaa Wayyessaa. His works include (but are not limited to): (1) Dukanaan Duuba ("Beyond Darkness"); (2) Utuu Hinsein ("Without Meaning It"); (3) Gaaddidu Farra ("Evil Shadow"); (4) Gurraacha Abayya ("The Black of the Nile"); (5) Heeruma Galgalee ("Galgalee's Marriage"); (6) Kennaa Abbaa ("Father's Gift"); (7) Jennaan ("Said and So"); (8) Imimmoon ("Tears"). By far the greatest of all works is Godaannisa ("The Scar") a novel based on the hardship of life - treachery, betrayal and deprivation.[vii][vii]
. . . To produce books, plays, magazines and short stories in a short period of time requires diligence, commitment, patience and literary creativity. To achieve this at such a young age and single-handedly is almost impossible. Yet, it is a measure of Dhaabaa's essential optimism, self-confidence and courage that he has been determined to succeed as a writer.[viii][viii]
The Qubee based literature that has been developing since 1991 reflects the joy and sorrow, the strength and weakness, conflict and harmony, unity in diversity, bravery, nobleness and greatness of soul and spirit of Oromo unity. It cultivates a feeling of pride, and a sense of belonging to a great nation. The new literature expresses profound Oromo yearning for the return to the Gada democracy. It provides the most delightful and enduring thought process to the Oromo language. It articulates Oromo aspiration for self-determination and nourishes their determination to achieve that goal. In short, the new literature reflects the Oromo mind, the Oromo soul, the Oromo spirit, the Oromo view of the universe and their place in that universe. It also reflects the beauty of Oromia, its rivers, valleys, mountains, hills, its animals and other economic resources.[ix][ix] The focus on the new literature is on the Oromo as a people, the greatness and tragedy of their history and their place in the future political landscape of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Thanks to the selfless endeavor and personal sacrifices of Shaykh Bakrii and thousands of other men and women, Muslims and Christians:
Today the Oromo are free in their mind, soul and spirit. Those who torment the Oromo now must realize that they will never be able to kill the spirit of freedom, the love and yearning for self-determination that now resides in the Oromo nation.[x][x]
Though he was not destined to witness the consolidation of Oromo Nationalism that "has fundamentally altered the Oromo perception of themselves and how they are perceived by others,”[xi][xi] Shaykh Bakrii planted the seed and cultivated the soil in which Oromo Nationalism grew.[xii][xii] Thus the spirit of the great scholar and the father of revolutionary Oromo poetry lives on through Oromo Nationalism, that has captured the heart, the mind and the soul of the Oromo nation, infused them with an unquenchable thirst for freedom and self-determination.
Finally, written literature in Afaan Oromoo, to which Shaykh Bakii devoted most of his life, faces a very uncertain future at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This is because those who hate the development of the Oromo language are doing their best to stop or ban the use of Qubee for production of literature in Afaan Oromoo.[xiii][xiii] Those who see Qubee as a testament to the empowering production of literature in Afaan Oromoo have transformed it into the "devil script." “This recalls the old image of the 'devil tongue' which the Oromo language had in the Christian tradition of the Ethiopian Empire."[xiv][xiv] Linking Afaan Oromoo, Qubee and the devil is part of the new demonization of the Oromo.[xv][xv] Banning the use of Qubee in Oromia will never stop the Oromo from developing their language. It is too late for that to happen. Instead of stopping or retarding the development of Afaan Oromoo, banning Qubee, will totally alienate the Oromo from the Ethiopian political process thus making the demand for independent Oromia universal.
The Oromo have always struggled to develop their language. But never more than now. They have always produced cultural heroes but never more than now. The Oromo need for profound dedication to the grown of literature in their language springs from the fact that the new literature nurtures their unquenchable desire for freedom and human dignity. The new literature has captured the heart, mind and soul of the Oromo who will find inner fountains of fire not only to defend what has been achieved so far, but to build on, expand and enrich it for posterity.[xvi][xvi]