By LJDemissie
October 17, 2024
Once upon a time, in the land of pyramids and pharaohs, there were two very thirsty nations: Egypt and Sudan. These two countries had a grand plan to claim every single drop of the Nile River’s water, even though they didn’t contribute a single raindrop to it. How did they manage this? Well, they signed some ancient scrolls that said, “All the water is ours, and nobody else gets a sip!”
Now, imagine a group of kids playing in a park. One kid, let’s call him Egypt, finds water bottles. He decides that he and his buddy Sudan will drink all the water, leaving none for the other kids. The other kids, who actually brought the water bottles to the park, are left scratching their heads, wondering how this is fair.
Egypt and Sudan even went as far as to claim the rain that fell in the upstream nations, including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. “Those raindrops? Yep, they belong to us too!” they declared with a straight face. The upstream nations couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
One day, Ethiopia, the kid who brought the biggest water bottle that is called Abay River to the park, decided to build a fancy new water slide called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Egypt and Sudan were furious! “How dare you use your own water for fun and development?” they cried. “That water is ours, remember?”
Ethiopia, with a twinkle in her eye, replied, “But it’s my water! I brought it here, and I want to share it with everyone fairly.” The other kids cheered, but Egypt and Sudan clung to their ancient scrolls, insisting that the water was theirs and theirs alone.
As the other kids continued to play and share the water, Egypt and Sudan sat in the corner, clutching their scrolls and grumbling about the good old days when they thought they had all the water to themselves. They even suggested renaming the park “The Eternal Nile Park of Egypt and Sudan,” but nobody took them seriously.
In the end, the kids learned an important lesson: sharing is caring, and holding onto invalid rules only makes you look silly. And so, the Nile’s waters continued to flow, bringing life and joy to all the kids in the park, except for Egypt and Sudan, who were too busy arguing over their precious scrolls to join in the fun.
The writer, LJDemissie, can be reached atLJDemissie@yahoo.comor @LJDemissie (X formerly known as Twitter).