Yusuf

Yusuf was born on September 16, 1880, in the high country near Gelemso in Hararghe. Oromo-speaking villages farmed the hills and traded at local markets, while power in the wider region shifted between local chiefs and the expanding court of Shewa. His household was poor and land-short. They rented strips to plant grain and kept a few goats and chickens. They spoke Oromo with neighbors and a second home language inside the compound.

Yusuf’s father Abdullahi had been married before. His first wife Fatuma died in 1879, leaving behind three children: Amina, Ali, and Hassan. Abdullahi remarried quickly, and Hawa became mother to those children and then to Yusuf. Zaynab, the family’s grandmother, lived in the compound and helped watch the younger ones. Hawa carried Yusuf against her side while she milked, skimmed the foam, and set calabashes in the shade. When Abdullahi went out to hoe rented fields or bargain for grain, Amina took over. Amina, born in 1872, tied Yusuf onto her back and kept him away from the ash by the cooking place. Ali, born in 1874, came and went with herding and field errands. Hassan, born in 1877, stayed close. He tugged Yusuf by the wrist to the threshing place and laughed when Yusuf tried to copy the older boys’ steps.

Before Yusuf turned two he had a small set of clear words. He called Hassan “Hasso,” reached up for him, and repeated a short greeting phrase that Amina drilled into him when neighbors passed the gate.

At two and a half he followed Hawa to the goat pen with a tiny gourd cup clutched in both hands. He squatted beside her, then sprang up to chase a chicken that grabbed spilled grain. Amina caught him by the shoulder before he stumbled into the cooking ashes.

A baby brother, Ibrahim, arrived in 1882. Yusuf pushed close to Hawa’s lap whenever the newborn cried, then wandered back to the animals and the older children.

After the rains in 1883, measles spread through nearby households. Yusuf’s skin broke out, his cough turned harsh, and he stopped eating. Abdullahi brought Sheikh Nur to recite Qur’an over water and write verses for a fresh leather amulet. Zaynab took coffee husks and a handful of grain to a sacred tree as a vowed offering. A neighbor woman, Aster, carried water and watched Ibrahim while Hawa sat with Yusuf through the nights. He died on November 1, 1883. Men washed and wrapped his body and buried him near the settlement, with a brief Muslim prayer said over the grave.