ABC News

August 16, 2008

Michael Phelps wins 8th gold medal in a single Olympics, breaking tie with Mark Spitz

Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal Sunday at the Beijing Olympics as a member of the victorious U.S. 400-meter medley relay team, breaking a tie with Mark Spitz for most golds in a single games.

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Phelps and Jason Lezak won in a world-record of 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds, lowering the old mark of 3:30.68 set four years ago in Athens. Read More.

The Sydney Morning Herald

August 17, 2008

US voters may be tiring of the name Clinton, but the rest of the world has embraced the former president’s efforts to save the planet, writes Sarah Boseley.

He took off and left, an hour or so later, the same way he’d arrived – helicopter rotor blades driving a gritty dust storm from the dirt playing field into the faces of hundreds of Ethiopian hill villagers. They had waved and clapped and shaken the hand of a white-haired man who used to hold the most powerful office on the planet and who has just failed to help his wife secure it in her turn. Yet the people of Rema had no idea who William Jefferson Clinton was or what he was doing in their village.

One man knew the name, though his wife looked blank. “Clinton,” said Awke Tiruneh, whose hut the president had been due to visit but didn’t, because of the tight schedule powerful men run to. “He is from Germany.” It is the only foreign country Tiruneh has heard of. The outside world is the village on top of the next hill, a long, rocky walk down one mountain and up another.

Yet Clinton came to put Rema on the map, hailing it as a model for the developing world and a place that could teach the US a thing or two. Rema, in the northern highlands, is now the first solar-powered village in Ethiopia – a cluster of 1100 homes that shine in the dark evenings like white beads on a string. Every home has electric light from an energy-efficient LED bulb hanging from the straw ceiling.

Children can do schoolwork after 6pm while women weave the gabi – a white cotton head-to-toe wrap that is worn in church and in the evenings to keep out the cold (now Clinton has one, too). Read More.

The Lompoc Record
Photo by Ricki Rosen (The Jewish Journal)

By ARON HELLER

GONDAR, Ethiopia — Sitting in a leaky, flyblown hut, a few dozen Ethiopian villagers are anxiously waiting to be transported to another world.

They have just been given word that their years of waiting are over, and that soon they will make a 2,000-mile journey by land and air with what is probably the last wave of Ethiopian immigrants to Israel.

In doing so, they join generations of Jews who have immigrated to the Promised Land. But they are flying into the teeth of a dilemma that touches the heart of Israel’s founding philosophy.

For people like 48-year-old Abe Damamo, his wife and eight children, wrenching change awaits.

Like most Ethiopians with Jewish roots, they have come from the Gondar region of northern Ethiopia. Their remote village uses donkeys for transportation and has no bathrooms. Damamo has no formal education and speaks no language but his own.

He is moving to an industrialized democracy where he will have to learn Hebrew, master a cell phone, commute to work and find his place in a nation of immigrants from dozens of countries ranging from Argentina to Yemen, Australia to the United States. Read More.

By Tadias Staff

Published: Saturday, August 16, 2008

New York (Tadias) – A federal judge in New Jersey has declined to stop the new immigration rule that extends the optional practical training duration from 12 to 29 months for students with F-1 visas.

This is good news for foreign students. Opponents of the new rule had argued that extending the duration of the optional practical training (OPT), the period in which international students are allowed to work in the U.S., was another tactic to give foreign workers entry into the United States.

Annually more than 560,000 international students enroll in U.S. universities and about 40,000 are from sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia ranks sixth from the continent with 1,129 F-1 visas issued to Ethiopian students up until 2005. According to Paul Cantrell, Consular Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, the number of F-1 visas issued to Ethiopian students has increased in recent years. Last year, over 50% of Ethiopian applicants were approved and 500 students came to the U.S.

In comparison, there are approximately 1,00,000 Indian students on F-1 visas in this country.

According to the U.S. census bureau, 18 million students were enrolled in the nation’s colleges and universities last fall. This is up from 12.8 million 20 years ago.

TODAY’S ZAMAN

Ethiopian-born Elvan Abeylegesse made double Turkish history on Friday by becoming the first-ever Turk to win an Olympic silver medal in athletics.

This medal in the women’s 10,000-meter final also made her the first ever Turkish woman to win an Olympic medal in this discipline.

Elvan, who had led for much of the latter part of the race, ran home in second with a time of 29:56.34 minutes. American Shalane Flanagan took bronze in 30:22.22. Ethiopia’s world champion Tirunesh Dibaba won the gold in 29:54.66 — an Olympic record.

During a fast race Elvan and Dibaba were neck and neck going into the final six laps. But at the sound of the bell, Dibaba kicked out and held on to win.

Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey and Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene.
(Photo credit: Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)

Dibaba and Elvan now become only the second and third women to run under 30 minutes in the 10,000 after Chinese world record holder Wang Junxia, who set her mark in Beijing in 1993.

It is worthy to note that Eşref Apak, the bronze medalist in the men’s hammer throw in the 2004 Athens Games, was the first Turk to win an Olympic medal. Read More.

Above photo: Ethiopian monks on the roof of Christianity’s
holiest shrine in Jerusalem (Creative Commons Attribution).

Publisher’s Note:

Updated: August 16th, 2008

New York (Tadias) – The following piece first appeared in the context of the July 2002 brawl that erupted on the roof of Christianity’s most holy place between Ethiopian and Egyptian monks.

“Eleven monks were treated in hospital after a fight broke out for control of the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the traditional site of Jesus’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection”, wrote Alan Philps, a Jerusalem based reporter for the Daily Telegraph.

“The fracas involved monks from the Ethiopian Orthodox church and the Coptic church of Egypt, who have been vying for control of the rooftop for centuries.”

As part of our Ethiopian Millennium series on the relationship between Ethiopia and the African Diaspora, we have selected part of the original article from our archives with a hope that it may generate a healthy discussion on the subject.

Deir Sultan, Ethiopia and the Black World
By Negussay Ayele for Tadias Magazine

Above: Main entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (27/03/2005),
Easter Sunday. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

Unknown by much of the world, monks and nuns of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, have for centuries quietly maintained the only presence by black people in one of Christianity’s holiest sites—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.

Through the vagaries and vicissitudes of millennial history and landlord changes in Jerusalem and the Middle East region, Ethiopian monks have retained their monastic convent in what has come to be known as Deir Sultan or the Monastery of the Sultan for more than a thousand years.

Likewise, others that have their respective presences in the area at different periods include Armenian, Russian, Syrian, Egyptian and Greek Orthodox/Coptic Churches as well as the Holy See.

As one writer put it recently, “For more than 1500 years, the Church of Ethiopia survived in Jerusalem. Its survival has not, in the last resort, been dependent on politics, but on the faith of individual monks that we should look for the vindication of the Church’s presence in Jerusalem…. They are attracted in Jerusalem not by a hope for material gain or comfort, but by faith.”

It is hoped that public discussion on this all-important subject will be joined by individuals and groups from all over the world. We hope that others with more detailed and/or first hand knowledge about the subject will join in the discussion.

Above: Painting on the wall of the Ethiopian part of the church of the Holy
Sepulcher. Photo by Iweze Davidson.

Accounts of Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem invoke the Bible to establish the origin of Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem.

Accordingly, some Ethiopians refer to the story of the encounter in Jerusalem between Queen of Sheba–believed to have been a ruler in Ethiopia and environs–and King Solomon, cited, for instance, in I Kings 10: 1-13.

According to this version, Ethiopia’s presence in the region was already established about 1000 B.C. possibly through land grant to the visiting Queen, and that later transformation into Ethiopian Orthodox Christian monastery is an extension of that same property.

Others refer to the New Testament account of Acts 8: 26-40 which relates the conversion to Christianity of the envoy of Ethiopia’s Queen Candace (Hendeke) to Jerusalem in the first century A.D., thereby signaling the early phase of Ethiopia’s adoption of Christianity. This event may have led to the probable establishment of a center of worship in Jerusalem for Ethiopian pilgrims, priests, monks and nuns.

Keeping these renditions as a backdrop, what can be said for certain is the following: Ethiopian monastic activities in Jerusalem were observed and reported by contemporary residents and sojourners during the early years of the Christian era.

By the time of the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem and the region (634-644 A.D.) khalif Omar is said to have confirmed Ethiopian physical presence in Jerusalem’s Christian holy places, including the Church of St. Helena, which encompasses the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His firman or directive of 636 declared “the Iberian and Abyssinian communities remain there” while also recognizing the rights of other Christian communities to make pilgrimages in the Christian holy places of Jerusalem.

Because Jerusalem and the region around it, has been subjected to frequent invasions and changing landlords, stakes in the holy places were often part of the political whims of respective powers that be.

Subsequently, upon their conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the Crusaders had kicked out Orthodox/Coptic monks from the monasteries and installed Augustine monks instead. However, when in 1187 Salaheddin wrested Jerusalem from the Crusaders, he restored the presence of the Ethiopian and other Orthodox/Coptic monks in the holy places.

When political powers were not playing havoc with their claims to the holy places, the different Christian sects would often carry on their own internecine conflicts among themselves, at times with violent results.

Contemporary records and reports indicate that the Ethiopian presence in the holy places in Jerusalem was rather much more substantial throughout much of the period up to the 18th and 19th centuries.

For example, an Italian pilgrim, Barbore Morsini, is cited as having written in 1614 that “the Chapels of St. Mary of Golgotha and of St. Paul…the grotto of David on Mount Sion and an altar at Bethlehem…” among others were in the possession of the Ethiopians.

From the 16th to the middle of the 19th centuries, virtually the whole of the Middle East was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. When one of the Zagwe kings in Ethiopia, King Lalibela (1190-1225), had trouble maintaining unhampered contacts with the monks in Jerusalem, he decided to build a new Jerusalem in his land. In the process he left behind one of the true architectural wonders known as the Rock-hewn Churches of Lalibela.

Above: Lalibela. This image is licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution.

Above: Lalibela. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

Above: Lalibela. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

The Ottomans also controlled Egypt and much of the Red Sea littoral and thereby circumscribed Christian Ethiopia’s communication with the outside world, including Jerusalem.

Besides, they had also tried but failed to subdue Ethiopia altogether. Though Ethiopia’s independent existence was continuously under duress not only from the Ottomans but also their colonial surrogate, Egypt as well as from the dervishes in the Sudan, the Ethiopian monastery somehow survived during this period. Whenever they could, Ethiopian rulers and other personages as well as church establishments sent subsidies and even bought plots of land where in time churches and residential buildings for Ethiopian pilgrims were built in and around Jerusalem. Church leaders in Jerusalem often represented the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in ecumenical councils and meetings in Florence and other fora.

During the 16th and 17th centuries the Ottoman rulers of the region including Palestine and, of course, Jerusalem, tried to stabilize the continuing clamor and bickering among the Christian sects claiming sites in the Christian holy places. To that effect, Ottoman rulers including Sultan Selim I (1512-1520) and Suleiman “the Magnificent” (1520-1566) as well as later ones in the 19th century, issued edicts or firmans regulating and detailing by name which group of monks would be housed where and the protocol governing their respective religious ceremonies. These edicts are called firmans of the Status Quo for all Christian claimants in Jerusalem’s holy places including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which came to be called Deir Sultan or the monastery (place) of the Sultan.

Ethiopians referred to it endearingly as Debre Sultan. Most observers of the scene in the latter part of the 19th Century as well as honest spokesmen for some of the sects attest to the fact that from time immemorial the Ethiopian monks had pride of place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Deir Sultan). Despite their meager existence and pressures from fellow monks from other countries, the Ethiopian monks survived through the difficult periods their country was going through such as the period of feudal autarchy (1769-1855).

Still, in every document or reference since the opening of the Christian era, Ethiopia and Ethiopian monks have been mentioned in connection with Christian holy places in Jerusalem, by all alternating landlords and powers that be in the region.

As surrogates of the weakening Ottomans, the Egyptians were temporarily in control of Jerusalem (1831-1840). It was at this time, in 1838, that a plague is said to have occurred in the holy places, which in some mysterious ways of Byzantine proportions, claimed the lives of all Ethiopian monks.

The Ethiopians at this time were ensconced in a chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Deir Sultan) as well as in other locales nearby. Immediately thereafter, the Egyptian authorities gave the keys of the Church to the Egyptian Coptic monks.

The Egyptian ruler, Ibrahim Pasha, then ordered that all thousands of very precious Ethiopian holy books and documents, including historical and ecclesiastical materials related to property deeds and rights, be burned—alleging conveniently that the plague was spawned by the Ethiopian parchments.

Monasteries are traditionally important hubs of learning and, given its location and its opportunity for interaction with the wider family of Christendom, the Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem was even more so than others. That is how Ethiopians lost their choice possession in Deir Sultan.

By the time other monks arrived in Jerusalem, the Copts claimed their squatter’s rights, the new Ethiopian arrivals were eventually pushed off onto the open rooftop of the church, thanks largely to the machinations of the Egyptian Coptic church.

Above: The roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in
Jerusalem, where Ethiopians maintain the only presence
by black people in Christianity’s holiest shrine. This image
is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

Although efforts on behalf of Ethiopian monks in Jerusalem started in mid-19th Century with Ras Ali and Dejach Wube, it was the rise of Emperor Tewodros in 1855 in Ethiopia that put the Jerusalem monastery issue back onto international focus.

When Ethiopian monks numbering a hundred or so congregated in Jerusalem at the time, the Armenians had assumed superiority in the holy places. The Anglican bishop in Jerusalem then, Bishop Samuel Gobat witnessed the unholy attitude and behavior of the Armenians and the Copts towards their fellow Christian Ethiopians who were trying to reclaim their rights to the holy places in Jerusalem.

He wrote that the Ethiopian monks, nuns and pilgrims “were both intelligent and respectable, yet they were treated like slaves, or rather like beasts by the Copts and the Armenians combined…(the Ethiopians) could never enter their own chapel but when it pleased the Armenians to open it. …On one occasion, they could not get their chapel opened to perform funeral service for one of their members. The key to their convent being in the hands of their oppressors, they were locked up in their convent in the evening until it pleased their Coptic jailer to open it in the morning, so that in any severe attacks of illness, which are frequent there, they had no means of going out to call a physician.’’

It was awareness of such indignities suffered by Ethiopian monks in Jerusalem that is said to have impelled Emperor Tewodros to have visions of clearing the path between his domain and Jerusalem from Turkish/Egyptian control, and establishing something more than monastic presence there. In the event, one of the issues that contributed to the clash with British colonialists that consumed his life 1868, was the quest for adequate protection of the Ethiopian monks and their monastery in Jerusalem.

Emperor Yohannes IV (1872-1889), the priestly warrior king, used his relatively cordial relations with the British who were holding sway in the region then, to make representations on behalf of the Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem.

He carried on regular pen-pal communications with the monks even before he became Emperor. He sent them money, he counseled them and he always asked them to pray for him and the country, saying, “For the prayers of the righteous help and serve in all matters. By the prayers of the righteous a country is saved.”

He used some war booty from his battles with Ottomans and their Egyptian surrogates, to buy land and started to build a church in Jerusalem. As he died fighting Sudanese/Dervish expansionists in 1889, his successor, Emperor Menelik completed the construction of the Church named Debre Gennet located on what was called “Ethiopian Street.”

During this period more monasteries, churches and residences were also built by Empresses Tayitu, Zewditu, Menen as well as by several other personages including Afe Negus Nessibu, Dejazmach Balcha, Woizeros Amarech Walelu, Beyenech Gebru, Altayeworq.

As of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Century the numbers of Ethiopian monks and nuns increased and so did overall Ethiopian pilgrimage and presence in Jerusalem.

In 1903, Emperor Menelik put $200, 000 thalers in a (Credileone) Bank in the region and ordained that interests from that savings be used exclusively as subsidy for the sustenance of the Ethiopian monks and nuns and the upkeep of Deir Sultan. Emperor Menelik’s 6-point edict also ordained that no one be allowed to draw from the capital in whole or in part.

Land was also purchased at various localities and a number of personalities including Empress Tayitu, and later Empress Menen, built churches there. British authorities supported a study on the history of the issue since at least the time of kalifa (Calif) Omar ((636) and correspondences and firmans and reaffirmations of Ethiopian rights in 1852, in an effort to resolve the chronic problems of conflicting claims to the holy sites in Jerusalem.

The 1925 study concluded that ”the Abyssinian (Ethiopian ) community in Palestine ought to be considered the only possessor of the convent Deir Es Sultan at Jerusalem with the Chapels which are there and the free and exclusive use of the doors which give entrance to the convent, the free use of the keys being understood.”

Until the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930’s when Mussolini confiscated Ethiopian accounts and possessions everywhere, including in Jerusalem, the Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem had shown some semblance of stability and security, despite continuing intrigues by Copts, Armenians and their overlords in the region.

This was a most difficult and trying time for the Ethiopian monks in Jerusalem who were confronted with a situation never experienced in the country’s history, namely its occupation by a foreign power. And, just like some of their compatriots including Church leaders at home, some paid allegiance to the Fascist rulers albeit for the brief (1936-1941) interregnum.

Emperor Haile Sellassie was also a notable patron of the monastery cause, and the only monarch to have made several trips to Jerusalem, including en route to his self-exile to London in May, 1936.

Since at least the 1950s there was an Ethiopian Association for Jerusalem in Addis Ababa that coordinated annual Easter pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Hundreds of Ethiopians and other persons from Ethiopia and the Diaspora took advantage of its good offices to go there for absolution, supplication or felicitation, and the practice continues today.

Against all odds, historical, ecclesiastical and cultural bonding between Ethiopia and Jerusalem waxed over the years. The Ethiopian presence expanded beyond Deir Sultan including also numerous Ethiopian Churches, chapels, convents and properties. This condition required that the Patriarchate of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church designate Jerusalem as a major diocese to be administered under its own Archbishop.

Above: Timket (epiphany) celebration by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church on the Jordan River, considered to be the place where Jesus was
baptized. Jan. 1999. Photo by Iweze Davidson.

Ethiopia and Black Heritage In Jerusalem

For hundreds of years, the name or concept of Ethiopia has been a beacon for black/African identity liberty and dignity throughout the diaspora. The Biblical (Psalm 68:31) verse , “…Ethiopia shall soon stretch forth her hands unto God” has been universally taken to mean African people, black people at large, stretch out their hands to God (and only to God) in supplication, in felicitation or in absolution.

As Daniel Thwaite put it, for the Black man Ethiopia was always “…an incarnation of African independence.”

And today, Ethiopian monastic presence in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or Deir Sultan in Jerusalem, is the only Black presence in the holiest place on earth for Christians. For much of its history, Ethiopian Christianity was largely hemmed in by alternating powers in the region. Likewise, Ethiopia used its own indigenous Ethiopic languages for liturgical and other purposes within its own territorial confines, instead of colonial or other lingua franca used in extended geographical spaces of the globe.

For these and other reasons, Ethiopia was not able to communicate effectively with the wider Black world in the past. Given the fact that until recently, most of the Black world within Africa and in the diaspora was also under colonial tutelage or under slavery, it was not easy to appreciate the significance of Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem. Consequently, even though Ethiopian/Black presence in Jerusalem has been maintained through untold sacrifices for centuries, the rest of the Black world outside of Ethiopia has not taken part in its blessings through pilgrimages to the holy sites and thereby develop concomitant bonding with the Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem.

For nearly two millennia now, the Ethiopian Church and its adherent monks and priests have miraculously maintained custodianship of Deir Sultan, suffering through and surviving all the struggles we have glanced at in these pages. In fact, the survival of Ethiopian/Black presence in Christianity’s holy places in Jerusalem is matched only by the “Survival Ethiopian Independence” itself.

Indeed, Ethiopian presence in Deir Sultan represents not just Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity but all African/black Christians of all denominations who value the sacred legacy that the holy places of Jerusalem represent for Christians everywhere. It represents also the affirmation of the fact that Jerusalem is the birthplace of Christianity, just as adherents of Judaism and Islam claim it also.

The Ethiopian foothold at the rooftop of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the only form of Black presence in Christianity’s holy places of Jerusalem. It ought to be secure, hallowed and sanctified ground by and for all Black folks everywhere who value it. The saga of Deir Sultan also represents part of Ethiopian history and culture. And that too is part of African/black history and culture regardless of religious orientation.

When a few years ago, an Ethiopian monk was asked by a writer why he had come to Jerusalem to face all the daily vicissitudes and indignities, he answered, “because it is Jerusalem.”

—
About the Author:
Dr. Negussay Ayele is a noted Ethiopian scholar. He is the author of the book Ethiopia and the United States, Volume I, the Season of Courtship, among many other publications. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

The Washington Post

By Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Photo by Jonathan Newton — The Washington Post

Saturday, August 16, 2008; Page E01

BEIJING, Aug. 16 — There was no way, given how much ground Michael Phelps had to make up and how the pool was slipping away from him. He was involved in a 100-meter swimming race, this one in the butterfly stroke. Of eight swimmers at the midway point, he was seventh. The dream was about to die.

But over a beautiful, stunning final 25 meters, Phelps — the 23-year-old from Baltimore County who simply can’t lose — tracked down Serbia’s Milorad Cavic. History lived, Mark Spitz had company, by the slimmest of margins. Phelps touched in 50.58 seconds, winning his sevnth gold medal of these Beijing Olympics. The margin of victory over Cavic? One one hundredth of a second. Read More.

NYT
By KAREN CROUSE
Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times
Published: August 14, 2008

BEIJING — One of the few remaining men standing between Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz at the Beijing Olympics looks as if he should be working behind the counter of a video store, not racing to ruin Phelps’s cinematic ending. Read More.

40 Million Tune in to Watch Phelps on NBC (Variety)
By RICK KISSELL
Wed., Aug. 13, 2008

Auds stayed up late to watch history Tuesday night, as NBC drew its biggest crowd since the Opening Ceremony for the night’s primetime action, driven by Michael Phelps’ record-setting performance.

An average estimated aud of roughly 40 million were tuned in during the 10 o’clock hour to watch Phelps capture the 200-meter butterfly and his 10th career Olympic gold medal. And that aud swelled post-primetime, hitting 41.2 million in the 11 o’clock half-hour, which featured women’s gymnastics and another Phelps gold medal, this one as part of a relay team.

For the duration of its coverage Tuesday (8 p.m. to 12:19 a.m.), NBC averaged a 12.4 rating/34 share in adults 18-49 — the best for any night in these Games thus far, including the Opening Ceremony. In total viewers, it came in a bit below the 34.89 million for the opening-night event. Read more.

Bigger Fires Bring California to the Brink (MSNBC)

Photo: Gary Kazanjian / AP file

Aug. 13, 2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Faced with hundreds of big, hard-to-control blazes, California is struggling with what could be its most expensive firefighting season ever, burning through $285 million in the last six weeks alone and up to $13 million a day.

With the worst of the fire season still ahead, lawmakers are scrambling to find a way to pay for it all and are considering slapping homeowners with a disaster surcharge that asks those in fire-prone areas to pay the most.

“There is no more fire season as we know it — the fire season is now all year-round,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said while touring wildfires last month in Northern California. “That means that we don’t have enough resources.” Read More.

From The Addis Connexion

If you have been getting a headache trying to figure out when and where you can catch your Ethiopian athletes going for the gold in Beijing, you’re not alone. Between the time differences in the U.S., and NBC’s delayed coverage of most events and their confusing non-specific schedule listings, we’ve had the same problem.

But now that we’ve got it figured out, we thought we would share it with you. And happily, it appears that U.S. viewers will get to see at least the medal rounds for all of the events Ethiopian athletes are participating in. Read more.

Ethiopia’s Golden Girl: Dibaba Wins Women’s 10000m

From the Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

(BEIJING, August 15) — Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia has won gold and set a new Olympic record in the Women’s 10000m at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 15.

Dibaba’s time of 29:54.66 was enough to break the old record of 30:17.49 set by fellow Ethiopian Derartu Tulu and hold off silver medalist Elvan Abeylegess of Turkey (also born in Ethiopia) who ran a time of 29:56.34. Bronze went to Shalane Flanagan of the United States in a time of 30:22:22.

The world record of 29:31.78 seconds in this event is held by China’s Wang Junxia China, set in 1993. Read More.

The Golden Girl

Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene celebrates after crossing the line.
(Photo credit: Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)

Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey (born in Ethiopia) and Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene.
(Photo credit: Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)

Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene celebrates. (Photo credit: Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)

Dibaba planning long-distance double
Reuters

By Sabrina Yohannes

Thursday, August 14, 2008

BEIJING (Reuters) – World 10,000-metre champion Tirunesh Dibaba says she expects to run both the 10,000 and 5,000m events in Beijing, hoping to become the first woman to scoop the Olympic distance double.

In 2005 Dibaba became the first woman to win both races at a world championships when she led an Ethiopian podium sweep in both events in Helsinki.

She retained the 10,000 title in Osaka last year after suffering from abdominal pain mid-race but skipped the 5,000 days later.

“My expectation is that I will run both,” she told Reuters after arriving in Beijing. “It’s being said that it’s a little hot here, so the final decision will be made after the 10,000.” Read more at Guardian.

The Dallas Morning News

By ERIK HEINRICH
Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Photo: A woman weaves baskets near Axum’s Park of the Stelae in Ethiopia.
(Mark Sissons/Special Contributor)
Thursday, August 14, 2008

LOWER OMO VALLEY, Ethiopia – “Remember, take only what you need,” says Johnny, our driver from Addis Ababa whose real name is Yohanes Tsegaye.

As soon as I step out of the Toyota Land Cruiser, parked in the shade of flat-topped acacia, all hell breaks lose. A crowd of Mursi – a tribe best known for the giant lip plates worn by its women – comes charging at me from the village compound.

The Mursi are in a frenzy, not because they want to welcome me to their homes. Instead, they are after lucrative photo fees demanded of picture-taking tourists who have trekked to the village of Hail Wuha, on the edge of an escarpment in one of the most isolated and inaccessible regions of Africa.

“You! You! You!” they yell at me. I am surrounded by Mursi who appear as a blur of floppy lip plates, painted faces, naked breasts and animal skins. Read More.

Above: Members of the Jamaican community in Shashemene,
Ethiopia.

The Scotsman

By Tim Albone

Published Date: 14 August 2008

Shashemene, Ethiopia – WITH their flowing dreadlocks and blaring reggae music the Rastafarians in Shashemene look slightly out of place.

The beaches and rum bars of the Caribbean are just a distant memory, swapped for the dusty, landlocked streets of southern Ethiopia. Despite the town being crippled by a massive famine, the Rastas, as they are commonly known, insist they are home and happy.

Teddy Dan, 54, who is originally from Oxford and father to 16 children, told The Scotsman: “We are African. It’s eight years now, going on nine, since I returned home.”

Mr Dan is typical of many of the Rastas who call Shashemene home. A former reggae singer, he became disillusioned with life on the road and the materialistic lifestyle.

He said: “I went to school in England in the Seventies, we were taught all about the slave ships, but I thought there had to be more to this history than they taught in school.

“Coming home (to Shashemene] you see good people stay silent. We need good people to agitate for Africa, in Africa people are suffering more than all.”

Another Rasta, Papa Rocky, who has lived in Ethiopia for 30 years, holds a similar view.

He said: “I speak for the oppressed. I’ve been oppressed all my life, I’ve been beaten across my loins … I want to be what I am, an African.”

In 1947, in reward for their worship, Emperor Selassie gave the Rastas 500 hectares of prime land , 250km south of the capital Addis Ababa.

The first 12 families arrived in 1963, but after the overthrow of the emperor by Mengistu Haile Mariam, a Marxist military leader, the land was whittled down to 11 hectares.

However, the number of families has increased and today there are about 500 families, mainly migrants from the Caribbean, who all call Shashemene home.

The majority of Rastas live a holistic lifestyle, eating only vegetarian food and eschewing alcohol. Controversially, they also believe that marijuana is a gift from God. And their substantial intake of the drug has led to some suspicion from locals in Shashemene, many of whom believe that they have introduced it to their young. Read More.

Chicago Tribune

August 14, 2008

The Ex made their Chicago debut in 1994, and I’ll never forget it. Guitarists Terrie and Andy (most of the band doesn’t bother using last names) bounced around the stage like wayward pinballs. G.W. Sok sang like he wanted to strangle somebody. Drummer Katrin emerged from behind the kit to mesmerize with finger cymbals and a feral voice. The Dutch agit-punks had been recording steadily since 1979, but on this night at the late, great Lounge Ax, they sounded like a new band with something to prove.

The Ex has long been celebrated for its do-it-yourself approach to music-making, its political idealism and self-directed, corporate-free business approach. But at Lounge Ax, none of that mattered. The band simply pinned the audience’s ears back. And that’s just the way Andy the guitarist says it should be.

“The drive behind everything has been musical curiosity,” he says. “We’re typecast as this principled political band, but the first impulse for being a band and continuing to be a band is the music. We go into the rehearsal room to make new songs, and we feel like we redefine the band every time. That’s exciting. So how we measure success isn’t about whether we have hits or we’re famous or accepted by the right people, but about whether the music moves us.”

That passion has led the band to constantly seek out new avenues of expression. At their inaugural Chicago show, the Ex performed with avant-garde cellist Tom Cora – a combination that shouldn’t have worked, but somehow did. Recently the band forged another unlikely collaboration, this time with 73-year-old Ethiopian jazz saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria on a terrific CD, “Moa Anbessa” (Terp). The band’s rolling rhythms mesh brilliantly with Mekuria’s virile soloing, and the songs push both the punk band and the jazz giant into new territory.

“We’d been listening to Ethiopian music for years, and Terrie and I went over a few years ago because we wanted to make a plan to play there,” Andy says. “We found a really old cassette of Getatchew’s music in a market, and we contacted him through his label and invited him to play with us at our 25th anniversary show four years ago. It was fantastic. He told a friend, ‘I want to play with the Ex band.’ It was his idea to get together and record. It was a different tradition than he was used to, but he loved the energy we have.”

The Ex had a similar reaction to the saxophonist’s music and Ethiopian music in general. Though Western audiences have been exposed to an extent to West African music from Mali, Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria, which has a lighter tone, the music from the eastern side of the continent where Ethiopia lies is less widely known.

“It’s very hypnotic, and it shares some similarities with Rasta and Asian music,” Andy says. “It’s sweet, but there’s something snaky about the rhythms. We feel at home playing this music because, without realizing it, we have a similar approach. We create simple parts that interlock and build up to become quite complex and rich, which is similar to the way Ethiopian music works.” Read More.

The Zombie Chronicles

So after 24 hours of non-stop travel and almost 48 hours from a bed, I made it back to the land of safe vegetables and Diet Coke on Saturday afternoon. It was a long trip, but let’s recap the fun we had in Ethiopia.

One of things I like about travel is the unexpected things that you have to deal with in your new daily routine. Some are good, some are not so good.

The Good
An awesome alarm clock, probably the best in all of Ethiopia, that not only was a breeze to set each night, but also woke me up to “rousing” Ethiopian music each morning and I was able to hook my mp3 player up to it to use it as a stereo!

The best alarm clock in Ethiopia

Each night I got free treats in my room that rotated on a three night basis. One night was fruit, one was the dreaded veggies, and the other was dessert night! Some nights these desserts were so good that I would almost forget I was in the 3rd world.

Free dessert

A third thing, which is often common on these trips, is the lack of quality tv channels in my room, thus being forced to watch and enjoy stuff I might never take the time to watch. One such jewel was Black Adder! I had seen snippets of this show on BBC America or something every now and then, but since one of the four channels I watched was BBC Prime, I got to watch this show almost every night at 8:30. As a fan of most British tv shows, I must say this is one of the best. Plus, it stars the guy who would later go on to invent Mr. Bean, but talks a lot in this!

The Bad
Not everything at the Hilton was in “The Good” category. For instance, check out this nightmare inducing Children’s Menu! Is it just me or does this dog seem slightly sinister?!?!

Evil-childrens-menu

And then there was this in the bathroom… Is it a blow dryer or vacuum? Care to make any wagers?

Suck or blow

All in all, the trip was alright. If you or I ever end up in Ethiopia again, I’d highly recommend taking many trips outside of the capital Addis Ababa. The day I spent in the countryside was definitely one of my favorites and the stories and pictures from friends that took flights out to the regions made me jealous.

Ghana web

August 12th, 2008

Tamale (GNA) – Africa Welfare and Care Foundation (AWCF), a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) that assist the needy in society, is organising a 10-day health and peace walk to raise funds for the victims of war and other unfortunate crisis in Africa.

The walk, which started from Tamale on Tuesday, would end in Accra under the theme: “Africa Millennium Health and Peace Walk.” It aimed at raising one million dollars in support of peace, good health, infrastructure and the provision of potable water for war victims.

The AWCF on Tuesday also embarked on a clean-up exercise in the Tamale West Hospital with a fundraising function at the Jubilee Park. Mr Richard Mosiah Ababba Allen, 41 year-old Master of Civil Law, told the media that he would walk from Tamale to Accra and then proceed to Ethiopia.

He said he had undertaken similar walks over the past 20 years soliciting for funds to support education and peace. Mr Mosiah dedicated his walk to President Kufour for his contribution to the Ghanaian economy nearly eight years in office and his role when he was the President of the African Union. He also dedicated his walk to Mr Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General.

Mr Mosiah called on Ghanaians not to dampen the adventurous spirit of the youth but rather encourage them to come up with innovative ideas that would contribute to the nation’s development. “It is time Ghanaians realized their wealth and excellence, which should go beyond the borders of Africa,” He said. Mr Mosiah said his walk would take him from Ghana through Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Sudan then to Ethiopia to present a White Flag to the AU President at the AU summit.

Source: GNA

Above: Senator Obama chats with his sister Maya
(Photo: Hawaii for Obama)

Financial Times

By Edward Luce in Washington

Published: August 13 2008

Barack Obama yesterday netted the endorsement of three prominent Republicans, including Jim Leach and Lincoln Chafee, both of whom lost their congressional seats to Democratic opponents in the 2006 mid-term elections.

Jim Leach and Lincoln Chafee

The announcement boosts the ranks of so-called “Obamacans” and is likely to fuel speculation about the possibility of bigger names – such as Colin Powell, former secretary of state, and Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator for Nebraska – also endorsing the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel

Describing Mr Obama’s call for change as “more renewal than departure” and thus in line with traditional conservative principles, Mr Leach said: “This is simply not a time for politics as usual . . . I have no doubt that a lot of Republicans will be attracted to Obama in spite of the flaws in this year’s primary process.” Read More.

Above: “Porcelain bowl,” teapot, and vase, ceramic.
By Tessema, Mamo (Photo credit – National Archives,
Contemporary African Art from the Harmon Foundation, select
list number 236).

By Lydia Gobena

Conversations Between Generations

Updated: August 14th, 2008

New York (Tadias) – Pottery has traditionally played a functional role in Ethiopian society, and ceramists have generally been seen in a less than favorable light. In fact, in certain areas, ceramics was even associated with witchcraft. Ato Mamo Tessema impacted Ethiopians’ perceptions of ceramics and ceramicist. His work became seen and continues to be seen as an art form rather than a product with a utilitarian function. Ato Mamo’s artwork and career as the founder and curator of the National Museum of Ethiopia has also had a lasting legacy on Ethiopian artists, including Sofia Temesgien Gobena.

This article will discuss Ato Mamo’s influence on changing the perception of ceramists and ceramic art in Ethiopia, as well as his influence on the career of his cousin Sofia T. Gobena, who passed away in 2003. This article will further discuss how Sofia’s family is seeking to promote the notion of ceramics as an art form in Ethiopia.

Mamo Tessema

Mamo Tessema. Photo by Harold Dorwin

Mamo Tessema was born on August 24, 1935 in Nekemet, Wollega, Ethiopia. He graduated from Teacher’s Training School at His Imperial Majesty’s Handicraft School in Addis Ababa. After studying in Ethiopia, he went to the U.S., where he attended the Alfred University, and the New York College of Ceramics. He received his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts from Alfred. At Alfred, Ato Mamo’s studies were not limited to ceramic design, he also studied wood carving, painting, sculpture, welding, graphics, lithography, photography, furniture design, and history of art, among other things. Thus, Ato Mamo’s studies provided him with a well-rounded background in art, which is reflected by his artwork.

Above Left: “Warrior,” welded steel sculpture by Mamo Tessema (Photo credit –
National Archives, Contemporary African Art from the Harmon Foundation, select list
number 239).

Above Right: “Welded Bird,” welded steel sculpture by Mamo Tessema
(Photo credit – National Archives,Contemporary African Art from the Harmon
Foundation, select list number 240).

Ato Mamo’s work has been exhibited in a number of locations including at the: Alfred Guild at the State College of Ceramics; 1961 UNESCO exhibit; Temple Emanu-El in Yonkers, New York; Washington Heights branch of the New York Public Library; Hampton Institute and Commercial Museum in Philadelphia. The latter five exhibitions were done through the assistance and/or sponsorship of Harmon Foundation, which during its existence from 1922 to 1967, played an instrumental role in promoting the awareness of African art in the U.S. Ato Mamo has also exhibited his work in other countries, including in Ethiopia.

“The Capture,” woodcut. By Tessema, Mamo (Photo credit – National
Archives,Contemporary African Art from the Harmon Foundation, select
list number 237.

After returning from studying in the U.S., Ato Mamo became well-known as a ceramist. This resulted in Ethiopians beginning to appreciate ceramics as an art form. To this day, when Ethiopians think of ceramics as an art form, Ato Mamo immediately comes to mind.

Ato Mamo also taught at the Handicraft School after his return to Ethiopia. Ato Mamo further embarked on the ambitious and worthy project of establishing the Ethiopian National Museum, the first museum in the country. Among the purposes of the Museum were to demonstrate the illustrious art and culture of Ethiopia to visitors, and to educate Ethiopian children about their rich history. As the founder and curator of the museum, Ato Mamo traveled throughout the globe, presenting Ethiopian artifacts to the world.

It can be said that his influence is felt by many now, when one travels through the bustling art scene in Ethiopia. There seems to be a greater appreciation of artwork as new private galleries are opened. Ato Mamo saw the importance of Ethiopian art and history, and the need to archive it. For this Ethiopians should be grateful.

Sofia T. Gobena

Sofia at her Masters of Arts Show

Sofia Temesgien Gobena was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 18, 1964. She came to the United States of America in July 1972 with her parents, Abebetch B. and Temesgien Gobena. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Antioch College in Ohio, and a Master of Arts in ceramics and glass from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She also completed her work for her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Wisconsin. Sofia unexpectedly passed away at the age of 38, though in her short life she was a prolific creator. Here are but few samples of her work.

Photos: The Sofia T. Gobena Foundation for Promotion of Education in Ceramics and Fine
Arts

To learn about ceramics in Ethiopia, Sofia visited one of the traditional ceramics producing stations. Sofia’s art professors and colleagues described her artistic abilities as transcendent and the kind of talent that comes around perhaps once a decade.

During Sofia’s visit to a traditional ceramics station
in Ethiopia.

Although Sofia’s life was brief, she was a prodigious artist, leaving behind numerous paintings, sculptures, glasswork, and ceramic pieces that are testaments to the beauty of her creative spirit. While some of this work had previously been seen during her Master of Arts show that was held in Madison, Wisconsin, her artwork received greater exposure at an art show that was held on June 18-20, 2004, in Washington, D.C. at the WorldSpace Corporation. The art show was put together by her family, with the assistance of Mamo Tessema.

More samples of Sofia’s work (Photos: The Sofia T. Gobena Foundation)

Sofia’s influences in ceramics were the well-known U.S. ceramicists Peter Voulkos and Daniel Rhodes. Mamo Tessema was also an important influence in Sofia’s art. The Sofia T. Gobena Foundation was established in Sofia’s memory. The purpose of the foundation is to distribute funds to educational institutions in the United States and abroad that support and encourage the promotion of ceramic arts. Contributions have already been made to the Addis Ababa University Art Department to develop a ceramics department.

In sum, Mamo Tessema’s art work and legacy as the founder of the Ethiopian National Museum has had a significant influence on Ethiopia and artists. One such artist was Sofi a T. Gobena, in whose name a foundation was established to promote the ceramic arts.

—
About the Author:
Lydia Gobena, sister of Sofia T. Gobena and a cousin to Ato Mamo Tessema, is a trademark attorney and partner at Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, one of the top intellectual property law firms in the world. She is also a jewelry artist based in New York City.

Photo by Gabriella Muttone

Publisher’s Note: Steven Ivory has been a music and culture journalist for more than twenty-five years. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Essence, Vibe, and The Source, among other publications. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

We have selected this piece from our archive with a hope that it might spark a healthy debate on the issue.

My Own Kind
By Steven Ivory

Updated: August 13th, 2008

For several years, I’d passed the restaurant while driving through that side of town. It looked like an interesting spot; I said I’d stick my head in there one day.

But when that day finally came, it reminded me of the scene in the movie “48 Hours,” where Eddie Murphy ventures into a bar that happens to be a white country & western joint. My arrival was not nearly as spectacular, but I did elicit my share of curious glances.

A bartender can set the mood for a patron, and the man pouring my drink was pleasant. However, our good-natured chat about the weather and the day’s headlines wasn’t enough to take the chill off this room. I casually looked around the place and couldn’t find one face that appeared to hold much love for a newcomer.

Taking another sip of my beer, I told myself that maybe it was just me. What did I expect, a welcoming committee? I reminded myself that many social establishments often react a little coolly to non-regulars. Maybe what I was feeling didn’t have a damned thing to do with anything but familiarity.

The restaurant was more than half full, but I had the tiny bar all to myself, so I was glad that two men and a woman in the mood for libations joined me. For all the acknowledgment made, though, I might as well have been invisible. When another man moseyed in and took a seat at the end of the bar, he somehow ended up in the trio’s jovial conversation. So they weren’t blind or anti-social, after all. I deduced that it had to be my cologne.

Or, just maybe, it really WAS me. And maybe I really DIDN’T come in here for just a drink and cordial camaraderie. Maybe, deep, deep down inside, I’d come in here to make some kind of point. I certainly was open to conceding as much to myself.

And so, with very little chance of my self-examination being interrupted, I sat there and gave it all serious, honest consideration – and confirmed that I truly did have honorable intentions. I figured I’d come in here, have a drink, dig the atmosphere and thus add it to my list of places to go. For reasons that evaded me, it wasn’t working out that way.

I couldn’t ignore the irony, of course – the very notion that hundreds of years later, there’d be the issue of us getting along. For many years, I’ve heard all the reasons. Inevitably mentioned are issues of culture and the idea that any problems among us are, ultimately, the residual affect of slavery in America. Did that sinister deed, besides everything else, somehow drive a wedge between brothers under God’s sun, a division that, after all these years, still remains?

And who says that we, in particular, must get along, anyway?

But we SHOULD … shouldn’t we?

Once again alone at the bar, I was pondering it all when the bartender spoke.

“My friend, may I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Why did you come here tonight?”

I explained that I’d never been here before and I thought it adventurous to try something new.

“Just a drink? Or did you also hope to meet some of our women?”

It all sounds so offensive now, but you had to be there. His words came sincerely – out of curiosity more than anything else and, I suppose, concern. I thought about his question.

Maybe, I replied, I ventured in here hoping, perhaps, to discover some measure of kinship. Or, as corny as it might sound, just a little bit of myself.

“But it’s Friday night, my friend,” he said.

“There are many other places in this city for you to be. Would you not want to be with … your own kind?”

I know – it all could have made for some compelling banter. However, after seeking conversation over the course of two beers, all I wanted to do now was leave. I tried to pay my tab, but the bartender simply smiled.

“It is on the house, my friend,” he said.

Translation: Just leave, my friend. Please.

As a Black man born and raised in America, I’ve dealt with prejudice, racism and mistrust in many configurations. Sometimes it is subtle and other times not so subtle, and you can encounter it anywhere, from anybody. Still, it never occurred to me that I’d face any of those things on a Friday night in an Ethiopian restaurant.

From the tiny bar I gathered up my pride and headed out in search of “my own kind” – and hoped that I’d know them when I saw them.

Real World Records

The first taste of an extraordinary collaboration between contemporary Ethiopian artists and Dubulah (aka Nick Page), bringing hidden gems from Addis Ababa back to England. Dub meets dreamy blues, hypnotic grooves, jazz piano and driving funk brass. Flavours of traditional Azmari singing, 70s reggae and Ethio-pop infuse one of the most alluring and soulful genres of African music.

This project brings together an extraordinary but little known African musical heritage, a labour of love recording in a makeshift studio in down-town Addis Ababa and then a journey back to Real World to capture for the first time ever in the UK some of Ethiopia’s finest performers.

This project is the vision of Dub Colossus – Dubulah – aka Nick Page. Composer, guitarist, bass player and programmer Nick started his music career with Michael Riley (Steel Pulse) and in 1990 formed Transglobal Underground with Tim and Hammi, produced-wrote-played six albums before leaving in 1997 to form Temple of Sound with Neil Sparkes.

Ethiopian music is the hidden gem of Africa. At the end of the Sixties and the early Seventies, Ethiopia was in the dying years of the imperial decline of Haile Selassie and the early years of a brutally repressive junta led by Mengistu. Within the confines of this stifling and constrictive environment there flowered some astonishing music. At times showing Fela Kuti’s influences, in the big band sax flavour and other times a different take on regional music, this is a music that is accessible to all and has been championed by the likes of Robert Plant, Brian Eno and Elvis Costello. The style of contemporary Ethiopia music captured by Dub Colossus ranges from dreamy blues, hypnotic grooves, jazz piano and driving funk brass.

“A Town Called Addis” was inspired by meeting , writing and working with singers and musicians in Addis Ababa in August 2006,and is a collaboration between Dub Colossus (Nick Page) and these amazing musicians covering Azmari and traditional styles as well as the popular singing styles of the 60s and 70s. It seeks to combine the golden years of ethiopique beats (popular again thanks to the release of the critically acclaimed ‘Ethiopique’ compliation ) and ethiojazz with the dub reggae styles of early 70s reggae groups like the Abyssinians, Mighty Diamonds and so on. along with a hint of Sun Ra…” (Dub Colossus/aka Nick Page)

The first sessions took place in a breeze block hut under corrugated iron roof bombarded by the sounds of the rainy season high up on the mountain plateau where Addis is built. “…the sound of children playing, dogs barking and women washing all permeate the sessions and help the flavour of the record, albeit as ambient smoke…..Although a howling cat chasing a rat under the roof destroyed one vocal take completely…!”

We brought these unique urban field recordings home to Real World to complete the picture. In March 2008 we invited a group of outstanding performers from Addis to travel to the UK. Some of these artists are unknown talents who have never traveled outside of their country before now, while others such as singer Sintayehu ‘Mimi’ Zenebe (Addis Ababa night club owner and know as the Ethiopian Edith Piaf ) and master saxophonist Feleke Hailu (a classical composer, lecturer and head of music at the Yared Music School and part of a dynastic tradition that stretches back far beyond the classic hits his father arranged for Mahmoud Ahmad in the late 1960s) have a huge reputation. They are joined by Teremag Weretow who, with his plaintive voice, playing his messenqo ( one-string fiddle) is a youthful carrier of an ancient tradition; extraordinary pianist Samuel Yirga is an exciting new discovery – a young prodigy of classical and Ethiojazz and finally the glamourous star Tsedenia Gebremarkos, winner of a Kora award as the best female singer in East Africa in 2004,

From the most primitive recording context to one of the best in the world, this project is an audio journey – and discovery of one of the most alluring, funky and seductive genres of African music.

From Entertainment weekly

Oscar winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Isaac Hayes has died at the age of 65, according to CNN.

Hayes, best known for his pop/R&B classic ”Theme From Shaft” and more recently as the voice of Chef on South Park, was found next to an active treadmill by relatives, according to reports from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department in Memphis, Tennessee. Attempts to revive the singer were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead in Memphis shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Read More.

‘Don’t leave me,’ Bernie Mac’s wife begged (NY Daily News)

BY CARRIE MELAGO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, August 10th 2008

Bernie Mac’s wife pleaded with him not to die during his final moments, but the comedian signaled that he was too exhausted to go on, her sister said.

“Don’t leave me….I’m waiting for you to come back,” Mac’s wife of 30 years begged the 50-year-old entertainer as he lay dying in a Chicago hospital early Saturday, Mary Ann Grossett told People.com. Read More.

Guelph Mercury

By Brianne Bovell

August 11, 2008

I have just returned from my first visit to continental Africa — to Ethiopia to be exact — and I have been trying to collect my thoughts, experiences, observations and reflections.

Although Ethiopia is quite different from Canada, it is not on another planet. The response of people when I announced that I was going to Ethiopia to visit my boyfriend (who is there on a law internship) revealed the impression, nonetheless, that I was leaving the galaxy.

These discussions exposed less about Ethiopia and more about the ways in which we learn about “other” countries — namely, through news clips.

But similar to the way in which one CBC headline cannot accurately capture Canada, no news headline could ever capture the incredible nation I just visited.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest countries. The traditional dynastic reign began with King Menelik in 1000 B.C although the vicinity of Addis Ababa is where scientists believed humans first migrated from.

“Lucy,” as the fossils are named, represents the oldest remains of humans ever found, estimated to be 3.4 million years old. These fossils were found in the Ethiopia’s Rift Valley.

I cannot begin to describe the awe-inspiring sensations I felt as I toured Ethiopia’s National Museum and Addis Ababa Museum. I saw “ancient” as I had never seen it before. In the West, history is often taught as if the world “really” began with the Enlightenment — as if the “world that matters” is only 400 years old. Ethiopia was like historical kryptonite to this false notion.

The strength and the beauty of the African countryside really gripped me. Rolling mountains. Picturesque trees. Beautiful flowers. Patches of farmland between vast fields.

In between the rural cities and towns were small little collections of homes. Some straw. Some clay. Some stone. Most were small and circular in shape. Most of the people seemed to be involved in farming. It was all manual.

Donkeys were being used to till the fields. People were on their hands and knees picking crops. Everywhere, children were playing and working.

Like the capital Addis Ababa, the rural towns also had a heartbeat.

Road lanes were shared by minivans, mopeds, donkeys, street vendors, and kids playing soccer. A lot of the towns were largely dominated by open air markets, selling everything from gold to leather goods to clothes to freshly killed meat strung upside down.

And in true Ethiopian fashion there were coffee shops and caf?s everywhere. Coffee is so integrated into the culture and socializing that you cannot help but desire to stop at all of these places. And so I did.

Macchiato after macchiato. Coffee after coffee. In almost every restaurant or caf? there was a woman who roasted the coffee freshly over coals, straight from the raw green beans.

She would bring the coffee over to the table to allow the aroma to be sensed first. I relished the way incense would be placed on the table as part of the coffee ceremony as a way to enhance the sensory experience. One thing I noticed was there was no “take away” option anywhere. Coffee was meant to be enjoyed. Savoured. Shared with friends and family.

The poverty in Ethiopia was not the way it is often represented on television, where Africa is presented as some sort of never-ending desperation. Instead, it seemed to be woven into the society like a bright cloth, that never disappears, but isn’t always central.

Not everyone is poor.

The difference between here and there, however, is that there, poverty is never more than a few minutes away. You are never more than five-minutes walk away from a child who wants to wash shoes for any spare change you can give him. You are never more than five minutes away from a bone-thin pregnant woman who is begging for change for food. You are never more than five minutes away from a reminder of the inequality that cuts through this world.

But there is more to Ethiopia that its struggle with poverty. We think when we go to poorer nations we are “giving” to them in terms of aid money, medical donations, and aid workers. But this short-sightedness places us on a self-congratulatory pedestal that we do not need to be on.

Those in the non-Western world have just as much to give.

I know I left Ethiopia richer than when I arrived.

Ethiopians shared their culture, their history, their politics and their geography with me in ways that money cannot begin to measure. To reduce these nations to mere regions of poverty strips the people of their dignity and their equality to us.

We must celebrate this world, rather than divide it. We must learn about this world, rather than make assumptions about it.

And most importantly, we must keep an open mind and be willing to listen.

Everybody has a story to tell.

—
Brianne Bovell is a member of the Mercury’s Community Editorial Board.

Spotlight on Artist Fikru G/Mariam

Born in 1973, Fikru G/Mariam has been practicing art ever since his parents enrolled him at the Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts children’s program at the age of eleven.

In 1986, he takes part in the children’s competition organized by the International Children’s Painting Exhibition in Beijing, wins a reward and what was at the beginning just a hobby became a real passion.

In 1995, he graduates from the School of Fine Arts and decides to dedicate his life to full-time painting. At that time, most of his works were concentrated on religious and traditional african themes.

Fikru in his Paris Studio – 2005

After traveling in the Harrar region and in Northern Ethiopia, Fikru finds new sources of inspiration, especially in Harari women. According to him, those women are “highly decorative in the way they dress and do their craft” (The Reporter, 03/10/1999).

The Dream – 120×120 cm – Oil on canvas – 2004. Upcoming shows – 2007: solo exhibition National Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2007: May 1-30: solo exhibition, Galerie François 1er, Aubigny sur Nère (18700), France. Opening on May 5th at 5pm. 2008: summer: Galerie Alternance Guy Lignier, Hardelot, France.

Blue dream 100×81 cm Oil on canvas 2004. Painting by Fikru G/Mariam (Addis Ababa & Paris).

Over time, his style has diversified: some depict stylized, elongated African masks, richly decorated.

Between 1995 and 2003, he has exhibited 13 times in Addis Abeba, the last one was at the National Museum of Addis Abeba in February 2003. Fikru also showed his works abroad. In 1999, he exhibited for one month in Dublin (Ireland) and between 2002 and 2005 he exhibited 9 times in Paris and in different parts of France. In 2003, he participated in a group exhibition in Maryland (USA) and in November 2004 he will exhibit in Washington DC. In 2005, he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris.

Now, Fikru shares his time between Addis Abeba and Paris. His works are displayed in many private collections in Ethiopia, France, Ireland, Spain, Germany, England, United States, Canada, Cap Verde, South Africa, Italy, and the Netherlands. Leran More about Fikru .

Related Stories:

London – In pictures: Ethiopia’s forgotten archive (BBC)

An exhibition of previously unseen photographs from Ethiopia between 1963 and 1982 is opening in London as the country marks its millennium celebrations. They were taken by Shemelis Desta who was the official court photographer for Emperor Haile Selassie. See More Photos, Click Here

By Andarge Asfaw

I left Ethiopia at the age of thirteen. After a 29-year absence, I returned to my native land as a photographer eager to capture the vibrant memories of my youth. I arrived to find an unfamiliar Ethiopia. The trees had disappeared. Wildlife that had crossed the roads not far from the region where I grew up was absent. Many of the ancient religious sites were crumbling away. Unemployment, relocation, political differences and health concerns had reshaped the lives of the population. Devastated, I didn’t know where to begin documenting my dreams.

I traveled farther away from urban areas into the countryside. I thought about those who had given their lives for Ethiopia through wars, poverty and sickness. Gradually, I rediscovered my purpose and created a body of work that expressed my feelings. There were times when the photographs seemed to find me. I became attached to the images and realized that it was my responsibility as an Ethiopian photographer to honor the beauty that remains. Unfortunately, time did not allow me to capture every region of the country.

Above: Roadside market in the fog, kombolcha

Ethiopia is in crisis and needs alternatives to burning wood for fuel. A country once covered by trees has only a small percentage of forest left. In each region, new, indigenous trees must be planted to replenish the land. Deforestation continues to cause flooding and soil erosion. In a couple of decades, Ethiopia will become a desert incapable of rejuvenating itself. The animals and vegetation will be gone. The Ethiopian people will not be able to sustain themselves.

I want my images to inspire a call to action. We can still save this extraordinary habitat. I hope these photographs of Ethiopia allow you to hear with your eyes and see with your ears.

Above: Inside Abune Aron Church

Above: Gate keeper of Zege Kidane Mihiret monastery

—–
About the Author:

Ethiopian-Born Andarge Asfaw, a graduate of the Hallmark Institute of Photography, is an award-winning commercial and fine art photographer based in Washington, D.C. His New Book, Ethiopia From The Heart, is available at: www.ethiopiafromtheheart.com

By Liben Eabisa
Photos by Jeffrey Phipps

Updated: August 11th, 2008

New York (Tadias) – This past spring, I ventured to Gansevoort Street, the heart of the Meatpacking District in Manhattan, to interview Marcus Samuelsson at Merkato 55, his new restaurant venture named after the largest open-air market in Africa. Samuelsson’s dishes, a sundry assortment of appetizers and entrees hailing from all four corners of the African continent are paving the way for Pan-African fusion to be the next big thing for New York foodies.

Certainly, traditional African cuisine has long been around in this city, teeming with immigrants, and we have had our share of authentic Senegalese, Moroccan, or Ethiopian dishes, but what Samuelsson’s Merkato 55 aspires to provide to our palates is a distinct culinary adventure. It is as much a subtle re-introduction of traditional African flavors to the western taste as it is an advertisement for the continent’s food contribution to the world.

Simulating the architectural hues, warm brown colors and landscapes across the African continent, Merkato 55’s interior, designed by Dutch architect Menno Schmitz, is a two-story restaurant and bar, capable of holding approximately 150 people. It is the largest African restaurant in New York. It’s menu is equally daunting in its extensive offerings.

Above: Upstairs dining area . Photo by Jeffrey Phipps for Tadias.

Above: The bar downstairs. Photo by Jeffrey Phipps for Tadias.

Samuelsson, who was born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, is best known as the co-owner of New York’s finest Scandinavian restaurant, Aquavit. After having excelled at the Swedish side of his culinary heritage, Samuelson travelled extensively throughout the African continent, culminating his trips by sharing with us some of the most profound lessons that he learned about food and the sharing of food within African cultures, in his award-winning book aptly entitled The Soul of a New Cuisine.

Merkato 55 offers this new cuisine – a fusion of the old and new tastes, flavors, colors, and even sights of the scintillating diverse heritage of Africans.

“This is about adding something new to the New York landscape of restaurants”, Samuelsson says to me. “It’s an ambitious and grand New York African restaurant”.

It is indeed daring to launch the largest African restaurant in New York, bound not to one region or ethnic food, but rather infusing Africa’s indigenous foods with Samuelsson’s own chef-inspired artistic experiments.

Above: Marcus Samuelsson sat down for an interview with Tadias
on Monday, April 14, 2008 at Merkato 55. Photo by Jeffrey Phipps for Tadias.

Samuelsson is unpretentious about the fact that his African-inspired dishes might not have the same authentic taste as those dishes that he watched being prepared, and which he tasted on his travels. He points out that what most New Yorkers consider as African restaurants mainly consist of Ethiopian, Moroccan and Senegalese ethnic eats. He mentions to me some of the great ones such as Ghenet, Queen of Sheba, and uptown Senegalese eateries.

Merkato 55, however, is very much an effort to introduce the flavors of various African cultures not only to Westerners but also to each other as Africans. Samuelsson points out, “We are very proud of our own food, but we know very little about each other’s food. We know pan-African music, but we don’t know pan-African cuisine. An Ethiopian might know music from Mali, but not food from Mozambique”.

I can recall, in my case, not hesitating to mix an occasional meal of Mexican black beans and rice alongside Caribbean-inspired deep fried plantains, all in one sitting. But when it comes to Ethiopian food, I usually wouldn’t venture to use our kibe (spiced butter) or the fiery mitmita pepper on anything more than my favorite kitfo (beef tartar) or our traditional stews.

In true fashion, I had carried this same cautious tradition when I dined at Merkato 55 with Tseday Alehegn, editor of Tadias, and our friend Assefa, an Ethiopian New Yorker from Brooklyn. After scouring through the menu for something ‘Ethiopian’, and hence familiar, we settled on a main entree of Dorot Wot (chicken stew) and Dulet (spiced tripe) preceded by an appetizer of Plantain Chips and Spicy Shrimp Chili. The Doro Wot was familiar enough with the traditional injera bread and cottage cheese in the pot, but the Dulet took us all by surprise. It tasted nothing like the tripe we grew up eating in our parents’ and grandparents’ homes so we spent a few minutes debating whether it was really Dulet or not. Yet, it was the dish that we unanimously voted was the best tasting one. Needless to say, the only thing that mattered is that it was simply delicious. Now, of course, we know that we can eat Dulet in more ways than one.

This is the genius of Marcus Samuelsson’s fusion of African cuisine that brings creative “unity and harmony through food.” Samuelsson’s Merkato menu plainly asks us to be more assertive in our choices: How about a Berbere rack of Lamb with Grains of Paradise and Spring Garlic instead of the traditional Berbere with Injera? Perhaps even Grilled Shrimp Piri Piri as a side dish?

Beyond the borders that we place on what is or is not authentically African, there is a space, where Africa’s culinary gifts are not left relegated to basement ‘mom & pop’ stores – segregated into national and ethnic enclaves.

Samuelsson puts it more succinctly, “We are trying to show Africa in a different light, without the masks.”

How many of us know, for example, that the peanut butter that we fondly call ‘All-American’ was introduced to us straight from West African traditional cuisine? Rice, now a necessary global staple, has been part of the traditional West African diet since the 1500s and was successfully cultivated in the New World by the first Africans in the Carolinas. Spices such as coriander, grains of paradise and tamarind, and vegetables such as cucumbers and okra originated in Africa. Grains such as millet, quinoa, sorghum and teff, now popularly re-introduced in natural food stores as alternatives to wheat, have a long tradition of being served alongside spicy currys, breads or beans in East and West African cuisines. Even the beans for our daily fix of coffee are said to have originated in the Ethiopian highlands.

When we pause to reflect, we are already familiar with many of the ingredients commonly found in African-inspired menus. But Merkato 55 is bold – not only for mixing East and West, North and South, but also for unveiling the depth of African variety, the richness of the flavors, both those which are indigenous and those brought over to the continent through historical and colonial trade routes.

“I do know food and I have deep knowledge and love for African food” Samuelsson says.

And indeed it’s time for a true connoisseur of food to give Pan-African cuisine its limelight and to break down our self-imposed restrictions of how to savor African cuisine.

I have learned my lesson. After my interview, Samuelsson prepared for us Grilled Shrimp Piri Piri Baby Romaine, inspired by a dish from Mozambique. I also had a taste of North African Hummus and Baba Ghanoush, Spicy Shrimp Chili and Apricot Blatjang with Mint from the Kidogo Sample, which includes an assortment of African Breads.

Above: The Kidogo Sample. Photo by Jeffrey Phipps.

Above: Marcus Samuelsson prepared for us this Grilled Shrimp Piri Piri.
Monday, April 14, 2008. Photo by Jeffrey Phipps for Tadias.

Next time I am in the Meatpacking District, I may just as well try the Steak Dakar with Coriander Butter and Merkato Fries, and a glass of South African Wine.

——
Liben Eabisa is Founder and Publisher of Tadias Magazine.
Additional reporting by Tseday Alehegn

Above: A headline by the Chicago Defender announcing the
arrival of the first Abyssinian diplomatic delegation to the United
States on July 11, 1919.

By Liben Eabisa

New York (Tadias) – The arrival of the first Ethiopian diplomatic delegation to the United States on July 11, 1919 made headlines in Chicago, where journalists eagerly awaited their opportunity to meet and interview the delegation.

At the time Woodrow Wilson was serving as the 28th President of the United States. In Ethiopia, Empress Zawditu, the eldest daughter of Emperor Menelik, was the reigning monarch.

Dejasmatch Nadew, Empress Zawdituís nephew and Commander of the Imperial Army, along with Ato Belaten-ghetta Hiruy Wolde Sellassie, Mayor of Addis Ababa, Kentiba Gebru, Mayor of Gonder, and Ato Sinkas, Dejamatch Nadew’s secretary, comprised the first official Ethiopian delegation to the United States in the summer of 1919.

The main purpose of their trip was to renew the 1904 Treaty of Amity (Friendship) between the United States and Ethiopia (brokered when President Theodore Roosevelt authorized 37-year-old Robert P. Skinner to negotiate a commercial treaty with Emperor Menelik).

The treaty had expired in 1917. This four-man delegation to the United States became known as the Abyssinian mission.

The distinguished delegation headed to the White House in Washington D.C. after staying at the elegant Waldorf-Astoria in Chicago.

Above: Left, Empress Zawditu (In office: 1916 to 1930),
Right, President Woodrow Wilson (In office: March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921).

The group visited the U.S. at a time when blacks were by law second-class citizens and the most common crime against American blacks was lynching. Before leaving Chicago, a reporter for the Chicago Defender, an African American newspaper, asked the delegation what they thought about lynching in the U.S. The representatives responded “[We] dislike brutality… lynching of any nature, and other outrages heaped upon your people.”

African-Americans were inspired to see a proud African delegation being treated with so much respect by U.S. officials. Newspapers reported that in honor of the delegation’s visit “the flag of Abyssinia, which is of green, yellow, and red horizontal stripes, flew over the national capitol.”

The Chicago Defender reported that the delegation expressed their support for the struggle of American blacks and gave them words of encouragement. A member of the press had inquired if the group had advice to African-Americans. Ato Hiruy Wolde Sellassie, who spoke fluent English, replied: “Fight on. Don’t Stop.”

The Ethiopian presence at the Waldorf Astoria, dressed in their traditional white robe and pant attire attracted large attention.

Upon arriving in Washington D.C. they took up residence at Hotel Lafayette and awaited their formal presentation at the White House.

“It perhaps is of much interest to know that the Abyssinian religion is the oldest Christian religion in the world”, Captain Morris, the delegation’s chaperon, told reporters. “The queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon was once their queen, and the present ruler is descended from the queen of Sheba.”

The Abyssinian Mission enjoyed an overall warm welcome and before returning to Ethiopia, they toured the cities of New York and San Francisco. They also visited an Irish Catholic cathedral, a Jewish synagogue, the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Harlem, and Yellowstone National Park.
—-

About the Author:

Liben Eabisa is the Founder & Publisher of Tadias Magazine. He is also the publisher of the book: Abyssinia of Today – Reissue of Robert P. Skinner’s memoir, a narrative of the first American diplomatic mission to black Africa. Liben Eabisa lives in New York City.

By Tadias Staff

Published: Sunday, August 10, 2008

New York (Tadias) – According to the Los Angeles Times, flyweight Molla Getachew Ambaw of Ethiopia has been dropped from the competition for failing to make weight.

Two other boxers, American bantamweight medal contender Gary Russell Jr and 2007 lightweight world champion Frankie Gavin of Great Britain were also disqualified.

First Coast News

By: Kyle Meenan

Friday, August 8, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, FL – Doctors at Wolfson Children’s Hospital are working to save the life of an infant girl from Ethiopia.

Baby ‘Rute’ arrived in Jacksonville Thursday night after a 17-hour flight from Africa into New York, followed by the flight to the First Coast.

She was accompanied by Hilda Ettedgui, the wife of Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon Jose Ettedgui, and co-founder of the children’s foundation, “Patrons of the Hearts.”

Baby Rute has a heart condition that would likely take her life in the coming months or years. Despite her 15-month age, the child weighs just 15-pounds. Read More.

Above: Legendary Abebe Bikila returns home with Africa’s first
Olympic Gold Medal. Bikila returned to Ethiopia as a hero.
Emperor Haile Selassie promoted him to the rank of corporal
position in the Imperial Bodyguard, where he served, and
awarded him the Star of Ethiopia. (tessemas.net)

Abebe Bikila: Barefoot in Rome (Time)

FOOT SOLDIER: Running without shoes, Bikila, an
Imperial Guardsman in Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie’s court,
pulls ahead in the 1960 Rome marathon (Popperfoto/Getty)

By SIMON ROBINSON

Wednesday, Aug. 06, 2008

A few of the other runners sniggered when they saw Abebe Bikila turn up at the start of the Olympic marathon with no shoes. As a television camera scanned the scrum of athletes readying themselves for the starter’s gun, a commentator asked: “And what’s this Ethiopian called?” It was 1960, Rome. Africa was just shrugging off the weight of colonial rule and some sporting officials still doubted Africans were ready for the big time. A little over 2 hr. 15 min. later that myth lay shattered by the slight man wearing number 11, a member of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie’s Imperial Guard and a proud African whose gliding, barefoot run through Rome’s cobblestone streets announced his continent’s emergence as a running powerhouse. Read More.

By Henok Semaegzer Fente

06 August 2008

Washington, D.C. (VOA) – In Ethiopia, the trial of a controversial pop star is raising questions about the independence of the judiciary and of the press. The government has arrested a journalist covering the court hearings and a defense attorney. Both men are expected to appear in court today (Wednesday).

Teddy Afro

Ethiopia’s rising pop and reggae singer Teddy Afro has been in jail since April. He was charged with a hit and run road accident and remains in jail after being denied bail. Teddy has pleaded non-guilty, and his attorney argues that prosecutors have not presented enough evidence to detain his client.

But as of Monday, the defense attorney, as well as a journalist covering the trial joined the pop singer behind bars.

Mesfin Negash, the editor of a weekly newspaper in the Ethiopian capital could be sentenced to up to six months in prison, if found guilty of contempt of court. Facing the same charges and also in police custody is Teddy Afro’s defense attorney Million Assefa, who was quoted in an article published by the paper. Listen to the Report at VOA News.

Related: Jailed Singer Teddy Afro: ‘A Political Symbol’ (LA Times)

Above: M.anifest will perform at the festival

“There are singers and musicians that include Wegegta, with their fusion of Ethiopian pop and jazz”

By Justin Schell ,
TC Daily Planet

August 05, 2008

The Twin Cities’ inaugural Pan-African Festival, which runs from August 6-11, will highlight the Twin Cities’ prominent place as home to thousands of immigrants from all parts of Africa. Bringing together artists from Minneapolis to Mogadishu, Nairobi to Kingston, Monrovia to Madison, and many other places throughout the African diaspora, the Festival will celebrate not only the artistic expression of the African diaspora, but also the possibilities for collaboration and alliance in the land of 10,000 lakes.

Organized by the Diverse Emerging Music Organization (DEMO), a Twin Cities non-profit organization dedicated to fostering new musical talent, as well as the Twin Cities music community as a whole, this year’s Festival builds on last year’s AfriFest, held in August 2007 at Currie Park. Organized by a number of the same people organizing the Pan African Festival, AfriFest brought together not only a number of Twin Cities-based musicians from throughout the African diaspora, but also the late reggae superstar Lucky Dube.

“We really wanted to build on AfriFest, but it was important for us that we keep it community-based and non-profit,” says Rachel Joyce, one of the main organizers of the Festival. Unlike AfriFest, which was a for-profit venture, Joyce believes that “we have the freedom to deal with our aesthetic and philosophical goals when you take money out of it.”

In addition to Joyce, the core organizational group of the Festival—all volunteer—consists of long-time First Avenue manager Steve McClellan (who in the past booked both Fela Kuti and Sunny Ade to the Mainroom), George Ndege, originally from Kenya and owner of Kilimanjaro Entertainment, and Neo Rowan, who’s originally from Lesotho.

The Festival is not just about bringing peoples of the African diaspora together, though. As the organizers began planning the festival last year, numerous Twin Cities arts organizations, venues, and institutions, including the Parkway Theater, Sound Unseen, the Cedar Cultural Center (where DEMO held its Pan African Showcase last year) and many others, were eager to join in the Festival’s organization.

“It just all came together,” Joyce says with a smile.

The festival opens at the Cedar Cultural Center, at the heart of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, home to many of the immigrants from all over Africa who have made the Twin Cities their home. Renowned Malian singer and guitarist Habib Koité, with his band, Bamada, will take the Cedar’s stage for a night of musical fusion of Malian folk and popular musics. On Thursday night, The Rake is organizing an exhibition at the Altered Esthetics Gallery in conjunction with the opening of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” exhibit, featuring music by the Wallace Hill Art & Drum Ensemble, as well as featuring art by Rabi Sanfo, who hails from Burkina Faso.

On Friday night, Mezesha Entertainment, which recently brought Kenyan singer and rapper Nonini to the Twin Cities, will be organizing “Safari: An Afro-Caribbean Experience,” as well as a reggae dance night on Sunday night. The riddims of Sunday night will follow the screening of three documentaries at the Parkway Theater: Hip-Hop Colony, which chronicles the rise of hip-hop in Kenya; Africa Unite, which follows the musical and familial progeny of Bob Marley in a celebration of what would have been his 60th birthday; and Music is A Weapon, the outstanding portrait of Fela Kuti, with rare interviews with the Afro-Beat pioneer and musical legend, as well as concert footage from inside his political and musical headquarters the Shrine and the Kalakuta Republic.

The majority of the music, however, will take place on Saturday. A slew of artists from across the artistic and geographic map will perform both inside and outside the Nomad World Pub. In addition to two dance groups, Diaspora and KUT Dance, there are singers and musicians that include Wegegta, with their fusion of Ethiopian pop and jazz, the Liberian singers F.A. and Munnah Myers, guitarist and singer Wain McFarlane, and the Liberian MC Z-Plus and headliner MC M.anifest, the dazzling wordsmith who calls both Accra, Ghana and Minneapolis home.

Just as Saturday closes with hip-hop, the festival itself will close with K’naan at First Avenue. The Somali-by-way-of-Toronto MC, who doesn’t shy away from the topics of violence and death in his native Somalia, is possessed with inventive wordplay that could stand its ground against any MC, is quickly becoming an icon of rap’s circuitous global proliferation. Black Blondie and The Usual Suspects will open. The latter group features their own Somali MC, Free One, who grew up a mere five blocks from K’naan while living in Toronto’s Dixon housing projects.

In the end, the organizers of the Festival, as well as many of the artists performing, see the as making a social statement for long after the festival’s over. Joyce says that the Festival is an attempt to use music as an agent for social change and social dialogue. “The Twin Cities are in a really interesting position globally to show how you do this right,” she said, “how you accept new neighbors and make them a meaningful part of your community.”

Similarly, McClellan, one of the founders of DEMO, sees the Festival as part of a larger motivation by the group to engaging with social issues. In his words, instead of just booking shows, he wants to DEMO “to make music a conduit to the bigger issues involved in both our local community and overall social change.

“I want people to come together and realize that other people they live next door to are NOT as scary or abnormal as they thought. I want people to come away with the realization that this community has changed and putting up fences and barriers only stalls the inevitable.”

—
Pan African Festival and AfriFest
Pan African Festival includes music, movies, dance, spoken word and hip hop and more, August 6-11. AfriFest, August 14-17, includes business expo, soccer tournament and performances
612.281.6318. Read more at: TC Daily Planet

BY ALEX P. KELLOGG
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

August 6, 2008

If it seems like you’re traveling to a world thousands of miles away — and millennia old — in a way, you are.

But when you enter the Debre Guenet Abune Teklehaimanot Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church, you happen to be in Commerce Township.

And not only are you in Commerce Township — one of the most homogeneous communities in metro Detroit — you’re on a quaint little road within view of the township’s offices at 2840 Fisher Ave. The church is at 2800 Fisher.

If, as neighbors, they sound like strange bedfellows, they are. Even members of the church admit it.

“When we opened, we had a few neighbors come,” said Begashaw Deneke, chairman of the church’s governing board. Read more at Detroit Free Press.

Alaskans for Obama: A Rare Democratic Push in the Last Frontier (Washington Post)

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 5, 2008; Page A04

ANCHORAGE — In what might be the fullest realization of Barack Obama’s pledge to run hard in parts of the country largely untouched by presidential campaigning, the Democrat’s Alaska operation is making plans for organizers to hopscotch the state’s vast and sparsely populated interior by bush plane, knocking on doors in remote outposts for their candidate.

“Go around, put up signs, shake some hands, see some of the important people in the village,” said state representative and professional pilot Woodie Salmon (D), describing his own campaign tactics in a legislative district that includes 94 villages, 70 of which can be reached only by air. “Get things stirred up and leave again.”

Conservative and quirky, Alaska last went for a Democratic presidential candidate 44 years ago. No nominee from either party has even visited since Richard Nixon’s journey to glad-hand in Anchorage on the last weekend of the 1960 campaign, a stop that some argue cost him the razor-thin election.

Obama, who often boasts of having visited the other 49 states, has yet to commit to a stop here. But his vibrant campaign operation here is stoking expectations and mounting the most prodigious presidential effort Alaska has seen. Read More.

—
Today’s Headlines:
Morgan Freeman injured in car wreck (Reuters)

Ethiopia faces a new food crisis (Los Angeles Times)

Plane crashes into Oregon house, kills 3 children (Reuters)

Pakistani Suspected of Qaeda Ties Is Held (NYT)

Obama backs some drilling, tapping oil stockpile (AP)

Source: Addis Fortune

By Tesfalem Waldyes

5 August 2008

The highly disputed charges against Ethiopia’s sensational singer Tewodros Kassahun, fondly called by his fans Teddy Afro, appears to take a different twist this week.

His attorney, Million Assefa, and Mesfin Negash, editor-in-chief of the Amharic weekly Addis Neger, are under custody after they are accused of contempt of court.

Million, who is also an attorney to the national electoral board, and one of the architects of the recently passed press law, represents the singer against charges of homicide involving hit and run. He is now under police custody, first arrested late Monday afternoon, after spending his day inside the Federal High Court in Lideta area, on Smut Street.

He has appeared before Judge Leul Gebremariam, presiding over the Federal High Court’s Eighth Criminal Bench, this morning before he was sent back to jail at the Addis Abeba Police Commission.

The presiding judge took an offense after a local Amharic weekly, Addis Neger, run a front page news story two weeks ago, reporting that Teddy Afro’s attorney decided to lodge complaints against Judge Leul at the country’s Judicial Administration Council.

The council was formed under constitutional mandate to recruit judges to the Prime Minister so that the latter nominates them to Parliament; and review their ethical and disciplinary conducts. Should it find judges guilty of breach of conducts, it advises parliament to remove them.

A verdict by Judge Leul two weeks ago, ruling for the singer to defend himself against prosecutors’ charge that he was involved in the death of Degu Yibeltal, a homeless young man killed in a car accident more than a year and half ago, promoted the attorney to contemplate lodging his complaints against the presiding judge.

Attorney Million is not alone to spend days in jail accused of contempt of court. The weekly’s Editor-in-Chief, Mesfin Negash, was called by police on Monday, August 4, 2008, to give his statement and remained under custody since then. He appeared before the court on Monday, and submitted a recording of the interview conducted by Addis Neger’s reporter, Abraham Begizew with Million; the newspaper run the story under the byline of the reporter.

Judge Leul asked Million this morning to look at the newspaper, and if he had anything to say. Million admitted to the court that the story was sourced to him, that he was rightly quoted by the newspaper. His attorney, Abebe Asamere, argued that his client has the right to express his views on a newspaper and it should not be taken as contempt to the court.

Abebe argued on three points: The right to appeal; the right to lodge complaints against a judge to a judicial review body; and the right to free expression guaranteed under the constitution.

“For a defending lawyer, the right to appeal is allowed,” Abebe told the court. “It is not a crime to explain this.”

Abebe said that if one has a complaint against the court’s procedure, he ought to appeal to the Council asking for a disciplinary inquiry. Reviewing a complaint against a judge is one of the three duties the council is given, according to Abebe. He also said that an individual has a basic right to express his views with a narrow limitation. If such view is deemed untrue or a threat, it would fall on the limitation; however, his client’s plans to lodge complaints against the Judge should not be taken as a threat or as prejudicial influence. Abebe also mentioned the act was done outside of the court, and pleaded for the release of his client.

The revised Criminal Code of Ethiopia, issued in 2005, states that if a contempt of court is not committed in an open court but while the judge carrying out his duties, the punishment would be imprisonment not exceeding six months or fine not more than one thousand Birr.

Judge Leul asked whether the defendant and his lawyer thought that they could give any comment on a case under litigation.

Interestingly, this question has brought a critical question the media in Ethiopia faces when covering court related matters. It has yet to be clear what constitutes outside the bounds of media coverage when cases are under litigation.

“This case is not yet finalized,” Judge Leul said. “However, you took it as a final verdict.”

The Judge demands an explanation from Million on his statement in the newspaper that the court replaced the job of that of the prosecutor. He also asked whether or not the court denied any opportunity of presenting witnesses. Million said all the things raised in the story were part of his planned appeals against the Judge.

“I said those are my reasons for appeal,” Million told the court. “The appellate court is the one that may or may not accept this appeal.”

Related: Jailed Singer Teddy Afro: ‘A Political Symbol’ (LA Times)

Judiciary, Press Freedom in Ethiopia Questioned over Teddy Afro’s Trial

Hot Shots from the Teddy Afro Concert in San Jose, CA (Tadias)

Teddy Afro told to return to court next year

Editor Jailed Over Teddy Afro’s Case

By Tadias Staff

Friday, August 1st, 2008

New York (Tadias) — AFP is reporting that former President Bill Clinton is in Ethiopia and on Friday “pledged more support to combat HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia, where he started a four-nation African tour.”

The Clinton Foundation announced that Ethiopia will receive five million dollars over three years to help prevent the spread of AIDS, which kills around 370 Ethiopians each day, according to UN figures.

“I want to personally make sure that every baby born here will not be HIV-positive,” Clinton said in Godino Jitu, Ethiopia, 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Addis Ababa, where he visited a health centre.

“This centre is one of several hundred that have received help from the foundation, but will soon be one of thousands,” Clinton said.

Clinton will also visit Rwanda, Liberia and Senegal, as part of a trip to promote his foundation’s efforts to tackle AIDS and malaria. Read More.

Above: Photo – Literacyrules.com

House apologizes for slavery, ‘Jim Crow’ injustices (CNN)

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and the era of Jim Crow.

The nonbinding resolution, which passed on a voice vote, was introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen, a white lawmaker who represents a majority black district in Memphis, Tennessee.

While many states have apologized for slavery, it is the first time a branch of the federal government has done so, an aide to Cohen said.

In passing the resolution, the House also acknowledged the “injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow.”

“Jim Crow,” or Jim Crow laws, were state and local laws enacted mostly in the Southern and border states of the United States between the 1870s and 1965, when African-Americans were denied the right to vote and other civil liberties and were legally segregated from whites.

The name “Jim Crow” came from a character played by T.D. “Daddy” Rice who portrayed a slave while in blackface during the mid-1800s.

The resolution states that “the vestiges of Jim Crow continue to this day.” Read More.

Above: Morocco’s Benjalloun Abdessalam (C) fights for the
ball with Ethiopia’s Grum Siyoum (R) during their 2010 World
Cup qualifying soccer match in Casablanca May 31, 2008.
REUTERS/Rafael Marchante(MOROCCO)

Ethiopia suspended by Fifa (BBC)

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Football’s world governing body, Fifa, has suspended the Ethiopian Football Federation with immediate effect.

The suspension means that Ethiopia could miss their next 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at home to Morocco on the weekend of the 5-7 September.

Fifa’s Emergency Committee made the decision after the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) failed to comply with a roadmap agreed in February 2008 aimed at normalising the situation of the federation.

The EFF problems began in January when its general assembly fired the federation’s president Dr Ashebir Woldegiorgis.

The assembly decided to get rid of the president for what they said was the “dismal” record of Ethiopian football and elected Ahmed Yasin to replace him.

However, the January meeting was not recognised by Fifa who met both parties to find a solution.

Fifa and the Confederation of African Football (Caf) then released a roadmap in February aimed at rectifying the situation. Read More.

Related: Ethiopia Defeated Mauritania in World Cup Qualifier

No jail sentence in vehicular death (Philadelphia Inquirer)

A man who either fell asleep or unconscious got probation
and a license suspension, angering the widow.

By Maya Rao

Inquirer Staff Writer

Sat, Jul. 26, 2008

Abraha Rutty, a 23-year-old Ethiopian Orthodox Church deacon, was facing three years in a New Jersey state prison after entering into a plea deal in May for killing a moped rider while allegedly asleep behind the wheel.

The soft-spoken Newark, N.J., man bowed and clasped his hands as his parents, his minister and others invoked the name of God and pleas for mercy while they testified to Rutty’s depth of character and compassion in Gloucester County Superior Court yesterday.

Rutty struck down Edward R. Hoffman, 51, of Clayton, last July with his Honda. Out of religious observance, Rutty had been fasting for more than a day, and was exhausted after staying up most of the night before to get his passport in Philadelphia for a missionary trip to Ethiopia.

“I’m asking, truly asking as a mother, to look at us, all of our children, and say it could happen to any of us,” his tearful mother, Janet Rutty, told the judge.

Judge Christine Allen-Jackson listened. Then, calling it the toughest case ever to be on her docket, she sentenced Rutty to five years’ probation, suspended his driver’s license for five years, and ordered him to pay more than $25,000 in fines and restitution. Read More.

Ethiopian prayer book sells for £32k at auction (Advertiser)

AN Auctioneer in Towcester has sold a 14th-Century Ethiopian Prayer Book for 40 times its estimated value.

Auctioneers at JP Humberts are holding their final three-day auction at the Burcote Road sale room before they move to a new home on Silverstone Business Park near Whittlebury.

On Friday morning Mr Humbert told the Advertiser that the 14th century Ethiopian prayer book, with an estimated value of up to £800, sold to an anonymous ‘phone bidder for £32,000.

Mr Humbert said: “We are absolutely delighted. In a world where we hear nothing but financial doom and gloom it’s nice to see items finding their true value.”

Mr Humbert cannot reveal the identity of the bidder but said the purchasers were a private collector and researcher and an institution.

The Psalm book written in Amharic had been put up for auction by a Northamptonshire vendor and was once owned by the headmaster of the Haile Selassie School in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia. Read More.

Above: Ethiopian-born Liya Kebede is one of the cover
models on the Vogue Italia’s first-ever “Black Issue”
(“Modern Luxe” by Steven Meisel)

Vogue Italia’s Black Issue spurred by Obama (Reuters)

By Jo Winterbottom

Wed Jul 23, 2008

MILAN (Reuters Life!) – Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani says the spur for July’s first-ever “Black Issue” of the fashion magazine came in part from Barack Obama’s progress en route to becoming Democratic presidential candidate.

And partly because she wasn’t impressed with the current crop of look alike models with no personality.

“America … is ready for a black president, so why are we not ready for a black model?,” Sozzani said in an interview with Reuters.

Model Covers: Liya Kebede, Jourdan Dunn, Naomi Campbell & Sessilee Lopez

“I was in America on ‘Super Tuesday.’ Of course it influenced me in a way … it was part of my general idea,” she said.

That general idea became an issue featuring over 20 black models ranging from Naomi Campbell to relative newcomers such as Britain’s Jourdan Dunn who takes pride of place on the cover.

Sozzani, who has been at Vogue Italia for 20 years, said she was also attracted by the strong personalities of the black models.

“At the moment, I really don’t like any girls on the runway. They are all beautiful, amazing, long legs, beautiful eyes, but they all look alike,” she said.

“No girl really impressed me. The only one was Liya Kebede, she’s so elegant, she’s so chic,” Sozzani added, referring to the Ethiopian-born model who is also a goodwill ambassador for the World Health Organization. Read More.

—
200,00 Hear Obama in Berlin
In Berlin, Obama urges fight against terror (MSNBC)

Above: The walls fall down: Obama says countries must
overcome differences (NY Daily News)

The Associated Press

Thursday, July 24th 2008

BERLIN – Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stood before an enormous crowd in Berlin on Thursday and summoned Europeans and Americans to work together to “defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it.”

Speaking in the Tiergarten, a park not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city, the presumptive Democratic nominee urged Americans, Berliners, and people of the world to work together for a better world.

“A new generation, our generation, must make our mark on history,” he said.

He told the tens of thousands who had gathered in front of the Victory Column that “the walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand.” Read More.

—
Foreign tour is media bonanza for Obama (MSNBC)

Above: Senator Barack Obama in the Hall of Remembrance
at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
(Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times)

Above: Sen. Barack Obama walks with King Abdullah of Jordan
as he arrives at Beit al Urdun in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday. (AP)

The Associated Press

Tues., July. 22, 2008

AMMAN, Jordan – Jordan, Israel and Germany aren’t normally known as swing states in a presidential campaign. But Barack Obama’s off to a fast start in his attempt to change that with an election-season tour designed to show him as a potential commander in chief, equally comfortable sitting down — presidential style — with kings and other foreign leaders.

“The objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people … who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years,” he said recently, evidently looking beyond this fall’s election to a second term in the White House.

That was in one of a string of network interviews he’s lined up on his trip, a journey that arguably will net him more media exposure in the real swing states — Ohio, Colorado, Virginia and elsewhere — than he’ll get even during the week of the Democratic National Convention later this summer. Read More.

—-
Iraq appears to share Obama’s pullout hope (MSNBC)

Above: Senator Barack Obama with Gen. David H. Petraeus,
the top American military commander in Iraq, in a helicopter above
Baghdad. (Ssg. Lorie Jewell/U.S. Army, via Associated Press)

Statement on U.S. troop withdrawal by 2010 follows meeting with al-Maliki

Obama arrives in Iraq with exit plans at the fore (MSNBC)

Above: Sen. Barack Obama speaks with a U.S soldier in
Afghanistan during breakfast at Camp Eggers in Kabul Sunday.
(AP)

He’s pledging to end combat operations within 16 months of taking office

The Associated Press

Monday, July 21, 2008

BAGHDAD – Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama arrived in Iraq on Monday, a U.S. Embassy official said, to meet with commanders and troops in a war he has long opposed.

Obama was expected to meet Gen. David Petraeus as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, although aides provided few details, citing security concerns.

Obama arrived as part of a congressional delegation that also included Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., following stops in Kuwait and Afghanistan. The delegation met Sunday in Kuwait City with Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, and other senior officials, the Kuwait News Agency reported. Read More.

—
Obama on Ground in Afghanistan | See Video Below.

Above: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, talks with
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama during a
meeting Sunday at the Presidential Palace in Kabul.
(Ho / AFP – Getty Images)

VIDEO: Obama on Ground in Afghanistan (MSNBC)

—
Obama kicks off Middle East tour with stop in Afghanistan (NY Daily News)

BY MICHAEL MCAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Updated Saturday, July 19th 2008

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama landed in Afghanistan early Saturday morning, bringing presidential politics to the battleground and answering criticism he’s never even visited the country he calls the central front in the war on terror.

The presumptive Democratic nominee left his hometown of Chicago on Thursday under a veil of secrecy, then took off from Washington for Kabul, where he landed at just after 3 a.m. New York time Saturday.

Barack Obama (l.) poses with an
unidentified Afghan official in Nangarhar
province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on
Saturday. (Hong/AP)

Obama declared earlier this week that Iraq was a “dangerous distraction” from hunting down Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and that neither Iraqis nor the White House was doing enough to wrap things up there to focus on Afghanistan.

But he told reporters as he left Washington that he was not planning on making any demands on his swing through the war zones.

“I’m more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking,” Obama said. “And I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one President at a time, so it’s the President’s job to deliver those messages.” Read More.

Obama Opens a Foreign Tour in Afghanistan (NYT)

Senator Barack Obama at Bagram air base in Afghanistan with, from left: William
B. Wood, the American ambassador to Afghanistan; Senator Chuck Hagel; Sgt. Maj.
Vincent Camacho; Senator Jack Reed; and Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser.
(U.S. Military, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

Above: Canary Wharf at twilight. (This work is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)

Ethiopian sues Xerox for £8million after bullying led to suicide bid (Daily Mail)

By Daily Mail Reporter

22nd July 2008

A Canary Wharf worker is claiming £8 million in compensation at an industrial tribunal today for the racist ordeal he claims he suffered while working for giant photocopying firm Xerox.

Engineer Nardos Mulugeta, 40, from Ethiopia, told how he was driven to attempt suicide twice after being routinely abused by a colleague who openly expressed racist views about ‘foreigners’ and support for the British National Party.

The bully wrote the word ‘Go’ in signing-in and job request books against Mr Mulugeta’s name and said he was ‘lucky he’s working with us – his grandfather used to work as a servant’, it was claimed.

Mr Mulugeta said bosses refused to let him attend a counselling appointment when he was referred by his GP. Read More.

Three young immigrants make a fashion statement (Medill Reports)

by Alysia Patterson
Jul 17, 2008

WASHINGTON — In the world of African affairs, Ethiopia and Eritrea are historically unfriendly neighbors. But in the fashion world style transcends geopolitical tussles. Three young African immigrants — one from Eritrea and two from Ethiopia — joined forces to create a t-shirt line that fuses together their old and new cultures. And they’ve just found out it’s a winning combination. Click here to watch a video clip.

Related: Bernos Tees Blend Hip and Culture (Tadias)

Above: 24-year-old Ethiopian boxer Molla Getachew is preparing
for the Beijing summer Olympics and faces the biggest challenge
of his career. (Photo: Euro Sport)

Ethiopia’s unlikely boxer fights for gold (NBC)

Friday, July 18, 2008

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) – Ethiopia’s runners have won at least one gold medal at almost every Olympics since 1960. The country’s other athletes have been shut out.

Now a member of the Ethiopian team for the Beijing Games intends to fight his way onto the podium, against overwhelming odds.

Molla Getachew is Ethiopia’s only Olympic boxer, an anomaly in a country known for its superstar distance runners. His opponents are the last in a long line of problems standing between him and a gold, including a lack of equipment, no professionals to train against and a disapproving mother.

But when the Beijing Games open in August, he will represent Ethiopia in the 112-lb. flyweight division, a weight class dominated by well-equipped fighters from Mexico, Thailand and Japan.

“I feel sad because I’m the only boxer representing my country at the Olympics,” said the 22-year-old, who spends four hours a day training at an airless, grimy gym in the Ethiopian capital.
Read More.

Above: African immigrants who live here and back Obama
include Mike Endale, left, and Teddy Fikre, right, with
youngsters, left to right, Ye-Amlak Zegeye, Leyu
Negussie and Yared Zegeye. In the background are
Yemiserach Endale, left, and Mistella Mekonnen.
Photo Credit: By Richard A. Lipski — The Washington Post Photo

African Immigrants Among Obama’s Enthusiastic Backers (Washington Post)

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 6, 2008; Page A08

A catered fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama was held recently at Duke’s City, an upscale restaurant and bar nestled amid the hip new condominiums in the District’s U Street corridor, where up-and-coming white professionals are slowly taking over an area that was once mostly black.

But the owner of Duke’s City, Donato Sinaci, is not one of Obama’s many young, white supporters. And the host of the event, Michael Endale, is not a native-born black American. They are members of Ethiopians for Obama, one of several campaign groups made up of African immigrants who are rallying around the first black American to win a major party’s presidential primary, and the son of a Kenyan immigrant.

From coast to coast, Somali, Ethiopian, Nigerian and Kenyan Americans are knocking on the doors of their fellow African immigrants, registering new citizens to vote, raising money and preaching Obama’s mantra of hope and change. They hope that his prominence will change their status as one of the nation’s least-recognized immigrant groups, and that he will one day provide aid to help ease the turmoil and poverty in countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan.

At a Caribou Coffee shop on East West Highway in Silver Spring, where Somalis and Ethiopians often gather, Ahmed Eyow, a Somali, said supporting Obama is a no-brainer.

“Obama is one generation away from Africa,” said Eyow, who immigrated to the United States nearly 30 years ago. “I have nothing against my brothers and sisters, black people who were born here, but his father is like me. His father was an immigrant. I can relate to him the way I can relate to my own children. He’s almost like my son.”

Eyow and five friends who joined him said Somalis who were unconcerned with past presidential elections are now deeply engaged, following every development on cable news channels.

At the Ghana Cafe in Adams Morgan, owner Anthony Opare said enthusiastic customers are urging that a brewer in Kenya change the name of its popular beer from Tusker to Obama. “The fact that he’s been able to come this far has opened doors for Africans and African descents,” Opare said. “To the African, it tells us that . . . one can work hard and get whatever you want. This is the land of opportunity.” Read More.

Above: Ethiopians beleive that the true Arc of the Covenant
is housed in this building at Saint Mary’s of Zion in Axum.

Tourists flock to Ethiopia to see Ark of Covenant’s home (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

By Ron Csillag
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

July 5, 2008

AXUM, Ethiopia – “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.”

Such was God’s commandment to Moses in the book of Exodus after delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

Along with the Holy Grail (said to be the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper), the fabled Ark of the Covenant has become not only an icon of modern culture, thanks mainly to Indiana Jones, but the most revered religious relic of all time.
And in Ethiopia, people really believe it’s here, resting in the Chapel of the Tablet in this northern town just miles from the troubled border with Eritrea.

Ark lore runs deep in this country. Copies of a 1993 book by British journalist Graham Hancock, “The Sign and the Seal,” are displayed everywhere. And every church in Ethiopia has a set of tabots, replicas of the Ten Commandments that were once housed in the Ark.

For one of the poorest countries on Earth to lay claim to the Ark does much to boost its image, not to mention its tourism.

The Ark was the portable wooden chest, gilded inside and out, adorned with cherubs and topped with a throne, that was constructed by the Israelites to house the Ten Commandments during their 40 years of desert wanderings to the Promised Land.

But it was also a kind of supercharged electric capacitor – a telephone line directly to God, who instructed that if the device was set up just right, “There, I will meet with thee.”

Whoever possessed the Ark was invincible. “Biblical and other sources speak of the Ark blazing with fire and light . . . stopping rivers, blasting whole armies,” Hancock writes in his book.

The Bible says the Philistines had it for a while but were smitten by “swellings” for their troubles.

Taken to King Solomon’s first Jewish temple, it lay in the inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies. But according to Jewish tradition, it vanished during (or after) the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C., creating one of the greatest mysteries of all time.

Except in Ethiopia, where many educated people believe the real Ark rests in the Chapel of the Tablet, where it was moved from an adjacent 10th-century cathedral because divine “heat” from the relic had cracked the stones of its previous sanctum.

As the story goes, the Queen of Sheba, one of Ethiopia’s first rulers, traveled to Jerusalem to partake of King Solomon’s wisdom. On her way home, she bore the king’s son, Menelik.

After Menelik went to Jerusalem to visit his father, Solomon gave him a copy of the Ark and commanded that officials of his kingdom travel back to Ethiopia to settle there.

But the royal entourage that was traveling to Ethiopia could not bear to be away from the Ark, so they switched the copy with the original and smuggled the real thing out of the country. Menelik learned of this only on his way home and reasoned that since the Ark’s powers hadn’t destroyed his entourage, it must be God’s will that it remain in Ethiopia. Read More.

Ethiopia bans nude pics (News24, South Africa)

June 27, 2008

Addis Ababa – Ethiopia has slapped a ban on what had been billed as the Horn of Africa nation’s first exhibition of nude photography, the photographer behind the show said on Wednesday.

Biniam Mengesha, 28, told AFP he had been planning to show 45 photos at the unprecedented exhibition – titled “Black Diamonds” – in the capital Addis Ababa from Friday through to July 4.

“Authorities from the ministry of culture asked me to submit my photos before the exhibition was inaugurated. Afterwards, they said: ‘This isn’t art, it’s pornography’,” Biniam said.

“The photographs are fine art and include partial nudity aided by digital photography. Had it not been censored, it would have been the first in our country.”

Biniam said he is arranging to show his images elsewhere in Africa in two months time. Culture ministry officials declined to comment.

Ethiopia is a largely conservative society, whose 81 million people are mostly Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

Above: Mesfin Hussin, 35, of 3001 Park Center Drive, was
charged with Murder.

Alexandria Police Make Homicide Arrest (ALEXANDRIA POLICE DEPARTMENT)

JUNE 23, 2008

Alexandria police have identified the victim of yesterday’s homicide as Hawlet Mohammed, a 27 year-old Alexandria woman. Police were called to the 3000 block of Park Center Drive around 11:55 p.m. for the report of a deceased female. The victim died at the scene.

The victim suffered trauma to the upper body. An autopsy performed today has determined the manner of death to be homicide.

Alexandria detectives arrested an Alexandria man for the murder of Hawlet Mohammed earlier today. Mesfin Hussin, 35, of 3001 Park Center Drive, was charged with Murder. Mr. Hussin is the husband of Ms. Mohammed.

This is the first homicide in Alexandria this year. There were eight homicides in Alexandria last year.

Above: Morocco’s Benjalloun Abdessalam (C) fights for the
ball with Ethiopia’s Grum Siyoum (R) during their 2010 World
Cup qualifying soccer match in Casablanca May 31, 2008.
REUTERS/Rafael Marchante(MOROCCO)

Ethiopia get off the mark (FIFA)

Saturday 14 June 2008

On matchday three of Africa’s second qualifying round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, Ethiopia defeated Mauritania 1-0 yesterday in the battle of the bottom sides in Group 8.

The win gives the Walyas their first three points of the campaign, although they still have it all to do to catch joint leaders Morocco and Rwanda, who put their 100% record on the line when they go head-to-head on 14 June in Kigali.

The 40,000 crowd at the Olympic stadium in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott witnessed a fiercely fought game between two sides desperate to get their first points on the board. In the end, however, a late lapse in concentration by the locals allowed Ethiopia to steal all three points with a Said Salahddine strike two minutes into added time.

(AFP)

Despite moving into third place in the group, the Walyas still have a negative goal difference of -3. However, it is marginally better than that of the hapless Mauritanians (-7), who remain rooted to the foot of the table with three defeats from three games. Read More.

Related: FIFA Suspends Ethiopia With Immediate Effect

Above: Zerihun Muche with his mother Turieh Berihun

Ethiopian boy who was born ‘inside-out’ was saved by late surgeon husband of actress Natascha McElhone (Daily Mail)

By Daily Mail Reporter
19th June 2008

An Ethiopian boy who was born ‘inside-out’ has become the living legacy of actress Natascha McElhone’s plastic surgeon husband, who died of a heart condition last month.

Zerihun Muche, five, was born with his bladder and several other internal organs on the outside of his body and was destined for life as an outcast.

But surgeon Martin Kelly’s intervention led to radical surgery and now Zerihun can look forward to a vastly improved life.

Mr Kelly, 42, met Zerihun while filming a documentary in Ethiopia in 2006 in his role as the founder of Facing The World, a charity dedicated to helping children with complex medical conditions.

Above: The late Martin Kelly with
actress wife Natascha McElhone

Mr Kelly made sure the boy received help, referring him to experts at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Portland Hospital.

Surgeons were so moved by Zerihun’s plight that they treated him for free and have now set up their own charity to help other children from developing countries who suffer from his condition. Read More.

By Tadias Staff

Published: Thursday, June 19, 2008

New York (Tadias) – Continuing the celebration of the Ethiopian Millenium, BINA Foundation is hosting an interfaith panel discussion this Sunday in Harlem. Ethiopia has the unique position of being home to three of the world’s largest monotheistic traditions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Traditional legends trace their Jewish heritage to the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon and the journey of the Arc of the Covenant from Israel to the highlands of Ethiopia. Surviving copies of the holy Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees were found and preserved in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s ancient practice of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the translations of the Bible into Ge’ez occurred as far back as the 5th century A.D. with the advent of Syrian monks fleeing Byzantine persecution. And before the first Hijra to Medina, the prophet Mohammad sent his family to Ethiopia and they received refuge from a Christian emperor and one of the hadith or sayings of Mohammad urge that Muslims recognize the refuge that they received and that they abstain from war on Ethiopians.

Ethiopia’s distinction as an early sanctuary for the three Abrahamic religions will be discussed by panelists including: Dr. Ephraim Isaac, Director of the Institute of Semitic Studies at Princeton University; Dr. Ayele Bekerie, Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University, Dr. Said Samatar, Professor of African History at Rutgers University; and Dr. Yohannes Zeleke, an archaeologist, anthropologist, and historian as well as the former curator of the National Museum of Ethiopia. The panel discussion entitled “Ethiopia: The Three Faiths” will be held on Sunday at 3pm at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

—
Learn more about the panel discussion at www.binacf.org.

Above: Steve Saunders, Board Member, Anne Ferguson,
FF Operations Director, Dr. Catherine Hamlin, Founder of AAFH,
Abaynesh Asrat, Board Member, Kassahun Kebede, Board Chair,
Kate Grant, Executive Director on Opening Day.
(Photo: fistulafoundation.org)

The Hospital was financed entirely by a grant from the Fistula Foundation and its Tesfa Ineste program lead by Ethiopian and Ethiopian-Americans

Published: Friday, June 13, 2008

Santa Clara, California – The Fistula Foundation announced that the new Fistula Hospital in Harrar, Ethiopia began accepting its first patients on June 1, 2008. The Hospital was financed entirely by a grant from the Fistula Foundation and by the Ethiopian-American community in the United States, through the Tesfa Ineste program.

The new fifty-bed Hospital will provide fistula repair and rehabilitation to women in the entire eastern part of Ethiopia, who previously had no access to such care. It will also provide emergency obstetric services and fistula awareness outreach services in an effort to prevent obstetric fistulas from occurring in the first place. The Harrar Hospital is the fourth of five new regional facilities built by the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital to serve women in remote parts of Ethiopia. A fifth hospital in the town of Metu is under construction.

Opening day of Harrar Hospital. Photo: fistulafoundation.org

Plaque on the front of the new Hospital, honoring the Fistula Foundation and Tesfa Ineste.
Photo: fistulafoundation.org

The Hospital was inaugurated in a ceremony in Harrar on Friday, May 9, 2008. Dr. Catherine Hamlin, Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital founder, her son Richard Hamlin, Kassahun Kebede, Chair of the Fistula Foundation Board, and Abaynesh Asrat, Fistula Foundation Board Member and Tesfa Ineste Chair made remarks at the ceremony. Representatives from the Fistula Foundation were honored to participate in the inauguration, along with Ethiopian officials.

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Learn more at fistulafoundation.org

Above: (left to right): Claims Manager Rand Chatman, Partner
Joseph Cammarata, Partner Ira Sherman, Partner Allan Siegel,
Claims Manager Erik McConnell. (Photo: chaikinandsherman.com)

June 11th, 2008

Publisher’s Note: A personal injury law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, has created the Ethiopian Heritage College Scholarship Fund for high school graduating seniors. The deadline to apply is Friday, June 13th, 2008.

Here is the announcement from the Law Office of Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel:

In 2008, the Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel Ethiopian Heritage College Scholarship Fund was created in order to help members of the Ethiopian community pay for their college education. The purpose of the fund is to find and then help youngsters with few financial resources obtain a much-desired college degree so that they may then go serve the public. CSCS, P.C. strives to encourage the development of intellect, wisdom, and integrity in those they help, and the firm strongly believes this can be accomplished as can any other goal you long to achieve.

CSCS intends to award one scholarship per year to a resident of the Greater Metropolitan Area who is graduating from high school and has been admitted to, and will be attending, an accredited two or four year college or university on a full-time basis. The scholarship will be in the amount of $1,000 a year, paid in two equal payments on August 1 and February 1. The money must be used to help defer school expenses (i.e. tuition, room and board and books). The Greater Metropolitan Area of Washington D.C. is defined as including the Maryland counties of Montgomery, Prince George´s, Anne Arundel, and Howard and the Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, Prince Williams and the City of Alexandria.

The scholarship was publicized by contacting guidance counselors at area high schools to urge them to announce the availability of the scholarships to their students and encourage eligible students to apply. Student selection is made from applications submitted, which meet the criteria. No person related by blood or marriage to any member or former member of the selection committee is eligible for an award. Awardees are required to make reports each grading period concerning their grades and academic standing during the scholarship period. Payments will be withheld when a grantee is not performing satisfactorily.

Scholarship recipient will be chosen on the basis of financial need, high school grade point average, the essay submitted, demonstrated community service, and conclusions the selection panel might draw from a personal interview as to the individual´s motivation, character, ability, and potential.

———–
Learn More at chaikinandsherman.com

US to give Ethiopia $70m in food aid (RTE News)

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

The US last night pledged $70m (€45m) in food aid for Ethiopia, where 4.5m people are in need of emergency food aid.

The US Agency for International Development said some 95,000 tonnes of food is expected in the Horn of Africa nation next month.

Ethiopia will receive an additional $10m in medical supplies, water services and other non-food aid.

Britain pledged an additional £10m (€12.6m) for Ethiopia on Monday, and UK officials were due in Ethiopia yesterday to assess the situation.

High food prices and the failure of rains have cast the country into a crisis reminiscent of its devastating 1984-1985 famine, which killed more than 1m.

The government says 75,000 children are severely malnourished in the country of more than 80m, but last week UNICEF gave a higher estimate of 126,000.

The UN World Food Programme has appealed for $147m to tackle the impact of the drought in Ethiopia, while UNICEF is looking for $50m. Read More

Desperation as Ethiopia’s hunger grows (BBC)

Gavin Hewitt’s report from south-west Ethiopia

By Gavin Hewitt
BBC News, Ethiopia

Monday, 9 June 2008

It is a strange and unsettling ride west from the Ethiopian town of Shashamene. The fields are vibrant green. There is water in the creeks. The soil is a deep rich burgundy.

However, the people here speak of a “green drought”.

It is the time when the land is full of new shoots but there is no food. It happens because the last rains failed and few crops were planted.

A crowd gathers quickly. Some hold up their children. They want us to see the distended stomachs which are one sign of hunger.

The parents hope that, by seeing, we will take their children to a treatment centre.

In every village there were vulnerable
children. You can sense the desperation
when you arrive in a village.

This happened in the village of Odo. A local priest had visited last week and had taken the most severely malnourished children for emergency care.

But others had been left behind, including a 12-year-old with shrunken limbs who suffered from malaria. Read More.

Above: Marcus Samuelsson sat down for an interview with Tadias
on Monday, April 14, 2008 at Merkato 55. Photo by Jeffrey Phipps.

Iron Chef America: Flay vs. Samuelsson (Food Network)

Esteemed NYC Chef Marcus Samuelsson enters kitchen stadium for the first time to challenge Chef Bobby Flay. Will the judges favor Chef Samuelsson’s worldly cuisine, or will Chef Flay’s Southwestern flare win them over? Tune in to see whose cuisine reigns supreme. Read More.

Above: An undated photo shows teff grain being processed
near Adis Abeba (Addis Ababa), Ethiopia. Rising food prices
around the world combined with drought have caused Ethiopia
to clamp down on teff exports, forcing many expatriate Jews now
living in Israel to go without the injera bread that traditionally
accompanies their meals. Photograph by Michael S. Lewis/NGS

Israel’s Ethiopians Forced to Give Up Traditional Bread (National Geographic News)

Mati Milstein in Bat Yam, Israel
for National Geographic News

June 5, 2008

Part seven of a special series that explores the local faces of the world’s worst food crisis in decades.

The crisis that has sent food costs spiraling upward around the globe is causing Ethiopian Jews now living in Israel to give up something priceless: a piece of their culture.

Tens of thousands of the expatriates are being forced to abandon their traditional diets because of the skyrocketing cost of teff grain.

Teff, a nutritious and hardy cereal domesticated in Ethiopia thousands of years ago, is the primary ingredient in injera, a round flatbread that accompanies most Ethiopian meals.

A drastic shortage has caused the price of teff to jump by some 300 percent over the past year.

A 110-pound (50-kilogram) sack now runs at least 600 New Israeli shekels (about U.S. $179).

The price increases hit Israel’s Ethiopian community particularly hard, as it is a struggling group with about three-quarters living below the poverty line, according to official figures. Read More.