4. The unsung heroines

HUNGER is often a way of life in Africa and starvation in Ethiopian prisons is a cruel fact.
Unlike North America, where prisoners are fed three times a day, unless relatives or friends bring food to hell holes such as the End of the World, inmates starve to death.
For the Royal Family, dying was a distinct possibility in prison; in fact, two of the 10 did die and one princess was given early release because of her age.
At the beginning, Ethiopians were afraid to assist them, not because of any dislike for them, but because they feared the revolutionaries and subsequent repercussions. After all, the Derg hadn't shown any mercy towards royalty or commoners.

Stephen Mengesha:The responsibility of feeding them was left for their servants. My grandmother's lady-in-waiting travelled 14 years without ever stopping one day. She cooked food and took it to them on a daily basis. Her name is Fluothe Selassie (no relation to the Emperor because Selassie means Trinity). Hers is a fascinating story. She and her sister are from Kaffa province where my mother's father -- Ras Desta Damtew -- used to be governor-general. The two sisters came into his household at a very young age, probably at the ages of 12 or 13. When the Italians invaded Ethiopia in 1936, my grandmother decided to take those two girls with her in exile and they got on a British frigate to Palestine. They got to Jerusalem with my grandmother and then they had a change of heart. They really missed their homeland and they decided to go back.
Editor Corbett: How did they get back to Ethiopia?
Mengesha: They approached the British authorities and asked them and by this time they were young ladies. A family hired them in Addis. When the Emperor regained power (in 1941), my grandmother (Tenagne Worq) returned to Addis and she welcomed the two sisters back into her household. On sister used to be a lady-in-waiting, but then she became a nanny. Fluothe Selassie remained a lady-in-waiting and when the Revolution came in 1974, she decided she was going to help them. She figured she had the loyalty to look after them. Loyalty can only stretch so far, but to really sacrifice yourself for 14 years and ceaselessly cook and take food to them is another matter.

Flouthe Selassie wasn't the only samaritan.
Two of the most prominent were a Dutch woman, named Van der Leew, and a Mrs. Wayne, the head mistress at Clarendon in north Wales, a finishing school for some of the princesses, including Aida Desta. Van der Leew raised money for the women prisoners throughout Europe while Wayne, although not a wealthy woman, stipulated that monies from her will be distributed to the royal members.
Mrs. Van der Leew also pursued improving the hygiene facilities. In fact, she received permission from the Mengistu Haile Mariam government to build showers and other facilities within Akaki Prison, however, they were built for the prisoners in the main building. Haile Selassie's family were never allowed to use them.
Another woman, only identified as Ruth, who was a lady-in-waiting to Aida Desta, also provided a needed service, that of washing the princesses' clothes.

It was a spartan life.
They were forced to sleep on mattresses on the damp, concrete floor for 14 years.
They were also limited in "getting a bit of air," with the prison authorities restricting their exercise periods to 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night.
They were allowed books and magazines, provided by the prison, but their shortwave radio was taken away from them when officials feared they would listen to foreign propaganda.