On Wednesday, October 29, 1958, His Imperial
Majesty Haile Selassie I received in audience at the Guenet Leul
Palace a group of African students. 24 out of 26 students were
studying in Ethiopian higher institutions of learning under the Haile
Selassie I Scholarship Scheme. Below is His Imperial Majesty's speech
on this occasion:
"We have brought you to Our Palace today
in token of the sincere sentiments of goodwill which We feel for you and
in order to become acquainted with you, so that you will not feel as
strangers and outlanders during your stay in Our country.
It is likely that your knowledge of the nations
of Africa is limited in the main to the countries in which you have
lived. We created the scholarship which have brought you to Ethiopia
because We realize fully well that the African people cannot come to
know and understand one another simply through the use of maps, and
because We know that there is no better way of enabling you, the
children of the rest of Africa, to become acquainted with your Ethiopian
brethren and for them to know you in turn.
We hope that during your period of study here,
you will be enabled to observe Our people at first hand, and to come to
know that you are of their same African blood. We shall not fail to send
Ethiopian students to schools in other parts of Africa, so that the
programme of cultural and educational exchange which We have initiated
will extend yet more widely. We rely heavily upon and pursue tenaciously
Our programme of education. We believe that education is the hope which
shall assure the progrss of Our people, and it is Our wish to assure the
spread of education among all African peoples as much as among Our own
subjects. We would remind you that Our scholarship programme, although
in its early stages, will be extended further in the future, and that
Our thoughts are still concentrated on this programme. Ethiopian economy
is not now well developed. However, it has started to grow, and, proud
of the resources which will contribute to Our country's economic growth,
We intend that the aid which We shall extend to other African peoples
will keep pace with this growth. Students are the leaders of the future
and are not bound by the past. We urge you to work hard and to study in
recognition of the responsibility which has been imposed on you as the
pioneers of the coming generation. We shall speak to those who come
after you the same words which We have just addressed to you. We wish
you all success in your studies".
Germawi Qadamawi Haile
Selassie
