Addis Abeba – On April 13, 2024, families, friends, and comrades from around the world descended on Toronto in person and on zoom to commemorate the first anniversary of the passing of the iconic Damissee Kabbadaa Sardaa Booraa. Damissee was adoringly known as Damee in his close circles, but he chose to take the name of his paternal akaakaa [grandpa] and called himself Sardaa Booraa. As an Oromo saying goes, maqaan ayyaana hin ta’u [one’s name cannot be one’s ayyaana /destiny].

However, Damee’s life defies this conventional wisdom, and the name he chose for himself did indeed become his destiny. Damee inherited not just the name but also his akaakaa’s ayyaana. It was as though Sardaa Booraa gave it with grace and Damee wore it with elegance and lived it with finesse.

Damee lived his life engaged in the fight for justice that Sardaa Booraa started and left behind for future generations to continue. He is his akaakaa and his akaakaa is him. His story is deeply tangled with his people’s history.

He embodies their collective life. Their fortunes are his fortunes and their struggles his struggles. In everything he did, Damee showed that he is the embodiment of his people’s struggle.

In this tribute I would like to honour Damee and all the sheroes and heroes of the struggles for justice spearheaded by oppressed peoples of the Ethiopian empire because Damee’s life is inseparably tangled with their lives and struggles. Damee embodied these struggles in all his being.