`THIS ISN'T SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS EVERY 10 OR 20 YEARS' - NEW YEAR BRINGS HOPE FOR PEACE TODAY MARKS YEAR 2000 ON ETHIOPIAN CALENDAR
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) - Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Author: SCOTT GUTIERREZ P-I reporter

Wubeshet Assefa fled Ethiopia 27 years ago as a political refugee and settled in Seattle on Labor Day in 1990.

Assefa, 47, was one of thousands who escaped famine, war or poverty to settle in the Northwest. Now a King County employee, he has raised two daughters and a son. But although thankful for his opportunities here, Assefa is disheartened by the decades of struggle that have afflicted his people.

Yet he is hopeful as Wednesday marks the year 2000 on the Ethiopian calendar - the start of a new millennium. Like many others in the Northwest, he hopes it will usher in an era of prosperity, peace and unity to his country, and to Africa.

"Ethiopia has an old history and a rich history and culture, but we are really behind. This millennium, we hope will close the gap and we'll be on the same page," said Assefa, of the Ethiopian Millennium in the Pacific Northwest Organizing Committee, which has planned a large celebration this weekend in Seattle.

Other large U.S. cities also will mark the millennium. Seattle's will last from Friday through Sunday at Warren G. Magnuson Park, where thousands are expected to participate in fireworks, a soccer tournament, dancing and a symposium of scholars, Assefa said.

Some community leaders estimate between 20,000 and 30,000 East Africans live in the greater Seattle area; many emigrated from Ethiopia during the 1980s and 1990s and had children in the U.S. who are now coming of age.

The Ethiopian Orthodox calendar is based on the old Coptic and Roman calendars and falls almost eight years behind the Western calendar. About half the country's 80 million people are Orthodox Christian.

The celebration is an opportunity for the next generation to remember its roots and for all generations to contemplate moving Ethiopia forward socially and economically, Assefa said.

"This is the bridge between my generation and the next generation, and what we can do for Ethiopia, we can do for Africa as well," Assefa said.

It's also a chance to share Ethiopia's culture with the greater Northwest, he said.

On Sunday at St. Gebirel Church, built by the Ethiopian community in the Central District, about 750 people packed the sanctuary, which usually draws about 300. Two bishops concluded the millennium service by blessing the masses and splashing worshippers' foreheads with rosemary leaves and rue dipped in holy water. Their foreheads and collars dripping wet, people greeted others with "Enquan Adreseh," meaning "May you have arrived to the new year peacefully."

Fikru Kiffe, who attended the church Sunday, traveled from Ethiopia 22 years ago after the military seized control of the government, he said.

"I feel lucky to be alive during this important moment in our history. This isn't something that happens every 10 or 20 years," he said.

Wyube Worku, who owns a food-service business and attended the service, said the Ethiopian New Year is celebrated much like a U.S. Thanksgiving.

"We don't celebrate it like Americans and wait for midnight to come. Our celebration starts at 7:30 in the morning."

Traditionally, friends and family gather and share food such as doro wet (chicken stew with hard-boiled eggs), lamb, tela (beer) and teg (honey wine). Girls sing and take flowers door to door, she said.

Worku's oldest daughter, Hannah, a University of Washington sophomore, plans to travel to Washington, D.C., for a planned celebration, which has been billed as the largest in the country.

But Galmesa Elemo sees no reason to celebrate. He is from Oromo, the country's largest province, whose people historically have been persecuted for ethnic reasons.

Many Oromo natives plan a vigil at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Oromo Community Center at 2718 Jackson St.

A social worker with the Center for Career Alternatives in Seattle and father of four, Elemo, 26, has supported groups seeking independence for Oromia, which is why he was forced to seek political asylum in the U.S., he said.

"We don't have a country. How can you celebrate?" Elemo said. "How can you feel happy when people are starving and dying in that country?"

Muluneh Yohannes, of Seattle, a former diplomat who left his country for political reasons in 2003, said the next millennium is a chance for healing in Ethiopia. He was encouraged a few months ago when the government released several activists jailed for protesting the country's 2005 election.

For almost 20 years, a socialist dictator ruled Ethiopia until he was overthrown in the 1990s. He was replaced by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who installed a system of federalism, but his opponents alleged his re-election in 2005 was rigged. Protesters who took to the streets were jailed or killed.

"My aspiration is for a better future for our country, for Ethiopia. But we can only do that if there is a genuine will from the government and the opposition side," Johannes said.

But he calls Seattle his "second hometown."

He laughs about the Y2K paranoia that preceded 2000 in the U.S.

"Our economy isn't very sophisticated, so I don't think you'll have the Y2K anticipation," he said.


Places With Largest Ethiopian Populations in 2000:

1. Seattle
2. Dallas
3. Los Angeles
4. Alexandria VA
5. Minneaapolis
6. Arlington VA
7. Washington DC
8. New York City
9. San Diego
10. Silver Spring MD

Places Where Ethiopians Comprised Highest Share of 2000 Population:

1. Lincolnia VA
2. Tacoma Park MD
3. North Atlanta GA
4. Silver Spring MD
5. Alexandria VA
6. Adelphia MD
7. Newinton VA
8. Springfield VA
9. Franconia VA
10 White Oak MD

Dallas has the second largest community, Ethiopians are very active there:

Ex- Ethiopian model now a local activist
Dallas Morning News, The (TX) - Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Author: NORMA ADAMS-WADE

Growing up an orphan in her native Ethiopia taught Yeharerwerk Gashaw that people are never alone when they reach out to help others.

And that's the philosophy that the outspoken international humanitarian and activist lives by as she monitors local and world events from her Plano home.

When a cause touches her soul - and many do - she gets involved quickly.

Ms. Gashaw is spearheading an array of projects to showcase causes in Ethiopia, which she left in 1979, and in Dallas , where she has lived since 1982.

During Black History Month, she plans to speak at schools and organizations about how African-Americans and Africans have helped each other and society.

People frequently are not aware of this often-unwitting collaboration, she said.

She wants to inform others and promote more cooperation.

Focusing on her personal American hero, U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Houston, and his impact on an African children's home can help her reach this goal, she said.

In 1989, Mr. Leland and his mission team were killed in a plane crash on their way to deliver aid to starving Sudanese refugees, many of them children who had migrated to Ethiopia.

Shortly after the crash, Ms. Gashaw began a crusade to honor Mr. Leland, who was chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and co-founder and chairman of the House Select Committee on World Hunger.

Mr. Leland's death galvanized the former international model and actress perhaps more than any of her experiences meeting many African and U.S. leaders.

After much crusading, she succeeded in getting a children's home and a road in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, named in Mr. Leland's honor.

Ms. Gashaw continues to promote projects to send resources to the orphanage.

She said she never met Mr. Leland but was inspired by his decision to get involved instead of ignoring world suffering and hardships.

"I see myself in Mickey Leland," she said. "I can't ignore my people, either. There are so many educated scholars who do not do what he did. He put his life on the line. A man like that should not be forgotten."

Nor has Ms. Gashaw forgotten many other people who have helped or impressed her throughout her life.

For example, diplomats helped educate Ms. Gashaw in France after her mother and military father died before she was 10.

"It is always fresh when I talk about what happened," she said through tears.

She passionately relates anecdotes about high points as a trailblazing Ethiopian top model . She has many photographs of visits with prominent African leaders, including Nelson Mandela and the controversial Joseph Mobutu, late ruler of Zaire.

In 1990, Mr. Mobuto appointed Ms. Gashaw, who speaks four languages, to be official translator for Mr. Mandela during the South African's visit. Her face beamed as she told how Mr. Mandela called her "my daughter" and helped her celebrate her birthday during his visit.

She has collected documents about how some African-Americans have helped Ethiopia, and she highlights the information during her Black History Month talks. For example, pilots Hubert Julian and John Robinson commanded and helped train the Ethiopian Air Force during the 1930s. And John West, who studied at Howard University, was the renowned Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie's personal physician in the 1930s.

During her many civil and human rights efforts in Dallas and her political activities among the estimated 30,000 Ethiopians in the Dallas area, Ms. Gashaw often speaks of her homeland and calls for unity among African immigrants and African-Americans.

Currently, as a casting director, she spends part of her time planning humanitarian theater and film projects with contemporaries of her 16-year-old daughter, Lielt Samuel, who plans to study medicine.

Somalis, Ethiopians Observe A Faraway War as Neighbors - Immigrants Turn Two Cafes Into Hubs of Political Discourse
Washington Post, The (DC) - Friday, December 29, 2006
Author: Karin Brulliard, Washington Post Staff Writer

As Ethiopian invaders rolled into Mogadishu yesterday, the debate in a pair of Northern Virginia coffeehouses turned on the fate of that beleaguered capital in the Horn of Africa.

Was this liberation from Islamic extremists? Or foreign intervention at its worst?

Views on the conflict diverged at the Baileys Crossroads Starbucks, where dozens of Somali men gather each day to chat, and at the Dama Ethiopian cafe, where Ethiopian immigrants drop in to sip coffee and talk politics. Although their nations are historically enemies, the opinions split not by country or religion -- but from one person to the next.

"I'm very happy . . . people are crying for [Somali] government," said Abdul Kadir Sair, 40, a small-business owner who stopped at Starbucks yesterday. "If Bush can go over there and make stability, I'll support it 100 percent. Anybody, I don't care. Anybody who can make my country stable, I support 100 percent."

But he won't find agreement from a fellow Somali, Basto Osmond, who plunked down in a Starbucks chair and denounced Ethiopia's move and the United States' tacit support of it. When the Islamic Courts wrested control of the Somali capital from various warlords, it "liberated" the nation by imposing order, he said.

"The Courts came in with the will of the people," said Osmond, 50, an engineer. "If they had done wrong, the people would have gotten rid of them."

When war broke out last week, it came as no great surprise to the crowds at these two shops. They had been monitoring the escalating conflict for months, hearing the worries of family members still in their homelands. And they had brought those worries to their coffee shops, where cafe tables turn into political round tables and details are dissected over Earl Grey and lattes.

For some, Ethiopia is meddling in the affairs of its neighbor or fighting against the only leaders -- even if unofficial ones -- who have restored order to Mogadishu, Somalia's capital. To others, the Somali Islamic movement threatens to bring extremism, even terrorism, to the two countries and the entire Horn of Africa.

Despite the differences of opinion, nearly all of those who discussed the conflict expressed fear that the fighting would spread bloodshed across the Horn of Africa. And many spoke with a tone of weary fatalism, lamenting that such fighting is so routine, yet still so disappointing and that international aid to alleviate poverty and support development seems remote.

But at the coffee shops, the differences of opinion are the point.

Yesterday, as the Islamic Courts fighters abandoned Mogadishu and Ethiopian forces advanced, some Ethiopian immigrants sipped hot drinks at Dama, a cozy Arlington cafe where Christmas garland graced shelves holding tea. At one table, a taxi driver, a college student and a lawyer took turns opining, jabbing their fingers on the table as they debated.

"It's probably a good idea to strike now, in the infancy," before Somalia's Islamic movement can threaten Ethiopia, said Binyam Yinesu, a soft-spoken cab driver. "Any extremism, be it Christian or Islam, is not a good idea."

Lawyer Fitsum Achamyeleh Alemu, 37, shook his head. The war, he said, makes Ethiopia a "playground in the war on terror" and is a conflict he thinks the Ethiopian government is using as a distraction from its own problems, including public complaints about human rights abuses.

"Is there any clear and convincing evidence that there are Islamists attacking Ethiopia?" he asked, his voice raising. The student, who did not want to be named for fear of angering the Ethiopian government, nodded in agreement.

The Washington region is home to the nation's largest Ethiopian communities. According to 2005 Census figures, more than 22,000 immigrants from Ethiopia, whose residents include Christians and Muslims, reside in the area, although many community leaders believe the population is closer to 120,000. Community leaders say about 6,000 Somalis, most of whom are Muslim, live in the region.

Many immigrants from both countries arrived as refugees who fled violence and political turmoil and have made their way here as taxi drivers, professionals and shop owners.

Here, as there, they have lived as neighbors, albeit more peacefully. Interaction is limited by language differences, but those at the coffee shops said they have made friends with immigrants from the other nation -- while praying together at the mosque, standing in the taxi line or doing business.

And although some community leaders privately say there is a quiet tension between the groups here, those at Dama and Starbucks insisted the conflict is one between the leaders and power-seekers in their countries, not their emigres.

"Finally Ethiopia is helping. . . . This is a great day for Somalia," said Somali taxi driver Abdi Mohamed, 44, as he sunk into a plush Starbucks armchair Wednesday. "There is no difference between the [Somali] warlords and the Islamists."

On Wednesday afternoon, Somali Mahamed Abubacar, 37, paid his second visit that day to Starbucks, where, by 6 p.m., more than 20 men were filling the room with the hum of the Somali language. The Islamic Courts movement, he said, had rooted out the warlords that had caused chaos in the capital. Along with other members of a group called the Somali Diaspora of the Washington, D.C., Region, Abubacar staged a protest at the State Department on Dec. 15 against the impending war. Ethiopians participated, too, he said.

"We will talk always about the future," said Abubacar, who fled Somalia for the United States, settling in Falls Church nearly 10 years ago. "We just always dream of having good relations between the two countries. . . . That's what we talk about when we see each other. We don't hate each other."

The next day at Dama, Alemu echoed that.

"I really feel sorry for the Somalis. . . . Families have been torn apart. They don't have a government," he said. "I hope that this time -- this time -- will be the last time to hear about wars in that region."

The hell? What's with all these threads?

bayview are you a troll?

For more than a few Africans,
the American dream has turned into a nightmare:

Clerk fatally shot in convenience store - The Ethiopian immigrant called police before dying. Cops have a security video and details about a suspect.
Denver Post, The (CO) - Sunday, May 3, 2009
Author: Kirk Mitchell and Annette Espinoza The Denver Post

Police are searching for a man who fatally shot an Ethiopian immigrant inside a 7-Eleven convenience store early Saturday morning.

The victim called police at 3:30 a.m. and told them that he had been shot inside the store at 567 E. Louisiana Ave. The store clerk was found in an alley near the store, said Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman.

It is not known why he was found outside, Jackson said.

Police have not released the name of the victim, but neighbors identified him as "Nathaniel."

He was rushed to Denver Health Medical Center where he later was pronounced dead, Jackson said.

Police are searching for a white man, about 30, average height and weight, with shoulder-length, brown hair, Jackson said. He was wearing a green jacket and likely blue jeans.

Witnesses told police the gunman fled in a silver, four-door car, which looked to be about 5 to 8 years old.

The killer used a rifle, police said.

"What his motive is, we don't know," he said.

When asked whether anything was taken from the store, Jackson said he would not comment on evidence.

The clerk, who was 27, had worked at the 7-Eleven store for five years, said Margaret Chabris, spokeswoman for 7-Eleven.

"Last night, he worked alone, but I don't know if he was alone in the store (at the time of the shooting)," Chabris said Saturday.

She said someone called police, but she doesn't know if it was a customer. She said 7-Eleven clerks have been killed before but not necessarily during the shift between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

"These are random acts of violence," Chabris said. "We've heard of incidents of violence in broad daylight."

She said the clerk was a loyal, hardworking, good employee.

"It sounds like something that was unprovoked," Chabris said. "It devastates all of us."

The clerk had been a manager of the store before, under different ownership.

He has relatives locally and overseas, Chabris said. Police were having trouble reaching his mother, she said.

The store had camera surveillance equipment. The tapes will be turned over to police for their investigation, Chabris said.

Yellow crime tape surrounded the store Saturday. After police left, employees entered the store and began cleaning.

Bayview are you a Computer a machine or what?

Ethiopians now thrive, aid newer refugees - Years after fleeing famine, they are building center
Chicago Tribune (IL) - Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Author: Antonio Olivo, Tribune reporter

Nearly 30 years after one of the worst famines in history drove thousands of Ethiopians from their homeland, the Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago is still helping refugees survive in their strange new city.

Only now, most of those newcomers hail from Burundi, Sudan or even Myanmar -- evidence of the emerging role of leadership being played by one of the Midwest's oldest African refugee communities.

Ethiopians -- once the rail-thin embodiment of the violence and hunger raging through Africa -- have for decades been quietly building their lives in Chicago , with many in the community of some 10,000 now working professionals and suburban homeowners.

With that comfort has come what some describe as a moral responsibility to reach out to other struggling immigrants.

"A lot of us, when we got here, received help from a lot of good people," said Mawi Asgedom, a Chicago -based Ethiopian motivational speaker whose 2000 memoir "Of Beetles and Angels" tells of his rise from being a child refugee in suburban Wheaton to graduating from Harvard University in 1999.

"Now, we're at the point where we're saying: `We can help other people,'" Asgedom said. "That's a tremendous testament."

A campaign to build a new $3 million Ethiopian community center, what would be the first such African institution of its size in Chicago , shows how far Ethiopians have come since they arrived, leaders say.

As the community has grown, so has its yearning to make a deeper imprint on the city, said Erku Yimer, director of the Ethiopian Community Association, which would occupy the new center. The 14-year-old organization rents offices at the Institute of Cultural Affairs, an incubator in Uptown for community groups.

"It's time we owned something," Yimer said at a recent $100-per-plate fundraiser for the center, drawing loud applause from the 250 Ethiopians there.

Besides aiding new refugees, the center would house an Ethiopian museum, senior services, a child-care facility, an after-school program and other services, Yimer said. The center would be located in the Rogers Park area, where many refugees first landed in the wake of civil war in their homeland and, during the mid-1980s, the famine that seared into America's conscience the image of starving Ethiopian children with bloated bellies. War with Eritrea during the late 1990s sparked another exodus from both countries.

Many recall how bewildering it felt to arrive in the Midwest, where barely any other Africans lived.

"There was almost no one else to relate to," Asgedom recalled of his childhood. "Now, there is a great support network in place."

Today, Africans are among the fastest growing immigrant groups in the Chicago area, more than doubling in size to 23,000 during the 1990s, according to figures from the Metro Chicago Immigration Fact Book.

In the late 1970s, just 37 Ethiopians lived in the Midwest, said Aberra Sewdie, who was among that original group of mostly university students.

Finding homes and services for the thousands who would later arrive was daunting, he said, recalling intense grief in the community when one refugee died in a car accident and nobody knew how to plan for a funeral.

"We felt overwhelmed," he said.

That sense of helplessness triggered the birth in 1984 of the Ethiopian Community Association, the first African nonprofit in the Midwest.

The group's efforts have resonated through the city's increasingly diverse African diaspora, which includes Nigerians, Ghanians, Liberians and, most recently, refugees from war-torn Burundi.

Though just about $120,000 has so far been raised for the community center, the effort has generated excitement among other African immigrants, who see it as a first step toward deeper acceptance, said Alie Kabba, director of the United African Organization, one of two Pan-African groups in the city.

"If they can build themselves up like that from nothing, the rest of us have something to strive for," said Kabba, of Sierra Leone.

Kabba said African immigrants are eager to assert their ethnic identity in Chicago , partly due to their increasing numbers but also out of frustration about volatile conditions in their homelands that make returning too dangerous. Recent arrests by immigration authorities of non-refugee Africans who overstayed visas have fanned that desire, Kabba said.

"Many of us came with the idea that we would get an education here and go back to help improve our countries," said Kabba, whose organization recently began publishing a monthly newspaper, the African Advocate, that's meant as a forum for such frustrations. "For some of us, there's nothing to go back to."

Yusuf Adem's experiences illustrate the path others are walking.

In 1978, he escaped a bloody "Red Terror" campaign waged by the Ethiopian government against suspected rebels.

Today, he and his family live in a comfortable home in Skokie. Adem, 52, commutes to a job in Chicago processing claims for the federal Social Security Administration, a position he took in 2000 after abandoning a master's degree in economics he had intended to use in Ethiopia.

Adem, who walked the Ethiopian desert to escape, said his greatest worries now include the cultural gap widening between him and his youngest daughter, Lia, 11 -- a tobogganing enthusiast who was born in the U.S.

"Once you have a family, you have a house and you have a job, you are anchored," Adem said, smiling. "There's no going back. Only forward."

Tekleab Tomlinson; refugee worked on easing global hunger
Boston Globe, The (MA) - Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Author: Stephanie M. Peters Globe Correspondent

Tekleab Kassaye Tomlinson was an Ethiopian political refugee when he arrived in the United States in 1962 with little more than his grandfather's pocket watch and a desire to eliminate the type of poverty and hunger he had escaped.

He carved out a life and a career for himself at the United Nations before he found his way in 1975 to the UN's World Food Programme, where he brought his originality and problem-solving ability to bear in a close working relationship with the program's executive director. Much of his time was spent clarifying the program's mission and its means of addressing world hunger.

"It was kind of his dream, playing an active role in alleviating the poverty he'd suffered so," said his wife, Sally Tomlinson of Orford, N.H.

By the time Mr. Tomlinson retired in 1994, he was working in Rome as the program's chief liaison to the United Nations.

Mr. Tomlinson died Aug. 21, three days before his 77th birthday, at his home in Orford. He had suffered from Lewy body disease, which the National Institutes of Health describes as the condition "when abnormal structures, called Lewy bodies, build up in areas of the brain," causing dementia.

"He was very idealistic, wishful and hopeful," his wife said. "For most of his life, until he was sick, he was quite positive and optimistic, willing to get in and try something new and do things that he'd never done before."

Born in Jijiga, Ethiopia, to an upper-middle class political family, Mr. Tomlinson had an early life marked by civil unrest. He survived the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, but his mother was killed in the early bombings. His father was a popular resistance fighter who was placed under house arrest for years because of his strong following, Mr. Tomlinson's wife said. Mr. Tomlinson also lost a sister during the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia.

He had trained as a priest in the Coptic Church, but "so much pain and harm was happening around him that he felt he had a quarrel with God that was unresolved," his wife said.

Instead, he went to work in the Ethiopian Ministry of Post, Telephone and Telegraph, the country's telecommunications service, before fleeing to the United States.

In 1965, Mr. Tomlinson joined the now-defunct Royalton College in South Royalton, Vt., as a writer in residence after his poetry was noticed by the school's founder. The following year, he met his wife, who was teaching Chinese at nearby Dartmouth College.

In April 1968, the couple were married. Mr. Tomlinson spent a year helping launch an off-campus semester at Woodstock Country School in Woodstock, Vt., before he was recruited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a foreign student adviser in 1970.

He was recruited to the United Nations' Development Programme in 1973 and remained there for two years before he took a position in the World Food Programme, a position that frequently took him to Geneva and Rome and, occasionally, to underdeveloped countries in Africa.

"Coming and going, we kind of calculated that he spent more than half of the year traveling," his wife said.

It was less a hardship than it was his passion, however, and the willingness to give freely of his time and energy exemplified who he was.

His second daughter, Hewan, of Washington, D.C., recalled how her father helped her through a difficult career switch.

"I used to call him at the UN, for a month every day, and he would coach me back to work," she said. "He was just so generous. He did that with people who weren't his own children. He was a great mentor."

Years later, when another daughter went through a difficult time, Mr. Tomlinson wrote her a poem, one of the many collected in his New Hampshire home over the years. "Take my hand, it is yours. Give me yours, that I may hold it," he wrote to her.

When Mr. Tomlinson retired, he and his wife moved into a New Hampshire farmhouse they had started remodeling years before. They kept a few horses and started a company based on Mr. Tomlinson's long-held hobby re-creating the Ethiopian flavors of his childhood.

For a few years, the couple marketed the seasonings and pastes in local shops and co-ops under the name Tektonic Palates.

Mr. Tomlinson also was known for a mischievous sense of humor, his wisdom, and an ability to make children, particularly his young granddaughters, fall in love with him, his daughter said.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Tomlinson leaves three other daughters, Elsabet Marsie-Hazen of Petaluma, Calif., Senayit of Orford, and Tsedale of San Diego; a grandson, and three granddaughters.

'Teza': Ethopia, Exile and Loss
Washington Post, The (DC) - Friday, September 18, 2009
Author: Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post Staff Writer

It's reasonable to assume that some viewers will approach "Teza" with trepidation. After all, the Amharic-language, Ethiopian -set drama by Washington-based filmmaker Haile Gerima practically cries out for a bit of pre-screening homework, leapfrogging as it does between 1974, the 1980s and 1990 during a time of complex politics and civil war under the reign of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. So a bit of anxiety among the more history-phobic is understandable. Understandable, but unnecessary.

That's because "Teza" isn't about politics at all. Sure, it's helpful to possess a modicum of background about late-20th-century Ethiopia, which successfully fought off Italian attempts at colonization only to fall under the rule -- and eventual class inequities -- of Emperor Haile Selassie from 1930 to 1974. But it's the movie's powerful personal story -- of one man's loss and reconciliation -- that carries the viewer along.

Though "Teza" opens in 1990, it's told mainly through a series of flashbacks, beginning in 1974 with the overthrow of Selassie by a Marxist junta and then following Mengistu's violent rise to power. But the film's focus is Anberber (Aaron Arefe), a soft-spoken hero who sets the narrative in motion by returning to his childhood village in 1990 as a gray-bearded doctor with a medical degree, a missing leg and unexplained nightmares.

"Teza" is the tale of how he got that way.

A stand-in of sorts for the Ethiopian-born Gerima, who has called modern-day Ethiopia a "nightmare for me," Anberber leaves his homeland in the early 1970s to study medicine in Germany. Like many young men of the time, he's a socialist and can't wait to see Selassie toppled. But more important, Anberber is an idealist. His dream is to one day return home and, with friend and fellow student Tesfaye (Abeye Tedla), help their country eradicate all disease.

Easier said than done.

By the time they get back to Ethiopia, Mengistu the conquering hero has become a brutal thug. The country is at war, with both the government and the opposition forcibly conscripting young boys as soldiers, and shooting them when they try to run away. Dissent is quashed by imprisonment or, worse, the barrel of a gun.

In that atmosphere, Anberber feels like a stranger in his own land. He returns to Germany in an abortive attempt to deliver some bad news about Tesfaye to his friend's wife and son. But even there, in a shocking confrontation with a bunch of racist gang-bangers, Anberber finds that a black man isn't wholly welcome in the West either.

He is, in other words, a man without a country.

Though fictionalized, there's a lot of geographical and historical specificity to "Teza." Gerima clearly means to tell a story about Ethiopia, as he knows it. But it's not merely about Ethiopia.

Who hasn't gone home only to find that the place where he or she grew up -- which may never have existed the way we remember it anyway -- gone? It's a well-worn theme, familiar to readers of Thomas Wolfe.

In the end, "Teza" isn't complicated at all. At the beginning of the movie, we see a group of Ethiopian youngsters playing the traditional riddle game enkokilish. "I saw it when I left," one of the players says. "When I came back, it was gone." The others then try to guess what he's talking about. Rain? Love? Life? Childhood?

The answer, it turns out, is dew (teza, in Amharic). Yet in Gerima's powerfully universal meditation on the loss of his homeland -- on the inevitability of loss in general -- it may as well have been "all of the above."

Teza (140 minutes, at the Avalon) is not rated, but contains violence, brief obscenity and a scene of near nudity. In Amharic, German and English with subtitles.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Flag_of_Ethiopia.svg/22px-Flag_of_Ethiopia.svg.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Flag_of_Cuba.svg/22px-Flag_of_Cuba.svg.png


The Untold Story of Ethiopians in Cuba


http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/menge_new_big.jpg

In 1979, under Lieutenant. Colonel Mengistu Haile-Mariam, the Ethiopian government decided to send thousands of Ethiopian children to Cuba where they were expected to be educated. Cuba, an ally of Ethiopia in the Ethio-Somali war, had offered to provide housing and education for war orphans. The Cuban government accepted 2,400 Ethiopian students ranging in age from seven to fourteen to study at the Escuelas Secundarias Basicas en el Campo (ESBEC) - Basic Rural Secondary Schools - on the small island of Isla de la Juventud. This new program was initially created to provide urban Cuban students an opportunity to get involved in agriculture life by having them attend ESBEC boarding schools. The Ethiopians and other African students were participants in this program. Upon their arrival their education involved working in the fields in the mornings and studying in the afternoon. Photographer Aida Muluneh is currently filming a documentary, The Unhealing Wound, about their lives in Cuba.

TADIAS: How did you become interested in the “Ethio-Cuban” story?

AIDA: I went to a group photo exhibit in Havana in 2003 and prior to my trip I had heard about the Ethiopian students in Cuba. After searching for them, I finally met around 30 students who had been in Cuba for over twenty years. It was an amazing experience meeting these fellow Ethiopians. I soon realized that I had to come back. So in 2004, I went back and begun interviewing them to start telling their story and also to help them get out Cuba.

TADIAS: Why haven’t they left Cuba? And why haven’t they returned to Ethiopia?

AIDA: They have had the opportunity to leave Cuba and return to Ethiopia; however they have no means of supporting themselves in a country they left twenty years ago. There is no incentive for them to go back to Ethiopia and resettle because life would be just as difficult or worst in Ethiopia. As for other countries i.e. Europe or North America, the remaining student just recently qualified for their UN refugee number. This basically means that they can get in line for a chance to immigrate to those countries.

TADIAS: This was a coordinated effort between the Cuban and Ethiopian governments. What efforts did Cuba make to help Ethiopian immigrants adjust to Cuba?

AIDA: The Cuban government has been extremely supportive within their means from day one. Even prior to the students arriving, Cuba played an instrumental role in helping Ethiopia during the Ethio-Somlia war. Therefore, upon the student’s arrival, the children were given the basic necessities in order to become acquainted with life in Cuba. One thing that needs to be put into perspective is that as a young child, it is difficult to adjust to any place that is foreign, especially when one is so far away from home. The Ethiopians expressed to me that as children they had missed their country more then anything and I believe this yearning to return is what made it extremely difficult for many. The Cubans have gone above and beyond in providing support to the Ethiopians to this day.

TADIAS: Although The Unhealing Wound focuses on those Ethio-Cubans still in Cuba, I understand there have been a number who have managed to leave Cuba and live elsewhere. When did they leave and where do they live now?

AIDA: In addition to providing primary education, the Cubans have also educated University students during this time period. For many of the Ethiopian students who attended universities in Cuba they have managed to return back to Ethiopia and find viable means of supporting themselves. In fact during the Derg period, many of the students that completed their education were given housing and job opportunities upon their return to Ethiopia. However, after the fall of the Derg government, many of the students felt that returning back to Ethiopia would lead to further economic hardship.

In 1991, the Soviet Block fell and many of the students begun leaving to countries such as Spain, Greece, Holland, U.S., etc. I am not exactly sure how many returned to Ethiopia and how many went to other destinations. My assumption is that the greatest number of Ethio-Cubans is in Spain.

TADIAS: Is there a network of Ethio-Cubans abroad that help others still in Cuba to immigrate to other countries?

AIDA: As far as I know, there is no organized effort by Ethio-Cubans that continuously assists the Ethiopians to leave Cuba and resettle to a third country. Although it is a tightly knit community in Cuba, once abroad, it’s more so through the efforts of individuals helping new comers than an established network.

TADIAS: What kind of relationship do Ethio-Cubans have with Cuba? Do they identify in any way as Cuban?

AIDA: From my observation of the Ethio-Cubans, there is a special relationship between the Cubans and these Ethiopians. It is clear that they still identify themselves as Ethiopians but they have fully taken on Cuban mannerisms and cultural habits in the ways they interact with others and express themselves.

TADIAS: You mentioned that many Ethio-Cubans faced challenges in adjusting to their new environment when they moved to Cuba. What were some of those challenges?

AIDA: The challenges were similar as any immigrant faces when they arrive to a new country, but imagine that through the eyes of a ten year old. The first problem that they had was the climate. The temperature was a big issue. They were moving from the highlands of Ethiopia to a tropical island. The second was the food. The food in Cuba consisted of pork, rice and beans in contrast to eating Injera their whole life.

Then, of course, language and homesickness were major issues.

TADIAS: You left Ethiopia as a child as well. Is there a relationship between your interest in the Ethiopian students in Cuba and your own experience?

AIDA: There was definitely a relationship to my life. I went to boarding school at a young age in Cyprus away from my family. One of the things that attracted me to the whole story and enabled me to empathize with them was the struggle I faced as a child who felt alone in a foreign land.

TADIAS: Does the Ethio-Cuban story fit into the themes that you address in your photography work?

AIDA: My beginning as an artist is in photojournalism and this story at first was supposed to be a series of photographs about these Ethiopians. However, I decided that their story was too compelling to be told solely in still photography.

The “Unhealing Wound” is an exploration of themes that captivate me as a photographer and a filmmaker. It all comes down to capturing life and in this case it is capturing our past history and also documenting the history as it is happening. I hope that thirty years from now, anyone can look back at this film and have a better understanding of our struggles, triumphs and sacrifices as Ethiopians in the landscape of the immigrant life.

TADIAS: What is the current status of the film?

AIDA: We are hoping to release the film in the spring of 2008. I am currently in the process of collecting more interviews and archival materials to complete the story. Most recently “The Unhealing Wound” received fiscal sponsorship from IFP, an organization that is in the forefront of providing support for independent filmmakers to cultivate their artistic endeavors.

Find out more about The Unhealing Wound at http://www.pastforwardfilms.com


Sources -

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=e9ea1c47036639ceb747f00f9c87c0ad

http://wardheer.startlogic.com/News_08/September/01_Ethiopians_in_Cuba.html

http://tadias.wordpress.com/2007/01/31/the-untold-story-of-ethiopians-in-cuba-interview-with-filmmaker-photographer-aida-muluneh/

http://www.tadias.com/2007/08/30/219/

http://www.tadias.com/2008/08/10/the-untold-story-of-ethiopians-in-cuba/

There were tons of Ethiopians being sent to cuba by Mengistu during his regime. My own uncle was sent to cuba to be educated as a deminer. He returned back to Ethiopia to serve the Ethiopian defence forces and he served the EDF until the day he died. RIP Mesfin

I am sure the thought of some day retiring or just moving to Ethiopia has crossed our mind at one time or the other. Folks, how much monthly income do you believe is enough to live comfortably in Ethiopia. I am talking in US currency and assuming one settles in a major city. What do you think are the pros and cons of moving to Ethiopia after living in a western country for over 20 years?

I am sure the thought of some day retiring or just moving to Ethiopia has crossed our mind at one time or the other. Folks, how much monthly income do you believe is enough to live comfortably in Ethiopia. I am talking in US currency and assuming one settles in a major city. What do you think are the pros and cons of moving to Ethiopia after living in a western country for over 20 years?

Well, this is a very personal disicion that varies tremoundesly from one person to the next. We had this same talk in a SHISHA place a few days ago and my understanding is it can vary from less than 200,000 birr /year to 500,000 birr per year. The thing is everyone has a unique family situation that can vary from a single guy/gal to a family of 6 with kids of varying age groups.

My personal income requirement goes something like this: My own clinic with a staff of 8 people, take home profit of about 250,000 birr/year ( ~ $18,000 USD). This is a very practical income to make in Addis Ababa in the future when I decide to move back, but not good enough to repay my student loans at the moment.

I hope that helps with your 'research', and if you planning to move back I would just say have a solid business plan before leaving them dollars :booze:

This is just an estimate:
prior. no.1 some kind of job , invstement witch can generate a decent income.
house/apt:50-100000
car: 5-15000
bank deposit 10000
children school fee sandford school: 2500 pr. child pr. anu.
food ,cloth and entertaiment: 500 pr. month
health and house insur:100 pr. month
all fig. in dollar

pros : it is zour countrz,zour language, zour people.

This is just an estimate:
prior. no.1 some kind of job , invstement witch can generate a decent income.
house/apt:

Vildana,
thank you for your input. I can take an early retirement which will pay me $1997.00 US per month. My wife if she quits her employment, will not earn any income from retirement for at least 15 years. In 3 years, I can start getting another $420.00 a month from another retirement plan. This will give us a grand total of $2417.00 US per month. I am looking at a hectic life here in the USA for another 15 years or take the early retirement and move to Addis. Does anyone see anything wrong with my outlook? Is there anything I could be overlooking in my calculation?

Vildana,
thank you for your input. I can take an early retirement which will pay me $1997.00 US per month. My wife if she quits her employment, will not earn any income from retirement for at least 15 years. In 3 years, I can start getting another $420.00 a month from another retirement plan. This will give us a grand total of $2417.00 US per month. I am looking at a hectic life here in the USA for another 15 years or take the early retirement and move to Addis. Does anyone see anything wrong with my outlook? Is there anything I could be overlooking in my calculation?

Plan it this way:
Make sure you have something in the USA. Example: buy a share in a well established business, or a small house that you can rent out while you are away - you know what I mean, something to fall back if something is not working out for you in Ethiopia. If you have a strong backup & a green card in your pocket, you can go home even without enough money & start a new life from scratch - work as a listro! That would be fun.:) If you are trying to take your luxury life with you, for sure, you need to think seriously and calculate your figures carefully or go there and try it out first before.

Anyway, who the hell is going to live in a nursing house like the white do? On my 70 years birthday, I SHALL definitely start a new life in my own country - declaring that life starts at 70!!:)

I am in the same situation. I am 45 years old, single. I could get about $2000.00/M now and then add about $500.00 to that in about 20 years. So with $2500.00/M I should be able to live off that into my retirement years in Ethiopia. My problem is I did not buy a house or leased a land in Addis. I think the boat has passed me for Addis Ababa. My thinking is to see if I can build a house either in Bahir Dar or Awassa. I hear that the Oromia region make it hard for non-Oromos.

I could start business once I make my mind to move. Some type of Computer service business, English teaching, Children story books and movies or TV programs, Garden architecture, movie stories, etc...

Any thoughts.

I could start business once I make my mind to move. Some type of Computer service business, English teaching, Children story books and movies or TV programs, Garden architecture, movie stories, etc...

Any thoughts.

You are right, although I could probably live semi-comfortably for $2400.00 US per month until social security kicks in which could be about $1200.00 US per month( I overlooked that in my earlier calculation) I still will have to find something to do in Ethiopia. I do not want to be a living dead by just waking up , eating and going to sleep daily. I would love to find something to do that would help change the lives of the needy in Ethiopia.

Another thing that worries me a bit is the standard of medical treatment in Ethiopia. Maybe someone with knowledge this subject can shed some light into the discussion.

Lamrof, on my last visit to Ethiopia, I noticed that there were a few Computer schools popping out in every neighbourhood so, I am not sure about the competition you will face. As to teaching English, don't expect much income out of it. Businesses associated with construction materials and construction equipment are the ones that pay good these days in Ethiopia.

Woah lamrof... you're a lot older than I thought you were. Anyways, I think I'd like to go into real estate development... assuming that my life abroad was successful, maybe do some retail and attract some foreign brands.

Woah lamrof... you're a lot older than I thought you were. Anyways, I think I'd like to go into real estate development... assuming that my life abroad was successful, maybe do some retail and attract some foreign brands.

ሲሚፋን, የአባል መግለጫዬ ላይ ተመልከት። እድሜ ጠገብ መሆኔን እኮ ገልጫለሁ። በዚህ ላይ ጠጉሬ ሙልጭ ያለ, ራሴ ደግሞ እንደ ቅል ልሙጥ ሆኖ እንደ ማሾ ወገግ ያለ ነው። ቀላ ብዬ ወዛም ብጤ ነኝ። ደጉ ነገር እግዜር ሳይደግስ አይጣላምና ወዘናዬን እንስታን ይወዱታል። ግብረገብ ያለኝ እንስታንን አክባሪና አፍቃሪ ነኝ። ከኔ ቀርባ በኔ ነገር ያልተነካች አታገኝም።

You are right, although I could probably live semi-comfortably for $2400.00 US per month until social security kicks in which could be about $1200.00 US per month( I overlooked that in my earlier calculation) I still will have to find something to do in Ethiopia. I do not want to be a living dead by just waking up , eating and going to sleep daily. I would love to find something to do that would help change the lives of the needy in Ethiopia.

Another thing that worries me a bit is the standard of medical treatment in Ethiopia. Maybe someone with knowledge this subject can shed some light into the discussion.

Lamrof, on my last visit to Ethiopia, I noticed that there were a few Computer schools popping out in every neighbourhood so, I am not sure about the competition you will face. As to teaching English, don't expect much income out of it. Businesses associated with construction materials and construction equipment are the ones that pay good these days in Ethiopia.

the standard of medical treatment is bad.most clinics saz 50-60% can manage uncomplicated medical emergencies like uncomplicated infections ,simple heart emergencies like cardial infraction which doesnt need stenting or bzpass ,simple cerebral emergencies ,nefrological treatments and simple pszchiatric disorders and simple and some few complicated surgical procedures .diagnosis procedures is outdated there are verz few ct scanners,
around one MR scanner, few ultra scanners, one digital x-raz. chemical and blood analzsis takes time ,Verz big shortage of doctors ,specialists etc...

the standard of medical treatment is bad.most clinics saz 50-60% can manage uncomplicated medical emergencies like uncomplicated infections ,simple heart emergencies like cardial infraction which doesnt need stenting or bzpass ,simple cerebral emergencies ,nefrological treatments and simple pszchiatric disorders and simple and some few complicated surgical procedures .diagnosis procedures is outdated there are verz few ct scanners,
around one MR scanner, few ultra scanners, one digital x-raz. chemical and blood analzsis takes time ,Verz big shortage of doctors ,specialists etc...

Why do you think that everyone goes to Saudi Arabia and the like? Perhaps one of you ought to open a hospital...

ሲሚፋን, የአባል መግለጫዬ ላይ ተመልከት። እድሜ ጠገብ መሆኔን እኮ ገልጫለሁ። በዚህ ላይ ጠጉሬ ሙልጭ ያለ, ራሴ ደግሞ እንደ ቅል ልሙጥ ሆኖ እንደ ማሾ ወገግ ያለ ነው። ቀላ ብዬ ወዛም ብጤ ነኝ። ደጉ ነገር እግዜር ሳይደግስ አይጣላምና ወዘናዬን እንስታን ይወዱታል። ግብረገብ ያለኝ እንስታንን አክባሪና አፍቃሪ ነኝ። ከኔ ቀርባ በኔ ነገር ያልተነካች አታገኝም።
Wha?

I'd be over there now living and investing in so many things if they only had adequate broadband internet. Living there would incur too much opportunity cost in separating me from my business, amounting in the thousands. *sigh* ...I'm crossing my fingers till the day true broadband gets introduced. I'd love to do a lot of things there.

I'd be over there now living and investing in so many things if they only had adequate broadband internet. Living there would incur too much opportunity cost in separating me from my business, amounting in the thousands. *sigh* ...I'm crossing my fingers till the day true broadband gets introduced. I'd love to do a lot of things there.

አራት እንቅፋት ይታየኛል ለኔ አሁን ሥራዬን ትቼ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ ጠቅልዬ ለመሄድ

1. የጤና ጥበቃና የህክምና ጉዳይ
2. የአለም መረብ እና የኤ-መልእክት ግልጋሎት ኋላ ቀርነት
3. የመንግሥት ህጋዊነትና የተአማኒነት ጥያቄ
4. ሙስና

I am in the same situation. I am 45 years old, single. I could get about $2000.00/M now and then add about $500.00 to that in about 20 years. So with $2500.00/M I should be able to live off that into my retirement years in Ethiopia. My problem is I did not buy a house or leased a land in Addis. I think the boat has passed me for Addis Ababa. My thinking is to see if I can build a house either in Bahir Dar or Awassa. I hear that the Oromia region make it hard for non-Oromos.

I could start business once I make my mind to move. Some type of Computer service business, English teaching, Children story books and movies or TV programs, Garden architecture, movie stories, etc...

Any thoughts.

45 years old and u acting like ur 16 ...lol

45 years old and u acting like ur 16 ...lol

You are a troll from somewhere else. Don't think people tolerate that here in the Ethiopian forum.

45 years old and u acting like ur 16 ...lol

You joined the forum in May of 2010 and have over 1300 posts? Wow!!

I am guessing lamrof will find this article very interesting. This is a really long article,( so check out the link) that details the life of Ethiopians who left their country for a better life in west passing through Kenya.

ESCAPE to Kenya:

http://addisfortune.com/feature-Escape%20to%20Kenya.htm

ጊዜ ሳገኝ አነበብኩት። ይመችህ!

እኔ በመኪና ነው ሞያሌ ድርስ የሄድኩት። የቦርና ተወላጅ የሆነ ጉቦኛ ሰውዬ የይለፍ ወረቀት ከአዋሳ አውጥቶልኝ እስክ ሞያሌ ድረስ በመኪና ገባሁ። ከዚያ በኋላ ያለው ታሪክ ግን ተከድኖ ይብሰል ለጊዜው።

የኢትዮጵያ አይሮፕላን የጎማ መያዣ ቦታ ሥር ተደብቆ የመጣ ልጅ አቃለሁ። ናይሮቢ ሲደርስ፣ የውሸት መርዝ ይዞ ከተጠጋችሁኝ እጠጣዋልሁ እያለ አስፈራርቶ ከማረፊያ ጣቢይ ሮጦ ሊወጣ ሲል ይያዛል። አመት አስረው ለቀቁት። ቅጽል ስሙ "ሳሬ" ተብሎ ነበር። ሳሬ ማለት ናይሮቢ ውስጥ የታክሲ ሹፌር ወይ ወያላ ከሆንክ ማንኛውም ታክሲ አያስከፍልህም። ትገባና "ሳሬ" ትላለህ፣ በነጻ ትሄዳህ ማለት ነው። ልጁም ቦሌ ይሰራ ስለነበር በሳሬ ነው የመጣው ብለው ሰሙን ሰየሙለት።

ከአሰብ በመርከብ ተደብቀው የነበሩ 7 የሚሆኑ ልጆች መርከቡ ጉዞ ከጀመረ በኋላ ብቅ ያላሉ። የመርከቡ አለቃ ጣልያን ስለነበር አገሩ ድረስ ይወስዳቸዋል፣ የመርከቡን ድፍድፍ ቆሻሻ እያሳጠበ። የደርሱ ለት ሌሊት መርከቡ ውስጥ ከነበሩበት ቁልፍ ክፍል መስኮቱን ይሰብሩና ከወደቡ ሾልከው ሊወጡ ሲል ዘበኛው ይነቃና በመሳሪያ አስፈራርቶ ያቆማቸዋል። አለቃው እንደገና አንጠልጥሎ ያመጣና ሞንባሳ- ኬንያ ያወርዳቸዋል። ለማንኛውም ከዛ አንሰተው እኛ የነበርንበት የስደተኞች ማእከል ያመጧቸዋል። ከአንደኛው ጋር እስካሁን ጓደኛሞች ነን። ዲ.ሲ ነው ያለው።

እንደዚሁ በመርከብ ተደብቆ የተገኘ ልጅ፣ ህንዳዊው የመርከብ አለቃ ቀይ ባህር ውስጥ ይጥለዋል፣ 2 ኪሎ ሜትር ዋኝቶ ወደብ ሲደርስ፣ ያለበሱት መንሳፈፊያ ጃኬት ቢጠቅመውም፣ ብዙ የጨው ውሃ ስለጠጣና ስለደከመው ከዳር ሲደርስ ህይወቱን ይስታል። አሳ አጥማጆች አግኘትው ባለሥልጣን ይጠራሉ። ሲነቃ የየመን አገር ሆስፒታል ውስጥ እንዳለ ይረዳና፣ እዚህ ከምኖርስ ቢቀር ይሻላል ይልና ከየት ነህ ሲሉት አላስታውስም ይላል። እግዜር ሲረዳው የስለሞን ደሴት (አውስትራሊያ አጠገብ ያለው) አምባሳደር ፎቶውን በጋዜጣ ያይና፣ ይህ ልጅ ከኔ አገር ይመስለኛል የመጣው ይልና በአይሮፕላን አስጭኖ እዛ ይልከዋል። በጎ አድራጎት ድርጅቶች እኪያገግም ካኖሩት በኋላ ሲድንና አገሩ ሲሰለቸው ውነቱን ይናገራል። ኢትዮጵያዊ ነኝ ስለዚህ እኔ ወደ አሜሪካ እህቶቼ ጋር መሄድ ስለምፈልግ ያ እንዲሰምር አግዙኝ ይላል። በህጉ መሰረት በ ዩ.ኤን ሥር የሰፈራ አገር ለማግኘት ከትውልድ አገርህ ተዋሳኝ አግራት ውስጥ ፈልሰህ መገኘት ስላለብህ፣ በአይሮፕላን አሳፈረው ናይሮቢ ያመጡታል። ከኔ ጋር መዕከል ውስጥ ነበርን። አሁን ዲ.ሲ ነው ያለው እሱም።

ሜኖ ናይት የሚባል የጴንጤዎች በተስኪያን ነበር አበሾች የሚበዙበት ቁርንቁስ ሰፈር ውስጥ። ምግባቸው አሪፍ ስለነበር እኛን ሲጠሩን አንቀርም። መዝሙር ሰምተን፣ ምግብ በልተን እንሄድ ነበር። መዝሙራቸው በተለይ መንፈስ የሚያደስ ስለነበር በጣም ነበር የምንወደው። አንድ በጣም የተከበረ አበሻ አስታውሳለሁ። በጊዜው አንድ 30-35 አመት ይሆነዋል። ትዝ ይለኛል ቁመቱ ረዘም ያለና ጠይም፣ የደስ ደስ ያለው፣ ከሰባኪዎች ጴንጤዎች ዋናው ነበርና ስውም ያከብረው ነበር።
.............እኔ እኖርበት የነበረ የሃብታም ሰፈር ማታ ማታ የሰፈሩን ገረዶች ማባረር ለምደን ነበር። አንድ ቀን ማታ በጭለማ ገርዱስ ስፈልግ ከፊት ለፊቴ ወንድና ሴት በጨለማው ሲሄዱ ይታየኛል። እኔ መኖሬን ልብ አላሉም። በጣም ተጠጋግተው ይራመዳሉ፣ አንዳንዴ ጎንበስ እያለ ይስማታል። ያው እንደምናውቀው ወደ ጢሻ ነገር ውስጥ ይዟት ይገባል። ነገሩ እንደዛ ነው ወሲብ የምታደርገው፣ ጣጣ የላቸውም። ልጅቷ ማን እንደሆነች ለማየት አለፍ ብዬ የአውቶብስ ማቆምያ ላይ ቆሜ ስጠብቅ ከ45 ደቂቃ ብኋላ ይመጣሉ። ሳየው ልጁ ያ አበሻው ጴንጤ ልጅ ነው። ልጅቷ እኛ ግቢ ውስጥ የምትኖር ደስ የምትል ሞንዳላ ገርዱስ ነች። ቶሎ እንዳያየኝ ፊቴን አዙሬ ሄድኩ። አሣ ጎግጓሪ ዘንዶ ያወጣል እንዲሉ የልጁ ነገር ሲገርመኝ ቆየ ሆኖም ግን ይህንን ጉዳይ ለማንም አልተናገርኩም፣ ልቅርብ ጓደኞቼ እንኳን።

ኬንያ ብዙ አበሾችን አስጠግታ የያዘች አገር ናት። እኔ እንዳውም ብችል የሽምግልና ዘመኔን ናይሮቢ- ከረን የሚባል ቦታ ባሳልፍ ደስ ይለኛል።

I am guessing lamrof will find this article very interesting. This is a really long article,( so check out the link) that details the life of Ethiopians who left their country for a better life in west passing through Kenya.

ESCAPE to Kenya:

http://addisfortune.com/feature-Escape%20to%20Kenya.htm
A very interesting article. Some people have really fascinating stories. Hijacking a Saudi plane, and getting off by paying a little bribe? Times before 9/11 were truly different. :D

RIYADH — Five Ethiopians died in a crowded Saudi centre for deporting illegal immigrants, the Arab News reported Monday.

The five died in the deportation centre in the southern Red Sea port of Jizan of "asphyxiation due to overcrowding," according to a local police official, the newspaper said.

Ethiopia's consul in Jeddah Tekleab Kebede said he could not confirm the deaths, which occurred sometime this month, according to the report.

"We are following the case," he told AFP by telephone.

Saudi officials could not be reached on the report, but it came during an intensified roundup of illegal immigrants and visa over-stayers, especially from east African countries, in Jeddah.

Thousands have been arrested and sent to deportation centres in the past three months, according to media reports.

On July 30, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees called on Riyadh to stop deporting Somali refugees and asylum-seekers to Mogadishu, which is enveloped in an intensifying civil war.

The UNHCR, which does not have access to the Saudi deportation camps, said Saudi Arabia had sent back nearly 2,000 Somalis during June and July, most of them women.

"UNHCR is deeply troubled by the reports of continuing deportations of Somali refugees and asylum seekers from Saudi Arabia to the conflict-stricken Somali capital," said agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.

"UNHCR is urging the Saudi authorities to refrain from future deportations on humanitarian grounds," she added.

I really don't like the Saudis and the way they handle this kind of situation. Really these guys disgust me sometimes.

Five Ethiopians died in a crowded Saudi Arabia prison, which they call it ‘centre for deporting illegal immigrants’, the Arab News reported this week.
Ethiopian Women Migrants Destinations by Country in 2009
The five died in the deportation centre in the southern Red Sea port of Jizan of “asphyxiation due to overcrowding,” the newspaper stated quoting a local police official.
“The disease-breeding situation in the center persists,” the Supervisor General of the National Society for Human Rights in Jazan, Ahmad Al-Bahkali, told Arab News.
“I was totally shocked by the hundreds of people there with no sanitation facilities, and I was equally shocked by the callousness on the part of the employees there,” wrote Khaled Almaeena, Arab News Editor-in Chief, describing the worst situation of Saudi deportation center when he visited to check on his driver who was held at the deportation center at the Old Jeddah airport.


“It was total anarchy. How could this happen in a country that proclaims to be following the Qur’an and the Sunnah?,” he questions.
“I believe it is a crime. The explanation of acting Jazan police spokesman Abdul Rahman Al-Zahrani that they died of asphyxiation due to overcrowding should give us cause for even more concern.”
“I am in agony that in this holy month of Ramadan five people whose only crime was that they were illegal migrants would meet such a horrible fate. What is even more agonizing is that these are being justified as “death by natural causes” due to overcrowding, Khaled wrote.
Reports show that every month thousands of Ethiopians legally and illegally migrate to Saudi Arabia and Middle East Countries. It has now become common for Ethiopian families to receive dead bodies of their families and relatives at Bole International Airport from these countries.

A research done by Bina Fernandez of the University of Leeds in September 2009, entitled, “Ethiopian domestic workers in the Middle-East’ shows that from 2004 – 2006 a total of 70,781 Ethiopians migrated to Middle East.
Out of this 68,090 were females. They pay brokers between 100 to 750 USD dollars, according to the study, while they are only supposed to pay for their passports and medical check up. The return ticket, insurance and visa to be covered by the employer.

In 1989, there was a doubling of the figures of migrants to the ME, from 1,742 to over 3,000 in 1990 and 1991; with a slightly higher percentage of male migrants. This tapered off in the rest of the nineties, with roughly stable and equal numbers of men and women.

The total rose again dramatically in 2003, with 5,510 migrants leaving the country; this time, 72% of them were women, a percentage that has today increased to over 96% of official or documented

It's disgusting to say the least.

The trash FOX is now upon us.........:lol:

Stop importing cab drivers from Ethiopia and Nigeria.....
Fi19yLcGk8c&feature=player_embedded

FYI

Clinton Kicks the Crap out of Fox News - Thanks Bill.

3L2513JFJsY&feature=related

^^ This clip gives you some satisfaction, If you are pissed off with FOX.

Hate FOX !

Racists and fascists, only on Fox.

:lol:

I guess news must be slow for them to be talking about Ethiopian taxi cab drivers.

What surprises me more is who in their right mind watches FOX news to begin with? :nuts:

EDIT: wait, did one of the 'panelists' say the Homeland security should be privatized? WOW

EDIT: wait, did one of the 'panelists' say the Homeland security should be privatized? WOW
What chocked me the most is that none of the others reacted to this crazy idea.

EDIT: wait, did one of the 'panelists' say the Homeland security should be privatized? WOW

:lol:
The lady is actually suggesting the privatization of Homeland Security.

How come Jon Stewart & Colbert missed that line?:lol:

I don't watch "Fuck's news".

I was blown away when I read this on Huffington post. these right wing nuts are ridiculous at times.

Is there a free or cheap way to call home. Does it always have to be with the card that promises 50 minutes but rips you off and gives you 10. Is there a cheap/free way to make calls online? Has anyone tried the Iphone or Android video calling for ethiopia? As raggedy as the wifi and telephone networks are i dont expect a yes.

Anyone have an accurate count of the Ethio diaspora. USA, Europe, middle east + other areas. All the ones for the USA from ethiopians always over count and the government always undercount. I think the USA is somewhere between 3-400,000 and europe around 200,000 and middle east around 100,000 or so.

Have you tried this?

http://www.diretube.com/articles/read-international-calling-to-ethiopia-gets-cheaper-and-easier_851.html

http://www.rebtel.com/en/landing/Welcome/Version-4/?tocountry=ET&utm_source=diretube&utm_medium=directdeal&utm_campaign=generic

I don't know if it's cheaper for real. I just saw the article today.

Is there a free or cheap way to call home. Does it always have to be with the card that promises 50 minutes but rips you off and gives you 10. Is there a cheap/free way to make calls online? Has anyone tried the Iphone or Android video calling for ethiopia? As raggedy as the wifi and telephone networks are i dont expect a yes.

have you tried skype?

JERUSALEM — The Israeli cabinet on Sunday voted to bring to the country some 8,000 Ethiopians who claim Jewish descent, saying they are living in conditions of disease and hunger.

"There are about 8,000 women, men and children living in the most severe humanitarian conditions," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet session.

"We have a moral commitment as Jews, as the People of Israel, to find a solution."

Israel began bringing Ethiopia's Jewish community to Israel in 1984 under the Law of Return, which guarantees citizenship to all Jews. That operation was largely completed by 1991.

Sunday's decision refers to another group, known as the Falash Mura, who are not considered to be Jewish and therefore are not eligible under the law.

They are the descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity, many of them under duress, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of them have relatives among the Ethiopian Jewish community living in Israel.

While awaiting permission to resettle in Israel many of them moved into a squalid compound in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar, where Jewish groups provide them with some social services.

Critics fear that tens of thousands of Ethiopians could claim connection to this group, many of them just seeking better financial conditions.

But Netanyahu said he hoped Sunday's decision would provide a humanitarian solution and end the claims.

Netanyahu said the proposal under consideration would bring 600 Falash Mura to Israel during the initial months of its implementation, followed by around 200 each month over the following three years.

Once all the camp's 8,000 residents have been brought to Israel it would be shut and immigration ended, hopefully preventing more camps from springing up.

"The government of Israel seeks to resolve this problem because there is indeed a complex humanitarian crisis there and so as to avoid the creation of additional refugee camps in Ethiopia," Netanyahu said.

Officials said American Jewish groups working in the Gondar compound had agreed to end their work if these 8,000 would be brought to Israel and the groups would be replaced with an Israeli quasi-governmental agency that would deal with immigration requests on an individual basis.

Israel organised its first airlift -- known as Operation Moses -- of 15,000 Ethiopians in 1984. Tens of thousands more were flown in during Operation Solomon in 1991. Some 100,000 Ethiopian Jews now live in Israel.

Previous attempts to bring in limited numbers of Falash Mura and end the claims of the community have failed after the camps filled up again with new applicants.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hJf9Rk6OjKxlWUEvJ7Ik3Q7xHcFA?docId=CNG.6fd6a816fa2b4286b8457e1c9184f31c.371

I wonder how big their population is in Ethiopia today..

I wonder how big their population is in Ethiopia today..

quite frankly I think most of them have already left for Israel, so I don't think there is much of them left anymore.

It's a shame.

It's a shame.

+1. These people are part of Ethiopia. Having Jews there is contributing to the rich cultural diversity of the country. Ethiopia should do something to "keep" the Falashas. If not Jews are gonna be in history books like in Djibouti where there is almost no Jews left :ohno:

+1. These people are part of Ethiopia. Having Jews there is contributing to the rich cultural diversity of the country. Ethiopia should do something to "keep" the Falashas. If not Jews are gonna be in history books like in Djibouti where there is almost no Jews left :ohno:

Exactly.

+1. These people are part of Ethiopia. Having Jews there is contributing to the rich cultural diversity of the country. Ethiopia should do something to "keep" the Falashas. If not Jews are gonna be in history books like in Djibouti where there is almost no Jews left :ohno:

Well, Ethiopia cannot do anything to keep them if they want to go. The reality is, if we were a rich country, they would have stayed put.

Well, Ethiopia cannot do anything to keep them if they want to go. The reality is, if we were a rich country, they would have stayed put.

which is still a possibility... in the event that the Gondar region begins to show signs of prosperity, the same folks will want to come back home...life at your own place , even with limited opportunities, is much better than one under various forms of discrmination....though it might be too late for the next generation of these emigrants; since they would have lost that vital link to their motherland...

this is really an embarrassment to Ethiopia. it's one thing when people voluntarily migrate to another country but it's another thing when a government of another country feels the need to transport people because of "horrible living conditions". this is one of the main reasons why Israeli citizens feel comfortable and openly discriminate against these people.

quite frankly I think most of them have already left for Israel, so I don't think there is much of them left anymore.

With 8,000 leaving, I think it's safe to say that the Ethiopian Jewish population will cease to exist in Ethiopia. Discounting these 8,000 how many would be left?

They are so few that the central statistical agency puts them in the "others" category, so it's hard to say. I would guess at maybe a thousand, counting the urbanized Jewish population scattered around the cities.

+1. These people are part of Ethiopia. Having Jews there is contributing to the rich cultural diversity of the country. Ethiopia should do something to "keep" the Falashas. If not Jews are gonna be in history books like in Djibouti where there is almost no Jews left :ohno:

What?

Ethiopia has too many problems to fix. It just doesn't make sense to sit down and worry about some citizens who are willing to make a journey to a developed country. Better to wish them a goodluck. After all, no one is pushing these people out of the country - it's their choice, historical wish & above all their God given right to reclaim their Biblical land.

Absurd to oppose "Freedom of Movement" just for the sake of maintaining cultural diversity.

What?

Ethiopia has too many problems to fix. It just doesn't make sense to sit down and worry about some citizens who are willing to make a journey to a developed country. Better to wish them a goodluck. After all, no one is pushing these people out of the country - it's their choice, historical wish & above all their God given right to reclaim their Biblical land.

Absurd to oppose "Freedom of Movement" just for the sake of maintaining cultural diversity.

For once, I agree with you old chap.

What?

Ethiopia has too many problems to fix. It just doesn't make sense to sit down and worry about some citizens who are willing to make a journey to a developed country. Better to wish them a goodluck. After all, no one is pushing these people out of the country - it's their choice, historical wish & above all their God given right to reclaim their Biblical land.

Absurd to oppose "Freedom of Movement" just for the sake of maintaining cultural diversity.

For once, I agree with you old chap.

:uh::uh:

^^You have to understand they were living under the most deplorable conditions. Sure, they face racism and some discrimination in Israel, but it's nothing compared to the wretched conditions they'd become accustomed to in Ethiopia.

So let them go. Let them find greener pastures. We all certainly did. Perhaps one day they'll come back to visit....er wait--they have no home to come back to. They lived in refugee camps. ...Well gee...can ya blaame them.

I think it's very sad that an indigenous Ethiopian group (as the Falashas are) was taken out of its native country, resettled somewhere else, and its identity erased. These people had a very long history in Ethiopia, they had their own unique culture, their own form of religion (more akin to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church than to Judaism), which by the way is now gone since all Felashas have been converted to Judaism, and now all that has just disappeared. This is very sad. It's true that they lived in poverty in Ethiopia, but I don't think it was worse than their Amhara or Tigre neighbours. Great loss!

They will be back. :)

Their are many of them here in the LA area as well. LA has a lot of Gonderes!
They still identify with Ethiopia just like the other Diaspora. Our people are not leaving Ethiopia because they hate Ethiopia, but because of opportunities overseas.

Even most of us who came here during the civil war have Ethiopia in our hearts. The Israelis will have a connection with ethiopia for generations to come and will come back to their motherland for vacation and retirement.

gJMBDRS3t-0

The kitfo looks great! I'll def check out this place next time I'm in the area.

I think it's very sad that an indigenous Ethiopian group (as the Falashas are) was taken out of its native country, resettled somewhere else, and its identity erased.

You are challenging their dream - a dream to be part of their big family in the stolen land of Palestine. Please, we don't need to be modest here. No body pushed out these people from their land except poverty and their own wish....let's say simply Good Luck to Them!

... It's true that they lived in poverty in Ethiopia, but I don't think it was worse than their Amhara or Tigre neighbours..

The dirt poor Amhara / Tigray used to call them Buda/or evil eye - just like me the black man calling my Gambela brother "Baria" - that's called absurd stupidity!

Great loss!

NO! It's not a loss, rather, it is a gain - a spectacular GAIN! They are potential future investors of Ethiopia - we know what a jew investor mean (Guragay brothers watch out:lol:). They will be back!! Remember, one advantage of Mengistu Hailemariam was kicking, spreading & sending out so many Ethiopians all over the World - to Europe, America, etc.....now look who is coming back home and investing in Ethiopia?....we need to look facts differently, positively & in a very twisted way.

NO! It's not a loss, rather, it is a gain - a spectacular GAIN! They are potential future investors of Ethiopia - we know what a jew investor mean (Guragay brothers watch out:lol:). They will be back!! Remember, one advantage of Mengistu Hailemariam was kicking, spreading & sending out so many Ethiopians all over the World - to Europe, America, etc.....now look who is coming back home and investing in Ethiopia?....we need to look facts differently, positively & in a very twisted way.
Their might (a BIG might) be financial gains for Ethiopia in the long term, but in terms of cultural diversity Ethiopia is a big looser. After all what is this thing that we call Ethiopia? It's not just the soil, the air and the water. The main components are its people. The felashas have been part of Ethiopia's story for millenia, and now they're all gone. And soon enough they'll disappear in the melting pot that is Israeli society.

The kitfo looks great! I'll def check out this place next time I'm in the area.

The tibs look delicious. Wonder how that host lady stays so thin (she's quite pretty, if I say so); on a related note I think dessert with Ethio food is a little bit too much....

Dama has excellent food. I loved going there, and yes, the best kitfo ever.

Ethiopian Diaspora Complain About Good Governance


http://www.newbusinessethiopia.com/plugins/content/fboxbot/thumbs/diaspora-1_320x175_43a67d471998469d59f7d56c8828cc2d.jpg

The Ethiopian diaspora who are invited to a consultative meeting at the Sheraton Addis here in Addis Ababa, bombarded government officials with complains about lack of justice, good governance and democracy in the country.

The main objective of the meeting, which is organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today (January 21, 2011), was to get feedback on government’s five-years ambitious development plan and on the pipeline diaspora policy.

Some of the participants stated that even though they are ready to actively take part in the realization of government’s five years Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), lack of justice, good governance at grassroots (keble and Wereda) level, which they have witnessed in the country so far, will remain to be major obstacles.

“There is no justice in the country; I can tell you in detail personally if you want,” said one diaspora from Saudi Arabia, after winning dozens of participants who scramble to get the chance to express their thoughts at the meeting.

“Without justice, good governance and competent civil servants at kebele and wereda level, whatever attractive plans the government design, it doesn’t work,” said another.

“I want to know why exactly you gathered us here,” asked another participant, staring at the invited government officials on the podium, which includes the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minster Hailemariam Desalegn, among others.

“Is it just to listen what we feel about our country and go home? Or is it to give us a solution so that we won’t talk about these problem again when we meet some other time,” he questions suggesting the formation of a committee immediately involving the participants.

Doing Business

One of the goals of GTP is to double annual growth of manufacturing industry sector from the current 10.6 percent to 20 percent at the end of five year and increasing its contribution to GDP to 16.9 percent from 12.8 at the moment.

“If you want us to be engaged in the development of the country’s industry sector, you need to ease the current bureaucracy,” said one participant.

According to GTP, industry growth is expected to be achieved by the fast growth of agricultural sector, which will engage the private sector to be engaged in commercial farming and emergence of more productive small land farmers who use better technologies.

“In a country where private banks are not willing to give us loan for agriculture projects, how do you expect to meet your target,” asked another who said that he has been looking for a loan from banks for the past 18 months and couldn’t find one.

A government official indicated that the state-owned Development Bank of Ethiopia is willing to finance 70 percent of investment in agriculture.

Another participant complains about Addis Ababa City’s land administration. “Even though I have imported machineries to substitute imported medicines producing locally, the city administration didn’t respond so far to my request of land allocation for constructing the factory,” he said.

Responding to the complain, officials of land administration of Addis Ababa city who were also at the meeting noted that they will look into it as pharmaceutical sector is one of government’s priority investment area.

If locally produced, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textile and garment, leather and agro processing are identified by Ethiopian government as strategic products, which have a great impact in reducing import bill of the country.

Another participant, who gets mad by the country’s drug administration of control agency, indicated that she spent three years to import one type of medicine which the country needs badly to save many lives from death.

She indicated that the agency banned more than 70 percent of medicines, which the rest of the world uses to save lives. “I wonder why they ban some critical medicines from being imported to the country,” she complained.

Hailemariam, who indicated that he is not aware of the issue promised to look into it and get response from the drug controlling agency.

The participants have also complained about the law that forbids them from investing in financial sector just because they have another country’s nationality. But, couldn’t get the answer they expected from the Governor of the National Bank, Teklewold Atnafu, who was also attending the meeting.

Meanwhile he indicated to the participant that they are very much important to the country’s development as the remittance obtained from them has reached 1.8 billion USD last budget year.

One of the main objectives of today’s meeting was to get inputs for the ‘diaspora policy’, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Foreign affairs. Meanwhile, due to too many questions raised by the participants, it is postponed to another meeting.

According to the organizers of the meeting, to consult with Ethiopian diaspora, a delegation from the ministry which travel to major destinations of Ethiopians, such as U.S.A., Europe, Canada, South Africa and the like.http://www.newbusinessethiopia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=399:ethiopian-diaspora-complain-about-good-governance-&catid=38:government&Itemid=38


They got grilled! Very good points raised.

Isn't ato Hailemariam the one tipped to take over from Meles?

I am VERY, VERY impressed and surprised that the government held such a meeting, and agreed to the grilling they were bound to get. In my opinion, this is another sign that the government is sincere about economic growth, that they are willing to hear out the complaints and concerns of the critical, if not overly so, diaspora. The fact that they plan to travel abroad is even more impressive, can't wait to see what happens to them there.

I wonder if those who attended had to be selected somehow, looking at the picture with them shouting and standing I don't think they were...

Ethiopian Diaspora Complain About Good Governance

Thanks abesha - for posting this interesting conversation!

They got grilled! Very good points raised.

Actually, some of the issues raised by the participants are laughable....for example:

“I want to know why exactly you gathered us here,”
Why this person is angry?? :ohno:.....
Why always people see some initiatives coming from the government as negative or bad thing....give some credit for the government first for starting such discussion and then complain. This is the beginning not the end. Why always people expect things to be fixed overnight..?

“There is no justice in the country; I can tell you in detail personally if you want,” said one Diaspora from Saudi Arabia...“Is it just to listen what we feel about our country and go home? Or is it to give us a solution so that we won’t talk about these problem again when we meet some other time,” he questions suggesting the formation of a committee immediately involving the participants.
Is this participant an Ethiopian woman from Saudi Arabia?....I hope her/his limb is intact :lol:

Everybody knows that there is no justice in Ethiopia- the point is, here the government they are trying to criticize is giving them an opportunity to vent their anger......appreciate that first and use the opportunity wisely. STOP RANTING!!!! Stop rushing to conclude that this is the end. Take this as a work in progress......:ohno:

In a country where private banks are not willing to give us loan for agriculture projects, how do you expect to meet your target,” asked another who said that he has been looking for a loan from banks for the past 18 months and couldn’t find one.

I doubt such a comment is uttered from a Western Diaspora.....if it is, he/she must be an idiot!....are they expecting the government to force the private banks so that they get loan? What kind of stupidity is that?


Another participant, who gets mad by the country’s drug administration of control agency, indicated that she spent three years to import one type of medicine which the country needs badly to save many lives from death.

'gets mad".... relax bro :lol: You are an importer - which is bad for the country. Be smart, think & change your approach to the braucracy....think big and start your own manufacturing inside the country...there is always a way out....stop bieng mad! Not good for your health.


The participants have also complained about the law that forbids them from investing in financial sector just because they have another country’s nationality.
^^
Love this one! Typical Ethiopian attitude! Publicly, they are asking the government to let them keep their Green Card in their walet...but at the same time & strangely, they are demanding the government to respect the rule of law.....i.e. asking the "Rule of Law" to be blind to their Green Card.....Aye Ethiopians!

Double posting ---sorry!

I wonder if those who attended had to be selected somehow, looking at the picture with them shouting and standing I don't think they were...

:lol:....Trust me they are not WOYANES! Most of them are confused Diasporas with cash to bash Zenawi!

Ahadu, try to step back and look at the situation neutrally. They are raising very very legitimate points. Ethiopia is not an easy country to do business, and 90% of the problem is the bureaucracy. The other 10% is infrastructure.

We all recognize that this government has changed a lot of things for the better even in terms of bureaucracy and only an insincere person would deny it.

For instance, something as simple as traveling abroad was such a hassle even back in the 90s. I remember having to go to immigration several times, standing in line for hours and hours, going from office to office looking for the right person in order to get an exit visa. Now there's no such thing. You drive to the airport and off you go.

However, we can't deny that there is a very long way to go. A lot of things need to be changed and the pace of change is way too slow. The government is too paranoid, unnecessarily so. I truly don't think anyone in Ethiopia right now is interested in a revolution or otherwise - this is not 2005, people have left that alone. Now they just want to be left alone to do business, provide for their families, and help their nation develop. However even that is too difficult as it stands and that's where the frustration is boiling over.

The city administration of Addis is filled with the most incompetent people in the country. They don't know what they're doing and they don't care. A good friend of mine did an internship there recently and almost ripped her hair out. Everyone is there just to go home with a paycheck, they don't care about the fact that they are not doing their jobs right. They don't care that the city's development is a mess. This is something that should definitely be questioned.

Why are people looking to invest in the country having to jump through hoops? The people asking about where the land is for investment are totally right. Where is it? We hear all the hype on the news, but people are not seeing it in action. Why shouldn't they question? They're only asking the government to deliver on what it has said it would. They're asking for nothing more.

In fact, the fact Ethiopia is growing at 8-10% is even too low. If only the government eased bureaucracy, if it allowed access to ICT and media, if it truly became pro-private business, the country would boom at 12-13% EASILY. What we're seeing now is actually the low end of what should be happening.

Their might (a BIG might) be financial gains for Ethiopia in the long term, but in terms of cultural diversity Ethiopia is a big looser.
How many Ethiopians have already changed their Nationality (Citizenship on paper)? Countless! I don't understand why we need to bother because some 100,000 Falashas took up citizenship of another country?


After all what is this thing that we call Ethiopia? It's not just the soil, the air and the water. The main components are its people.
What if that main component doesn't want to be associated with Ethiopia?


The felashas have been part of Ethiopia's story for millenia, and now they're all gone. And soon enough they'll disappear in the melting pot that is Israeli society.
Darwinism in action....speciation - a new breed, a new species in a new stolen land.
There is nothing we can do to change that...:)

Ethiopia is not an easy country to do business, and 90% of the problem is the bureaucracy.
You see abesha - in life, before you go one step forward, you have to always ask "What"...not the "how", not the "why" and not the "when". "What" is the barrier to do business in Ethiopia? The above Diaspora discussion is jumbled with everything - disorganized at best. All the above mentioned barriers are specific and individual - failed to see & to be inclusive in the big picture. No one asking the real problem - Everyone is trying to avoid the person next to him/her - Pure Individualism!! This is a real problem in Ethiopia. I don't care about you!!......Have you ever seen a coffee shop owner in Addis cleaning / or fixing a five meter long sidewalks just in front of his/her shop? Why we are always expecting the government to fix & do everything. I put shame on business people before the government. They are so greedy and patently stupid!

However, we can't deny that there is a very long way to go. A lot of things need to be changed and the pace of change is way too slow. The government is too paranoid, unnecessarily so.

You have to be paranoid & suspicious if you are dealing with sick people who are miserably failing to acknowledge & give some credit to the outrageously obvious....as you said ("For instance, something as simple as travelling abroad was such a hassle even back in the 90s.")......you just simply think about it: There is no a war NEWS coming out from that country? Why people keep to forget that? Here, me and you are discussing about a big Diaspora meeting in Addis - Why? Because there is peace there! No one is saying "Thank You for that". So much greed and Individualism. No appreciations at all.

You see abesha - in life, before you go one step forward, you have to always ask "What"...not the "how", not the "why" and not the "when". "What" is the barrier to do business in Ethiopia? The above Diaspora discussion is jumbled with everything - disorganized at best. All the above mentioned barriers are specific and individual - failed to see & to be inclusive in the big picture. No one asking the real problem - Everyone is trying to avoid the person next to him/her - Pure Individualism!! This is a real problem in Ethiopia. I don't care about you!!......Have you ever seen a coffee shop owner in Addis cleaning / or fixing a five meter long sidewalks just in front of his/her shop? Why we are always expecting the government to fix & do everything. I put shame on business people before the government. They are so greedy and patently stupid!

Well the whole point of this discussion was to raise problems that they all encountered. Townhall meetings are for people to get up and talk about their issues.

The reality is that, even if they used their personal examples, there are dozens of other people who've experienced the exact same thing. The problem of bureaucracy is one that every Ethiopian has dealt with. What is the problem with using a personal example to illustrate it?

The only way for the government to know what problems exist is for the Diaspora to speak up. How else would you propose they tell them?
They ARE telling them the "What". The "what" is the incompetence of some offices, and the incredible bureaucracy. This is not something that can be denied by anyone. There is a reason the country ranks so poorly on ease of doing business. It's TOUGH.

Even comparing with a fellow African country like Zambia where a lot of Ethiopians own businesses, I can tell you it's a world apart in terms of ease. Let's not even compare with more developed countries.

Ethiopia is competing with much more developed countries to attract investment. How are we going to do that if we don't significantly improve our bureaucracy. That's the point the Diaspora is raising: how are you going to achieve your GTP without us? Because the way it's set up now, you would think the aim is to discourage people from investing.



You have to be paranoid & suspicious if you are dealing with sick people who are miserably failing to acknowledge & give some credit to the outrageously obvious....as you said ("For instance, something as simple as travelling abroad was such a hassle even back in the 90s.")......you just simply think about it: There is no a war NEWS coming out from that country? Why people keep to forget that? Here, me and you are discussing about a big Diaspora meeting in Addis - Why? Because there is peace there! No one is saying "Thank You for that". So much greed and Individualism. No appreciations at all.

Why should anyone give credit? Why do they need to be thanked? They're not doing us a favor, they're doing what they're supposed to do. Why should they be thanked for tiny progress? There is a lot of stuff they need to do first before we contemplate gratitude towards them. This is a typical habesha problem, wanting people to kiss our feet in gratitude for the littlest thing. They are not our gods, they are mere people like us. If they can't handle not getting their egos stroked, then they need to go.

They ARE telling them the "What". The "what" is the incompetence of some offices, and the incredible bureaucracy. This is not something that can be denied by anyone. There is a reason the country ranks so poorly on ease of doing business. It's TOUGH.

Okay abesha...now, we are getting somewhere - "The "what" is the incompetence of some offices..."

"What" is causing that incompetent? Is it lack of education / or Lack of experience? That the question that we need to ask.

Are you really expecting some "Ye Kebele Official" (No matter how he/she is educated) to treat you just like Mr. John or Mrs Melinda from the Mayor Bloomberg office?....the Diaspora is taking a new culture back to Ethiopia and expect the locals to behave and act like the West. No one seems realize that as a problem - high expectation for something which doesn’t exist in Ethiopia.

Now, at the same time, show me any NEWS with a headline saying that Mayor Kuma Demeksa pay a visit to Tokyo, London or NY to see/learn how cities are managed & run – ( the guy is stuck in the 19 cent! for God sake)....The officials have no idea how the rest of the world is functioning i.e. lack of exposition is the root cause of the problem. The Diaspora, rather than complaining, should educate and introduce new work ethics by example -Be a model! Be a solution! Stop pointing finger in one direction…...first, realize and accept what the problem is - then seek solution. Nothing is going to be rosy in the land of abesha - wishing it to be / or find it on a silver plate is naivety or ignorant!

LOL, Does Ethiopia have its own desert dish? I swear i have never seen one.

My simple Advice to the Diaspora in Ethiopia

First & for most – Learn how to say thank you to the Federal Government of Ethiopia for giving and allowing such a stage (cough …cough:)). Seriously, respect & love doesn't hurt! If it is for the good of the people, why not working with the devil.
:applause:

For the Diaspora

Calm Down & do this!
Here you have an opportunity in your hand - use it. Form a Diaspora Association free from politics & with clear:

A
1)Vision: What is your vision for your country?

2)Mission: What is your mission in Ethiopia?

3)Action: What is going to hold you back? / What action need to be taken to achieve your vision and mission?

B
Create a Task Force composed of six individuals, for example, representing:
Diaspora - Africa
Diaspora - Asia
Diaspora - USA
Diaspora - Europe
Diaspora - South America & Australia
Diaspora - Mid East

^^ These five individuals are the link between you and the government while you are the driving force.

C
Schedule meetings - only inside the country. No government officials in your meetings. This is yours to exchange your local / abroad experience. Debate, discuss and hammer out everything based on A before approaching the government. Do that monthly, annually whatever....compose & organize yourself!!

D
Have your own communication channel - one single website is enough (do not use Ethiopian telcom server).

E
Do your follow up - communicate & educate the locals & the rest of Diaspora.

abesha
Add your advice to the Diaspora!

LOL, Does Ethiopia have its own desert dish? I swear i have never seen one.

Northern cuisine doesn't, but Eastern Ethiopians like Hararis and Somalis do. My Hadere friends make some delicious desserts. A lot of them are honey or syrup based. I never remember the names though.

My simple Advice to the Diaspora in Ethiopia
abesha
Add your advice to the Diaspora!


I think those are good suggestions, specially the politics-free part. I've tried to see if there are any associations like that here, but all of them have some political component. Some of us just want to talk business.

Also, we need to think of a way of incorporating the locals (non-diaspora) Ethiopians. We don't want to create an exclusive clique that hoards knowledge and wealth.
A sort of forum to share knowledge, train or otherwise involve locals.

The diaspora from China

What the potentially mighty Ethiopian diaspora in the western world could learn from a diaspora returnee from a less noticed destination ……

By Hayal Alemayehu

It has been only months since the public here had a chance to experience and witness 3D cinema that took the global movie industry one step ahead.

Six months after Matti Multiplex (housed in Edna Mall) introduced the three-dimension movie on big screen late last July here, there is still fascination with the technology.

And this fact has not passed without being noticed by Tewodros Shiferaw, Managing Director of Rosetta P.L.C, a company engaged in various business and investment ventures including aviation service, real estate development, marble extraction and trading.

A diaspora returnee from China, Tewodros, turning 39, is set to stir that amusement once more by bringing the latest technology that revolutionalized the entertainment industry across the planet - 4D cinema. Combing a 3D film with physical effects, a 4D film will not only capture the attention of the viewers, but also make them experience whatever is going inside the film. Viewers feel for real, for instance, the rain in 4D movies, smell scents and sense touches from the movie characters “I have seen 4D movies in Japan and the experience is crazy,” Tewodros says. “It feels as if you are inside the film, feeling and sensing for real whatever is going on inside the film.”

Yet, the 4D cinema is only the highlight of the investor’s multi-purpose business venture set to be put together inside a 16-storey building, which, according to the plan, will incorporate a high-tech shopping mall, a star designated hotel and a state-of-the-art 4D movie multiplex.

Having a rare type of design completely different from the commonly seen four-sided or box-shaped buildings sprouting in Addis Ababa, the 16-storey structure, named Rosetta Metro Plaza, which will be erected on a plot opposite Friendship city center off Bole Road, will have an open five-floor shopping mall (from the ground to the fifth floor) each having a 1000 sq.m. area, incorporate seven state-of-the-art cinemas and sport a 150-room star designated hotel, each purpose built and targeting niche markets.

Already in business in the aviation industry through his company - Teddy Air - and familiar with Ethiopian Airlines’ operations, Tewodros says the number of transit passengers at Bole Airport is increasing. With Ethiopian Airlines already joining Star Alliance, the surge “will continue unabated,” the investor reckons. “Although the airline is preparing to build its own hotel to accommodate transit passengers, it cannot manage to cater to all of them.”

The investor will built the star designated hotel with an eye to transit passengers at Bole Airport whose number is increasing by the day.

“The hotel will be two to three minutes away from the airport,” Tewodros says. “This enables us to provide service to the passengers promptly. But we will be acquiring special shuttle buses and the mall will have its own metro taxis to render the service swiftly and efficiently.”
Yet, the business is not merely oriented to provide lodging to transit passengers.

“As the number of transit passengers is increasing at the airport, so is the number of tourists visiting the country,” says the investor, who returned from China on the eye of the new Ethiopian millennium in 2007 after staying there for 13 years. “I know from experience that transit passengers as well as tourists carry a good amount of cash. Unfortunately, they usually return back with that money as there are almost no places where they can spend it here. The high-tech mall we will put in place will change that.”

In order to entertain guests, be it transit passengers or tourists, the multi-purpose building will have seven cinemas, the largest one of which will be for public use and featuring the latest technology in the global entertainment industry - a 4D cinema, while the rest, with a seat of 12 to 24, will cater for families or small interest groups booking orders, according to the investors. The multiplex will show different movies simultaneously according to the choice of customers.

Designed by a diaspora returnee from the U.S., the 16-storey structure, which will have a three-level parking underground, will be built by a Chinese company and open for service next year, according to Tewodros.
The company will sell 70 shops to prospective buyers, particularly from the diaspora.

Though Rosetta Metro by itself looks quite a complex business to handle, Tewodros has much more to be engaged in ranging from the trading house he established in China to the marble extracting venture to real estate development and air charter service he renders.

“When I come here and saw the real estate development sector, I learnt that I can even do better. Knowing that for sure, I established a real estate company which has built about 101 houses over the last two years, about 30 of them already sold out.”

The marble extracting company he manages is the second or third largest in the country, according to him. The company produces 4,000sq.m. marble a year and has an installed capacity of producing 10,000sq.m. annually.

Teddy Air’s small charter planes are already busy in Juba, Southern Sudan, and they provide various services in Ethiopia, too. The company is in the process of adding two more Cessna planes to its current fleet of two from the U.S. after it secured a guarantee from the U.S. EXIM Bank to access loans to meet 70 percent of the purchase value from U.S. banks. Teddy Air has already paid 30 percent of the payment to the U.S. small plane maker. The company, however, is still waiting to get approval from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), a prerequisite for EXIM Bank to provide the guarantee. In the meantime, Tewodros, who has been quite busy managing different businesses, is on his way to learn how to fly a plane.http://www.ethiopianreporter.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1705:the-diaspora-from-china&catid=100:business-and-economy&Itemid=517


The building has been posted in the Projects section.

This guy sounds for real, and quite clever, using all the resources available to him, whether it be the US EXIM bank or a Chinese construction company. The guy has done well in the world's second largest economy, he can do wonders here.

Diaspora Returnees Recommend Investment in Ethiopia

By Phillip Barea

Addis Ababa, January 29, 2011 (Ezega.com) -- In recent weeks representatives of both the Ethiopian Diaspora and the Ethiopian Government met in order to discuss the relationship between the two. They also entered into serious talks about Ethiopia´s development, as well as government policies regarding the rights of Diaspora Ethiopians and future investments in the country.

The potential role of the Diaspora in the government´s new development and transformation plan has been highlighted by some observers. Moreover, some believe it is already a crucial component of the country´s current development process.

In order to investigate the Diaspora perspective further, Ezega.com met with two Diaspora returnees in Addis Ababa and asked them about their recent return to Ethiopia and investment here.

Resettlement in Ethiopia

Abiy Belachew left Ethiopia in 1982 to pursue higher education in America, and at the same time find a better life than the one available in Ethiopia at the time.

After 27 years of a comfortable and successful life in the United States, Abiy returned to Addis Ababa and opened his own business. He created the Lulit Internet Café, named after his daughter. Most recently, his wife and daughter left the United States to permanently join him here in Ethiopia.

Abebe KassaAbebe Kassa, another returnee, left Ethiopia in 1989 in order to reunite with his relatives that had already emigrated to America. Although he did not experience personal hardship under the Derg regime, he did find a much better life in the United States.

Thoughts of home combined with a desire to start his own business eventually brought Abebe back to Addis Ababa. Upon his return he opened the Arsidera Flour Factory, which has grown into a very successful business.

Investment Experience

Abiy and Abebe both described their experience of resettling in Ethiopia and starting their own businesses as pleasant and relatively easy. Specifically, they mentioned government tax incentives for Diaspora returnees and accommodating licensing procedures.

They also commented that there was very little culture clash or feelings of discrimination as they assimilated back into Ethiopian society and daily life. In fact, they were very happy to be able to reconnect with their roots.

Development and Transformation

When asked about the new development and transformation plan presented by the government in recent months, both gentlemen had somewhat different reactions. Initially they did agree that Ethiopia has developed greatly since the time when they had left, and they both agreed that there was still much to do in the country.

Abebe felt that the plan was a very good idea and timely. Moreover, he was very hopeful for its successful implementation. He is basically pleased with the government’s recent initiatives and commitment to the development of Ethiopia.

Abiy was more skeptical. Although he agreed that the plan was an important step forward, he doubted the possibility of a successful implementation of the plan due to the difficulties and complexities involved. He also thought that some other public policies should be reevaluated and readjusted before trying to implement such a plan.

Should Others Return?

In concluding the discussion with Ezega.com, both gentlemen strongly agreed that they would encourage others living in the various Diaspora communities to return to Ethiopia and invest here.

When asked if it was a good time to return and invest, Abiy stated very strongly that: “This is the right time…the train is going and if you don´t catch it at this speed you will miss it”.http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Page=heads&NewsID=2747

Internet cafe and wofCHo bet ... how original!

Nashville, TN the city I hail from has a fairly impressive Ethiopian community

heres one of the websites:

http://www.ethioyouth.com/

Nashville area Gas stations are nearly monopolized by Ethiopians...particularly Oromo Ethiopians from Harar. Something like one in two or one in three of these families owns a gas station.

A childhood friend that moved to the US some 10 years ago owns two gas stations in Tampa, what is with Ethio's and gas stations? :lol:

Ethiopian restaurants are popping up all over the place here. Most of the Ethiopian owned gas stations are in South Nashville.

International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia

http://www.ilacademy.org/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Leadership-Academy-of-Ethiopia/243966445580#!/pages/International-Leadership-Academy-of-Ethiopia/243966445580?v=app_2392950137
They have short videos on there.

About the Academy

The International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia, the first of five premiere schools to be built in Africa's least developed nations, will provide students a level of education and preparation for life comparable to the best secondary schools in the world.

About ILAE

The International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia (ILAE) is a nonprofit college preparatory school established by the International Leadership Academy, a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization in the state of Washington. Partnering with distinguished leaders and institutions, our vision is to create a world-class school that recruits and develops academically gifted and talented students in Ethiopia, ultimately preparing them for a lifetime of social responsibility and international leadership.

Our Mission: To create a generation of leaders who will transform Ethiopia.

Our Vision

To offer a global education that nurtures students to discover their purpose, challenges them to think critically, empowers them to set and surpass their own standards and inspires them to transform Ethiopia.

The Campus

ILAE will be located in Ethiopia's capital city, Addis Ababa, home to the country’s federal government, as well as the African Union and the Economic Commission of Africa. Spanning 15 acres, the campus will be well-equipped with state-of-the-art computer centers, science laboratories, world language labs, a media center, athletic fields, and dormitories for resident students and faculty.



About the founders:

Team

The International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia (ILAE) is the brain child of two Ethiopian Americans who founded the International Leadership Academy (ILA), a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization in the state of Washington.

David Makonnen, Founder

David is an Ethiopian American who brings to the team a deep compassion and commitment in bridging the digital divide between people living in developed and developing nations. He currently works for Microsoft Corporation where he has held numerous leadership positions over the past 12 years. A 1999 graduate of Seattle's "Leadership Tomorrow" program and avid supporter of creating opportunity for academic excellence for all, he serves on the board of several nonprofit organizations. In addition to his passion for education, David offers keen strategic insight and broad networking and organizational skills.


Haddis Tadesse, Founder

Haddis is an Ethiopian American who brings to the team a passion for public service and years of leadership experience, including but not limited to diplo-macy and policy and budget development. He is a graduate of the Evans School at the University of Washington with a Master of Public Administration. He has advised various political campaigns, including the mayor of Seattle, whom he served as Senior Policy Advisor. In 2006, Haddis was a recipient of the presti-gious Marshall Memorial Fellowship which is awarded to emerging American leaders in a broad array of professions from across the U.S. In addition to his professional responsibilities, Haddis serves on the board of various nonprofit organizations. He intends to mobilize his many local, national, and international contacts to realize the vision and mission of ILAE.

An interesting NGO:

http://www.accessforsuccess.camp8.org/

Joe Mamo, D.C.'s Gas-Station Master

Meet the guy who owns half of D.C.'s filling stations

To hear him tell it, Joe Mamo’s move from Ethiopia to North Dakota in 1981 was accidental.

Mamo’s father, Yenberber Mamo, was a public transit mogul who manufactured buses and ran the first fleet to provide service across Ethiopia. The operation made his father’s Mamo Kacha bus line a household name in the East African country. It provided a nice life for his family. But it rendered him distinctly unpopular with the Marxist junta that ruled Ethiopia between 1974 and 1991. The elder Mamo was jailed two or three times by the regime. Some of his property was confiscated. As his son approached draft age, the patriarch looked for ways to send him overseas.

That’s how Joe, at the age of 13, found himself attending Catholic boarding school in North Dakota.

“He didn’t know the difference between North Dakota and New York City. We didn’t know until we got there,” says Joe Mamo, whose given name is Eyob. But he got used to the cold winters and moved to Chicago after graduation. While he attended community college there, he got a job pumping gas.

By 1987, Mamo had moved to Washington, where an old friend had settled among the region’s large Ethiopian community. This too was “an accidental move,” he says. “I didn’t know Washington that well but I liked it here because it was much more diverse than Chicago. There’s a lot of Ethiopians, a lot of different cultures.” And while Mamo remained far from home, it turned out that his entrepreneurial DNA was still intact in North America. “I always wanted to be a businessman like my father. The only business I knew was a gas station, so I decided to lease a gas station,” Mamo says.

Today, he owns about 200 Exxons and 40 Shells. All are in the greater Washington area, except 71 stations he purchased last fall in the outer boroughs of New York City.
Continued here: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/40430/joe-mamo-dc-gas-station-master/

He's the son of Mamo Kacha's owner. I remember some song we used to sing as little kids about "autobusi Mamo kacha...something something..gebre gurecha" :lol:

He's the son of Mamo Kacha's owner. I remember some song we used to sing as little kids about "autobusi Mamo kacha...something something..gebre gurecha" :lol:

^^
:hilarious

Look what happen to him now...Google him - he is all over the net. You can track his shipments too.:lol:

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5585/12835930.jpg

Today, he owns about 200 Exxons and 40 Shells.
:eek2: Unbelievable! Never heard of this guy. But I sure remember Mamo Kacha!

http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Obama_at_Redrooster_cover.jpg
The Harlem eatrey owned by Ethiopian-born Chef and
Author Marcus Samuelsson hosted President Barack Obama


http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Outside1_redrooster1.jpg
The crowd outside Red Rooster Harlem on Tuesday, March 29, 2011


http://www.tadias.com/03/30/2011/obama-makes-appearance-at-red-rooster-harlem/

Wow, that's almost as good PR as hosting Oprah. Congrats to Mr. Samuelsson, he is relatively young but has achieved a lot.

President Obama Names World Food Prize Laureate Dr. Gebisa Ejeta to Administration Post

President Obama has announced his intent to appoint two World Food Prize laureates to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD). He has named 2009 World Food Prize Laureate Gebisa Ejeta and 2010 World Food Prize Laureate Jo Luck.

Two other experts with ties to the World Food Prize have have also served on this critical board: 2003 World Food Prize Laureate Catherine Bertini is a past member; and Council of Advisors member Peter McPherson is a past chairman of the board.

Gebisa Ejeta is currently a Professor at Purdue University and serves as the Executive Director of the Purdue Center for Global Food Security. He previously served as Principal Plant Breeder for the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics assigned to Sudan. Dr. Ejeta serves on the Consortium Board of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, the Sasakawa Africa Association, and the Chicago Council for Global Affairs Agricultural Development Program. He is a Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Sciences, the Crop Science Society of Agronomy, and the American Society of Agronomy. Dr. Ejeta was the recipient of the 2009 World Food Prize. He holds a B.S. in Plant Sciences from Alemaya College of Agriculture in Ethiopia, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Genetics and Breeding from Purdue University.
Jo Luck is President of Heifer International, a global organization working to end hunger and poverty. She previously served as president/CEO of Heifer International beginning in 1992 until 2010. During her academic tenure, she attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she served on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Advisory Board, and the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Session on Governing for Nonprofit Excellence. Jo Luck was co-recipient of the 2010 World Food Prize. She holds a B.A. from Lipscomb College and honorary doctorates from several colleges and universities.

http://www.tadias.com/04/24/2011/president-obama-names-world-food-prize-laureate-dr-gebisa-ejeta-to-administration-post/

Shattering a stigma

Last month, an Ethiopian teen won Rotary's Young Speaker contest. Meet Yifat Semaline - math whiz, star debater and defier of stereotypes.
By Tamar Rotem

"Hello everyone, my name is Yifat ... I would like to speak to you today about politically correct [sic]. I will introduce the phenomenon, in other words I will define politically correct, talk about its objectives and address its effects in practice."

Last month, a 15-year-old girl from Rehovot named Yifat Semaline won first place in the nationwide Young Speaker contest sponsored by Rotary Israel, a branch of the veteran international organization. Thousands of students from 120 schools nationwide competed in the contest; 17 reached the finals.

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.360991.1305073977!/image/2753441043.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_295/2753441043.jpg

In her winning speech, Semaline, who was born in Israel to parents who immigrated from Ethiopia in the 1990s, spoke about political correctness. But she chose not to use the term in the context of the Ethiopian community, or to say anything personal about it. "I didn't want it to be said for a moment that I came in first because I'm Ethiopian," she said later in an interview.

That didn't stop some of her fellow finalists and their families from charging that she indeed won because of her origin - what they termed affirmative action. Which just goes to show that stigmas remain stigmas, and that even when someone from this community succeeds, there are those who see him or her as an Ethiopian and nothing else.

Yael Lazarus, a former governor of Rotary Israel who organizes and runs the annual speaking contest, stressed that Semaline won because her skills and personality are remarkable by any standard. Indeed, this was the second time Semaline won the Young Speaker title: Back in sixth grade, she won first place in the category for younger children. This double triumph in a contest that demands intellectual ability, stellar linguistic skills and an abundance of self-confidence is particularly impressive given that many Ethiopian students have not done well in school.

An Education Ministry report released last month revealed a wide gap between the scores of Ethiopian students and those of other Jewish students on school achievement tests. Organizations that aid the Ethiopian community termed it a brand of shame for the school system: evidence of the failure to absorb Ethiopian immigrants into the schools.

Semaline is indeed phenomenal. A tenth-grader at ORT High School in Rehovot, she is in a Mofet class for students who excel at science as well as a special program that lets students study for a bachelor's degree while still in high school.

Her best subject, mathematics, is actually the one in which the gap between Ethiopian students and others is greatest (about 50 percent ). She is currently preparing to take her math matriculation exam, and will then begin studying for her bachelor's degree in math next year.

This begs the question: What goes into the success of a gifted girl like Semaline? How did she manage to thrive where so many like her failed? And does her success teach us anything, or is it a one-time event, like winning the lottery?

Supportive parents

The interview with Semaline takes place at a McDonalds branch in Rehovot, in walking distance of her neighborhood, Oshiyot. But it might as well be another world - a bourgeois area of detached or semi-detached houses, the veritable Israeli Dream. Oshiyot, like other neighborhoods with a high concentration of Ethiopians, is an overcrowded ghetto.

Semaline's father is a security guard and her mother works as a cleaner. The couple has four daughters, all of whom are following in their eldest sister Yifat's footsteps. The second-oldest sister is a seventh-grader at ORT and the younger two are excelling in elementary school. As has always been the case in immigrant communities, it seems Semaline's family views education as a guarantee of social mobility.

Studying math offers a challenge: "I want to prove to myself and others that I can do it," Semaline said. Her success in school means a great deal to her parents as well.

"My father was very angry when, after elementary school, I thought about not going to ORT. A lot of kids went to another school. But he was very insistent that I study in a science track. They'd heard about it at high school informational evenings and thought I could do well."

Her father, Yanassu Semaline, confirmed, "It's important to me. From a young age she was very smart, more advanced. High grades. I wanted her to reach a high level."

The Semalines came to Israel in the 1990s. Yifat was born here. "I didn't go to school here. Only ulpan [Hebrew classes]," her father said. "We can't help her with school work. She did it all by herself. Now the other girls are headed in the same direction."

With her father's support, Semaline's motivation is sky-high. And what matters to her most is that she not be pigeonholed as an Ethiopian. "It hurts when they don't look at what you are," she said.

In the Rotary competition, contestants were given the topics in advance, including gender equality, the environment, the water shortage and teen violence. Semaline chose to focus on democracy and freedom of expression because she wanted a subject that would be more unique and enable her to win.

"I wanted to avoid and not go so much into the whole Ethiopian thing," she said. "Everywhere I go, it's obvious that I'm different from the rest. I'm the Ethiopian. To my great chagrin, my community has not acclimated well here. But my parents and also my sisters and I did fit in here. Perhaps on first meeting me the fact that I'm Ethiopian stands out, but over time, when I don't refer to it, I see that others stop referring to it."

"'Politically correct' is overall a positive concept," Semaline summed up her speech. "It has many advantages. It is ostensibly employed to avoid offending disadvantaged populations. When I use an agreed-upon name ... I do not offend. And that way I can talk about the various groups, and also solve problems. But beneath this wrapping, this lovely name, a problem still lurks, and the fact that we switched the name doesn't solve it."

Yet she also noted that the term "politically correct" has gradually become a synonym for hypocrisy and cowardice. After all, "socioeconomic gaps, problems of equality, education and social class are an integral part of our lives. Language doesn't change the reality."

Still, she would rather not discuss the absorption of Ethiopian immigrants or the sad state of students of Ethiopian descent. "I didn't feel a negative attitude in school," she said, then added: "There is a negative stigma about Ethiopians. I believe this will change and we will fit in more and that kids like me won't be different."

Everything's open

Semaline wrote the speech herself, under the supervision of her school's grammar teacher, who helped to polish the text. She then rehearsed it at home in front of a mirror, and in school in front of her classmates. And indeed, her confidence is admirable, as the YouTube clip shows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzzBP49-jmw ).

"My classmates heard me dozens of times," she laughed. That was the only bit of comic relief in my conversation with this terribly earnest girl. Both she and the winner of the contest for younger children, Or Yanovich, spoke as though they were trained to be miniature adults, preferably politicians.

Lazarus said that students who study debating at Haifa University and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya mentor the teenage contestants. They come to the schools once a week to coach the students and receive a partial scholarship from Rotary in return.

But does this rat race leave time for childhood, or youth? Semaline confirmed that she does not have much time for going out, or just doing nothing, but said she does find time to socialize.

Despite winning the Young Speaker competition, words are not Semaline's vocation. Math, she said with enthusiasm, "is a fascinating subject ... There is always something to investigate. I'm a little girl. Right now I want to get started, and maybe I will continue to research. Everything's open."


http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/shattering-a-stigma-1.360970

Study: Children of Immigrants Are America's New Science Superstars

Arrivals from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America begin to excel.

WsUph4C3LSM

There was no great surprise among the professors at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) when Benyam Kinde, an Ethiopian-American, was selected as the 2010 valedictorian. The biological studies major, who was born and brought up in southern California, was a perfect example of the type of students that are making their mark in the sciences on that campus and across the nation.

They are American-born, or sometimes naturalized, daughters and sons of the largest wave of foreign nationals to come to the United States since the earliest 20th century, and these young people will likely be the ones to push the accelerator on the study and application of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) nationwide.

The nonpartisan National Foundation for American Policy paints an optimistic picture for immigration reform and foresees an upgrade in American STEM scholarship, in a just-released study.

One example the report provides is stunning. At the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search competition, which is known as the "Junior Nobel Prize,” 70 percent of the finalists were the children of immigrants. That is despite the fact that only 12 percent of the U.S. population was born in another country.

It is also unsurprising that a wave of young Black people born of Caribbean, African and South American immigrant parents are applying to and being accepted by the nation’s best colleges and universities. Their parents, like the European immigrants of the past two centuries, are often the risk takers in their families and countries.

While some may be political refugees, most come in pursuit of the dream of economic or political freedom, and they often have an educational and professional background that exceeds that of native citizens. That is the case with UMBC’s Benyam Kinde. His father is a veterinarian and his mother is a math teacher.

Plus, it is a sterotype grounded in fact that the immigrant drive to succeed in America, where education and opportunity are available in a way that they were not in the old country, is a keen motivating factor.

The study concludes that “Liberalizing our nation’s immigration laws will likely yield even greater rewards for America in the future."

http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/05/25/study-children-of-immigrants-are-america-s-new-science-superstars-.html

The man from Ethiopia is how Haddis Tilahun has been described for over 20 years in Namibia! This time again Haddis, the Executive Director of the United Africa Group, and his wife Martha Namundjebo-Tilahun, Chairperson of United Africa Group opened the first five star hotel in Windhoek: the Hilton Windhoek. Haddis, a native from Debrezeit, made his fortune in Southern Africa, namely in Namibia. His company the Africa Group (UAG) is a private equity firm with 35 investee companies. The company was started in 1992 and developed as a commodity trading company before moving into flour, textile and construction materials manufacturing. Today the company mainly focuses on services; especially tourism, through its chain of 9 hotels, government payment systems and property management.
Last May Haddis and his company launched the Hilton Windhoek in the presence of Namibia’s political leadership and celebrities, including the president of the country Fikepunye Pohamba. A number of invited guests from Addis Ababa were also present. “It is things like this that makes you proud to be from Ethiopia. Haddis is showing how to bring Africans together” said Genet Shewangzaw a guest present at the opening of the Hilton.
During the opening ceremony the Deal of the Year for Africa Award 2010 was presented to the Company. “Receiving this award is an achievement and recognition for a job well done. This has motivated us to work harder and to pursue a successful future for our Group,” said Haddis Tilahun. He also said that this hotel is just the first phase, and that the next phases will include office blocks, shops, apartment buildings and parking.
United Africa Group also owns Hawassa Wabeshebele Hotel No.1, in .Hawassa, Ethiopia

http://www.capitalethiopia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14825:the-man-from-ethiopia-&catid=12:local-news&Itemid=4

http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Fshion2_cover.jpg
Wub Abyssinia Fashion Ensemble will highlight works
by cultural fashion designers both from Ethiopia and the U.S.
Sliver Spring (Tadias) – Celebrate all things Ethiopian from fashion shows to cultural performances and food at the annual Ethiopian festival in downtown Silver Spring today.

The event, scheduled from 3 to 9 pm, is billed as a festival of Ethiopian lifestyle and culture, featuring a variety of lively programs at 908 Ellsworth Drive.

Highlights include live musicians, fashion shows, and traditional arts and crafts exhibit.

Entertainers include Tseday Ethiopian Band, Kebebew Geda, Nesanet & Taya, Berhanu Tezera, Tadele Roba, Tadele Gemechu, and Desalegn Melku.

Wub Abyssinia Fashion Models will showcase designs by Mulu Birhane who makes her first U.S. appearance, as well as works by U.S. based designers, including Betelhem Fashion, Arada Wear, Markos Design, and Hewan Design.
If you Go:
Ethiopian Festival, Sliver Spring
Saturday June 25 from 3-9 PM
908 Ellsworth Drive
Downtown Sliver Spring
Call: 202-390-5182
Minew Shewa Entertainment
Tebabu & Associate

http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Fashion_new2-199x300.jpg




http://www.tadias.com/06/25/2011/silver-spring-celebrates-ethiopian-fashion-lifestyle-culture/

Some pics from the event today

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/330703113.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1309048858&Signature=VoC%2Bl0D1HtphYTr1WVfwuUGM%2Fuc%3D

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/330700452.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1309049335&Signature=ZPRFinNgUxGlcY%2FFTMHj%2BNwoLzM%3D

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/330697917.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1309049377&Signature=YwVYnkMux7Wt%2BQDb3N2zeBMJLkQ%3D

Potential into Practice: The Ethiopian Diaspora Volunteer Program

By Tedla W. Giorgis, Visions for Development, Inc.
and Aaron Terrazas, Migration Policy Institute

June 2011

There is a growing recognition that diasporas make meaningful contributions to development efforts in their countries of origin through donations of their time, talents, and resources.

The work that diasporas carry out includes, among other things, channeling remittances to finance new businesses, increasing educational attainment for women and youth, and building roads and public-use buildings via infrastructure projects.

While diasporas frequently have the contacts, knowledge, and personal commitment to undertake these efforts alone, an emerging body of research and experience points to organized programs that mobilize the individual efforts of diasporas and, occasionally, coordinate their work to help meet the objectives of international agencies and developing country governments.

A powerful example of where diasporas, donors, and developing country governments have successfully collaborated is in public health capacity building, and particularly in dealing with the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization, two-thirds (or 22.4 million) of the 33.4 million people infected with HIV in 2008 lived in sub-Saharan Africa. By contrast, only about 3 percent of the world's health workers are in sub-Saharan Africa. :ohno:

Diaspora volunteers have thus far played a small but important role in efforts to build healthcare capacity in developing countries, and the untapped potential for diaspora healthcare volunteers is likely substantial. About 1.4 million medical professionals in the United States are immigrants — more than one of every six medical professionals in the country. Of these, about 1.1 million (more than four out of every five) are from developing countries and over 120,000 (nearly one in ten) are from sub-Saharan Africa. These estimates, of course, exclude immigrants educated as medical professionals but who are either unemployed or work in a different field.

There is little doubt that these highly educated diasporas represent a substantial asset for efforts to improve healthcare and living standards in sub-Saharan Africa. However, a key challenge for development practitioners is to mobilize existing resources that are underutilized. In practice, mobilizing the latent expertise of diasporas requires that migration and development policymakers identify thoughtful strategies and implement targeted programs while retaining a proactive, if also critical, perspective on diasporas' interests and capacities.

This article reviews the experience of the Volunteer Healthcare Corps (VHC) — Ethiopian Diaspora Volunteer Program (EDVP), one innovative effort to mobilize diaspora volunteers to address healthcare capacity needs in their homeland. Specifically, the EDVP identifies, recruits, and places healthcare volunteers from the Ethiopian diaspora to build capacity in Ethiopia for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Although small, the program has been successful in placing committed volunteers and can offer lessons for similar efforts elsewhere in the world.

Evolution of the Ethiopian Diaspora Volunteer Program

According to the US Census Bureau, the Ethiopian immigrant population in the United States has grown dramatically over the past three decades, from 7,516 in 1980 to 34,805 in 1990, and to 69,531 in 2000. As of 2008, there were 137,012 Ethiopian immigrants in the United States. In addition, about 30,000 native-born US citizens claimed Ethiopian ancestry. Compared to other immigrants, Ethiopian-born immigrants aged 25 and older tend to be better educated, with 59.0 percent having had some college education or higher (compared with 43.5 percent among all immigrants).

But the Ethiopian diaspora extends well beyond the United States, with important Ethiopian diaspora communities residing in Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Nordic countries, and Israel, as well as throughout sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East.

In recent years, reaching out to the diaspora and engaging them in Ethiopia's development has become an important priority for the Ethiopian government. A key challenge has been involving members of the diaspora who do not wish to return permanently to Ethiopia but who are still enthusiastic about contributing their time, skills, and energy.

Volunteer medical missions by diaspora professionals are a common mechanism for diaspora professionals to contribute to improving living standards in Ethiopia and helping the country progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. Experience suggests that these missions are a potentially powerful resource, but they often lack sustainability, broader impact, and coordination with other similar or related efforts.

Recognizing the potential for diaspora professionals to help the Ethiopian government address the country's pressing public health challenges, the US government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Visions for Development, Inc. (Visions), and other Ethiopian diaspora community-based organizations convened 85 members of the Ethiopian diaspora in Atlanta in July 2005. The participants aimed to build a consensus for the creation of an Ethiopian diaspora network to support Ethiopia's AIDS prevention and treatment objectives.

They concluded that, among the many obstacles hindering greater diaspora involvement in addressing Ethiopia's AIDS challenges, the following were particularly important:

A lack of information in Ethiopia and among international donors concerning the expertise of overseas Ethiopians and the availability of overseas Ethiopians to undertake volunteer work in Ethiopia;
Geographic dispersion among the diaspora and a general lack of organizational structures or systems to match their skills with opportunities to assist in Ethiopia's HIV/AIDS campaign;
An overreliance on informal methods of keeping in touch with current needs in Ethiopia, opportunities to assist, and points of contact;
Discontent among some members of the diaspora concerning prior experience working in Ethiopia, and a lack of effective feedback and problem-solving mechanisms in Ethiopia;
Inconsistency of terms and conditions for diaspora assignments due to the wide variety and lack of coordination among the initiatives of independent individuals and organizations.

Between February and May 2006, Visions conducted in-depth interviews to collect qualitative information from 38 selected health professionals such as physicians, nurses, epidemiologists, etc. The qualitative data collected revolved around the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of Ethiopian diaspora health professionals in the United States and Canada toward volunteering.

The data collected indicated that the majority of the interviewees were interested in taking up a volunteer assignment in Ethiopia to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and that those interested had extensive experience treating HIV/AIDS in the United States. Additionally, nearly half had visited Ethiopia within the past five years, mostly to visit family and friends, with a median stay of about one month.

Most of the potential volunteers were motivated by a desire for personal satisfaction and for recognition of their acquired skills and expertise; assistance to their country of origin was considered a favorable outcome, but not a key motivation. In other words, the interest in volunteering was driven less by philanthropy and more by the emotional and social rewards they expected from volunteering.

However, the interviews also pointed to substantial barriers. While there is a general consensus that longer or repeat volunteer engagement is more valuable for the recipient communities, nearly two-thirds of the people surveyed indicated a preference for relatively short volunteer assignments of less than one month with a minimum of six months advance notice and lead time to prepare for the assignment.

When asked more narrowly about their reticence to undertake more protracted volunteer work, interviewees most often pointed to concerns about job and career responsibilities in the United States (90 percent) and family responsibilities (50 percent); a lack of awareness of volunteer opportunities was less commonly cited as a barrier (29 percent).

While the prospective participants acknowledged the need for financial and other support services in Ethiopia — as well as transportation — the lack of compensation was not a major barrier to volunteering. The most important factors cited as contributing to a decision to volunteer were the clear definition of a project that utilizes the volunteer's skills and experience, access to resources and support while in Ethiopia, and the provision of transportation costs to and from Ethiopia.

The EDVP grew out of these recommendations and findings. The EDVP facilitates the placement of volunteer professionals from the Ethiopian diaspora in specific sites that lack the human resources necessary to combat HIV/AIDS. The program is structured as a partnership among several groups that each bring unique talents to the venture.

The American International Health Alliance (AIHA) is a nonprofit organization with experience placing volunteer health professionals in developing countries through its HIV/AIDS Twinning Center program, which is supported by the President's Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a US initiative that was first started in 2003 to combat the global AIDS epidemic.
The Network of Ethiopian Professionals in the Diaspora (NEPID), the North American Health Professionals Association, People-to-People, Inc., and the Ethiopian Infectious Disease Network are professional associations with extensive contacts in the Ethiopian diaspora and medical professional communities.
Finally, Visions is a nonprofit organization that coordinates the project with AIHA and the various professional and community groups.

The Twinning Center office in Ethiopia identifies potential volunteer placements, surveys their specific human resource needs, and jointly develops scopes of work for each volunteer assignment (see Figure 1). Partnering community-based organizations and professional networks leverage existing networks among the diaspora to identify and recruit volunteers. In addition, volunteers are identified through an online portal and database maintained by NEPID.

Meanwhile, Visions assists in the matching and selection of volunteers, while the Twinning Center provides travel-related logistical support, orientation, monitoring, and ongoing assistance throughout the volunteer mission. AIHA provides volunteers with a monthly stipend to cover living and housing expenses.

The program has two principal objectives: to increase awareness among diaspora professionals of Ethiopia's national HIV/AIDS campaign and inform them of opportunities to become involved in volunteer assignments in Ethiopia, and to increase the diaspora's participation in Ethiopia's efforts to strengthen its health systems and build capacities by placing health professionals from the diaspora in volunteer positions at government institutions, hospitals, and HIV/AIDS service organizations in Ethiopia.

Between September 2006 and December 2010, the program placed 45 volunteers in over 30 sites. Placements included the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), regional health bureaus throughout Ethiopia, local universities (particularly Addis Ababa University), the National AIDS Resource Center, Tikur Anbessa Hospital, and the University of Washington's International Training and Education Center for Health. These volunteers contributed a total of 552 months of volunteer time with an average volunteer assignment of around 12 months.

Volunteers performed a wide range of functions including developing pain treatment guidelines for the country's health professionals, building an online platform for the FMoH, performing outreach to foreign universities, refining and developing medical curricula for Ethiopia's teaching hospitals, and examining the country's anti-retroviral treatment program.

Guiding Principles and Lessons Learned

The guiding principles and lessons learned from the EDVP experience are drawn from questionnaire data collected from returned volunteers, site assessments and evaluations, exit debriefs with individual volunteers, focus group conversations with groups of volunteers, and insights from the program coordinators. Many are similar to good practices identified for other volunteer programs, while some are unique to diaspora volunteer programs.

1. Volunteers have diverse motives for undertaking a mission abroad.

Research points to at least six motivational factors that predict volunteerism: the opportunity to express values, a desire to improve understanding, to create or expand social networks, to advance career opportunities, to enhance ego and emotional wellbeing, and to support and assist a specific community.

In addition, personal factors and life circumstances have also proven to be highly relevant. For the individual volunteer, the literature suggests that ensuring a meaningful volunteer mission is central: volunteers must feel that they have developed substantive intrapersonal relationships and provided valuable services.

In the case of diaspora volunteers, all of these factors — in addition to personal engagements in the country of origin and, frequently, a desire to "pay back" — contribute to a high propensity and willingness to engage in volunteer work in their countries of origin. However, many volunteers also consider their engagement as a significant sacrifice requiring protracted absence from work and family life. On balance, the experience of EDVP suggests that volunteers from the Ethiopian diaspora — presumably similar to other diaspora volunteers — principally seek a meaningful personal experience rather than pecuniary rewards.

2. Individualized attention to the motivations of diaspora volunteers throughout the volunteer mission, from recruitment through return, leads to the selection of dedicated volunteers.

To address the individual needs and motivations of volunteers, and to ensure that the volunteer mission produced a meaningful experience, EDVP customizes work plans and volunteer missions. For instance, the EDVP designs volunteer opportunities specifically for academics on sabbatical, recent graduates, workers transitioning between jobs, and migrants exploring the idea of permanent repatriation to their country of origin.

This individualized attention, the program's coordinators believe, has led to an extraordinarily high retention rate. No volunteer has abandoned an ongoing mission: a rare feat for most volunteer programs in the developing world.

However, customization requires that the program invest substantial energy in interviewing and vetting prospective volunteers, as well as in identifying potential placement sites and developing detailed work plans for volunteers. Follow-up with the volunteers throughout their mission and for three to six months after their return is also required. This follow-up with volunteers — what the program's coordinators call case management — is considered a critical feature of the program, allowing coordinators to address challenges or issues as they arise rather than leaving problems to fester and lead to a negative experience for the volunteer.

3. Volunteer missions must meet the needs of both individual volunteers and the host sites to ensure sustainable impact.

Program coordinators — AIHA and Visions, in this case — must carefully balance the individual needs and motivations of volunteers with the human resource needs of host sites. The objective of the volunteer program is to build self-sustaining HIV/AIDS treatment capacity within Ethiopian health institutions. In this regard, the EDVP is designed as a tripartite partnership between the volunteers, the coordinators, and the host sites. The role of the coordinator is critical: not only as a placement service, but also to ensure that volunteers and hosts maximize the impact of the volunteer mission.

In the case of the EDVP, interviews were a crucial mechanism to understand the motivations and level of commitment of prospective volunteers and, the authors suspect, had enormous consequences for the success of volunteer missions. Equally, if not more important, has been the close collaboration and buy-in from Ethiopian government officials. By placing diaspora volunteers in policy development rather than just service-delivery positions — for example, as an advisor to the Ethiopian Health Minister — the program is able to influence local decision makers and is more likely to have a lasting impact.
In Their Own Words
Advice from volunteers:

"Prepare yourself to tolerate a variety of things, problems, and people. Don't compare the system to the United States or any other country. There are many layers to any situation and issue, and a lot of grey areas taking time to adjust."
"Interact with all people and don't be arrogant. Embrace other opinions."
"Be open and reactive and try to establish a good rapport with staff who have a lot of experience to share. You must be a self-starter and do not expect a lot of direction. Have a positive approach and people will be positive too. You can't change everything overnight but you can bring about positive change and new energy."

Advice from volunteer hosts:

"Since placement sites have limited resources for supervision, the volunteers should be independent, highly motivated, and self-starters who do not require close monitoring and supervision."
"The scope of work should reflect that volunteers need to concentrate in capacity building rather than simply doing project work; deliverables should be written as such."
"While privy to the scope of work and signed agreements between the Twinning Center and the volunteer, many placement site supervisors wanted to be familiar with the signed agreement (i.e., vacation, leave of absence provisions, travel, benefits, etc.)."

4. The most effective recruitment and management strategies for diaspora volunteers rely on deeply rooted personal relationships within diaspora communities.

The experience of EDVP suggests that the most effective way to recruit and manage diaspora volunteers is through partnerships with individuals and organizations that maintain deep personal ties in diaspora communities. These individuals are typically familiar with the particular challenges and issues for each diaspora community, and their participation promotes ownership by the diasporas.

In some instances, embassies or consulates can also serve a similar function as intermediaries, although where the diaspora is politicized or where a diaspora has little confidence in the country of origin government, partnership with diplomats can be counterproductive.

5. Even diaspora volunteers require orientation and careful attention to managing expectations.

Diaspora volunteers return to a country that has often changed substantially from the country they left, and the volunteers themselves have also likely changed during their tenure abroad. Diasporas often assume the workplace culture of the societies where they reside, rather than the societies where they originate. Local workers, for their part, view diasporas ambivalently, sometimes recognizing their achievements while being skeptical of their expertise at other times.

Similarly, diaspora volunteers often harbor outsized expectations regarding the impact or conditions of the volunteer mission, particularly accommodation, the level of supervision, and transportation. Many have spent extended periods of time away from the country of origin, or are unfamiliar with working conditions in the developing world. There is typically a narrow window of opportunity during which a professional can volunteer, and programs face the constant risk of losing that energy or enthusiasm and generating cynicism.

Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this conundrum beyond managing the expectations of volunteers and ensuring that they understand how their individual mission fits into a broader development strategy or diaspora engagement framework. This requires some degree of policy coordination and political buy-in. In the case of the EDVP, the initiative currently benefits from the support of Ethiopia's Health Minister and the United States' continued commitment to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the developing world.

EDVP has addressed these challenges by providing forums for diaspora volunteers to interact with each other and with experienced volunteers. Opportunities to share their experiences with other volunteers can help alleviate the personal stresses of return to the country of origin, and deliberate efforts must be taken to create and sustain networks that allow volunteers to collaborate and provide peer-to-peer support. These efforts can include providing electronic mailing lists and organizing periodic meetings to connect current volunteers with returned volunteer mentors. Small efforts — such as providing volunteers with official identification — can have a substantial impact on volunteers' experiences.

6. Continuing to engage the volunteer after a mission ends is essential.

There is clear value in retaining contact with volunteers for subsequent longer-term placements. Once an assignment has finished and the diaspora volunteer returns to his or her country of residence, the benefits of the placement may diminish. Careful efforts must be made to build lasting connections between the volunteer and the placement site to ensure sustainability. Encouraging return volunteers, subsequent volunteer missions, and virtual relationships are all viable options to this end.

Conclusion

Though not the first program of its kind, the EDVP is a powerful example of where diasporas, international donors, and developing countries have collaborated to address global development challenges and meet common needs.

Other efforts that have worked to mobilize diaspora volunteers to address development challenges include programs managed by The United Nations Development Program, the International Organization for Migration, the UK's Department for International Development, Voluntary Service Overseas, and Canadian University Service Overseas.

The experience of the EDVP confirms the lessons of many of these earlier programs, especially those related to the recruitment, placement, and management of this rather unique category of volunteers. It also faces many of the same challenges of these earlier diaspora volunteer programs, including those associated with scale and sustainability. As with all diaspora volunteer programs, coordinating the activities of donors, developing countries, diaspora groups, and volunteers requires deft administration.

In spite of these challenges, the potential of diaspora volunteers to help international and national development agencies meet the Millennium Development Goals is undeniable. Substantial volunteer activity is already underway via informal links and person-to-person contacts. However, greater coordination and cooperation among the various actors would likely improve these impacts and outcomes. Similar to other volunteer efforts, diaspora volunteers are an important tool among many others in the development policy arsenal.

This article was adapted from the report "Mobilizing Diaspora Volunteers for Public Health Capacity Building: Lessons Learned from the Ethiopian Diaspora Volunteer Program" by Tedla W. Giorgis and Aaron Terrazas and published by Visions for Development, Inc.



http://www.migrationinformation.org/USFocus/display.cfm?ID=845

'Very best in youth'


http://images.onset.freedom.com/vvdailypress/gallery/lodt44-lodsu6nestleaward28.jpg

Abigail Mariam headed to Harvard, career in public policy
July 15, 2011 8:39 AM

Natasha Lindstrom
Staff Writer

APPLE VALLEY • Abigail Mariam was in eighth grade when she was bit by the service bug.

Her uncle took her on a trip with his yoga group to serve peanut butter sandwiches to the homeless hanging around the former Forrest Park on Seventh Street in Victorville.

After experiencing firsthand what it felt like to help someone in need, she couldn't shake the urge to give back to the community.

Now barely 18 years old and headed to Harvard University in the fall, the Granite Hills High School graduate has had a hand in projects benefiting younger students, animal shelters, cancer survivors, Haitian earthquake victims, Ugandan children, troops overseas and patients and families at St. Mary Medical Center — to name a few.

“I'm kind of a service freak,” Mariam said. “If I go a day without doing some kind of kindness I feel like I’m a bad person.”

Mariam's commitment to service, along with her 5.0 academic record and stellar writing skills, have earned her the elite status as one of 23 students in the United States to be named 2011 Nestle's Very Best in Youth.

Now in its 14th year, the Nestle program recognizes young people who have shown leadership and initiative to make a positive impact on the world. A judging panel comprised of Nestle executives, community leaders, former winners and parents reviewed more than 3,500 applications to choose this year’s winners, according to Nestle spokeswoman Cristina Bastida.

The winners get $1,000 to donate to the charity of their choice.

The winners will also be profiled in the book “Making a Difference Today for a Better Tomorrow,” which will be distributed nationwide to schools and youth organizations that can point to students like Mariam as role models.

“Honestly I was very surprised when I was accepted because I was looking at the profiles of past winners and I was very humbled to think that I could be put in the same league as these other incredible, incredible kids,” Mariam said.

Mariam and her parents will travel to Universal City on July 23 for the Nestle awards ceremony. For more information, visit www.Nestle-VeryBestinYouth.com/winners.

http://www.vvdailypress.com/articles/best-28888-valley-very.html

:cheers:

I feel insufficient.

That's a compliment to her.

I feel insufficient.

That's a compliment to her.

:lol:

Hey it should be a motivation for you to work harder and may be even meet her when you go to Harvard :)

I'm proud of her. Thanks for sharing Enkelfam.

:lol:

Hey it should be a motivation for you to work harder and may be even meet her when you go to Harvard :)

Hey, I plan to go to Yale!

Ethiopia Habtemariam to head Universal Music's Motown label

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/2264/ethiopiah.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/ethiopiah.jpg/)

After years adrift, Motown and Def Jam are seeking new leadership to restore their mojo.

As early as next week Universal Music Group, Motown’s parent, will tap Ethiopia Habtemariam to head the label, people close to the matter confirm to TheWrap.

A top executive from Universal’s music-publishing arm, Habtemariam in early 2010 was responsible for wooing Justin Bieber into a global publishing deal.

Similarly, the appointment of an uber-artistic leader is looming at Def Jam, also owned by Universal Music Group, though no final candidate has yet been chosen.

The world’s largest music company is said to be narrowing a list of veteran hip-hop talent scouts, managers and label execs that include Chris Hicks, currently Def Jam’s executive VP, as well as outsiders Kevin Liles, Irv Gotti, “Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua and Chris Lighty.

At both Motown and Def Jam, the changes come amid wrenching deliberations.

“The ultimate goal is to get the labels working again,” a top Universal insider told TheWrap.

How to do so was a matter of extensive debate over artistic direction among the incoming Habtemariam and Universal’s top corporate and divisional executives, according to knowledgeable insiders and outsiders.

Should Motown be youth-driven and home to artists of all races? Or should it find rebirth by appealing to an older audience with more mature African-American artists attuned to the label’s legacy?

That argument between Habtemariam and her new boss Barry Weiss was settled by deciding to pursue both audiences.

For Def Jam the questions were different:

Should the new leadership be focused solely on developing artists and hits, or should it be a multitasker in line with the emerging 360-label model that encompasses all facets of an artist’s career -- including merchandising, Madison Avenue and movies?

To be sure, both labels need new leases on life after historic success has turned to hears of doldrums.

Under pioneering impresario Berry Gordy Jr., the “Motown Sound” became a dominant and glossy soundtrack of the tumultuous '60s. Born in 1959, the label introduced legendary acts ranging from the Temptations and Stevie Wonder to the Jackson Five and the Supremes.

Most important, it bridged music’s historic racial divide, with whites joining black fans in openly and enthusiastically embracing its mass-appeal style of rhythm and blues.

Similarly, a quarter-century later, college friends Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin began establishing Def Jam as a force in American culture, introducing “loud, abrasive, anti-R&B, anti-commercial hip-hop,” as Simmons recalled to TheWrap. Def Jam remained vital into the early years of this century.

But both labels began to falter after their initial leadership teams sold and departed or -- in Gordy’s case -- shifted their attention.

Motown, for example, has never again amassed a bevy of superstar artists or regularly cracked the top end of the charts. And the office of the top Motown executive has had a revolving door.

Now Habtemariam is poised to succeed Sylvia Rhone. The pioneering female music executive, as TheWrap first reported this spring, exited the label under a broader management shakeup by new corporate and divisional leadership of the parent company.

But according to people involved in the process, significant differences in strategy had to be bridged between Habtemariam, who will retain her duties at Universal Music Publishing, and the executive to whom she will report, Barry Weiss (left).

Said one knowledgeable individual: “She and Barry had a real fight.”

Recently hired away from Sony Music Group as top exec of Universal Music's division of East Coast-based labels, Weiss made his name at Jive Records, first with hip hop (Whodini, DJ Jazzy, A Tribe Called Quest) and R&B (R. Kelly and Aaliyah). Later, Jive signed pop acts --Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and Britney Spears.

With her background in music publishing and a sharp focus on discovering hit talent, Habtemariam envisioned Motown as a magnet for the young trendy stars who appeal to the industry’s core youth audience.

She “strongly believed Motown should be youth-driven,” an individual close to the executive told TheWrap. “It’s all about youth. They’re the ones who open the doors."

Similarly, Habtemariam wanted to move forward with acts regardless of race.

Weiss, on the other hand, wanted to recapture the flavor of Motown’s past -- and appeal to an older audience, says an influential music executive consulted on the issue.

“He was talking about trying to sign Babyface,” the middle-aged singer, songwriter and producer whose heyday was years ago. “Barry wanted to sign old middle-age acts. Ethiopia said, ‘Nobody is looking for them. I want to sign hit records.’"

Ultimately, the compromise was to have both ends of the generational spectrum -- “a happy marriage, a mixture of the old and the new,” the source confirmed.

In filling the leadership role at Def Jam, Weiss had to consider the views of influential outsiders, including Simmons -- an iconic figure not only in rap music, but the broader hip-hop culture.

“Barry is interested in finding an African-American executive who is part of the (hip-hop) culture and would be a great asset to Def Jam,” Simmons told TheWrap. “What you need is a smart artist manager who knows the Def Jam culture and has built brands. You need that type of person because the future of the record business is the 360-deal.”

“Hopefully, the job goes to someone profoundly interested in rediscovering the original architecture under the original architects, Russell and Rick,” said Lyor Cohen, a top executive of Warner Music Group who got his start in music at Simmons’ Rush Management decades ago.

According to people close to Weiss, he’s cool to the idea of a talent manager, though the list of rumored candidates includes two prominent ones -- Lighty, who manages superstar 50 Cent, and Kyambo Joshua, who co-founed the management firm Hip Hop in 1978, and whose clients include Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Drake.

Weiss, instead, wants a strong creative manager who’d been exclusively focused on artists, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.

But mindful of the significance of brand building, he is establishing a separate division for that purpose in the umbrella Island Def Jam label amalgam that houses Def Jam.

Perhaps on that note, everyone will end up in the same groove at two labels overdue for some upbeat news.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/24/idUS196217564220110724

:eek: An Ethiopian running Motown. We've officially taken over. This deserves to be posted in the Oasis, I'd love to see Kreed's reaction!

Let's hope Ethiopia signs some "eskista artists", let's make it mainstream. :lol:

Let's hope Ethiopia signs some "eskista artists", let's make it mainstream. :lol:

Woah there, Yoniii, this is just one Abesha, we haven't nationalized it or anything!

Sara Haile-Mariam
I don't know whether this is already posted, but this girl got a future in US politics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX-h3V4cTyk&feature=related

He's building a plane from scarp metal in his parents' garage at 16!

News story: http://www.diretube.com/abc-news/a-young-ethiopian-building-his-own-aircraft-in-melbourne-australia-video_2696beb6d.html

An habesha with an Australia accent is a bit strange to my ears lol.

Hey, I plan to go to Yale!

Govaz! Ya agare lijouch.:cheers:

Solomon Assefa, 32

Replacing wires with light in chips

http://www.technologyreview.com/files/68630/0911-TR35-Assefa_x616.jpg

Chips that communicate with pulses of light instead of electrical signals could lead to computers that are more power-efficient than today's best machines and up to 1,000 times as fast. IBM researcher Solomon Assefa has brought this prospect a critical step closer.

Assefa has developed a new way to make a photodetector, a very sensitive device that amplifies optical signals and converts them into electrical signals that can be shuttled around in a microprocessor. Ordinarily, photodetectors are made using a process called chemical vapor deposition. But sticking with this process for chip-to-chip connections would make microprocessor manufacturing prohibitively expensive. Instead, Assefa seeds germanium onto a silicon wafer, and then melts it to achieve the regular crystal structure that makes for a good photodetector material. He has also determined when in the chip manufacturing process the photodetector should be added in order to get the best performance possible without degrading the surrounding electronics.

Assefa can demonstrate the performance of his photodetector in the lab. But before a chip incorporating his creation can be commercialized, he will have to figure out how all the rest of its elements can be integrated efficiently. Making today's integrated circuits requires hundreds of steps and dozens of lithographic masks, the stencils used to pattern features on chips. "We don't want to change any of these processes or it really increases the costs," he says.


http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/profile.aspx?trid=1113&mod=tr35_scroll

I hope he succeeds. It's both satisfying and saddening to read about such accomplished people. Saddening because it makes you wonder how many such intelligent, innovative people are wallowing in Ethiopia without any hope of accomplishing anything.

Not your usual fare...

How an Ethiopian slave became a South African teacher

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54806000/jpg/_54806241_51_bisho_jarsa.jpg

When Neville Alexander used to visit his maternal grandmother Bisho Jarsa as a boy, he never suspected the extraordinary story of how she had come from Ethiopia to the South African city of Port Elizabeth.

Bisho was one of a group of Ethiopian slaves freed by a British warship in 1888 off the coast of Yemen, then taken round the African coast and placed in the care of missionaries in South Africa.
"We were overawed in her presence and by the way she would mumble to herself in this language none of us understood," recalls Mr Alexander, now 74.

This was Ethiopia's Oromo language, Bisho's mother tongue, which she reverted to as she grew older.
Mr Alexander, who was a political prisoner in the 1960s, sharing Robben Island with Nelson Mandela, is today one of South Africa's most eminent educationists.

He remembers his younger siblings asking their mother, Dimbiti: "What's Ma talking about... what's the matter with her? What's she saying?"

Their mother would respond: "Don't worry about Ma... she's just talking to God."
When he was in his late teens, his mother told him about his Ethiopian origins but Mr Alexander thinks even she may not have known all the details, which he only discovered when he was in his fifties.
He found out that the freed Ethiopians had all been interviewed on their arrival in South Africa.

The story began on 16 September 1888, when Commander Charles E Gissing, aboard the British gunship HMS Osprey, intercepted three dhows carrying Ethiopians to the slave markets in the Arabian port of Jeddah.

Sold for maize

Commander Gissing's mission was part of British attempts to end the slave trade - a trade that London had supported until 1807, when it was abolished across the British Empire.

All the 204 slaves freed by Commander Gissing were from the Oromo ethnic group and most were children.

The Oromo, despite being the most populous of all Ethiopian groups, had long been dominated by the country's Amhara and Tigrayan elites and were regularly used as slaves.

Emperor Menelik II, who has been described as Ethiopia's "greatest slave entrepreneur", taxed the trade to pay for guns and ammunition as he battled for control of the whole country, which he ruled from 1889 to 1913.

Bisho Jarsa was among the 183 children found on the dhows.

She had been orphaned with her two brothers, as a result of the drought and disease that swept through Ethiopia in 1887, and left in the care of one of her father's slaves.

But the continuing threat of starvation resulted in Bisho being sold to slave merchants for a small quantity of maize.

After a journey of six weeks, she reached the Red Sea, where she was put on board one of the Jeddah-bound dhows intercepted by HMS Osprey.

Her first memory of the British was the sound of automatic gunfire blasting into the sails and rigging of the slave dhow while she huddled below deck with the other Oromo children.

They all fully expected to be eaten as this is what the Arab slave traders had told them would happen if they were captured by the British.

But Commander Gissing took the Oromo to Aden, where the British authorities had to decide what to do with the former slaves.

The Muslim children were adopted by local families. The remaining children were placed in the care of a mission of the Free Church of Scotland - but the harsh climate took its toll and by the end of the year 11 had died.

The missionaries sought an alternative home for them, eventually settling on another of the Church's missions, the Lovedale Institution in South Africa's Eastern Cape - on the other side of the continent.
Bisho and the rest of the children reached Lovedale on 21 August 1890.

The missionaries recorded detailed histories of the former slaves, educated them and baptised them into the Christian faith.

Mandela fascinated

Life was tough here too, however, and by 1903, at least another 18 of the children had died.

In that year, the Lovedale authorities asked the survivors whether they would like to return to Ethiopia.

Some opted to do so, but it was only after a protracted process, involving the intervention of German advisers to Emperor Menelik, that 17 former slaves sailed back to Ethiopia in 1909.
The rest had by this time married or found careers and opted to stay in South Africa.

Bisho was trained for domestic service, but she must have shown signs of special talent, because she was one of only two of the Oromo girls who went on to train as a teacher.

In 1902 she left Lovedale and found a position at a school in Cradock, then in 1911 she married Frederick Scheepers, a minister in the church.

Frederick and Bisho Jarsa had a daughter, Dimbiti. Dimbiti married David Alexander, a carpenter, and one of their children, born on 22 October 1936, was Neville Alexander.

By the 1950s and 60s he was a well-known political activist, who helped found the short-lived National Liberation Front.

He was arrested and from 1964 until 1974 was jailed in the bleak prison on Robben Island.
His fellow prisoners, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, were fascinated by his part-Ethiopian origins but at the time, he was not aware that his grandmother had been captured as a slave and so they could not draw any comparisons with their own fight against oppression.

So what did he feel when he found out how is grandmother had ended up in South Africa?
"It reinforced my sense of being an African in a fundamental way," he told the BBC.

Under apartheid, his family was classified as Coloured, or mixed-race, rather than African.
"We always struggled against this nomenclature," he said.

He also noted that it explained why he had often been mistaken for an Ethiopian during his travels.
The strongest parallel he can draw between his life and that of his grandmother is the role of schooling.

"Her real liberation was not the British warship but the education she later received in South Africa," he said.

"Equally, while on Robben Island, we turned it into a university and ensured that all the prisoners learned to read and write, to prepare them for their future lives."

Do you know any of the 17 people who returned to Ethiopia in 1909? If you do, please use the form to contact the author.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14357121

Solomon Assefa, 32

Replacing wires with light in chips

http://www.technologyreview.com/files/68630/0911-TR35-Assefa_x616.jpg




http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/profile.aspx?trid=1113&mod=tr35_scroll

Way to go man! I'm proud to say i was at his wedding last year in Seattle :)

^^ Here's an interview with the young scientist.

New York (Tadias) – Ethiopian-American Solomon Assefa was recently chosen by Technology Review as one of 35 innovators under 35. His research focuses on developing more power-efficient and faster supercomputers by using chips that communicate via pulses of light rather than electrical signals. We interviewed Solomon briefly and asked him to share a bit more about himself and his insights on technological innovation.

Tadias: Tell us a bit about yourself. Where you grew up, went to school, what were your early passions?

Solomon: I was born and raised in Ethiopia. I completed elementary and high school in Addis Ababa (Del Betegel then later ICS). I then moved to the U.S. where I obtained a B.S., M.Eng, and PhD from MIT. Prior to attending MIT, I often thought about practicing law similar to my eldest brother. But I later realized that I enjoyed math, science and engineering.
Continue:
http://www.tadias.com/08/24/2011/interview-with-solomon-assefa-one-of-the-35-world%E2%80%99s-top-young-innovators/

From (Del Betegel then later ICS)....to MIT

Del Betegel .....:lol: That is not DELL computer!

Good for him!
But and however, I just can't see why he is so special. Probably his age...! Past and present research in optical interconnect is ordinary. Every engineer and scientist around the World has given it a go with an end result of a polished nice scientific publication - no more and no less! Solomon is now in the same league.

I dare Solomon to walk the walk, cut the BulShi and deliver me a laptop with all the fancy nano-crap and super interconnects....:lol: Then, and then only, I shall bow to him as The Lord of the Quantum World.

San Jose to Mark Ethiopian New Year With Flag Raising Ceremony – Thursday at noon

http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/EAC-flag-raising-pic_cover.jpg

http://www.tadias.com/09/06/2011/san-jose-to-mark-ethiopian-new-year-with-flag-raising-ceremony/


The abesha community in California is on point. :cheers:


And here are a few pictures of the street festival on Sunday Sep 4th, in LA's Little Ethiopia

http://www.tadias.com/09/06/2011/photo-journal-little-ethiopia-street-festival/

Born in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and living in Germany since 1987 he is multimedia designer. He owns admassDesign and publish his work through his website admassu (http://www.admassu.de/). He owns another online magazin called LISSAN (http://lissanonline.com/). Lissan publish different opinions and life experience, u r welcomed to subscribe and post ur thoughts and can serve as an outlet for ur talent.

some of his work are really fascinating and he is open for joint venture. So u r encoraged to visit his website and if you have any idea working with him u can find his contact address from his webpage www.admassu.de

Obama Honors Physicist Solomon Bililign With Presidential Award for Excellence


http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bililign_Solomon_Dr_06a_cover1.jpg


WASHINGTON, DC (TADIAS) – When Physicist Solomon Bililign was a young teacher imprisoned in Ethiopia during the “Red Terror” era, he never imagined that he would one day receive a Presidential Award in the United States.

Now a professor at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Dr. Bililign is one of nine individuals whom President Obama this week named recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. The honorees will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year. The award recognizes the role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science and engineering. According to the White House, candidates are nominated by colleagues, administrators, and students at their home institutions.

“Through their commitment to education and innovation, these individuals are playing a crucial role in the development of our 21st century workforce,” President Obama said. “Our nation owes them a debt of gratitude for helping ensure that America remains the global leader in science and engineering for years to come.”

“I am humbled by the honor,” Dr. Bililign said in an interview with Tadias Magazine following the announcement. “I am just one of thousands of mentors who happened to be nominated.” He added: I am sure there a lot more deserving mentors. The recognition would motivate me to do more.”



Dr. Bililign said that success in science, engineering or math is not as glamorous as success in performing arts or sports in the U.S., but the economic competitiveness of the nation, depends on a solid foundation in the sciences. “Young people need to be encouraged, pushed, persuaded to do it,” he said. “Not for the money or fame but for the love of discovery and innovation. I believe every one has a gift, and a mentor’s role is to identify the gift and nurture it.”

Dr. Bililign was born in Dessie, Ethiopia. He left the country in 1987 to pursue a PhD in Physics at the University of Iowa. “Both my parents were teachers,” he said. “They are actually the first graduates of the Debre Berhan Teachers Training program then run by the US Point Four program.” He continued: “Their first assignment was in Mekele, Northern Ethiopia where they started school under a tree by collecting shepherds from the field… that modest start grew into a big elementary school where my father served as a Principal for over 10 years and my mother taught home economics, until they transferred to Dessie. I did all my school grades one through eleven at Atse Yohannes Elementary and Secondary School.”

Dr. Bililign said he followed in his parents footsteps to be trained as a high school teacher and joined the Prince Bede Mariam Laboratory School in grade eleven. “ I graduated as a physics teacher from Addis Ababa University (AAU), but ended up as a graduate assistant at AAU and taught there as a lecturer for several years,” he said.

But Dr. Bililign’s life-journey has not always been easy. He was imprisoned and tortured during the “Red Terror” era. His father died in a car accident on his way to visit his son in prison.

“While no one had to go through [what I went through], I think I have turned that negative and hard experience to my advantage, where I spend most of my time teaching young prisoners during the day and prison guards during the night, trying to give hope in a seemingly hopeless situation, and keeping myself busy and overcoming negative feelings and bitterness,” he said. “The experience also gave me time to reflect on my life and see the bigger picture in life.”

And what is his advise to a new generation of aspiring scientists? “For the young people who are intimidated by the hard work needed in science, math and engineering, I say nothing in life is easy, it is all about deciding to do it with passion. Every thing will give up its secrets if you love it enough,” he said.

We congratulate Professor Solomon Bililign on his accomplishments.



http://www.tadias.com/11/17/2011/obama-honors-physicist-solomon-bililign-with-presidential-award-for-excellence/

Impressive, I hope Academics like him move back when they retire to support institutions within their fields of expertise.

http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20111127&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=311270040&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&American-dream-eludes-foreign-born-taxi-drivers-Nashville

Adugna Denbel came to America “expecting a better opportunity.”

After fleeing his native Ethiopia for Kenya to escape ethnic tensions that made him feel like “a second citizen,” Denbel decided to move to Nashville in 2004 to reunite with his stepdaughter. He quickly found a place in an industry he knew well from Africa: driving people around.

“Wherever I go, I am always hunting for my own business,” Denbel said while waiting in his taxi to pick up a fare outside the Renaissance Nashville Hotel on Wednesday.

Seven years after arriving here, Denbel, 61, is still seeking a better opportunity — and a better business model. He’s leading a group of 61 cab drivers from Ethiopia — each of them a U.S. citizen or in the process of becoming one — who have applied to Metro government for the chance to form Volunteer Taxi, which would be Nashville’s first driver-owned cab company.

The drivers, who own their cabs and pay to fuel, maintain and insure them, say they know the city and what customers want. They argue that they can create a better economic arrangement for themselves through a cooperative, not-for-profit company that would keep their costs down.

Like generations of immigrants before them, the drivers see America as a land of tremendous possibilities. But what they’ve encountered in their efforts to gain a foothold in Nashville leaves them wondering whether newcomers in pursuit of more comfortable lives for themselves and their families are given the encouragement — and, more important, access to markets — they need to make a go of it.

The Ethiopian drivers ran into resistance this month from owners and drivers with the city’s five existing taxi companies and from the understaffed Metro Transportation Licensing Commission, the industry’s regulatory agency, which deferred a vote until Dec. 20.

Robbie Mann, who works for United Cab, which his father owns, said the Volunteer Taxi group hasn’t been able to justify entering the market with 81 new taxi permits. He said the demand for that much business simply isn’t there yet.

“Why flood a market that’s already not sustaining what’s there?” Mann said in an interview, echoing what a number of other industry players said at the licensing commission’s public hearing on Nov. 15.

Not so fast, said Chris Wage, director of operations for Centresource, a Web design and development company. Wage said it’s often difficult to get a cab, even in Germantown, his neighborhood just north of downtown.

“If you live in an area that’s not regularly patrolled by cabs, it’s easily 30 minutes — if they show up at all,” he said.

Other people in the industry don’t necessarily agree that the market is saturated, either. But they say Volunteer Taxi and the other groups trying to break in — Green Cab and Green Light — aren’t the best solutions.

“We agree that there ought to be more cabs available to the public, and we’re in the best position to provide them,” said Gif Thornton, a lawyer representing Taxi USA of Tennessee, which owns Nashville Cab, Allied Cab and 1-800Taxicab and is seeking 40 new taxi permits. “We’ve demonstrated the ability to meet the need.”
Expenses are high

Taxi drivers not only own, refuel, maintain and insure their vehicles — which tend to be vans rather than sedans these days — but also pay a weekly “lick” to their companies, no matter how much money they’re making from fares.

Denbel said the lick at Music City Cab, for which he drives the No. 72 cab, is $150 a week. Mann said the payment is the same at United Cab. Taxi USA’s lick is $205 per week, executive Jim Church said.

Drivers say all those costs make it difficult to do much more than pay the bills. Del Ambaw, another Volunteer Taxi organizer, said he made $600 in a good week and $200 to $300 in a bad one before he was dismissed by his company, which had discovered his involvement in the new organization.

Denbel, who said he spends $30 to $40 a day on gas and often works from 4:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. or later while shuttling between hotels, the airport and other spots, said it’s impossible to put any money toward savings or retirement. He and his wife, who works for The Picnic Cafe, live in South Nashville.

“There is no savings,” he said. “Just existence.” <<Well put, Obbo Dembel.

With no profit motive, Volunteer Taxi would be able to keep the weekly payment relatively low and reduce it whenever possible, Denbel said. The driver-owned company, whose 61 founding members have pulled together $542,000 of their own money, also would try to find an affordable group health insurance policy and start a garage for repairs and a wrecker service.

But existing taxi company owners say the lick doesn’t just go in their pockets. Michael Solomon, another executive with Taxi USA of Tennessee, said the company puts much of it toward marketing, which generates business for the drivers. Mann said United Cab uses some of the money to pay taxes.

“Everything they pay us isn’t a profit,” he said.
Market isn't free

At the public hearing, Metro Councilwoman Karen Johnson said Volunteer Taxi should be allowed into the taxi industry because free enterprise is the American way.

“The more, the better,” she said.

But Nashville’s industry isn’t really set up as a true free market, said Thornton, the Taxi USA attorney. The Transportation Licensing Commission decides who can start a new company and how many cab permits each company gets.

“Anybody who wants to enter has to go through the regulator,” Thornton said.

Volunteer Taxi’s attorney, Paul Soper, said Metro’s system is antiquated, putting Nashville behind other big cities. The licensing commission should issue permits to the drivers themselves rather than to the companies, he said.

Brian McQuistion, the licensing commission’s executive director, disagreed. He said bigger cities have more employees, who can keep up with all the cabs and drivers. And cities with “medallion” systems, in which the purchase of an aluminum plate gives the buyer the right to operate a cab, have their own drawbacks, he said.

“The people who get those medallions are lawyers in tall buildings, bankers, other businesspeople who buy up bunches of them as an investment, and then they lease those medallions to people who pay a huge amount more than the lick, I can guarantee you,” he said. “And they’re just leasing the medallion. They still have to find and pay some company to do dispatching for them, and do marketing for them, and all the other things that, here, that one company does.

“I think there’s just misinformation or lack of understanding on their part as to what is really involved in the medallion system.”

Two New York taximedallions were sold for$1 million each last month, The New York Times reported, noting that the value of an average medallion has increased 1,900 percent in the past 30 years.

Nashville’s system isn’t perfect, but it’s not uncommon for cities of its size, McQuistion said.

“It’ll probably be here forever, because the medallion system, unless taxpayers want to pay for a lot of staff here, is probably unacceptable.”

McQuistion said his staff is already too busy to keep up with any more taxi permits. He said he’ll probably ask for more positions in his budget request for the next fiscal year, though other demands on the city’s tight resources could limit his chances. But Soper said demand, not staffing levels, should drive the licensing commission’s decisions about applications.

The commission hasn’t accepted any applications to start new companies in McQuistion’s eight years as executive director, though some existing companies have received additional permits, he said. Daniel Horwitz, a law student at Vanderbilt University who has been working with Volunteer Taxi for about a year, said he believes McQuistion is “a good, capable man who really does want to do what’s best.”

But the system is flawed because it’s essentially closed, Horwitz wrote in an email.

“It’s finally become obvious to everyone that drivers are being robbed blind by a licensing system that has granted a few players a virtual monopoly over Nashville’s taxi industry,” he wrote. “The patent unfairness of the current system, along with the public’s legitimate concern that the Commission is protecting the vested interests of multimillionaire owners at the expense of drivers, will ultimately prove to be too much for the Commission to ignore.”
Demand will rise

There are 585 taxi permits in Nashville now, up from 419 when McQuistion arrived in 2003. Volunteer Taxi says in its application that there should be one cab per 1,000 people in the city. The 2010 U.S. Census put Nashville’s population at 626,861, which would correspond to a need for at least 41 more cabs.

Soper said the 1-to-1,000 ratio “keeps coming up” in the licensing commission’s meeting minutes. But McQuistion said the ratio is “an urban legend.”

Terry Clements, a representative of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, agreed at the commission’s public hearing that the opening of the Music City Center in 2013 would be a good reason to increase Nashville’s taxi inventory. The convention center will have more than three times as much exhibit space as the city’s existing facility, allowing for bigger events with larger crowds.

The commission will meet again in about three weeks to decide if Volunteer Taxi gets to join the companies its founding members now drive for. While representatives of those companies say running a taxi business isn’t easy, Denbel said he and the other drivers know what it takes to be successful.

“We are owners,” he said. “We are drivers. We know the tastes of our customers. We know what satisfies them. We will be the right people to give the right service.”

Why is the taxi industry so closed? I had no idea it was like that. I assumed anyone could start a business.

Ethiopian NYU Student Wants to Convert Dog Poop into Fuel

http://www.diretube.com/uploads/articles/afe8bc2a.jpg

GREENWICH VILLAGE — Growing up in Ethiopia, Melody Kelemu always had dogs, a lawn where they could walk around by themselves and gardeners who took care of any mess man’s best friend left behind.


When she moved to the city to start college at New York University, the Neuroscience and Environmental Studies major watched as residents cleaned up after their dogs every day, and began to wonder how the waste could be put to better use.


Now the 21-year-old junior is applying for an NYU grant to put machines into dog parks that would turn waste into energy to power lamps — including in Washington Square Park.

“It gives people a greater sense of satisfaction to know that you are doing something great while at the same time using something from your dog,” said Kelemu, who lives on the Lower East Side.

Kelemu’s plan, dog owners would collect dog waste in a specially made biodegradable bag and toss it into a methane digester — a hermetically sealed tank where the dog feces are broken down by anaerobic bacteria. Methane gas is released in the process, fueling a gas-burning lamppost in the park.


The digester has no smell and can accommodate waste from as many as 200 dogs per day. It takes waste from approximately 10 dogs to fuel a lamp for one hour, she said.


The device consists of two tanks, the second of which will be used to hold overflow waste. Kelemu said she would like to get other NYU students on board to maintain the machines.

Kelemu is applying for a $20,000 Green Grant from NYU’s Sustainability Task Force to cover the initial costs of the project. She said she plans to build the digesters herself, at a cost of $2,000 each, and the rest of the money will pay for maintenance and the production of biodegradable bags.

She said she’ll build the machine out of a water storage tank and scrap metal.


Kelemu would like to place a digester in the dog run on the south side of Washington Square Park and in the Mercer-Houston dog park, at the northwestern corner of Mercer and Houston streets.

She hopes to install the machines inside area dog runs by the summer.http://www.diretube.com/articles/read-ethiopian-nyu-student-wants-to-convert-dog-poop-into-fuel_1306.html

The digester has no smell and can accommodate waste from as many as 200 dogs per day. It takes waste from approximately 10 dogs to fuel a lamp for one hour, she said.

Interesting.... its good for cleaning dog's poop but wondering about it's feasibility in long term. May be she should also try cattle's poo...

As Tastes Change in Harlem, Old-Look Liquor Store Stirs a Fight

Many neighbors agree that their genteel enclave of brownstones in the heart of Harlem does need a shop where they can pick up, say, a good cabernet for a dinner party.

But the liquor store seeking to open on Lenox Avenue near 119th Street is decidedly not what they have in mind.

With its roll-down steel gate, its bulletproof plexiglass to guard against robbers and drunken vagrants, and its flamboyant red-and-yellow sign, the store is a throwback to the old crime-ridden, ramshackle Harlem, some neighbors say, not the reborn Harlem they have been advancing during the past decade.

“We want to be Park Slope with charming little stores and become a destination for people,” said Ruthann Richert, a 25-year resident who is treasurer of a local group, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association. “A store like that is going to attract the people hanging out, drinking wine, so if you’re looking to buy a $30 bottle of wine, you’re not going to go in there.”

Laurent Delly, a Haitian-born engineer and real estate agent who is the association’s vice president, was especially unhappy with the sign.

“I wouldn’t use the word ghetto, but I would say it’s garish,” he said.

The association has gotten the city’s Department of Buildings to stop construction work at the liquor store, mostly because the owner did not get permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to change the appearance of the building, in what is designated the Mount Morris Park Historic District.

Berihu Mesfin, the owner of the liquor store, said his landlord had authorized the sign, which he said was similar to that of a beauty parlor that had been in the same space. He also said he had been advised to get plexiglass barriers for security. He said he was willing to make some changes to placate neighbors, but noted that he had already spent $3,500 on signage. “It’s expensive,” he said. “I have to talk to management.”

The advent of the liquor store has crystallized the tensions that flow from a neighborhood in metamorphosis. Almost every brownstone that in the 1980s was abandoned or city-owned is now fetching a price of $3 million, with individual condominiums going for $1 million. Residents include the poet Maya Angelou and the documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles.

Cafes, cheerful flower and toy shops, and fine restaurants like Settepani, where former President Bill Clinton had a birthday party, are taking over once-forlorn spaces. Crime in the 28th Precinct, which includes the area, has dropped by 70 percent in less than two decades, with 6 murders in 2010, compared with 41 in 1990. The ambience is Bloomsbury-like, calm and demure.

But what residents call the second Harlem Renaissance has made the neighborhood less congenial for poorer residents who may want a cheap liquor store, a bodega that accepts food stamps or a place to cash welfare checks.

“I don’t see a problem with liquor,” said Rooster Pickering, a 65-year-old unemployed construction worker who was idling with three other men on a stoop next to the liquor store. “The smaller people, they’re trying to push them out.”

One woman who lives in a brownstone and who asked not to be identified said she worried that the campaign against the liquor store might take on an “elitist tone.”

Yet others argue that they have won the right to push for a more decorous neighborhood, having been pioneers when much of the area was in tatters and plagued by crack cocaine and violence.

“I feel I’ve earned my stripes,” said Leah Abraham, an Ethiopian immigrant who opened Settepani with her husband, Nino Settepani, 10 years ago and moved into a Harlem brownstone five years ago. “I was held up at gunpoint twice. I strongly believe I’m doing good in the community. Everybody wants the best.”

The struggle sometimes has a racial and class edge because gentrification has attracted an influx of white and black professionals and an outflow of poorer blacks. The historic district stretches over 16 blocks from West 118th Street to 124th Street, roughly taking in the west side of Lenox Avenue almost to Fifth Avenue. Its collection of Gilded Age town houses and Romanesque Revival churches is regarded as among the city’s grandest. (The park itself was renamed Marcus Garvey Park in 1973 after the Jamaica-born black nationalist leader.)

When Ms. Richert moved to Harlem in 1987, many of the buildings were boarded up, and she remembers kicking crack vials aside while walking with her two children.

All that changed with increasing investments and the steady stream of newcomers glad to pick up handsome brownstones for $250,000. The invigorated Mount Morris Park neighborhood became a draw for sightseeing buses and movie locations. With its wide sidewalks, Lenox Avenue, also known as Malcolm X Boulevard, was once again thought of as “our Champs-Elysée,” Mr. Delly said.

Lenox Avenue still has ragged grocery stores, but members of the association view the liquor store as a brash newcomer that must obey the new unwritten rules.

“It’s not the business we disagree with, it’s the aesthetics,” Ms. Richert said.

Ms. Abraham said the liquor store owner thought he was doing good in opening the store.

“I don’t begrudge him that,” she said. “But he didn’t study the neighborhood. You could get away with this 20 years ago. You can’t today.”http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/nyregion/in-reborn-harlem-liquor-store-draws-complaints.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=Joseph+Berger+and+Harlem&st=nyt

This part of Harlem has quite a few Ethiopians. I've dined at Settepani numerous times - my cousin lives 2 blocks south of the restaurant (on Lenox) so I visit often. A few streets up, on 125th and Lenox, there is Marcus Samuelson's restaurant (Red Rooster). We never hear of NYC Ethiopians so I thought it'd be an interesting read.

^^ Interesting story, thanks for posting. Heres a pic of the liquor store by the way:

http://assets.dnainfo.com/generated/photo/2011/11/1322075613.JPG/image640x480.jpg

Thanks for the pic Yosef. It's definitely out of place in terms of how the neighborhood is changing.

Here's the Red Rooster:

http://blog.lisalindblad.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/RedRooster3.jpg

http://harlemgal2.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/alg_red-rooster-harlem.jpg


Here's Settepani:

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/8193/settepaniharlem.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/220/settepaniharlem.jpg/)




So as you can see, they are much more "upscale" looking than the liquor store.