Every week CNN International’s African Voices highlights Africa’s most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera. This week we profile Bruktawit Tigabu, co-creator of Ethiopian children’s TV show “Tsehai Loves Learning.”
(CNN) — For millions of Ethiopian children, it’s the most cherished moment of their day: a wide-eyed, smiling giraffe hops in front of them, crooning funny songs in a language they can understand.
The beloved sock puppet, known as Tsehai, is the star of a ground-breaking TV show that’s been revolutionizing childhood education in the east African country.
The brainchild of Ethiopian educator Bruktawit Tigabu and her husband Shane Etzenhouser, “Tsehai Loves Learning” is the only children’s TV show in Ethiopia in Amharic, the nation’s official and most widely spoken language. Read more.
President Obama has announced his intent to appoint two World Food Prize laureates to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD). He has named 2009 World Food Prize Laureate Gebisa Ejeta and 2010 World Food Prize Laureate Jo Luck.
Two other experts with ties to the World Food Prize have have also served on this critical board: 2003 World Food Prize Laureate Catherine Bertini is a past member; and Council of Advisors member Peter McPherson is a past chairman of the board.
Gebisa Ejeta is currently a Professor at Purdue University and serves as the Executive Director of the Purdue Center for Global Food Security. He previously served as Principal Plant Breeder for the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics assigned to Sudan. Dr. Ejeta serves on the Consortium Board of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, the Sasakawa Africa Association, and the Chicago Council for Global Affairs Agricultural Development Program. He is a Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Sciences, the Crop Science Society of Agronomy, and the American Society of Agronomy. Dr. Ejeta was the recipient of the 2009 World Food Prize. He holds a B.S. in Plant Sciences from Alemaya College of Agriculture in Ethiopia, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Genetics and Breeding from Purdue University.
Jo Luck is President of Heifer International, a global organization working to end hunger and poverty. She previously served as president/CEO of Heifer International beginning in 1992 until 2010. During her academic tenure, she attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she served on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Advisory Board, and the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Session on Governing for Nonprofit Excellence. Jo Luck was co-recipient of the 2010 World Food Prize. She holds a B.A. from Lipscomb College and honorary doctorates from several colleges and universities.
—
New York (Tadias) – In the following video entitled Hisab, Ethiopian American artist Ezra Wube takes a humorous poke at the hustle and bustle of Addis Ababa. The short animated video tells an urban folklore by bringing to life the sights and sounds inside the city’s popular blue and white minibus (a cross between a bus and a taxi). The short film’s main characters are four-legged residents – donkeys, dogs and goats.
“The technique I used to make the animation is called stop-action animation,” Ezra tells us. “The entire frames were painted on a single surface canvas. After painting a scene I take still picture and then paint the next frame on top of it. So its pretty much like watching the same painting changing continuously. The paintings physically no longer exist but only the memories.”
Ezra who moved to the United States at the age of 18 was born and raised in Addis Ababa. In 2003 he was awarded the Massachusetts Annual Black Achievement Award, and held his first one-person show at the Dreams of Freedom Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, curated by Emily Sloat Shaw. In 2004, he received his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art. Upon graduation, Ezra was awarded a Dondis and Godine Travel Fellowship to conduct research in Ethiopia on folktales and traditional lore. In 2006, he held his second solo show entitled “Story Telling” at the United Nations in New York. The following year, Ezra was part of the “Ethiopian Millennium” art show at Blackburn Gallery, Howard University in Washington, DC. In 2008, Ezra participated in three exhibitions: “Reflections in Exile – Five Contemporary African Artists Respond to Social Injustice” at the South Shore Art Center in Cohasett, “Here to There” at the South Seattle Community College in Seattle, Washington, and “Abyssinia to Harlem and Back” at the Canvas Paper and Stone Gallery in New York.
Ezra received the Pamela Joseph Art Scholarship in 2009 while working on his Master’s of Fine Arts thesis at Hunter College in New York. And most recently, in 2011, Ezra held his first screening at Addis Atlier, “Memory and Process,” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, curated by Leo Kosm.
Above:Newspaper landlords in Ethiopia rent out newspapers to
people too poor to buy them. Dozens of readers rent the papers
for up to 30 minutes, looking for news and jobs. (CNN reports.)
Ethiopian owner-musician Zeleke Gessesse will close his club and prepare
to open a new one in his homeland. (Andrew A. Nelles/Chicago Tribune)
April 19, 2011
Chicago – Wild Hare, the Ethiopian owned iconic reggae club in Chicago is preparing to close shop. The owner says he is returning to Ethiopia to open a similar nightspot, the Chicago Tribune reports.
“We came to Chicago as political refugees from Ethiopia – it was a tough time and there was civil war,” says Gessesse, remembering the arduous journey he, a brother and a bandmate endured to get here in 1978 (including several days of trekking through the African desert).
“I think now is a good time to go home and get involved in the transformation of the country.”
Per the newspaper: “Ethiopia, says Gessesse, is now booming economically, its surging population of citizens under age 35 making the place ripe for his planned Wild Hare Ethiopia.”
“There is not a club like this in that country,” says Gessesse, 53.
Alas, without the Wild Hare, there won’t be one in Chicago, either.
“It’s really the only club – aside from maybe Exedus and some offerings here and there – where you can hear reggae on a daily basis,” says Carlos Tortolero, program manager for the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture. (Tortolero refers to Exedus II, at 3477 N. Clark St., which presents reggae four nights a week).
New York (TADIAS) – “United We Stand, Divided We Fall,” was the theme for the Ethiopian government’s Five-Year Growth and Transformation Plan Convention in Harlem last Saturday. Both government and opposition supporters came out to fill the seats at the convention, while protesters held a demonstration outside.
New York City was one of 14 cities in North America where the Ethiopian Embassy launched the continental tour last week.
From Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, Ethiopians across the country appeared divided as the events were met by protests in most venues.
“These people over here, they should be ignored,” government supporter, Mehretab Assefa said of the protesting opposition. “It’s like talking to a deaf man because, really, to me, they are irrelevant.”
Government opposition chanted, “Meles is a criminal!” and “Down with EPRDF!” referring to the country’s long-serving Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, and his ruling party, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front.
Outside of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, the opposition was protesting alleged human rights violations and unfair distribution of wealth. Inside the building, the Ethiopian government was promoting investment from the Ethiopian Diaspora to Ethiopia, to help build its economy.
“There is no opportunity for investment without freedom,” protester Abate Kassah said. “Ethiopia is receiving so much international aid, and yet it’s among the poorest countries in the world.”
Director General of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange Authority, Ambassador Dr. Addisalem Balema, led the discussion during the convention. Balema said the country’s goal is to become a middle-income country in the next 12 years, although he admits that it is an ambitious plan.
According to the Heritage Foundation 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, Ethiopia rates 144th in the world, in economic freedom. When asked how Ethiopia can expect to grow its economy through private investments and entrepreneurship with such low ratings in economic freedom, Balema cast The Heritage Foundation aside as an agency that was acting as an agitator. He said that the audience should not worry itself with Ethiopia’s ranking in frivolous polls. However, Balema added that Ethiopia might have to change its economic-freedom policies if it wanted to be accepted into the World Trade Organization, as it is currently bidding for enrollment.
Balema added that the government plans to achieve these goals through a variety of efforts: bolstering a currently inefficient national tax collection program; opening Ethiopia’s agricultural economy to large and small foreign business by leasing fertile land and offering tax incentives; and promoting social justice and democratic rule around the country; among other things.
Ethiopia’s low-lease costs and tax incentives for fertile land in the country are attracting big businesses around the world to farm their products in Ethiopia. News reports say that farmers in Gambella, in southwestern Ethiopia, are being forced off of their property to make way for these large companies.
“As we speak, now, they are jailing people, they are jamming radios, they are jamming Internet,” protester Tedla Asfaw said. “Investment in a society where you have no right? What kind of investment is that? That is a joke!”
When asked of the reports of social injustices by forcing local farmers to leave their livelihoods to accommodate large foreign companies, Balema replied that “not one farmer” has been involuntarily moved off of their land. He assured the audience not to trust the reports. Balema added that the only land that is being leased to foreign companies is unsettled. It doesn’t make any sense for the Ethiopian economy to not use unsettled, fertile land, Balema said.
According to Darryl Vhugen, a senior attorney and land tenure specialist with Landesa, a non-profit organization that partners with governments to secure land rights to the rural poor, just because a farmer doesn’t have documented rights to a property, it doesn’t mean, in many developing countries, that they don’t have legitimate, longstanding rights to the land.
According to Vhugen there would be a greater chance of long-term agricultural, economical and social success if governments incorporate local farmers into land deals with the foreign investors. His argument is that in most cases small farms are more productive than large farms and if the small farmers are involved in the negotiations, they are less likely to cause unrest in the region.
In so many words, Vhugen is saying, “United You Stand, Divided You Fall.”
—–
About the Author: Tesfaye Negussie is an Ethiopian-American journalist and videographer. He has freelanced for NBC’s TheGrio.com, The Washington Post, PBS, NPR, The Village Voice, and several other media outlets. He holds a Masters degree in broadcast journalism from Columbia University. He is currently the Co-Founder and Executive Producer of United Nile Media.
Editors’ Note: Tesfaye Negussie attended the meeting in Harlem and participated in the question and answer session. He was not allowed to bring recording devices such as video camera or audio recorder inside the meeting. As a result, the following video was shot outside the convention and shows only the protesters.
New York (Tadias) – Now in its eigth year, the Sheba Film Festival is set to begin on May 15th in New York. The annual event, organized by BINA Cultural Foundation Inc., primarily focuses on movies that pay homage to the rich legacy of Ethiopian Jews as well as the global Ethiopian community.
In addition to the film screenings – running from May 15 to June 2 – at four different locations (Faison Firehouse Theatre in Harlem, The JCC in Manhatan, The Schomburg Center and Kane Street Synagogue), the program also includes an art exhibition organized in conjunction with the International Agency for Minority Artists Affair (IAMAA). Opening reception is scheduled for Sunday, June 5th (5:00PM) at 163 west 125th Street in Harlem.
Here is the schedule for the 8th Sheba Film Festival:
Sunday, May 15th 2011 3pm (Admission: $12)
Faison Firehouse Theatre in Harlem
6 Hancock Place, New York NY 10027
(West 124th Street between St. Nicholas and Morningside Avenue). Director: Duki Dror (Israel 2010), 58 min, Amharic, Hebrew, English subtitles
Tuesday, May 24th 2011 7:30PM (Admission: $10)
JCC Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave, at 76th St. Director: Curt Fissel (Uganda/USA 2010), 40 min, English
Synopsis:
Living in the lingering wake of the Idi Amin regime of terror and intolerance, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Ugandan coffee farmers challenged historical and economic hurdles by forming “Delicious Peace” Cooperative. Their mission was to build harmonious relationships and economic development, and they are succeeding. Partnering with a Fair Trade US roaster, the farmers’ standard of living is improving, peace is flourishing, and their messages of peace and fair wages are spreading to their coffee customers in the US.
Synopsis:
Using archival footage and photographs, the film explores key moments, both public and private, in the life and reign of Ethiopia’s last emperor Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975).
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 7PM (Admission: $12)
Kane Street Synagogue (236 Kane Street Brooklyn, NY 11231) Director: Benjamin Mandell (Ethiopia/Israel 2010), 27 min, Amharic, English subtitles
Synopsis:
Ethiopia entered the new millennium on September 11, 2007 nearly eight years after the rest of the world. The celebrations are riotous. Desaly Goshu left his birthplace of Ethiopia seventeen years ago. As a young boy, his family immigrated to Israel. For the first time, Desaly returns to Ethiopia to remember his past and to celebrate the coming of a new era.
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 7PM (Admission: $12)
Kane Street Synagogue (236 Kane Street Brooklyn, NY 11231) Director: Ruth Mason (Israel 2010) 30 min, Hebrew English subtitles
Synopsis:
Ethiopian Jews’ multiple names reflect the richness, wisdom and beauty of their culture — and every name tells a story. In the film, young Ethiopian Israelis share their journeys toward their names: stories of love and connection, survival and loss, anger and pride. The characters’ original names – changed without their consent upon arrival in Israel – take them back to their childhoods in mountain villages, to the hunger and fear in Sudan, to longing for loved ones who died or disappeared on the journey to Israel, to denial of their identity…and reclamation of their roots.
Above:Tigist Tufa, left, and Alemteshay Misganaw after their
third- and fourth-place finishes in the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile.
Tadias Magazine
By Jason Jett
Published: Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Washington, D.C. (Tadias) – Ethiopian runners demonstrated swagger aplenty at major road races across the U.S. last weekend.
“Yes, I expected to win,” Lelisa Desisa said to a question about his confidence level after winning the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run here Sunday morning, some 24 hours following a victory at the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, S. C. “He wants to compete all the time,” said Haddis Tafari in translating for Desisa immediately after the Sunday morning race that started and finished beside the Washington Monument as part of the nation’s capital annual Cherry Blossom Festival. When asked were he fatigued, Desisa nonchalantly replied “a little bit,” then added it is not too tiring to run back-to-back races when you win both.
“I am happy,” he said smiling
Tigist Tufa of Ethiopia completed the same back-to back challenge in the women’s division of the two events, finishing third in both Washington and Charleston.
Sharwege Alene of Ethiopia won the women’s race of the Cooper River Bridge 10K in 33:06. “I came here to win, and that’s what I did,” Alene told reporters after the race.
Finishing two seconds behind Alene was Janet Cherobon Bawcom, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kenya. Tufa’s time was 34:02 and Aziza Aliyu of Ethiopia was fourth in 34:29. Four-time Boston Marathon winner Catherine Ndereba of Kenya finished fifth in 34:34.
Kenyan Julliah Tinega won the women’s division at the Cherry Blossom, with countrywoman Risper Gesabwa a second back at 54:03. Tufa was third in 54:13 and Alemtsehay Misganaw of Ethiopia was fourth in 55:17.
Misganaw also doubled during the weekend, finishing fifth in 33:52 at the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K in Richmond, Va.
Four Ethiopian men finished in the Top 10 of that Saturday-morning event, won by Julius Kojo of Kenya in 29:02. Tesfaye Dube finished second in 29:07 and Abiyot Endale was third in 29:18. Derese Deniboa was eighth in 29:43, and Ketema Nigusse finished ninth in 29:43.
Lelisa Desisa, Allan Kiprono, Ridouane Harroufi, Lani Kiplagat, Macdonard Odara, Tesfaye Sendeku, Stephen Muange, Simon Cheprot, Joseph Boit and Girma Tola with their awards at the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run.
A victorious Lelisa Desisa celebrates with Girma Tola, left, and Derese Deniboa.
From left: Julliah Tinega, Risper Gesabwa, Tigist Tufa, Alemtsehay Misganaw, Claire Hallissey, Kelly Jaske, Michelle Miller and Sharon Lemberger with their awards.
Tesfaye Dube finishing second in the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K in Richmond, VA.
In California, Ethiopians swept the Carlsbad 5000 — a 5k event that in past years featured Meseret Defar, Tirunesh Dibaba and Markos Geneti and which perennially is dominated by runners from Ethiopia and Kenya.
Dejan Gebremeskel won the competition in 13:11, defeating Eluid Kipchoge of Kenya by three seconds. The competitors swapped finishing positions from a year ago, when the Ethiopian was runner-up.
Aheza Kiros (15:13) claimed the women’s victory by a second over Kenya’s Pauling Korikwiang. Kiros also won the event in 2009, and finished second to Defar last year.
Overall some 8,500 runners participated in Carlsbad, a record 41,314 registered in Richmond, all 15,000 available slots were filled in the 10-mile event and another 1,000 for a 5K run-walk here at the Cherry Blossom, and there were more than 34,690 finishers in Charleston.
Desisa won the South Carolina competition with a decisive kick for a two-second gap over Kenyan Simon Ndrangu in 28:59. Ethiopia’s Bado Worku Merdessa was third in 29:15, the same time as fourth-place finisher Ezkyas Sisay — yet another runner who competed in two races in two days along the East Coast.
The weekend’s focus was on Washington, were Desisa broke the course record by two seconds with his 45:36 finish. The race was virtually an African championship event, with the Top 12 comprised of six Kenyans, five Ethiopians and a Moroccan.
In addition to Desisa, for Ethiopia Tesfaye Sendeku was sixth, Girma Tola, 10th, Sisay, 11th, and Tesfaye Assefa 12th.
Desisa battled side by side with Kenyan Allan Kiprono over the final two miles of the race, twice surging ahead only for Kirprono to close the gap until decisively pulling away in the homestretch.
“He’s a good runner,” Desisa said of Kiprono and the back-and-forth during the final miles. “I was testing him. I realized he was a good runner, so..”
So Desisa said he waited until the end to out sprint Kiprono because he knew his finishing kick was stronger than the Kenyan’s.
Desisa was runner-up at the 2010 Cherry Blossom in a controversial finish. He charged Kenyan Stephen Tum used an elbow to nudge him off a straight path to the finish-line tape, but after a review of photos and video race officials declared Tum the winner.
Two months later Desisa’s experience in winning the 2010 Bolder Boulder10K in Colorado was in sharp contrast to that contentious finish in Washington. He was declared the winner in Boulder after joining hands with countrymen Tilahen Regassa and Tadese Tola in a show of camaraderie that saw them cross the finish line in a 1-2-3 Ethiopian sweep that was as stunning as exemplary in a sport that obsesses over individualism.
Asked if he considered such a gesture as he and Kiprono approached the finish line Sunday, Desisa smiled and said emphatically, “No, no, no.”
“We (he, Regassa and Tola) are the same group,” Desisa stressed, noting that national pride is a big motivation for Ethiopian runners.
—
About the Author: Jason Jett is a New York based freelance journalist. He writes on human interest stories as well as specialized reports for niche audiences on various subjects including sports and fitness. He has worked in the news business for thirty years.
New York (Tadias) – Jamaican-born entrepreneur Sean John is the owner of Spur Tree Lounge, located in Lower East Side Manhattan. The hip and popular eatery, which was recently selected by MACY’s Culinary Council as one of NYC’s hottest restaurants, is frequented by tourists and New Yorkers alike, including Ethiopians whose country inspired the establishment’s logo. The menu combines Jamaican and Asian cuisine. But, the moment you walk into the restaurant, there is no mistaking Spur Tree’s subtle connection to Ethiopia.
In the following video Sean John discusses the success of his business, the story behind his logo, his affinity for Ethiopia and his extensive travels throughout the African nation.
New York (Tadias) – Last night, President Barack Obama made an appearance at Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem, where the Democratic National Committee was holding a fundraiser. The event marked Obama’s first trip to Harlem since being elected as the nation’s first African American President.
The gala ($30,800-a-person) was attended by about 50 people, including Harlem’s long-serving congressman Charles B. Rangel. Reporters were briefly allowed inside the private event “at the new and wildly popular Red Rooster restaurant,” which is owned by Ethiopian-born Chef and Entrepreneur Marcus Samuelsson. Per NYT: “Telling the donors this is “a challenging time,” Mr. Obama said, “I could not do what I do” without the knowledge “that I have a lot of people rooting for me, a lot of people supporting me.”’
“It was an honor to host the event and to share the food with the President, his team, and all the guests at our restaurant,” Samuelsson, who also prepared the Obama’s first State dinner, posted on his website. “After an amazing experience cooking at the State Dinner back in 2009, I am proud to host Mr. Obama at Red Rooster. It means a lot to bring the conversation to Harlem, and I wish him the best as his campaign continues.”
The President also made a stop at the Studio Museum, a few blocks away, where he met with about 125 special guests and supporters.
A much larger crowd, though not all rooting for Obama, had stood outside the restaurant hoping to get at least a glimpse of him. According to AP: “Among the people gathered at barricades on 125th Street and Lenox Avenue was Elizabeth Simmons. The 29-year-old teacher said she was excited the president was visiting a restaurant in the neighborhood Tuesday. She said she was glad to see him supporting a community establishment. Others talked about his tenure, saying he had lacked the time to deal with the problems facing urban communities like Harlem. Thirty-year-old Malcolm Woods said, “He’s only one man.””
Others said Obama needs to do more to alleviate the nation’s economic woes. Nellie Hester-Bailey, director of the Harlem Tenants’ Council, told Sky News: “There is a real sense of anger that there is this major disconnect. It’s a slap in the face when people, not just in this community but across America, cannot find jobs or support themselves. It is particularly difficult when you look at the cost of America’s actions in Libya, and working people are being asked to bear the brunt of budget cuts.”
And per New York political consultant Hank Sheinkopf: “Harlem is the symbolic African-American capital of America, the most Democratic of places. He’s got to re-energise the people who helped get him to the White House. Obama is saying ‘Hey, remember me? The Republicans are coming and I need your help’. The 2012 presidential race is really not that far away, and in classic American style, it’s starting now.”
The Harlem events were expected to net $1.5 Million for the Democrats.
—
New York (Tadias) – Near New York City’s Washington Square Park, at NYU’s Windows at Kimmel Center, pedestrians and drivers alike are being treated to 13 exquisite photographs from Ethiopia. The images were captured by New York Times Photographer Chester Higgins, Jr. during his 2007-2010 trip to Ethiopia. The outdoor exhibit, entitled “Stars of Ethiopia,” is organized by the Institute of African American Affairs at NYU and features photos measuring 70″ x 80″ that are visible from the sidewalk. With each portrait, Higgins seeks to create a dialogue with the viewer, revealing his subjects’ diverse homeland through their eyes.
In the following video, Mr. Higgins gives Tadias a tour of his exhibition.
Above:Ezkyas Sisay (L), and Gebre Gebremariam (R) head
the field rounding a curve in Central Park early into the 2011
New York City Half Marathon – Photo credit: OhSnapper.com.
Tadias Magazine
By Jason Jett
Published: Wednesday, March 23, 2011
New York (Tadias) – Just as sure as March in North America brings the return of foliage, warm weather and long days, it signals the continuation of Ethiopian domination of foot-race competitions in city streets and parks across the United States.
The fickleness of spring, however, did prompt a number of “what ifs” from runners on both coasts last weekend.
Gebre Gebremariam, who last November won the ING New York City Marathon, was runner-up Sunday in the New York City Half Marathon which looped Central Park before coursing through Times Square and finishing in Lower Manhattan.
Gebremariam, a favorite to win the race, pulled away from Mo Farah, a native Somali who now lives in Great Britain, in the last 25 meters only for Farah to counter with a victorious sprint to the finish line. Farah finished the 13.1-mile event in 60:23, with Gebremariam two seconds back.
“I don’t like the cold,” Gebremariam said after the narrow loss to Farah, one of the hottest runners in the world the past year who was making his half-marathon debut.
Girma Tesfaye, an Ethiopian who splits residency between his homeland and the Bronx, NY, finished fourth in 60:35, and Ezkyas Sisay, an Ethiopian who trains in Flagstaff, AZ, was 10th in 61:56. Girma Tola, who was fifth in the 2008 competition, finished 14th this time in 62:46.
The only Ethiopian runner who said he did not mind the cold weather was Girma, who after the race chastised himself for not finding the reserve in the homestretch to overtake third-place finisher Galen Rupp of the United States.
“For me, the weather was very nice,” Girma said, noting a year ago he finished 10th at the event. “I like it cold. It was fantastic for me. The weather, and the course.”
From left: Ezkyas Sisay and Tesfaye Girma, both of Ethiopia, Gomes Dos Santos Marilson of Brazil, Alistair Cragg of Ireland, Galen Rupp of the United States, Mo Farah of Great Britain, Kigen Kipkosgei Moses of Kenya and Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia, near Mile 2 in Central Park during the New York City Half Marathon – which took place on a perfect day for running, March 20, 2011. (Photo credit: OhSnapper.com)
Ethiopians also represented in the women’s division of the NYC Half. Werknesh Kidane, Gebremariam’s wife and a pre-race favorite, finished fifth in 1:09:32, acknowledging afterwards that she was slowed as the first morning of spring mustered temperatures only in the 30s. Shewarge Alene, the sister of noted Ethiopian runner Alene Reta, was fourth in 1:09:25.
“It was good, but not very good because of the weather,” said Alene. “I am happy with the time in my first half-marathon in New York. I will keep training and keep trying to do my best.”
Gebremariam’s second-place finish was worth $10,000, while Girma earned $3,500 and Sisay $400. Alene was awarded $3,500, and Kidane $2,500.
Across the country in a rain-deluged Southern California, Ethiopians swept the Honda Los Angeles Marathon.
Markos Geneti, who trains in Flagstaff, AZ, was the overall winner in a course record 2:06:35. He won the first-place award of $25,000 and a Honda Insight EX car valued at $23,000, plus the $100,000 prize for the first person to cross the finish line under a gender challenge in which professional women were given a 17:03 head start.
The women’s division winner was Buzunesh Deba, who lives in the Bronx and trains in New Mexico, in 2:26:34. The bronze medal for third-place was claimed by Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia in 2:30:35. Deba won $25,000 and a car, while Dibaba won $10,000.
“I didn’t like the rain,” Deba said afterwards. “My husband (Ethiopian runner Worku Beyi) wanted me to run 2:24, but I don’t like running in the rain.”
At the Yeungling Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA, Alemtsehay Misganaw of Manhattan was runner-up Sunday in the half marathon, finishing the windy, waterfront course in 1:15:06. A day earlier Misganaw won the women’s division of the event’s 8K competition in 26:59. Misganaw’s weekend earnings totaled $2,000.
“It was funny,” Misganaw said of her runner-up finish in the feature event, adding she did not know whether to laugh or cry.
“The last two miles I was taking it kind of easy and a lady passed me, but I didn’t see her,” she explained. “It was windy, and my eyes were watery. She looked like a boy, and had on a cap. The race official leading the women’s field was riding his bike beside me the whole way. He didn’t see her either. He thought I was the first woman, too.
Misganaw continued, “At the finish line the announcer said, ‘Yesterday’s winner is second today,’ and I said ‘What?’ The bicycle guy was upset too, and apologized. I smiled, but wanted to cry. I told the winner, ‘You’re lucky,’ and she said, ‘I know.'”
—
About the Author: Jason Jett is a New York based freelance journalist. He writes on human interest stories as well as specialized reports for niche audiences on various subjects including sports and fitness. He has worked in the news business for thirty years.
Watch: 2011 New York City Half Marathon- Highlight Video (NYRR)
Los Angeles – The Center for World Languages at the University of California, Los Angeles is offering Heritage and Foreign Language classes for High School students this summer 2011 – including for students who speak and/or understand Amharic at home and want to learn to read and write in Amharic or to develop their speaking and literacy skills.
The classes will be held from June 28- July 28, 2011 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00am- 12:30pm along with after lunch tutorials at the UCLA campus.
The languages currently being offered are Amharic, Armenian, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Italian, Persian and Russian. The language classes are specifically designed for heritage language students. This typically means that the student heard the language at home throughout their childhood, but was educated primarily in English. In addition to our heritage language classes, the center is now offering beginning Italian and Russian for any interested high school students.
The need to produce multilingual citizens in our society is evident. The need for our heritage classes in particular arose out of the realization that there were a group of students entering university who wouldn’t fit in either a beginning or an advanced foreign language class. Our heritage languages are also less-commonly taught languages and therefore high school students often don’t have access to formal schooling in their home languages. For this reason, our classes look specifically at their needs as heritage learners and seek to help them develop literacy in their home language while they are in high school so that by the time they continue their language studies at the University level, they can place into advanced language and literature courses.
—
Enrollment is now open at www.hslanguages.ucla.edu. The fee is $150 and students may earn up to one year of High School foreign language credit.
For general information, contact Agazit at (310) 825‐2510 or cwl@international.ucla.edu.
Cover Image: Students attend Amharic language lessons run by Washington D.C.’s Ethiopian Community Center. (Photo: Tadias File)
New York (Tadias) – Gemini Health Care Group (GHCG), a U.S.-based Ethiopian American NGO that focuses on pediatric training and assistance to medical professionals in Ethiopia, launched its 4th annual educational and medical mission in March 2011.
“Beginning on March 18th, the GHCC Board members as well as eighteen health care professionals will be in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to provide teaching and service,” says Dr. Ebba K. Ebba, the group’s Founder and President. “The pediatric sub-specialists in the areas of pediatric ENT, Ophthalmology, Audiology, Anesthesia, and Urology will be providing training and medical assistance at Black Lion Hospital, Cure Hospital and Mekanissa School for the Deaf. This portion of the medical mission is being organized in collaboration with Healing the Children, Greater Philadelphia Chapter.”
During the team’s last trip to Addis they treated young people including 8-year-old Zemen Toshome, whose story was highlighted by Opinion Columnist Harold Jackson in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Jackson wrote: “For more than six years, Zemen has lived at Tikur Anbesa (Black Lion) Hospital in Addis Ababa. He goes outside only briefly on the hospital grounds. He can’t shout because of his medical condition. Zemen has laryngeal papillomatosis, a disease in which tumors grow inside the larynx, vocal cords, or respiratory tract. The disease occurs when the human papillomavirus (HPV) is transferred from a mother to her child at birth. The tumors can grow quickly and cause difficulty in breathing, which if not corrected can lead to death.”
“The second part of our medical mission includes a one‐week educational mission to pediatric residents and medical students at the Black Lion Hospital as well as to other community pediatricians,” Dr. Ebba says. “We have recruited four pediatric specialists in the areas of pediatric Pulmonology, Endocrinology, Neurology and Emergency medicine to be participants at the First Annual Pediatrics by the Nile.”
The latter is a medical education conference to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The conference, which is being co‐sponsored by the Ethiopian Pediatric Society, is scheduled to take place on Thursday March 31, 2011 and Friday, April 1, 2011 at the Addis Ababa Hilton.
—
You can learn more about Gemini Health Care Group at: www.GHCG.org.
Cover photo courtesy of GHCG.
Video: Dr. Ebba K. Ebba, Founder of Gemini Health Care Group, on 50 in 52 interview (2009)
NewYork (Tadias) – Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Founder and Managing Director of the eco-fashion footwear company SoleRebels, has been honored as one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders in 2011. The honor bestowed each year by the Forum recognizes and acknowledges outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.
Bethlehem joins the ranks of a distinguished list of previous winners including Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria, as well as Ethiopian-American supermodel Liya Kebede and journalist Abebe Gellaw.
“On a personal level it is humbling. It’s beyond anything I ever expected,” Bethlehem said in an interview with Tadias. “I am excited because the award represents a recognition of the power of our core aim at soleRebels — to show that development and trade go hand in hand, and that delivering a world class brand to the global marketplace is perhaps the most potent key to creating real and sustained prosperity in Ethiopia.”
Beethlehem, who was born and raised in the Zenabwok (Total) area of Addis Ababa, one of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods, established soleRebels in 2005 in order to help increase community-based jobs. Since then the venture has created over 75 full time and over 120 part-time jobs while becoming an internationally recognized brand. SoleRebels is now available in major global retail outlets such as Urban Outfitters as well as online including at Endless.com and Amazon.com.
Bethlehem’s company was also winner of the 2010 Eco-Bold Green Award — a recognition of soleRebel’s environmentally friendly, vegan footwear that is produced using indigenous materials such as hand-spun organic cotton and artisan hand-loomed fabric. Tires are also recycled and used for soles.
XoDus iration (Photograph courtesy of SoleRebels).
As featured on African Entrepreneur Ads – PureLOVE homegrown LUX. (Courtesy photo)
EasyRidin sunrise (Photograph courtesy of SoleRebels).
Asked about her secret to success, Bethlehem says, “My ‘secret to success’ is to be committed 100% to my goals and to the people I have entrusted to help me achieve those goals. Here we are like a big family so an achievement like this is an achievement for each and every person at soleRebels.”
Drawn from a pool of more than 5,000 high level global candidates, the 2011 honorees will become part of the broader Forum of Young Global Leaders community that currently comprises of 660 outstanding individuals. “The World Economic Forum is a true multi-stakeholder community of global decision-makers in which the Young Global Leaders represent the voice for the future and the hopes of the next generation. The diversity of the YGL community and its commitment to shaping a better future through action-oriented initiatives of public interest is even more important at a time when the world is in need of new energy to solve intractable challenges,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
The Young Global Leaders participate in an annual summit – this year it will be taking place in Dalian, China from September 12th through 16th – as well as in additional World Economic Forum events throughout the year. As Young Global Leaders these promising individuals will have the opportunity to engage in initiatives that help build stronger and more diverse communities, and to engender a better understanding of global and regional agendas.
And what’s Bethlehem’s advice to young people worldwide who aspire to become entrepreneurs and business leaders? “I would say have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and the path to get there. Then work hard, and then work extra hard. Seek advice and counsel from diverse places – don’t just stick to one “voice” or source for input. And never ever be deterred no matter the obstacle or the setback. Setbacks and obstacles are a natural part of life. It is how you overcome those obstacles and setbacks that will make you a great person no matter what endeavor you choose to devote yourself to. ”
We congratulate Bethlehem on her accomplishments and wish her continued success.
—
Update: Photos: Bethlehem addresses the 50th anniversary of the World Wildlife Fund (May 1, 2011)
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Founder and Managing Director of SoleRebels, speaks at the Opening Conference Symposium panel discussion facilitated by Veronica Pedrosa of Al-Jazeera, Malaysia. Speakers left to right are Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Founder and Managing Director of SoleRebels, Orazio Bellittini Cedeno, co-founder & Director of Grupo Faro, and Wang Shi, chairman of China Vanke, at the WWF Annual Conference in St. Gallen, Switzerland on May 1, 2011.
Speakers left to right: Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Founder and Managing Director of SoleRebels, and Orazio Bell.
Speakers left to right: Paul Polman, Tim Brown, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Orazio Bellittini Cedeno and Wang Shi at the WWF Annual Conference in St. Gallen, Switzerland on May 1, 2011.
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu Founder and Managing Director of SoleRebels speaks at the Opening Conference Symposium panel discussion at the WWF Annual Conference in St. Gallen, Switzerland on May 1, 2011.
Panel discussion facilitated by Veronica Pedrosa of Al-Jazeera, Malaysia. Speakers left to right: Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, Bethlehem Tilahun, Alemu Founder and Managing Director of SoleRebels, Orazio Bell.
Left to right Paul Polman, Tim Brown, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Orazio Bellittini Cedeno, and Wang Shi at the WWF Annual Conference, St Gallen, Switzerland on May 1, 2011.
Yolanda Kakabadse presents Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Founder and Managing Director of SoleRebels with a gift after the Opening Conference Symposium panel discussion facilitated at the WWF Annual Conference in St. Gallen, Switzerland on May 1, 2011.
—
Photo credit: All images are courtesy of Solerebels.
Above:She’s no ordinary model. In the upcoming Desert Flower
the designer & WHO Goodwill Ambassador tells a tale of triumph
the world won’t soon forget. (Photograph Credit: David Roemer)
Desert Flower opens in New York and L.A. on March 18, 2011.
There’s a gravitational pull toward Liya Kebede. The slight frame, the uncertain smile … these are obvious attractions. But it’s her eyes from which there is no escape. Deep, dark, and soulful, they command the attention of all in her orbit. Among her biggest supporters: Tom Ford, whom she credits with her first big break in 2000; Dolce & Gabbana; and Proenza Schouler. In 2003, the Ethiopian native became the first woman of color to represent Estée Lauder. Having walked countless runways and shot a slew of ad campaigns (and had two children), the world-famous model turns her focus toward the big screen. The film Desert Flower—based on the book of the same name—is the true story of Waris Dirie’s journey from tribal Somalia to top model. In the lead role, Kebede takes on Dirie’s every anguish. The most excruciating: Dirie’s crude female circumcision as a child. As Dirie’s confidante, Golden Globe Award winner Sally Hawkins serves as comic relief Marilyn, much needed when Kebede’s eyes, welling with tears, shoot straight into your soul. It’s a tale for all women—and those who love them. Here, Kebede discusses her life’s story thus far.
Above:The Team Tesfa girls in Ethiopia are supported by the
Girls Gotta Run Foundation in D.C. (Photo: courtesy of GGRF)
Opinion
My Dream Came True
By Kebebush Tesfaye
Published: Sunday, March 6, 2011
Washington, D.C. – A few years ago I learned about Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF), an organization that focuses on raising funds for young Ethiopian girls who are training to become professional runners. GGRF, which was established in 2006, provides these future athletes with money for sports training, as well as nutrition and other essential expenses. But running is more than a pastime or sport for these girls who have discovered self-empowerment, and through additional funds now have the opportunity to stay enrolled in school and to avoid early marriage.
GGRF was founded by Dr. Pat Ortman, a retired Women Studies Professor and an artist. Inspired by her dedication, I became a Girls Gotta Run Foundation supporter. Since then I have wanted to meet the girls, and this year my dream jumped off the page and came to life! In February I got to visit the Team Tesfa Girls Gotta Run in Ethiopia.
I went to Addis Ababa to attend my sister’s wedding, and as soon as I arrived I called Mr. Dana Roskey, Founder and Director of the Tesfa Foundation, to make an appointment to meet with him and the Team Tesfa girls who are supported by the Girls Gotta Run Foundation. Unfortunately, Dana was flying back to London the next day, so we couldn’t see each other. But he promised to connect me with his Chief of Staff, Ms. Menna Alemu. On February 4th I received a call from Menna, who was a sweet, soft-spoken, and beautiful young woman. She took me to where the team had gathered at Ferensaye Legasion to meet with me. I was thrilled when I saw 20 + hopeful girls who were working hard to become professional athletes. And they had many stories to tell.
Picture with the girls. I am the fifth person from left. (Photo courtesy of GGRF)
The Team Tesfa girls in Ethiopia. (Photo courtesy of Girls Gotta Run Foundation)
Some of the girls are already working full time, going to school full time, and training 3 days per week. Some have no family. They are living with friends and strive to fulfill their daily needs. The girls had traveled from all parts of Ethiopia to join Team Tesfa, but they looked and acted like one family, sharing the same dream. One may ask how their dream will come true. I say it will be due to their hard work and dedication, as well as to the efforts of the tireless Dr. Ortman, the GGRF Board, our supporters, and Mr. Roskey and his team and supporters, including Menna. GGRF brought these girls together to help them make their dream a reality — Tomorrow’s professional athletes!
If you would like to support these girls, you may contribute to the Girls Gotta Run Foundation at www.girlsgottarun.org and the Tesfa Foundation at www.tesfa.org. Thank you!
—
About the Author: Kebebush Tesfaye is an advocate for Ethiopian girls and women. She is a member of GGRF’s Advisory Board. She works in E-Resource Technical Support at the University of Maryland Library.
Related: Video: Talk with Dr. Pat Ortman and other footage from GGRF fundraiser in Maryland (Nov. 2010)
Above:Members of the Armenian Diaspora of Ethiopia (1929)
included the conductor K. Nalbandian – whose nephew Nerses
Nalbandian later became music director at the main Theater.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Published: Thursday, March 3, 2011
New York (Tadias) – The Either/Orchestra, which in 2004 became the first U.S. big band to appear in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington’s Orchestra in 1973, has launched a Kickstarter.com campaign to raise funds for a return trip to the country. This time, the group hopes to participate in a musical tribute celebrating the work of Nerses Nalbandian, an Armenian musician who found a home as Ethiopia’s maestro from the 1930s to the 1970s.
Seven decades prior to the E/O’s arrival in Ethiopia, Mr. Nalbandian, who had cultivated hundreds of musicians and arranged numerous Ethiopian compositions, had left an imprint on modern Ethiopian music. Nerses Nalbandian, was the nephew of Kevork Nalbandian, the bandleader of Ethiopia’s first official orchestra. The elder Nalbandian moved to Addis from Jerusalem in 1924 as a music instructor for Arba Lijoch, a group of 40 Armenian orphans who had survived the Armenian Genocide in Turkey, and were later adopted by Haile Selassie then Crown Prince Ras Tafari. Wiki notes: “He had met them while visiting the Armenian monastery in Jerusalem. They impressed him so much that he obtained permission from the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem to adopt and bring them to Ethiopia, where he then arranged for them to receive musical instruction.”
Kevork Nalbandian would eventually compose the sound for Marsh Teferi, the Imperial Anthem (words by Yoftehé Negusé), which served as the national hymn from 1930 to 1974. His nephew, Nerses Nalbandian, who was appointed the first music director of Ethiopia’s National Theater in 1956, is also credited for his contribution to modern Ethiopian music through his mentorship of some of the country’s talented musicians.
Photo courtesy of ArmeniansWorld.com
The Either/Orchestra recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and in a recent press release stated that the band was invited by Alliance Ethio-Francaise to return to Addis Ababa. The upcoming tour will be the second collaboration between the Addis Ababa branch of the French cultural organization and the Either/Orchestra. During their previous trip to Ethiopia the band was introduced to Mr. Nalbandian’s children who suggested that the group, under the leadership of its founder Russ Gershon, help to revive the works of their late father. Per the E/O: “Daughter Mary and her siblings invited the band to their home for a sumptuous Ethio-Armenian feast during the visit, and after dinner began pulling out boxes of their father’s old scores. By the end of the festivities, Mr. Gershon had been convinced that the E/O should play one of Maestro Nalbandian’s arrangements at their concert. A few days later, they performed a song called Eyeye in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel, the first time this arrangement had been played in a half century. ”
The band hopes to repeat the same experience in May of 2011. The Kickstarter.com campaign aimes to raise $10,000 in 30 days to partially fund the tour. The band is also preparing for two more concerts this month featuring Mahmoud Ahmed. The E/O and Mahmoud have been collaborating for five years, but this is the first time they will perform together in the band’s home state of Massachusetts.
Opinion/History
Adwa Rhymes with Pan-Africanism and Addistu Ethiopia
By Ayele Bekerie, PhD
Published: Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Mekelle, Ethiopia – As much as ancient Ethiopia inspired the development of Pan-Africanist movements and organizations throughout the African world, contemporary Ethiopia’s history has also its symbolic significance with respect to the establishment of the African Union. Pan-Africanism refers to intellectual movements dedicated to a complete liberation of the people of Africa and the African Diaspora from all forms of colonialism. They have been movements of self-definition, political and cultural emancipations. I am arguing that the movements, in part, were inspired by the historic and permanent victory at the Battle of Adwa one hundred and fifteen years ago.
Ethiopia was brought to the African world’s attention in 1896 when Ethiopia, an African country, defeated Italy, a European country, at the battle of Adwa. According to Donald Levine, “the Battle of Adwa qualifies as a historic event which represented the first time since the beginning of European imperial expansion that a non-white nation had defeated a European power.”
It was a victory of an African army in the true sense of the word. The Battle was planned and executed by African generals and spies led by Emperor Menelik II, who was born, brought up, and educated in Ethiopia. It was a brilliant and indigenous strategy that put a check to the colonial aims and objectives, which were originally conceived and agreed upon at the Berlin Conference of 1885. European strategy to carve Africa into external and exclusive spheres of influence was halted by Emperor Menelik II and Empress Taitu Betul at the Battle of Adwa. The Europeans had no choice but to recognize this African (not European) power.
The African World celebrated and embraced this historic victory. In the preface to the book An Introduction to African Civilizations With Main Currents in Ethiopian History, Huggins and Jackson write: “In Ethiopia, the military genius of Menelik II was in the best tradition of Piankhi, the great ruler of ancient Egypt and Nubia or ancient Ethiopia, who drove out the Italians in 1896 and maintained the liberties of that ancient free empire of Black men.” Huggins and Jackson analyzed the victory not only in terms of its significance to the postcolonial African world, but also in terms of its linkage to the tradition of ancient African glories and victories.
Emperor Menelik II used his “magic wand” to draw all, the diverse and voluntary patriots from virtually the entire parts of the country, into a battlefield called Adwa. And in less than six hours, the enemy is decisively defeated. The overconfident and never to be defeated European army fell under the great military strategy of an African army. The strategy was what the Ethiopians call afena, an Ethiopian version of blitzkrieg that encircles the enemy and cuts its head. Italians failed to match the British and the French in establishing a colonial empire in Africa. In fact, by their humiliating defeat, the Italians made the British and the French colonizers jittery. The colonial subjects became reenergized to resist the colonial empire builders.
Adwa irreversibly broadened the true boundaries of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. People of the south and the north and the east and the west fought and defeated the Italian army. In the process, a new Ethiopia is born.
Adwa shows what can be achieved when united forces work for a common goal. Adwa brought the best out of so many forces that were accustomed to waging battles against each other. Forces of destruction and division ceased their endless squabbles and redirect their united campaign against the common enemy. They chose to redefine themselves as one and unequivocally expressed their rejection of colonialism. They came together in search of freedom or the preservation and expansion of the freedom at hand.
Emperor Menelik II could have kept the momentum by reforming his government and by allowing the many forces to continue participating in the making of a modern and good for all state. Emperor Menelik II, however, chose to return back to the status quo, a status of exploitative relationship between the few who controlled the land and the vast majority of the agrarian farmers. It took another almost eighty years to dismantle the yoke of feudalism from the backs of the vast majority of the Ethiopian farmers.
As long as Emperor Menelik’s challenge to and reversal of colonialism in Ethiopia is concerned, his accomplishment was historic and an indisputable fact. It is precisely this brilliant and decisive victory against the European colonial army that has inspired the colonized and the oppressed through out the world to forge ahead and fight against their colonial masters.
Menelik’s rapprochement, on the other hand, with the three colonial powers in the region may have saved his monarchial power, but the policy ended up hurting the whole region. The seeds of division sown by the colonizers, in part, continue to wreck the region apart.
Realizing the need to completely remove all the colonizers as an effective and lasting way to bring peace and prosperity in the region, the grandson of the Emperor, Lij Iyassu attempted to carve anti-colonial policy. He began to send arms to freedom fighters in Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia. He entered into a treaty of peace and cooperation with the Austrians, the Germans and the Turks against the British, Italians and the French. Unfortunately, the rule of Lij Iyassu was short-lived. The tri-partite powers colluded with the then Tafari Makonnen to successfully remove him from power.
Adwa symbolizes the aspirations and hopes of all oppressed people. Adwa catapulted Pan-Africanism into the realm of the possible by reigniting the imaginations of Africans in their quest for freedom throughout the world. Adwa foreshadowed the outcome of the anti-colonial struggle in Africa and elsewhere. Adwa is about cultural resistance; it is about reaffirmation of African ways. Adwa was possible not simply because of brilliant and courageous leadership, but also because of the people’s willingness to defend their motherland, regardless of ethnic, linguistic and religious differences.
Adwa was a story of common purpose and common destiny. The principles established on the battlefield of Adwa must be understood and embraced for Africa to remain centered in its own histories, cultures and socioeconomic development. We should always remember that Adwa was won for Africans. Adwa indeed is an African model of victory and resistance.
—
Publisher’s Note: This piece is well-referenced and those who seek the references should contact Professor Ayele Bekerie directly at: abekerie@gmail.com.
About the Author: Ayele Bekerie is an Associate Professor at the Department of History and Cultural Studies at Mekelle University. He was an Assistant Professor at the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University. Bekerie is a contributing author in the highly acclaimed book, “One House: The Battle of Adwa 1896 -100 Years.” He is also the author of the award-winning book “Ethiopic, An African Writing System: Its History and Principles” — among many other published works.
New York (Tadias) – Since protests erupted two weeks ago in Libya, demanding an end to Muammar el-Gadhafi’s 42-year rule, the government has employed unimaginable lethal force, including fighter jets, to quell the revolt. The Libyan people have shown remarkable fortitude by continuing to stand up against the violent crackdown.
As members of the Libyan army are switching sides in support of the growing opposition movement, Gadhafi who is known to have relied on foreign fighters and bodyguards to prop up his power has once again turned to mercenaries in order to save his crumbling regime.
The hired guns are largely from other African nations, and their presence has created a backlash and unsafe conditions for refugees and residents of African descent – most of whom migrated to Libya in search of safe haven from economic and political disenfranchisement in their own countries. In an interview aired on Deutsche Welle radio last week, Ethiopian residents in Tripoli appealed for help saying that they have now become targets of mob attacks in the capital and various other towns in Libya. According to the interviewees, those who work as domestic helpers (mostly women) may be safe under the protection of their employers, but the rest are exposed to vigilante justice. And as of today, no one has come to their rescue. (Update: Via AllAfrica.com on March 3, 2011 – Ethiopia Says Will Evacuate Citizens Stranded in Libya).
New York Times cites IOM statistics that document more than 1.5 million migrant workers in Libya, most of whom worked in construction businesses and arrived from Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Thailand. Although better off workers from China and Bosnia are managing to leave Libyan ports, migrant workers from poorer nations have found themselves stranded and with fewer options. The case is more alarming for African migrant workers and refugees, some of whom say are unable to leave their houses for fear of retaliation in the streets.
According to the advocacy group CSW, “refugees report that in detention centres, the government is attempting to recruit African prisoners as mercenaries, and prison guards who object are allegedly being killed. Homes where large numbers of refugees have gathered are being attacked, and they are subject to threatening phone calls and physical assault with knives and stones as angry Libyans mistake them for mercenaries.”
On Saturday night, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to launch an international war crimes investigation into “widespread and systemic attacks” carried out by Gadhafi’s forces, and imposed an international travel ban on high-ranking Libyan officials who are believed to have played a role in the violence against civilians.
President Obama has stated that Gadhafi had “lost the legitimacy to rule” and asked him step down immediately. The U.S. also froze Libyan government assets worth billions of dollars, and may do the same with the assets of officials who participated in the violent crackdown.
We also hope international organizations adequately address the safety of foreign migrant workers in Libyan towns and cities, and provide safe passage out of the country if necessary.
—
New York (Tadias) – This video features upcoming events in March 2011, as well as a highlight of various programs that took place last month, including clips from Aster Aweke’s NYC concert.
Highlight of Upcoming Events
Chester Higgins Jr., Staff Photographer for the New York Times since 1975, will be exhibiting a series of 13 Ethiopian portraits at NYU’s Kimmel Center. The selection of photographs for the outdoor exhibit were taken by Higgins between 2007 and 2010 in Ethiopia, and will be on 24-hour display at Windows at Kimmel Center from March 1st through May 1st, 2011. An opening reception will be held on Friday, March 11th at the 2nd floor lounge of Kimmel Center from 6:30 to 8:30pm.
Ethiopian Students Association International (ESAI) will hold its 11th annual summit at the University of Pennsylvania, from March 18th to March 19th, 2011. Learn more at ESAI.org.
—
If you would like to suggest an event for our consideration, please email us at info@tadias.com.
DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Va. (WUSA) — Nefissa Yesuf was flying from Atlanta to Dulles to visit her grandchildren. She ended up about 400 miles away in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Her granddaughter, Malika Adem, was on her way to Dulles to pick up her 80-year-old grandmother.
“We got a phone call at 4:30 from the airport saying, ‘Your grandmother was in baggage claim. Where are you guys?'” said Adem.
It was too early for her flight on Delta to have landed. That’s when the airline employee on the phone told her Grandma was in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“She was crying,” Adem said.
Yesuf is from Ethiopia and doesn’t speak English. Her family wanted to make sure she was being looked after. Adem said her cousin took Grandma to the airport.
She says an airline employee escorted her through the airport in a wheelchair and was the one holding onto her plane ticket.
Adem says Delta gave Grandma someone else’s ticket.
Above:The benefit will support Truth AIDS’ efforts in raising
awareness about HIV/AIDS and domestic violence in Ethiopia.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Published: Wednesday, Februray 23, 2011
New York (Tadias) – The 2011 TruthAIDS Benefit will be held on February 24th at The Box in New York. According to the organizers, proceeds from the benefit will be used to support TruthAIDS’ efforts in raising awareness about HIV and domestic violence in Ethiopia. All donations are 100% tax-deductible.
The non-profit organization — founded by Dr. Mehret Mandefro, a Primary Care Physician and HIV prevention researcher — raises awareness about HIV transmission in the hardest hit communities in urban America and sub-Saharan Africa and trains peer educators to help get people HIV tested in their communities.
TruthAIDS’ web site promotes the view that HIV prevention must go hand in hand with violence prevention in order to be effective. “Widespread sexual and domestic violence robs many women of control over their bodies and is widely prevalent. For these women, negotiating condom use risks the threat of violence.”
Did you know, for example, that “globally, more than four-fifths of new HIV infections in women result from sex with a husband or primary partner?”
According to research data compiled by the organization from various sources: “In Sub-Saharan Africa, 57% of adults with HIV are women, and young women aged 15 to 24 are more than three times as likely to be infected as young men.” The story of gender gap in the United States is not much diffrent either: “Most women with AIDS were diagnosed between the ages of 25 and 44 (71%), indicating that many were likely infected at a relatively young age.” And “Women of color are disproportionately affected by the epidemic: African American and Hispanic women together represented about 24% of all US women, yet they account for 80% of HIV/AIDS diagnoses reported in 2005, with African American women making up 66% of the total alone.”
TruthAIDS aims to reverse these numbers by empowering disadvantaged communities through educational projects, such as the documentary Oblivion – a film based on a true story about a girl who refused to get married. The narrative takes place in Ethiopia and will be in production this year. And as part of the group’s communication strategy Dr. Mehret Mandefro filmed a Truth Circle on the connections between violence against women and HIV/AIDS at the 2008 United States Conference on AIDS. (See video below).
If you Go:
Doors open at 8:00PM. Program includes an auction and box show. To buy tickets and learn more about TruthAIDS go to www.truthaids.org.
THURSDAY || FEBRUARY 24 || 2011 || 8:00-11:00PM
@ THE BOX 189 CHRYSTIE STREET
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
8:00PM Cocktails and Hors D’Oeurves
9:00PM Auction
9:30PM Entertainment
$200/Person
Above:Shusta, a shoes and accessories boutique in central
Berlin. The store is owned by Tedros Tewelde and Fidel Tesfa.
Tadias Magazine
By Tigist Selam
Published: Sunday, February 20, 2011
New York (Tadias) – Every year I return to Germany to spend the holidays with my family. Having lived there for ten years before coming to America, I still consider it one of my many homes. During my most recent trip, I also enjoyed getting ready for Berlin fashion week, Berlinale International Film Festival, and getting back in touch with a few Abeshas in the city.
Tedros Tewelde & Fidel Tesfai
I was introduced to co-owners of Shusta, a shoes and accessories store located in central Berlin. After quitting his corporate job, Tedros Tewelde in partnership with his friend Fidel Tesfai opened up his dream store. And I’m so glad they did. I could have bought every single item in that store — it is such a chic boutique! The sales associates were also super friendly. Shusta has enjoyed several years of great business and is now expanding into design and this year it will be offering custom-made shoes for exclusive clients. Another intriguing Shusta collaboration is its ‘design-recycling’ work with Waste Barcelona, the Spanish company known for its durable and high quality products produced with social and environmental consciousness. Shusta designed 30 bags built entirely out of recycled materials such as discarded automotive upholstery and leather.
If you’re ever in Berlin stop by their store, and in the meantime check out Shusta’s online presence and shoe selections at: www.shusta.de
Sam Goitom owns Kitty Cheng
I also spent time with the multi-talented Sam Goitom, a gregarious Berliner who walks through life with a smile, no matter what might come; and no one can resist his charm. I met Sam at his Public Relations company, People People, established several years ago. After catching up over coffee, we drove to Kitty Cheng, his new business adventure. The bar/club/lounge is conveniently located in Berlin Mitte, only a few minutes away from Shusta. Kitty Cheng is known for its detailed décor as well as the extravagant parties. Sam told me about the extensive remodeling procedure that they went through to add character to the place. Although the music is heavily influenced by Berlin’s electronic music scene, each night features an eclactic and diverse sound and dancing. If you ever happened to be in Berlin, don’t miss out on his parties! You can learn more at: www.peoplepeople.de and www.kittycheng.de
A Musisican Named Fetsum
And headquartered in Berlin, not far from Shusta and Kitty Cheng, is the recording studio for an artist named Fetsum. I met Fetsum a few years ago in Cologne where he invited my brother and I for a private concert. Since then, I have been hooked on his music and the hope that it brings. I spent time with him this year in Berlin where he is recording his new album in between touring with internationally recognized artists such as Patrice and Estelle. His song ‘Meet You in Paradise’ remains my favorite song. Fetsum composed the lyrics reminiscing of the close relationship that he had with his late father. The images in the music video were shot in Brazil. (Watch Fetsum’s “Meet you in paradise” below). You can also check out more information about upcoming tour dates to the US here: www.fetsum.com.
I am extremely proud of Fetsum, Tedros & Fidel, and Sam for following their dreams in Berlin. I can’t wait to see what this year might bring, and catching up with them again sometime soon.
Video: Fetsum “Meet you in paradise” (Fetsum TV)
—
Photo Credit: Cover image and store photos, courtesy of Shusta.
Tigist’s photograph by Ingrid Hertfelder.
Fetsum’s photo via Facebook.
Above:The owners of the DC9 bar are trying to mend fences
with the community after a rift caused by violence in October.
Tadias Magazine
News Update
Updated: Thursday, February 17, 2011
New York (Tadias) – The owners of the DC9 nightclub are reaching out to their Ethiopian neighbors, in hopes of healing the wounds caused by a violent incident last October in which five former club employees were accused of beating 27-year old Ethiopian immigrant Ali Ahmed Mohammed. Mr. Mohammed died a short while later at a hospital after he was found unconscious outside the popular nightspot. The city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration had encouraged the bar to bridge the rift with the community during a January 19 hearing.
Per Washington City Paper: On Tuesday, “DC9 held a fundraiser for Ethiopian charities from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Though the event wasn’t advertised via the club’s event calendar, fliers were distributed in the vicinity of the establishment. At a January 19 Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration hearing, the liquor board urged the club to reach out to members of the local Ethiopian community in light of the death of Ethiopian-American Ali Ahmed Mohammed outside the club in October. The club had another hearing today, at which the board inquired about DC9’s efforts to heal the rift that may have been caused by Mohammed’s death. DC9 owner Joe Englert mentioned that his “neighbors have been very nice,” and that he has “an extensive partnership with several people in Little Ethiopia.” He also mentioned DC9’s fundraiser, and how it netted $2000 in pledges. Thirty people attended, Englert said.”
Ali Ahmed Mohammed (Family photo)
According to the newspaper, during the most recent hearing a board member suggested that DC9 change its name: “Remaining open under the same moniker could be seen as an affront to Little Ethiopia,” the board member explained. But the club owner didn’t seem too enthused: “I’m glad to change the outside of the place,” he said. “A different color. A different look.”
Meanwhile, the factual inquiry into Ali’s case continues. In December, the city’s Medical Examiner’s office ruled that the manner of death was “homicide.”
The former employees have stated that they are innocent.
—
Above:Arkan Haile, a candidate for the vacant at-large D.C.
City Council seat. The special election is set for Tue., Apr 26.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Wednesday, February 16, 2011
New York (Tadias) – We were recently contacted by the campaign of Arkan Haile, a candidate for the vacant at-large D.C. City Council seat, which will be decided through a special election on April 26. He is among at least 17 candidates running for the seat, which became vacant Jan. 2 when Council member Kwame Brown (D-At-Large) was sworn in as the new City Council Chair. The Eritrean-born attorney is seeking the support of the Ethiopian-American community, one of the largest African immigrant populations in Washington D.C.
“I know my personal story is not ordinary for a local politician. Frankly, I hope nothing about me is ordinary where politics is concerned,” he says. “We can’t afford the usual politics – not in our schools, not in our neighborhoods and not in our elected officials. That’s why I’m running as an independent, beholden to no one but the people, ready to find creative solutions and prepared to make hard choices.”
Arkan is a successful lawyer and father of two children. He immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1981 when he was 10 years old, and became the Co-Founder of Gray Haile LLP, a corporate law firm which specializes in mergers, acquisitions, and securities with offices in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York.
He was born in Eritrea in 1971. In 1975, his parents came to the US on his father’s graduate school scholarship to study Economics at Colorado State University. But they left behind their three young children, including Haile (the oldest at four) as insurance against defection. In 1978 his mother returned to Ethiopia and three years later, in December 1981, after a difficult journey that included a trek through Sudan on foot and mostly at night, the family was reunited in Ft. Collins, Colorado — the state where Haile grew up and attained his education. He says: “I was born in Asmara and spent three years in Addis before our family settled in Colorado in the early 1980s when I was ten years old.”
Haile currently lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Nazrawit (Naz) Medhanie, and their son and daughter, ages four and one. His wife is a performance monitoring specialist with an international development firm. She graduated from Duke University, where she was a shooting guard on the basketball team and member of the school’s first women’s Final Four team in 1999.
“As a parent of a public school child, Co-Founder of a district-based law firm and a home owner, I’m fully committed to our city,” he says. “As a lawyer and former financial analyst, I have the skills and work experiences ideally suited for the job of a City Council member.”
On his campaign web site, the candidate also acknowledges the uphill battle he faces in the upcoming poll: “My background is not typical of a city council candidate. I’m not backed by a particular party, power broker or interest group. I’m running as an independent because that is how I make decisions. I know that makes me an underdog in this race, but that’s ok. I’ve been an underdog my whole life and it hasn’t stopped me yet.”
Young Arkan Haile with his siblings. (Photo courtesy of arkanfordccouncil.com)
The candidate with his family. (Photo by IWANPHOTO.COM)
But he also notes that his professional experience in finance and law, coupled with his experiences as an immigrant, will help him bring a fresh perspective to solving the District’s budget woes, as well as ability to focus on matters confronting the city’s struggling communities.
“There are several issues but on top of the list are education and fiscal responsibility; education because it is so central and fundamentally important to our existence as a city, and fiscal responsibility because it is the biggest and most immediate challenge facing the city and the City Council,” Haile said in a recent Q & A with Tadias Magazine. “As a parent of a public school child I’ve got a little more “skin in the game” than most…we’ve made great strides in education over the past several years and I want to ensure to my best abilities as a member of the Council that we don’t lose momentum.”
And how is his professional skills suited to solving D.C.’s economic problems? “Fiscally, my skills and professional experiences are especially well suited to tacking it in the most efficient and responsible manner. I’ve either worked in or studied law and finance over the course of my entire 20-year, adult life. Before law school, I earned an MBA and worked as a financial analyst for a large corporation.”
“What separates you from the other candidates?” we asked. “Why should people vote for you?” “I see the two questions as being virtually the same,” he said. “In other words people should vote for me, at least in large part, for the reasons that separate me from the field.” He adds: “First, I will bring 20 years of technical financial and legal expertise that I can apply from day one. It is all the more important now given our city’s financial mess. Second, I’m fully invested in our city. As a home owner, parent of a public school child (with another set to enroll next year), owner of a District-based law firm and DC Bar licensed attorney, there is little that goes on in the city that doesn’t directly affect me. Third, as an immigrant and somebody with a relatively unique personal history, I’ll add diversity to the City Council and serve as a sympathetic ear to immigrants in our city.”
—
If you have additional questions or want to get involved in Arkan Haile’s campaign, please contact the candidate via his website at www.arkanfordccouncil.com
New York (TADIAS) – 19-year-old Samuel Gebru has ambitious plans. The Founder of the Ethiopian American Youth Initiative (EAYI), now called the Ethiopian Global Initiative (EGI), wants to transform Ethiopia one project at a time, using strategies and programs to reverse the brain drain or retain skilled professionals at home. The undergraduate student at Concordia College, a private liberal arts school in Moorhead, Minnesota, says he was drawn to action by two events that deeply affected him when he was just 13-years old. He tells us that in 2004, he traveled to Ethiopia and was exposed to the odd juxtaposition of poverty and wealth. But the real catalyst for his organization did not come until later that year when he watched Oprah Winfrey’s highlight of the problems associated with obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. Oprah’s guest was Dr. Catherine Hamlin, the Australian gynecologist who in 1959 moved to Ethiopia and eventually founded the Addis Ababa Fitsula Hospital. “As a young 13-year-old, I was shocked to hear about obstetric fistula’s existence and I was further embarrassed that an Australian, and not an Ethiopian, committed over 50 years of her life to help the women of Ethiopia,” says Samuel. “It was shocking obviously because the last fistula case in the United States, for instance, was in the 1800s with the closing of the New York City Fistula Hospital…It was also embarrassing because when most Ethiopian professionals left Ethiopia, she stayed and did our job. Regardless, I was inspired and decided it would be best to organize an effort in the Boston area to raise funds for their work. We called ourselves the Ethiopian Team (E Team).”
Samuel says the E Team evolved into the Ethiopian American Youth Initiative (EAYI). “I reached out to the Ethiopian Community Mutual Assistance Association of Massachusetts, and they helped me organize a group of 13 people, the youngest in 6th grade and the oldest in 12th. I was in 8th grade,” he recalls. “We mobilized the community and sponsored 11 women for fistula repair surgery just from April to December 2005! This was a collective effort that I will forever remain grateful to the youth that I worked with and the community that supported us, financially and morally. From there, the Ethiopian American Youth Initiative (EAYI) was established in October 2006.” Since then the group has changed its name to the Ethiopian Global Initiative (EGI).
We recently asked Samuel Gebru a few more questions:
Samuel Gebru at President’s Day Lecture and Panel Discussion (CAMBRIDGE, MA, February 16, 2009, PHOTO BY JODI HILTON)
Why did you change your name from the Ethiopian American Youth Initiative to the Ethiopian Global Initiative?
Samuel Gebru: That was a tough decision. It took us from January to June 2010 to decide on a new name. I received dozens of name submissions that we had to sift out. We took “Youth” out of the title because there were many adults and professionals that wanted to support our work and they did not define themselves as being youth, hence they disqualified themselves from being a part of our efforts. Global refers to the global mindset of the organization’s members and the ability to act collectively, think critically, and be open-minded in a globalized world. Initiative refers to the capacity and responsibility to undertake worthwhile endeavors.
How do you define “Youth?”
SG: Personally, I will be youth forever, until I die. The United Nations defines youth as anyone from 15-24. Particular states have their own definitions of what constitutes a youth. Culturally, we even refer to Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy as “youthful presidents.” Youth, to me, does not have a particular number, it is more of a mindset. I was recently watching YouTube videos of Aster Aweke, Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete. Now, my mother vividly remembers them when she was a child, which would make them old, but their stage presence makes them youthful! [laughter]
What is the objective of your organization?
SG: EAYI was a way for E Team’s vision to continue as a long-lasting organization and not simply an ad-hoc group for one purpose. In 2009, people began contacting me from Europe, Canada, Africa and Asia urging EAYI to become an international organization so they could participate. At the time we had folks in Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, the West Coast and the D.C. Metropolitan Area. I agreed and told them to wait for the first EAYI Conference in 2010 at Howard University in Washington, D.C., when we changed our name to the Ethiopian Global Initiative (EGI).
What ultimately does EGI wants to accomplish?
SG: Some of the major goals we plan to accomplish by 2015 include serving as an incubator for future projects pertaining to Ethiopia’s social and economic development. We aim to repair the damage done [as a result] of lost skilled workforce.
How do you plan to do that? What projects are you working on now?
SG: One of the current projects we are working on include the EGI Midwives Scholarship Fund. It is our way of continuing our five-year relationship with the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. Instead of supporting the hospital’s fistula-repair efforts, we are making a long-term commitment to completely fund the education of eight women to earn their Bachelor of Science in Midwifery at the new Hamlin College of Midwives. The scholarships we provide to these students will be part of our wider partnership with the hospital, which is to enhance the number of maternal health professionals in Ethiopia by prompting a homegrown effort thereby eliminating the root causes of fistula, which continue to be lack of preventative efforts and the scarcity of maternal health professionals.
We also have another project we developed last year called U.S. College Students for Ethiopia (USCSE). The program provides college students from the United States the opportunity to intern or volunteer in Ethiopia with Ethiopian-led organizations. The students are diverse, both Ethiopian and non-Ethiopian. We give them the opportunity to work and learn in a new cultural environment while allowing them to share their pre-existing skills with the local organizations they are working with. Lastly, they will be returning to the United States with the ability to share their new appreciation for Ethiopia.
Please tell us a bit about yourself. Where were you born? Where did you grow-up? School?
SG: Sure. Well, I am currently 19-years-old. I was born in Khartoum, Sudan in 1991. My parents are both Ethiopians who were working in the Sudanese capital. My father worked in the shoes industry where he repaired and sold shoes while my mother worked managing the housekeeping of the homes of Chinese and American businessmen. In 1995 I arrived in the United States and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts after briefly living in Boston. Since then, I have been living in my adopted hometown, Cambridge. I’m fortunate to say that my childhood, both in Khartoum and in Cambridge was great. I grew up in a nice working neighborhood of Khartoum and similarly in Cambridge I’ve been lucky to have the things I’ve always needed. I grew up with a strong emphasis on family and moral values, keeping in tune with my Ethiopian heritage. I learned Arabic, my first language, and Tigrinya in Sudan. While in the U.S. I quickly picked up English. Because of the many trips I have taken to Ethiopia, I have been able to sharpen my Tigrinya and pick up Amharic. While I am still working to master Amharic, my listening skills are very good. A few years ago I picked up an obsession to learn Ge’ez, and that’s been an interesting battle. It hasn’t been as hard as I thought, but certainly not easy. Moving forward, my goal is to continue learning Mandarin Chinese and re-mastering Arabic, since it has been over a decade since I last used it. I completed primary school at the Cambridgeport Elementary School and high school at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Currently, I am studying to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Business at Concordia College, a private liberal arts school in Moorhead, Minnesota.
How do you balance school and your ambitious extracurricular projects?
SG: Balancing has always been very hard. I have a calendar that I try to follow to the best of my ability. My family and friends often complain that they don’t hear from me as much as they would like. I jokingly said to some friends that they should have a spinoff of the television game show “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” for me! [laughter] . Ultimately, because EGI is not a one-man operation, there are many people who work together to get the job done. Although I founded EGI, the entire Executive Committee shoulders the responsibility of implementing our vision. The EGI family also consists of dozens of fantastic members who work worldwide to achieve our goals. I am only one part of this ambitious operation.
How often do you travel to Ethiopia?
SG: My mother has always reminded me of how fortunate I am to have traveled to Ethiopia more times than most of my Ethiopian friends and relatives in Boston. Since 1998 I have traveled five times. As EGI operations increase in Ethiopia, I might have to travel at more frequent times, perhaps once or twice a year.
What do you plan to do after you graduate from college?
SG: Once I finish with my undergraduate plans, I plan to earn graduate degree and use those skills and knowledge for the betterment of Ethiopia. Ultimately, my plan is to permanently return to Ethiopia.
What are the requirements to be a member of EGI?
SG: EGI members are students and professionals who deeply share the goals and vision of the organization. Location doesn’t matter, but skills do. We aim to be a treasure chest of students and professionals who can pool in their skills, knowledge and experiences for the transformation of Ethiopia. Of course, while this goal is lofty, it is happening today in EGI. We have people from various sectors, interests and backgrounds working hand-in-hand to launch and implement projects in Ethiopia and in the Ethiopian diaspora. There is a membership application that each prospective member must complete, and that is then reviewed by our Member Committee, which makes final determinations. Beyond membership, the EGI community has grown into our friends, donors, sponsors, partners and volunteers. By extension, anyone who cares for Ethiopia is a stakeholder in the EGI community.
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
SG: The EGI community includes you. Participate in our activities, help make Ethiopia a better place. In late February we will announce the 2011 EGI Global Summit. I welcome everyone to attend this, in what will be a paramount exchange of ideas, experiences and solutions.
— You can learn more about the Ethiopian Global Initiative at www.ethgi.org.
Above:Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia runs with one shoe at
an indoor competition in Boston. Massachusetts Feb 5, 2011.
Gebremeskel won the race running with one shoe. (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel outkicked favoured British runner Mo Farah despite wearing just one shoe to win the men’s 3,000 meters at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Saturday.
Gebremeskel finished in a time of 7:35.37 to hold off Farah, who clocked 7:35.81. The Ethiopian lost his right shoe early in the race but pressed with a finishing burst with one foot shod only in a sock.
“It’s really hard to run in one shoe,” Gebremeskel, 21, said afterwards.
New York (TADIAS) – In remembrance of President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday (Sunday, Febraury 6), TIME Magazine lists 25 other political icons from around the world that match Regan’s charisma or share similar historical status for having left enduring impressions on global affairs.
The list is an eclectic collection of inspirational leaders, freedom fighters, reformers as well as dictators and monarchs. Among those highlighted include The Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Mohandas Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Abraham Lincoln, Charles de Gaulle, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Simón Bolívar, Kim Il-Sung, Vladimir Lenin, Benito Mussolini, Mao Zedong, Franklin Roosevelt, and last but not least Haile Selassie.
Regarding the Ethiopian Emperor, TIME stated: “That he was ultimately deposed by a military discontented with his regime should not eclipse his contribution to African solidarity. Selassie gave Ethiopia its first constitution and convened the earliest meeting of the Organization of African Unity.” Historians also agree that while celebrated abroad as the father of modern Africa, the Emperor’s aloofness towards the impoverished majority in his own country, coupled with his prolonged neglect of reform voices, would eventually bring about the abrupt, unceremonious end to his rule.
Like President Reagan, Haile Selassie exhibited a commanding presence on the world stage. TIME magazine noted that “he is perhaps most widely remembered for the speech he gave before the League of Nations in 1933 as the legions of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini stormed his ill-equipped nation. The League did little to prevent Ethiopia’s defeat, but Selassie’s appeal, uttered movingly in his native Amharic, would serve as a pillar in the struggles against colonialism and fascism. With a firm internationalist bent, the last Ethiopian monarch eventually saw his country become a charter member of the United Nations. A TIME “Man of the Year” who claimed descendance from the biblical King Solomon, he ushered the continent he had unified into a distinctly African modernity.”
New York (Tadias) – Chester Higgins Jr., Staff Photographer for the New York Times since 1975, will be exhibiting a series of 13 Ethiopian portraits at NYU’s Kimmel Center. The selection of photographs for the outdoor exhibit were taken by Higgins between 2007 and 2010 in Ethiopia, and will be on 24-hour display at Windows at Kimmel Center from March 1st through May 1st, 2011.
The exhibit entitled “Stars of Ethiopia: Photographs by Chester Higgins Jr.” features images measuring 70″ x 80″ on the public sidewalk for pedestrians and vehicular traffic to see. At night the images will be backlit, and Higgins says “so for 24 hours a day during these two months the Washington Square public will be treated to a little of Ethiopia in Greenwich Village.”
The official press release notes that Ethiopia “is a land of contrast and heterogeneity. The northeastern African nation is composed of more than 80 ethnic groups speaking over 80 languages, with cultural practices and traditions dating more than 3,000 years. With each portrait, Higgins seeks to create a dialogue with the viewer, revealing his subjects’ diverse homeland through their eyes.”
Higgins’ work has been printed in several publications including The New York Times, Life, Newsweek, Fortune, Essence, The Village Voice, and The New Yorker magazine. His photography is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. For Higgins, taking pictures has grown “into a life-long mission to show the decency, dignity, and virtuous character of people of African descent.” He has also published books on themes such as the nobility of aging, the experience of Black American women in the seventies, trans-Atlantic communities in the African Diaspora, and an autobiographical journey entitled “Echo of the Spirit,” which recounts his life as a photographer and an artist. Higgins cites Romare Bearden, Cornell Capa, Gordon Parks, P.H. Polk, and Arthur Rothstein as individuals whom he considers to be his mentors.
Higgins’ photographs invoke the power of the collective voice, and he recounts his three decades of traveling across South America, the Caribbean, and the African continent to document the culture, history and daily life of Africans in the Diaspora. “I made more trips in search of the missing pieces to fill in the harmony and add rhythm to make my symphony,” he says. “It came together as my fourth book: Feeling the Spirit: Searching the World for the People of Africa.”
Photographer Chester Higgins Jr. Courtesy Photo.
Solo exhibitions of Higgins’ award-winning work have been displayed at the The Smithsonian Institution, the International Center of Photography, Musée Dapper Paris, The Museum of African Art, The Museum of Photographic Arts, The New-York Historical Society, and The Schomburg Center in Harlem. Emphasizing the presence of a visual language Higgins states that “a camera can’t compose a picture. Only your eye can. Seeing and recording with a camera is a special process that has its own language — a visual language…It takes practice to learn a language. A visual language takes just as much time and commitment. When you become fluent in it, you will be ready to handle the split second decisions necessary to make exceptional photographs.”
An opening reception for the Stars of Ethiopia exhibit will be held on Friday, March 11th at the 2nd floor lounge of Kimmel Center from 6:30 to 8:30pm.
The exhibition is curated by Lydie Diakhaté, Adjunct Curator at Grey Art Gallery, and coordinated in collaboration with the Institute of African American Affairs at NYU.
If You Go:
March 1st through May 1st NYU Kimmel Center
60 Washington Square S
New York, 10012
Above:Using word of mouth coupled with old technology like
dial-up, Egyptians are circumventing Internet shut down. (AP)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Wednesday, February 2, 2011
New York (Tadias) – News agencies worldwide were quick to dub the recent protests in North African and Middle Eastern nations as the “The Facebook Revolution.” Fearing the resourcefulness of young people using social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to organize the toppling of regimes, government authorities decided to turn off mobile and internet connections.
In the case of Egypt, a nation that is home to Africa’s largest blogging community and where a quarter of its 80 million people enjoy online access, the impact of the lock-down was immediate. “We’re seeing a uniquely draconian measure by the Egyptian authorities to completely cut off an entire country which was previously integrated into the Internet,” says Neil Hicks, policy advisor of the non-profit advocacy group Human Rights First. “It shows the level of desperation the government currently has in face of the protests.” As a result, leaders have turned to traditional methods of organizing says Hicks: “They’re using old-fashioned word of mouth…They’re aware of the possibilities of surveillance if they use these technologies. So they get on a motorbike or car, and go to the next neighborhood and arrange things.”
Companies such as Google and an international group of savvy techies are also working hard to put more tools at the hands of those being silenced. On Monday, Google announced that it had launched “Speak to Tweet“, a collaborative effort by three companies – including Twitter and SayNow, which is designed to bypass the internet censorship.
“Like many people we’ve been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground,” said Ujwal Singh, co-founder of SayNow and Abdel Karim Mardini, Google’s product manager for the Middle East and North Africa. “Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service—the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.”
According to the group’s blog post: “anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet.”
In his article entitled “5 Ways the Protesters Are Beating the Blackout” Steven Hoffer of AOL News highlights landlines as another method that Egyptians have employed to bypass the net blockade: “That’s right, dial-up. International numbers to connect through this seemingly outdated method of accessing the Internet are circulating throughout Egypt,” writes Hoffer. “After a little static, pinging and waiting, the dial-up numbers are allowing some users to hop back on the Internet.” Among those providing such a service is the Paris-based French Data Network, which has extended dozens of lines to Egyptian users.
A global network of free speech activists on the Internet under the umbrella organization Telecomix are also utilizing new media tools to bypass the information blackout. Per The Huffington Post, the group is organized using chat rooms, wikis, and collaborative writing tools. This largely decentralized group of activists has worked “to inform Egyptians about their communications options while receiving incoming messages from them. Telecomix has previously worked on free speech efforts in Tunisia, Iran, China and other countries who have tried to censor or block parts of the Internet.”
The Canadian company HootSuite, which offers users a social media dashboard for posting to Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, is also helping Egyptians overcome Internet shutdown. The venture has reported a sevenfold increase in Egyptian subscriptions during January.
As Google noted: “We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone there.”
—
Above:In the 1990s Anna Getaneh was a supermodel. A trip
to a refugee camp on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya in 1995
with Pharmacists Without Borders changed her life. (Photo AM)
(CNN) — In the 1990s Ethiopian supermodel Anna Getaneh walked the runways of Paris and Milan. These days she is putting her flair for fashion to good use, helping deprived children in rural areas of her home country.
“I was working in an industry where I felt that there were very few Africans that were represented,” says Getaneh, who modeled for Yves Saint Laurent, among others.
“Africa’s presence was sort of very vague or reduced to being different,” she adds.
In 1995 Getaneh visited a refugee camp on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya with Pharmacists Without Borders. She returned to New York “moved” and inspired to make a difference.
Above:Rebecca Emiru explains why you should vote for her
so she takes part in an entrepreneurship program in Kenya.
Opinion
By, Rebecca Emiru
Monday, January 31, 2011
You should vote for me because I will use this opportunity to begin making a difference. I hope to use this program as a stepping stone to a career in entrepreneurship and development in East Africa. I am currently a senior Political Science major at Amherst College. My experiences working with and leading groups on my campus, volunteering abroad, and interning with various organizations- including the United Nations- all led to my interest in social entrepreneurship as an alternative to the current development paradigm.
A social entrepreneur is someone whose returns benefit not just themselves but the community of which they are a part. By extension, social entrepreneurship is an approach to business ventures whose returns are not necessarily monetary and whose benefits are extended beyond the involved individual to the group in which they live. Social entrepreneurship represents a way of actively tackling social problems at the local level rather than waiting for government policies to do the trick. It represents a very necessary fusion of a practical, business approach with an ideological approach that addresses structural societal problems.
Essentially, the social entrepreneur has to have a clear understanding of how markets contribute to poverty alleviation. Markets are the primary means through which rural communities relate to urban centers and global markets and rural communities in turn are defined by their distance from cities and in their ability to transport their agricultural goods to markets where these can be sold. For instance, in Ethiopia, the largest producer of coffee in Africa, markets are essential to rural coffee farmers to sell their crops but also to keep abreast of the developments of the coffee market. Any attempt at rural poverty alleviation must address this fundamental feature of rural communities. Thus, facilitating access to markets can alleviate rural poverty in two ways. First, through the improvement of infrastructure such as roads and communication, rural actors can have better access to markets and information regarding their goods. Second, structures can be built that improve the position of rural actors within the market to bargain and act autonomously. To return to the example of Ethiopia, the establishment of the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange by Eleni Gebremedhin gave coffee farmers accurate information about the global coffee market so that they could make more informed decisions.
If we can capitalize on the connection between markets and poverty alleviation through social entrepreneurship, then we can strengthen Africa’s role in the 21st century significantly. Regardless of how much money aid donors pledge to send or how many loans the World Bank and IMF decides to lend or how many well-meaning activists Western countries dispatch, the fate of Africa lies in the hands of its inhabitants. There are two possible outcomes. On the one hand, Africa may continue to serve as a source of raw materials and markets for the global economy, serving as an object to be spoken of and rather than spoken to. On the other hand, Africans can change this negative trajectory by addressing the health pandemics, demanding more representative government, and adapting economic and political models to its own needs. This change can only come about if the masses of people will it to, coupled with responsive and responsible leadership. Although often cited as a repository of bad leadership, the continent also has a history of innovation. Politically, the African Socialism of Julius Nyrere, the pan Africanism of Kwame Nkrumah and the “people’s power” philosophy of the African National Congress and the United Democratic Front in South Africa demonstrate that Africa is a source of ground-breaking custom-built solutions. This role can be expanded in the 21st century as Africa continues to occupy this position. For instance, the active participation of developing countries in the global dialogue regarding climate change has expanded the focus from conservation and reduction of emissions to include sustainable development and the harm done to less-developed nations by industrialized nations in the developed world.
I want to be part of the Innovation Institute because it rejects the traditional donor-recipient relationship between the developed and developing world. Instead, the program emphasizes the fact that participants are there to learn rather than to give, which enables a two-way exchange between the community and program participants, like me. By making the needs and choices of the local community paramount, ThinkImpact is facilitating people’s empowerment, which is more long-lasting than any shipment of supplies.
—
New York (Tadias) – After graduating from Harvard University, Alfa Demmellash launched Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit based in Jersey City that develops and implements entrepreneurship programs focusing on women, minorities, immigrants and other socio-economically underserved communities. Since its inception in 2004, Rising Tide Capital has successfully helped approximately 400 entrepreneurs in New Jersey to build small businesses. Nearly 70% of Rising Tide Capital clients are women and over 90% are minorities. In 2009 Alfa Demmellash was featured as a CNN hero. President Obama also cited Rising Tide Capital’s influential work and stated: “If we empower organizations like these, think about the number of young people whose lives we can change, the number of families whose livelihoods we can boost, the number of struggling communities, we can bring back to life.”
“Did you know? The phrase “a rising tide lifts all boats” is often used to describe a top down approach to economic revitalization” states the non-profit’s web site. “But we believe it is important to help entrepreneurs see the tide and build strong boats that could rise with it – hence our name Rising Tide Capital.”
Below is our interview with Founder and Chief Executive Officer Alfa Demmellash as she discusses her work to build and support small business owners through entrepreneurship training.
CBA Winter 2009 Graduation (Courtesy Photo)
Tadias: Please tell us about where you grew up, where you went to school.
What was your catalyst to get into non-profit ventures? Your role models?
AD: I grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I attended Cathedral Nativity School for girls in Addis. In the US, I attended high school at Boston Latin School and completed my studies at Harvard University. The catalyst for starting Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit venture, was the influence of my entrepreneurial mother and my experiences and family. I knew I wanted to be involved in alleviating the suffering of others by recognizing the best in them and helping them overcome challenges that trap their creativity and stifle their ability to realize their full potential. I was also greatly influenced by my studies and experiences in Rwanda as I learned about the 1994 genocide and its aftermath. My role models are too many to name, especially amongst my family and clients, but Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Oprah, and Barack and Michelle Obama are a few of the most well-known ones.
Tadias: You’ve described the vision of Rising Tide Capital, your non-profit organization, as an effort “to harness the entrepreneurial community that already exists in underserved communities, to strengthen lives, to transform communities, and to create vibrant, thriving communities from within.” Can you tell us more about your work with business owners in the State of New Jersey?
AD: We have worked with about 400 entrepreneurs and small business owners in New Jersey. Nearly 70% are women and over 90% are minorities. We are building a model for assisting individuals who are looking to start a business but don’t know where to begin or to take those who have already started a small business to the next level. For many of the entrepreneurs we work with, they are looking to start or grow their business as a way to generate more income to supplement their low-wages from another job or out of necessity because they are unable to secure a job. New Jersey, one of the most expensive states to live in, has a big problem when it comes to the gap between those who are wealthy and those who are barely trying to survive. Many, especially in the distressed urban areas, are minorities and immigrants that make up a large segment of the “working poor.” Rising Tide Capital works with those that are already entrepreneurial to help them find ways of breaking the cycle of economic marginalization.
Tadias: In your speech at the United Nations Global Summit for Women in 2008 you described Rising Tide clients as follows: “The average entrepreneur at Rising Tide Capital is a 39-year-old woman, a single mom of three children, earning less than 27,000 dollars a year.” Why did you choose to primarily focus on women entrepreneurs?
AD: Actually, it is the other way around. More women chose to work with us and take advantage of our programs. This is the case across the globe where women who are often the primary providers for poorer households are seeking ways to improve their economic standing so they can feed, shelter and educate their children. However, I believe it is important to educate and empower both women and men. At the end of the day, if the men in a community are disenfranchised and undereducated, they are likely to cause a lot of problems that produce tremendous distress and barriers to the success of women and children. Men have to be a huge part of the solution. We are really happy to see that in those households where the men support and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of their wives, partners, and siblings the likelihood of business success is very high. I have witnessed this in my own mother’s case who was fortunate enough to have found a partner, her husband and my adopted father, who was supportive of her goals and her business. He was always there to encourage her and to affirm her efforts as contributing to a shared vision of success. I hope more men take that to heart and invite the grace and joy that can come into their lives as a result or at the very least, commit to do no harm.
Spring 07 graduation (Courtesy Photo)
Spring 07 graduation (Courtesy Photo)
Portraits and PPG lunch 2-26-08 (Courtesy Photo)
Courtesy Photo
Tadias: You also said most of your clients remind you of your mother. Can you say more?
AD: Many of the clients who come to us remind me of my mother because they are pursuing their business dreams primarily as a vehicle to achieve a bigger dream –that of giving their children more opportunities than they had been afforded. They are often single mothers, almost always struggling with extreme economic hardship and face barriers that seem impossible to overcome. In my mother’s case, she arrived in America without any money, separated from her baby and not sure how she will support herself let alone reunite with her child. But, like many of our clients, she made a decision that regardless of how long it took her – she would work all the hours she could, educate herself and start a business to generate more money that she could save for her larger goal. When she got off her job as a waitress – where she stood all day starting at 4am, she would go home to cook, clean and spend the evening sewing gowns, fitting customers and planning fashion shows until well past midnight. She did this for over 10 years before she saved enough to bring me to America and provide me with a stable home and a solid education. When I got to the airport finally, she showered me with her tears and showed me the baby picture of me she carried in her wallet every day to remind her of her big dream starting from her days as a refugee.
Tadias: What are some of the challenges you faced when starting and running Rising Tide Capital? What are some of most memorable and rewarding experiences?
AD: The first big challenge to starting anything – a business or a non-profit – is that you are the “center of energy” for the whole project. You have to show why something is valuable and start effecting change and adding value even before you ask people to join you or to give you money. For the first two years of the project, my co-founder (Alex Forrester) and I did all the work never being sure of what the next moment would bring. We were forced to be creative and entrepreneurial. We would run our seminars out of community centers and meet with people at their businesses or we would conduct house visits where we would sit with mom-entrepreneurs working on their plans over the kitchen table as the kids were running around. They loved it because we were not a social agency or a big government program – so they didn’t feel like they were getting a handout. We were just two young people who really believed in them and their dreams and were willing to apply our education and work extremely hard on their behalf to get them on a stronger path for success. Most importantly, we were always careful to uphold their dignity and never make them feel like they didn’t know enough or a dream was too big for them. But of course, our passion alone was not enough to pay all the bills. I remember one time when we had no money left and knew we would have to go back to sleeping on our parents sofa again. So we decided to take all the money we had and bought tickets to Ethiopia. I had promised Alex that regardless of what happens, I would show him the beauty of my country and the resilience of its people. So, we got to Addis, quickly dropped off our luggage at the very affordable and centrally located Wutuma hotel in Addis and hit the road to see Ethiopia. It was much cheaper than trying to survive in America! The love, the kindness, the generosity and faith of the people of Ethiopia was on display everywhere from the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and Gondor to the lush breadbasket of my grandfather’s farm in Becho. When we left, we were inspired and reminded to be more faithful, to work harder and to have even more grit and determination. Shortly after our return, we learned that Goldman Sachs has seen our work in our community and would like to support the project. From that moment on, we never looked back and just worked harder and stayed true to our mission. Five years later, a fellow Ethiopian living nearby (Berhan Tsehai – who now runs www.TsehaiNY.com) nominated us to be CNN Heroes and we were selected out of many thousands from all over the world to be featured. That was a huge honor and definitely one of the most memorable moments of running Rising Tide Capital. Thousands of people sent us messages of support from all over the world in different languages and many more sent requests for our programs and services than we could have ever imagined. While we were sad not to be able to accommodate all the requests for services, we were affirmed that we were on the right track and that the world is full of entrepreneurial people busily changing their local economies and communities the world over.
Tadias: In June 2009, you were featured on CNN Heroes, and also invited to the White House. President Obama commended your work and noted: “70% of their clients are single moms. All of them rely on their businesses to support their families. So far Rising Tide has helped 250 business owners in the State of New Jersey. So imagine if they could help 500 or a 1000.” How do you seek to expand your organization’s reach in the next five years?
AD: We are currently seeking support from individuals, corporations and foundations to grow our programs and impact more individuals and communities. People from all over who believe in our mission send us as little as $5 to help support the project and we are humbled and grateful. In 2011, our programs will be offered in more distressed communities surrounding our city. We are also working with other organizations around the nation to explore opportunities to benefit more people living in financial distress who may not live near us but need our services. Our goal within the next 3-5 years is to double the number of people we work with annually while we offer even deeper assistance to those who have started their businesses and need further support to grow and create jobs for others beyond themselves. This is a grassroots movement that will someday be a very loud voice for economic hope and possibility coming out of places we least expect and from people who are, for the moment, invisible.
Tadias: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
AD: Ten years from now, I hope to continue my advocacy and work for entrepreneurship education and empowerment amongst the least privileged in countries struggling to rebuild a more equitable, peaceful and just society. There are many lessons from the process of starting and building Rising Tide Capital that can be applied anywhere in the world where there are individuals seeking to turn ideas into reality. I am particularly excited to look towards Africa and my homeland of Ethiopia to see in what ways we can invest in the entrepreneurially driven in both the social and business sector. And of course, I also hope to become a mom (my grandpa is asking when he will see his grandchildren) and hopefully do my part in inspiring the next generation of change makers who will build on the progress and sacrifices of the generation before them.
Tadias: Is there anything else that you’d like to share with our readers?
AD: I would like thank your readers and Tadias magazine for taking the time to learn about my journey and Rising Tide Capital. I would also like to challenge your readers to think about philanthropy, to seek out organizations that do work on the ground at a grassroots level and support them. They should abolish cynicism from their hearts and minds — it only eats away at the precious time they have left to do something positive and make a difference. Finally, they should take action in pursuit of their dreams even when don’t know how it will all work, never give up and keep working hard towards what they know to be right. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, “faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Tadias: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, and best wishes in your endeavors.
—
New York (Tadias) – Saxophonist and Composer Russ Gershon is the founder and bandleader of Either/Orchestra (E/O), the large American jazz ensemble also known for its Ethiopian song selections and notable collaborations with musicians such as Mulatu Astatke, Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete, Teshome Mitiku, Getatchew Mekurya, Tsedenia Markos, Bahta Hewet, Michael Belayneh, and Hana Shenkute.
As Gershon tells it, his first introduction to Ethiopian music came in 1988 when he heard Mahmoud’s Ere Mela Mela. But he did not fall in love with Ethio-jazz until his encounter in 1993 with a compilation album entitled Ethiopian Groove: the Golden 70’s – produced by Francis Falceto as part of the Ethiopiques CD series on the French label Buda Musique.
Later, as a graduate student at Tufts University, Gershon named his masters thesis The Oldest Place, a string quartet inspired by the music and instruments of Ethiopia. His team eventually traveled to the country at Francis Falceto’s invitation to perform at the 2004 Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Ababa. Either/Orchestra became the first U.S. big band to appear in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington’s Orchestra in 1973. The 2004 concert resulted in a remarkable double-disc set called Ethiopiques 20: The Either/Orchestra Live in Addis, which was described by critics at the time as “the best live album of the year—in any genre—and one of the E/O’s finest albums.”
Ethiopian music is just one of the many international sounds that E/O is known for. The band members are an eclectic bunch hailing from several countries, including the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Mexico. The ensemble experiments with various grooves, often mixed with Afro-Caribbean and African influences.
Gershon, who was born in New York in 1959 and grew up in Westport, Connecticut, credits his global taste in his youth to the time that he spent summers working for his grandfather in New York’s Garment District, not far from the record stores and concert venues of Manhattan.
Either/Orchestra celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and will mark the event with a reunion show at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City on February 11th, 2011.
We recently interviewed Russ Gershon.
Above: Mahmoud Ahmed, Francis Falceto and Russ Gershon, Paris 2006.
Tadias: Please tell us a bit about how Either/Orchestra was first formed and
what kind of music you wanted to create/play.
Russ Gershon: I started the E/O in 1985 as a rehearsal band, never expecting to tour and make records, to have the fantastic adventure we’ve had. I was coming off of a year at Berklee College of Music, following several years of playing in fairly successful original pop bands, and I was just getting a handle on writing arrangements and understanding the techniques of jazz. I was a big admirer of Sun Ra’s Arkestra, Gil Evans, and other unconventional large jazz groups, and wanted to do something like that. I should also add that I had been a radio DJ for many years, and was used to having all the recorded music in the world at my fingertips, trying to put together interesting combinations of music from all over the map.
So I invited a motley mob of musicians to come to my house and play music I was writing. Everybody had a good time, liked the music, and within a couple of months we had our first gig, in the children’s room of the Cambridge MA public library. We were immediately semi-popular and just went from there, making albums and touring. I think my experience in pop and dance bands made me more aware than most jazz musicians of connecting with audiences.
Tadias: Your music infuses Caribbean, Latin American and East African beats, tunes, and rhythms with the free-flow of jazz. Would you consider yourself an international jazz band?
RG: The E/O is indeed an international jazz band in several ways: we have members from the US, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico; we play music with many Afro-Caribbean and African influences, and of course we’ve gotten thoroughly involved with Ethiopian music. All American music has such a huge African component, through [African-Americans], so that the music of three continents flows naturally and easily together. I’ve also been a big fan of African music, starting with Fela Kuti, South African jazz and field recordings of traditional music.
Tadias: Over the years, you have worked with some of the best-known Ethiopian musicians. Who/what was the catalyst? How did you discover Ethiopian music?
RG: In 1988 I heard Mahmoud’s “Ere Mela Mela” LP and it made an impression, and I heard Aster Aweke live in about 1990, but I really fell in love with Ethiopian music in 1993 when a friend brought back the compilation “Ethiopian Groove: the Golden 70’s” from France, where Francis Falceto had assembled it from some of the best tracks recorded in Addis at the end of the imperial period. I loved the horns, the passionate singing, the modes, the way it took American influences and spiced them with musical berbere, making something familiar and new at the same time.
After a couple of years I started arranging Ethiopian songs as instrumentals for the E/O, and both the band and the audiences loved it immediately. Teshome Mitiku heard our recording of his song Yezamed Yebada, and called me up, we became friends. Soon after that, Francis contacted me and began telling me about the history of music in Ethiopia and playing rare recordings for me — material that he has been releasing on the Ethiopiques series. In 2003, he and Heruy Arefe-Aiene invited us to play in the 2004 Ethiopian Music Festival, and we got deeper into the music to prepare for the trip. While we were in Addis in January 2004, we met Mulatu, Alemayehu, Getachew, Tsedenia Markos, Bahta Hewet, Michael Belayneh and others and invited them to play on our concert, which was eventually turned into Ethiopiques #20. This led to collaborations with Mulatu in the States, Mahmoud in Paris in 2006, Hana Shenkute, Setegn Atanaw and Minale Dagnew, and on and on. Most recently we finally started working with Teshome, debuting at the Chicago Jazz Festival. He’ll be featured in our upcoming 25th Anniversary Concert in New York on February 11, and we’ll be playing with Mahmoud in Cambridge, MA on March 24 and Amherst, MA on March 25.
Mulatu Astatke and Vicente Lebron of Either/Orchestra, Addis Ababa, 2004
Teshome Mitiku and Either/Orchestra at the Chicago Jazz Festival, September 2010
Setegn Atanaw, Minale Dagnew, Hana Shenkute, Joel Yennior, Colin Fisher, MA 2006
Tadias: You are also credited for helping to popularizing Ethio–Jazz in the U.S., especially through the Ethiopiques CD release as well as subsequent tours and performances. What would you says is your most memorable concert featuring Ethiopian artists?
RG: There have been so many amazing concerts with our Ethiopian friends that I can hardly pick one. The concert in London with Mahmoud, Alemayehu, Getachew and Mulatu was pretty great, one in Milan with Mulatu and Mahmoud was off the charts, Chicago with Teshome….
Tadias: What’s your favorite Ethiopian tune?
RG: More than a favorite Ethiopian tune, I’ll say that anchi hoye is my favorite mode. We jazzers love dissonant harmonies, and we can find them in anchi hoye. I even wrote string quartet – violins, viola, cello – based on it, thinking about masinko and with a section called Azmari. I also arrange Altchalkum (bati minor) for the Boston Pops Orchestra, and they played it beautifully.
Tadias: Regarding your trip to Ethiopia, what was that experience like?
RG: The visit to Ethiopia in 2004 was a wonderful, life-changing experience for me and the band. We were concerned that people wouldn’t approve of how we were playing Ethiopian songs, but instead they were very interested and enthusiastic. Also, hearing Ethiopian music at the source – and seeing the dancing – really helped us to understand the rhythms and melody. And finally, it is an important experience for Americans, with our wasteful, materialistic culture, to have a chance to see an African city, where so many people have so few things and get by on little. It reminds us that the most important things in our lives are our relationships with friends, family, everybody – and that music is a beautiful way to develop and expand these relationships, across borders, languages, generations. In the U.S. it’s easy for people to hide in their own space, to play with their toys, to NOT relate to other people. Of course it’s great to have the comfort, safety, conveniences that we have here – but it’s not nearly enough.
Tadias: In a recent article Boston Globe noted that your “wide-open sensibility” is rooted in your exposure to the New York Music scene in 1970s. Can you describe your time in New York and how it influenced you?
RG: NY in the 70’s was an exciting place to hear jazz. The spirit of Coltrane was still very much alive, Miles and his former sidemen and others were bringing electric instruments and grooves into jazz, the Midwestern avant-garde was arriving in town. There were concerts at Carnegie Hall, traditional clubs, and artists were taking advantage of the decline in the city’s economy to find cheap space and open performance lofts. Every generation of jazz, from Count Basie and Benny Carter to Lester Bowie and Woody Shaw, was alive and playing. I was an avid concert and club goer from about 1975 on, and I feel fortunate to have heard just about every living legend and the rising generations.
The Either/Orchestra at the Yared School of Music in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2004
E/O trombonist Joel Yennior with the Yared School Trombonists, Addis Ababa, 2004
Tadias: Please tell us about your upcoming 25th Anniversary concert in New York.
What should your fans expect?
RG: The 25th Anniversary Concert will be an amazing collection of players who have all contributed to the E/O over the years. We’ll have the ten current members of the band plus 16 former members, plus Teshome. Four drummers, seven saxophones, five trombones, and so many more. The alums include jazz stars like John Medeski, Matt Wilson and Josh Roseman, and great hard working sidemen. We’ll touch on all the eras and styles of our music, and sometimes have 25 musicians on stage. It will be spectacular, Teshome is representing our Ethiopian connection, and we’ll play Yezamed Yebada and a new Ambassel that we wrote together last summer. We may even play an instrumental version of Muluquen Mellesse’s Keset Eswa Bicha.
Tadias: Is there anything else, you would like to share with our readers?
RG:Le Poisson Rouge is not a really big place, so I recommend buying tickets in advance and showing up on time. The show is 7 to 10 pm, very early, then we’re done. We can all go out for injera!
Tadias: Thank you Russ and see you on February 11th.
—
They were gathered last Sunday to mark Timket, the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of the Epiphany. For the faithful, the holiday commemorates Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan and his revelation as the son of God.
Los Angeles’ Timket celebration is the largest in the United States. It takes place over a January weekend each year in a parking lot outside the Forum in Inglewood.
Ethiopian immigrants flock from across the country and Canada to receive blessings from church bishops who wear elaborate beaded cloaks and full gray beards. Organizers say it may be the largest gathering of Ethiopians outside that nation in the Horn of Africa. Read more.
Photo: Choir members including Mengisthiu Mamo, Ashanafi Abebe, and Yemane Kassa, from right, sing and dance during a celebration of Timket. (Christina House/For The Times / January 22, 2011)
Video: 2010 Ethiopian Epiphany (Timket ) in Los Angeles
Ethiopian voyage of discovery went so very wrong for young Santa Clara athlete and student
Posted: 01/20/2011 06:42:15 PM PST
The first time Arefany Wynn traveled the 9,000 miles from California to Ethiopia, he loved the country and received such a warm welcome from the people of his mother’s homeland that he promised to return.
But on his second visit, the 20-year-old Santa Clara athlete and student got a very different welcome. One night, an uncle was showing his American nephew the night life in the upscale Bole Road district of Addis Ababa. But when they walked into a club and a fight broke out, the two men decided to leave.
As they started to drive away, a police officer came out of the club after them. Young Arefany, riding in the back seat, turned around to see what was happening — just as the officer fired his AK-47 at the car, sending a bullet into the young man’s side and through his body. He died on the way to the hospital.
Watch:
Now Arefany’s anguished family is observing the Ethiopian 40-day mourning period, and they are desperately in search of answers. They want to know whether the police officer, whom witnesses say shot the young man, will be charged with a crime. They want to know why the body was shipped home without being embalmed, and where they will find money for funeral expenses.
But, most of all, they want to know why this gentle young man, a San Jose City College student who journeyed halfway around the world to immerse himself in Ethiopian culture, was taken from them so suddenly, so tragically.
New York (Tadias) – Beyenne Jagama, the 26-year-old independent filmmaker of the reality film Habeshan Felega, which documents the lifestyles of Ethiopians in Atlanta, has been killed following a shooting at a convenience store inside a CITGO gas station in southeast Atlanta. Beyenne was employed as the night-shift clerk at the mini-mart for only a few weeks.
(Left: photo of Beyenne Jagama)
Per FOX 5 News: “Major Keith Meadows of the Atlanta Police Department says the suspect entered the store with a handgun and demanded money from the clerk, 26-year-old Beyenne Jagama. At some point the suspect fired his weapon four or five times, hitting Jagama in the lower abdomen.” Police say the store’s cash drawer was emptied and they’re looking for a red pick-up truck with at least three men inside. Investigators say they’re also talking to two witnesses for more answers. Police say they are reviewing surveillance video. Jagama was transported to Grady Hospital, where he later died.”
According to local media reports, Beyenne, who is known to his family and friends as “J”, is the city’s sixth homicide victim this month alone.
New York (Tadias) – Internationally acclaimed Ethiopian singer Aster Aweke will perform at The Sounds of Brazil (SOB’s) in New York City on Friday, February 4th, 2011.
Per Masinko Entertainment, the event’s organizers, the upcoming concert marks the artist’s first appearance in the city in more than six years. The comeback coincides with the release of her latest album entitled Checheho.
The Singer/Songwriter has often been dubbed “‘Africa’s Aretha Franklin’ for her compelling combination of driving grooves and soulful vocals, singing of love, loss and life.”
Aster Aweke was born in 1961 in Gonder, Ethiopia and launched her professional singing career at Hager Fikir Theater. In the late 1970s, she began performing at Addis Ababa night clubs, cultivating her songwriting and singing technique and emulating Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer and other Western vocalists whose records were popular in the local discos. She performed at various clubs and hotels, including Hotel D’Afrique, Wabi Shebelle and Ras Hotel, accompanied by the Continental Band, Shebele Band, and Ibex Band (before they became known as the Roha Band).
Aster began her recording career in Ethiopia with two 45 vinyl record releases, followed by nine cassette releases. Her last cassette, Munayë, was released in 1981, coinciding with her departure from Addis Ababa to the United States. This recording cemented her status as an enduring musical tastemaker among music lovers in Ethiopia.
Upon arriving in the United States, Aster first settled in northern California, later relocating to the Washington D.C. area – home to the largest Ethiopian community in the United States. There, she began singing in various Ethiopian restaurants. In the late 1980s, Aster was discovered by the London-based independent label, Triple Earth, an event that marked her entrance into the World Music scene. Shortly thereafter, she secured a recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment and released two major albums, Aster and Kabu, on their Columbia label.
Following her widespread popularity in the United States and Europe, Aster appeared on several radio and TV shows, including the acclaimed Night Music on the NBC television network, where she appeared as a special guest of the host, David Sanborn. She has also appeared on CNN, BBC radio and television, PBS radio and television, CBC, and London’s Channel 4 Big World Café. Print appearances include Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times.
Aster’s songs have become anthems to her fans in Ethiopia, as well as to Ethiopians living abroad. Her latest release, and 23rd album, is named after a city in Gondar that is nearby the singer’s birthplace. According to Kabu Records, Checheho was produced in collaboration with her longtime arranger, Abegasu Kibrework Shiota, and also features the work of several new producers, including Elias Melka, Abiy Arka, and Dawit Tilahun. “This electrifying album is sure to delight long-time and new fans alike.”
Aster is currently working on another album featuring compilations of her hit songs.
New York (Tadias) – Per New York Magazine: “After starring in 2009’s Desert Flower, model Liya Kebede continues her crossover into film. Her latest oeuvre is an arty online video directed by Jennifer Elster, which features Debra Winger, Terrence Howard, Rufus Wainwright, Yoko Ono, and other actors and artists trudging through empty woodlands and wondering aloud things like, “What do we want? And what are we willing to sacrifice to get it?” Titled In the Woods, the film will be released in small segments on Elsner’s website, ITWPathway.com.” You can watch the clip here.
Las Vegas – Social Entrepreneur Ted Alemayhu, Founder and Chairman of US Doctors for Africa, will be launching the Africa-USA Business Executive Conference in Las Vegas from February 14-16th, 2011.
The event is the first of its kind and is a venture by the California-based private firm Africa-USA Trade & Investment. The conference aims to support strategic business networking opportunities between US and African-based private firms as well as their respective governmental entities. The event web site states: “Top executives from key industries, such as banking & finance, agriculture, oil & gas, telecom, aviation, travel & tourism, construction & development, information technology, health & education, and mining will be attending this historic convention. Events for the final night of the conference will include the Chairman’s Dinner Reception with the theme “America Honors Africa.” The dinner will honor African Ministors and business leaders and will be hosted by Mr. Alemayhu and the Mayor of Las Vegas.
New York (TADIAS) – The scientific quest to find alternative sources of fuel is an expensive endeavor. And when Dr. Sossina Haile, Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering at California Institute of Technology, prodded fuel cell makers in the late ’90s to come up with a cheaper prototype, they hesitated. She decided to work on a solution and created the world’s first solid-acid fuel cell at her laboratory. By 2008, two of her former students had taken the lab idea and created a start-up to develop a commercial prototype. Dr. Sossina Haile’s work has been praised for helping to push the green energy revolution, and last October she was invited to give an ‘Outstanding Women in Science’ lecture at Indiana University.
We asked Dr. Sossina Haile a few questions:
Tadias: When did you first discover your love of science? What was the catalyst?
SH: I have enjoyed science as far back as I can remember. I have always loved the fact that it makes sense and as I child I discovered I was good at it. We have a tendency to gravitate towards things in which we excel.
Tadias: Can you tell us a bit about where you grew up? The influential individuals and role models in your life?
SH: I was born in Addis Abeba, and we moved permanently to the US when I was almost ten. In all honesty, there was not a particular individual who served as a role model for me in the pursuit of a scientific career. I was extremely fortunate in that my parents supported my choices. This was particularly important since many of my classmates were, shall I say, uncomfortable, with a girl in the industrial arts class rather than home economics.
Tadias: As a Professor and Researcher at Caltech you created a new type of fuel cell. Can you tell us more about the new material discovery and the implications of its real world application?
SH: The new material allows fuel cells to operate at temperatures that are hot enough so that the fuel cell is efficient, but not so hot that the fuel cell is too expensive. Fuel cells convert chemical energy, like hydrogen or natural gas, into electricity. There are many, many reasons why a consumer can’t go out and buy a fuel cell from the hardware store today. Our fuel cells take an entirely fresh approach at trying to solve those problems.
Tadias: Last October you were invited to give the Outstanding Women in Science lecture at Indiana University on the topic of “Creating a Sustainable Energy Future.” You note that “the challenge modern society faces is not one of identifying a sustainable energy source, but rather one of capitalizing on the vast, yet intermittent, solar resource base.” Can you tell us some of the additional ways that you envision capitalizing on clean energy sources?
SH: If we are to use the sun as our primary energy source, then we definitely need to develop ways to store its energy for use on demand. In my lab we have started to do this by converting the sunlight to heat, and then using the heat to drive reactions that create fuels like hydrogen and methane from water and carbon dioxide.
Tadias: In 2008 you served as Advisor for Superprotonic, a start-up founded by a few of your former Caltech students who wanted to develop commercial prototypes of the world’s first solid-acid fuel cells created in your lab. Can you elaborate on this venture? What are the future prospects for the commercialization of your work?
SH: Superprotonic, Inc. has as its mission the commercialization of fuel cells based on the materials, the solid-acids, developed in my laboratory. Due to the economic upheavals the work has transferred to a new company, SAFCell, but the mission and the key participants are unchanged. We remain hopeful that the company will be able to manufacture fuel cells that are ultimately more efficient and less costly than others being developed today.
Tadias: What aspects of teaching and research do you enjoy the most?
SH: I delight in the discovery. When results make sense and we are able to explain something, I am thrilled. When that discovery has potential to solve critical societal problems, I am ecstatic.
Tadias: What words would you share with other young, aspiring scientists?
SH: I am asked this frequently and I find myself repeating the advice “follow your passions.” I think the corollary is that you should not be constrained by what others think of you. The beauty of pursuing scientific endeavors is that really the only thing that matters is what your brain can deliver, not all of the superficial things that can so easily distract us.
Tadias: What is your favorite way (or activity) to unwind and relax from a busy, challenging schedule?
SH: The wonderful thing about what I do is that generally I have no desire to ‘get away from it.’ But I confess that occasionally I will indulge in a good book to keep me company on the long flight back from a meeting or conference. I recently finished Chains of Heaven by Philip Marsden. It was fantastic.
Tadias: Thank you for taking the time to share your outstanding work with our readers, and best wishes in your research endeavors.
—
New York (TADIAS) – Either/Orchestra, the Boston-based jazz band that popularized Ethiopian music in the United States through collaboration with legends such as Mulatu Astatke, Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete, Teshome Mitiku and saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya, will celebrate its 25th anniversary at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City on February 11.
“The show at Le Poisson Rouge will be a special occasion, the spirited union of several generations of musicians, ranging from 20 to 56 in age, from all over the U.S. and Latin America, who collectively make up the ongoing endeavor known as the Either/Orchestra,” the band said in a press release.
“An added bonus will be legendary Ethiopian singer Teshome Mitiku, who began collaborating with the E/O in a headlining performance at last September’s Chicago Jazz Festival. Teshome was a member of the Soul Ekos, one of the most popular band in East Africa in the 1960s, and a pioneer in bringing American styles into Ethiopian music.”
The event will feature more than two dozen musicians that have collaborated with the band over the years including John Medeski, Matt Wilson, and Josh Roseman, among others. Per the venue’s website: “The concert will survey 25 years of original music, radical reinterpretations of jazz and pop tunes, and include a healthy dose of Ethiopian flavor, represented by the legendary singer Teshome Mitiku.”
If you Go:
Either/Orchestra 25th Anniversary
February 11, from 7 to 10 pm.
New York’s Le Poisson Rouge
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.
Video: The Either/Orchestra with Ethiopian Singer Mahmoud Ahmed: Bemin Sebeb Litlash
New York (TADIAS) – I am a resident of the beautiful city of Montreal, Canada, but I consider myself a citizen of the world. My first travel journal, My Humanitarian Journey to Africa, appeared in Tadias in 2003 and my last entry was about couchsurfing posted in August of 2008.
When receiving emails these days the subject lines usually read: “Where are you now?” And lately it’s been “Are you done?” or even “Were you able to find yourself?” For which I humorously reply: “I left a piece of me everywhere, which I need to go back to collect!”
I have been on the road for as long as I can remember. I started traveling through books, stories and simply staring at world maps and daydreaming before I could understand what traveling is all about.
As a child my dream for traveling was bigger than life itself. I wanted nothing but to discover the mystery of this beautiful world that we live in. I started out as a young and fearless traveler, openly bargaining my life with the universe, willingly surrendering my life. I wanted my heart and mind to open to new learning, to be tolerant and respectful, to explore and to appreciate the world as it is. Somehow deep inside I knew that I was going to embark on a journey that would forever change my life. A quest of a lifetime served by the beautiful world which I called my Open University!
Once I was on the road I found myself in different countries, towns, villages, churches, temples, mosques and synagogues. I ate rice noodles for breakfast, crocodile for dinner, snacked on Kudu Biltong on safari in Africa. I attended weddings, funerals, Candomble (religious ritual), birthdays and holidays with complete strangers that opened up their heart and homes to me. I shared my deepest thoughts, fears, and dreams with fellow travelers on long bus rides, airport waiting rooms, endless couchsurfing nights, countless coffee meetings and sightseeing around the world.
Mostly, people are curious to know why and how I am traveling, but the one question that made me actually write this article today was this: “What am I getting out of it?” I didn’t start traveling looking for something nor did I know what to look for. I simply showed up in most places armed with guidebooks, the desire to learn and to experience life.
The truth is that it is not really hard to stay on the road when you have passion for nature, culture and above all people. I happen to have them all, but the one thing that kept me going was the countless generous people that crossed my path who humbly opened their hearts and homes. They inspired me to see that there is more to life.
You can view more photos & journal of my recent trip to South America at www. maskarm.tumblr.com.
Below are few sample stories from my travels that are etched in my memory forever:
Starting with Africa, where I was born and to where I keep going back for more, the Ethiopian Ambassador to Ghana ran into me on the streets of Accra while I was searching for a hotel and took me to his wife and kids without hesitation just because I was Ethiopian.
In Gisenyi, Rwanda a tour operator overheard my conversation in the hostel about crossing the border to Goma, DRC the next day. Tired of trying to convince me that it wasn’t the safest place to go on my own, he decided to escort me to the border himself, where after making sure that I was safe, he returned to Rwanda.
In Khartoum, Sudan a man, whom my fellow travelers and I met at the bus station, welcomed us as if we were his old lost friends. He offered us a place to stay and truly showed us Sudanese hospitality. Of course I never forget the Sudanese camel merchant who was so concerned about my status in society and who offered to marry me to spare me from the humiliation of being not married as he put it!
In Israel a man in Haifa, who felt responsible for my life, stopped driving his car to lecture me on the dangers of hitchhiking, and ended up driving me to a bus station, paid my bus fare and made sure I boarded the bus to Jerusalem.
In Beirut, Lebanon a university professor offered his couch for a week (a camping bed he set up in his living room) and embraced my way of traveling by becoming an active local couchsurfer.
In Australia a simple ride request that I posted on the internet led me to traveling with a complete stranger from Melbourne, Victoria to Fraser Island in Queensland for three insanely beautiful weeks of camping, wine tasting and visiting national parks.
In India after attending a Hindu festival in Southern Tamil Nadu, I happily followed a family to the small village where I spent the best time of my life. The humble family had nothing except a table which they insisted to convert into a make-shift bed with a thin mattress. Although they didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak their language, their hospitality touched my core. They fed me some amazing vegetarian food. And YES I did sleep on the table!!
In La Paz, Bolivia a Somali-Dutch individual that I met at a market, introduced me to a whole new world of Afro-Bolivian culture where I was welcomed for three days of conference, fun, cultural shows and visiting the coffee and coca farms owned by Afro-Bolivians. I even met their king!
It is these endless stories that keep me on the road, maintain my sanity and make me appreciate my life, even when I found myself under a door frame in Mendoza, Argentina during an earthquake. At the time I felt as if I was having my last conversation with God. All I had to say was “Thank you for all the blessings I have received.”
Met with the oldest woman in the mostly Afro-Bolivian community of Tocaña, Bolivia.
—
Above: A screen shot from an animation video capturing the
festive spirit of Genna (Ethiopian x-mas) celebrated on Jan 7.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Friday, January 7, 2011
New York (Tadias) – Today is Christmas for followers of the Orthodox and Coptic Christian traditions around the world including in Ethiopia, Egypt, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Syria, and India. The birth of Jesus is observed 13 days after December 25, in accordance with the Julian calendar.
One of our readers submitted the following animation video, which captures the day’s festive Ethiopian spirit. Wishing our readers Melkam Genna and a Happy New Year!
New York (Tadias) – Ethiopian American fashion designer and entrepreneur Amsale Aberra is the subject of this week’s African Voices on CNN International. The program “highlights Africa’s most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera.”
Amsale, 57, who came to the United States from Ethiopia in 1973, is a New York-based bridal and evening-wear designer whose sophisticated and elegant dresses are favorites among celebrities. Academy Award Winner Julia Roberts wore an Amsale gown in the movie Runaway Bride. Aberra’s most talked about sale came in 2007 when ABC purchased an Amsale wedding dress for use in the season final episode of Grey’s Anatomy. As Time magazine noted: “When the producers of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy were looking for a wedding dress for Sandra Oh’s no-nonsense character, Cristina, to wear on the season finale of the hit medical show, they chose a $6,600 strapless mermaid style by Aberra.”
According to CNN: “Aberra is now gearing up for a new chapter in her career — her bridal boutique on New York’s Madison Avenue is going to be the subject of a new reality TV show, scheduled to air in the United States in April. She says she was initially anxious about the idea. “Many reality shows are about drama, about conflicts, and I wasn’t interested in that. But the concept is a pursuit of perfection. And it fits my principle, it fits the philosophy,” she said.
“When I design Amsale, I have to keep that bride in mind. She is simple, she is clean and sophisticated.”
Fairfax Avenue, where the smells of cumin and roasting coffee carry down the street. With handshakes and cries of “Salaam!” he greets a dozen men and women who have gathered in the back room of a friend’s restaurant to organize a fundraiser for Seifu Makonnen, a fellow Ethiopian immigrant who is ill.
Nearly every month in Los Angeles, Ethiopians host a benefit like this one. Earlier this year, at events for two compatriots with cancer, Abebe’s group raised more than $55,000.
It’s not as if they have time or money to spare. Many Ethiopians here work as taxicab drivers or parking attendants, and most send large remittances to relatives back home. But they give because they know that if ever they need help, they will get it. They give because this is a community that takes care of its own. Read more.
Photo credit: Brian van der Brug, Los Angeles Times / December 31, 2010.
Above:The Ethiopian Students Association International will
hold its 11th annual summit in Pennsylvania. (Photo by ESAI)
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Updated: Wednesday, January 5, 2011
New York (Tadias) – Ethiopian Students Association International (ESAI) will hold its 11th annual summit at the University of Pennsylvania, from March 18th to March 19th, 2011.
According to the organizers, the two-day event will feature various seminars, workshops and keynote speakers, including a talk by young entrepreneur Eskat Asfaw, founder of College Shuttle, and Lull Mengesha, author of The Only Black Student.
The upcoming summit will be hosted by the Philadelphia Ethiopian Students Association. ESAI was founded at Marymount University in Virginia in 1999 as an inter-campus network among Ethiopian students. Each year local student groups compete for a chance to host the annual gathering in their city. Last year’s conference was held outside the United States for the first time in Toronto, Canada.
Entertainment programs at the Philadelphia summit will include the annual cultural show mixed with fun highlights of eskista and a history contest.
If You Go:
11th Annual ESAI Summit
University of Pennsylvania
Houston Hall
March 18-19, 2011
9:00 a.m-3:30pm
3417 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA, 19104
(At the Bodek Lounge Room 100)
Learn more at: www.esai.org
Cover image: At the 10th Annual ESAI Summit in Toronto, Canada. (Photo ESAI via Flickr)
Samuel Getachew is the first to admit he’s an ambitious man, and over steaming mugs of bitter kaffa at Wanza Restaurant, he makes no apologies for his big dreams or the people who oppose them.
“I’m proposing changes,” he said matter-of-factly in the Danforth Avenue Ethiopian eatery. “Change always gets attacked when it’s moving forward.”
And Mr. Getachew’s dream of a “Little Ethiopia” on Danforth Avenue, as improbable as it seems, is moving forward. After more than a year of being told “no” by the board of one of the biggest Business Improvement Areas in the city, the 34-year-old helped organize a new slate of board candidates for the Danforth Mosaic BIA elections.
Twelve of the new candidates were elected on Dec. 2, effectively usurping the old board. Three of the 12 are Ethiopian – two own restaurants in the area and one is an accountant. Mr. Getachew said he’s confident Little Ethiopia will now be back on the table.
“Hopefully, we are the BIA this time and now they will listen to us,” Mr. Getachew said with a grin.
Bonnie F. Jacobs, a paleobotanist at Southern Methodist University, writes from Ethiopia, where she is studying fossils of ancient plant and animal life. The current field season in the Mush Valley of Ethiopia is financed by a grant to Ellen Currano of Miami University, Ohio, from the National Geographic Society Committee on Research and Exploration.
Monday, Dec. 27
This winter’s field season in Ethiopia is my tenth since I began working there, and despite my experience I am filled with anticipation. Our project is a relatively new one — studying rocks and fossils from an important period of history, 22 million years ago — and the location, Mush Valley, is also somewhat new to our team (last year was our first collecting trip here).
Mush Valley is only about 160 kilometers northeast of the modern capital city, Addis Ababa, but it feels as though it could be a thousand miles away. Very little of city life intrudes into the villages of Upper and Lower Mush.
What really takes me away from it all are the rocks and fossils exposed by and alongside the Mush River. They provide us an exciting opportunity to document life, climate, landscape and atmosphere 22 million years ago. As we excavate blocks of fine-grained sediment — primarily shale — looking for clues to the past, the pivotal role played by that ancient time period is always on our mind.
Why is it important to know about the Ethiopian Plateau 22 million years ago? The Mush Valley preserves plants and animals from a time soon after a land connection was established between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia — a land connection that marked the end of Africa’s island status and that was used by animals to migrate between the two previously separated land masses. By looking at the fossil record from that period of time — before the Red Sea was formed — we can gain a clearer view of which species survived this great migration and which did not.
Above:‘Today Show’ correspondent Jenna Bush Hager travels to
Ethiopia to shine light on maternal health. (Photo: Screen shot)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Wednesday, December 29, 2010
New York (Tadias) – “It is the oldest medical cause in the world. There is currency dug out of pyramids containing images of fistula, yet in the 21st century it is the most neglected cause,” Dr. Catherine Hamlin, Founder of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, said in an interview with Tadias Magazine a few years ago. She was speaking about a childbirth injury that affects one out of every 12 women in Africa and approximately three million women worldwide. In developing nations, such as Ethiopia, where access to hospitals in remote areas are difficult to find, young women suffer from obstructive labor and other childbirth related health issues, which can otherwise be successfully alleviated with adequate medical support. Unassisted labor in such conditions may lead to bladder, vaginal, and rectum injuries that incapacitate and stigmatize these women.
In the following MSNBC ‘Today Show’ video, contributing correspondent Jenna Bush Hager (the daughter of former President George W. Bush), travels to Ethiopia to shine light on maternal health. She focuses on the efforts underway by the non-profit organization CARE, in collaboration with local authorities, helping women to survive childbirth injuries. The segment makes the case for continued humanitarian U.S. assistance to reduce one of the world’s highest rates of maternal and infant mortalities. According to USAID, more than 500,000 women and girls in Ethiopia suffer from disabilities resulting from complications during pregnancy and childbirth each year, and over 25,000 women and girls die annually due to pregnancy–related complications.
Above:Aster Aweke is scheduled to perform live this weekend
in Washington, D.C. at an event ushering in the new year.(CP)
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Updated: Wednesday, December 29, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Aster Aweke, one of Ethiopia’s best known contemporary musicians, will perform live at a New Year’s Day concert in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, January 1st, 2011.
According to the organizers, the Singer/Songwriter — who will soon mark the beginning of her fourth decade as an artist in the U.S. — will treat her fans to samples of her popular classics as well as new songs from her recently released album entitled Checheho.
Aster has often been dubbed “‘Africa’s Aretha Franklin’ for her compelling combination of driving grooves and soulful vocals, singing of love, loss and life.”
“For more than 30 years, Aster Aweke has been entertaining audiences across the globe,” says her label, Kabu Records, in its introduction of her new CD. “Her songs have become anthems to her fans in Ethiopia, as well as to Ethiopians living abroad, and she continues to win the hearts and minds of world music lovers.”
Her latest release, and 23rd album, is named after a city in Gondar that is nearby the singer’s birthplace. According to Kabu Records, Checheho was produced in collaboration with her longtime arranger, Abegasu Kibrework Shiota, and also features the work of several new producers, including Elias Melka, Abiy Arka, and Dawit Tilahun. “This electrifying album is sure to delight long-time and new fans alike.”
Aster is currently working on another album featuring compilations of her hit songs.
If You Go:
EthioStar Entertainment Presents:
Aster Aweke Live on New Year’s day
Saturday, January 01, 2011 at 10:00 PM
At DC Star (2135 Queens Chapel Rd)
Washington, Dc 20018
For VIP & more info: 240.478.5513 or 301.957.1116
Also, you may visit: EthioStarEnt.Com
Buy Tickets at: Asterawekeindc.eventbrite.com/
Video: Aster Aweke’s New Release – Checheho (Posted by WorldAfricaMusic )
Above: Ali Ahmed Mohammed’s parents are asking for more
details from the District government about their son’s death.
Tadias Magazine
News Update
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Washington, D.C. – The family of Ali Ahmed Mohammed, the young man who died outside the DC9 bar in October, has requested for a copy of the autopsy report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Washington City Paperreports.
According to the paper: “The family of Ali Ahmed Mohammed wants more details from the District government about how Mohammed died outside DC9 on Oct. 15. A source close to the family tells City Desk Mohammed’s relatives have requested his autopsy report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. OCME spokesperson Beverly Fields couldn’t immediately confirm the request, but says, ‘That would be routine. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had’…The medical examiner reported last week that Mohammed’s death was a homicide, with heart trouble, alcohol, physical exertion and restraint among the contributing factors.” Read more.
—
Above:Award-winning artist Mekbib Gebertsadik speaks with
Washington Post reporter Annie Gowen, re: his new life here.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Posted: Tuesday, December 28, 2010
New York (Tadias) – The Washington Post’s American Mosaic — an online weekly live Q&A program where reporters talk to local immigrants about their experience in the United States — highlighted Ethiopian artist Mekbib Gebertsadik this past month.
The live video features a discussion with the Arlington, Virginia-based artist regarding his art works, his struggles to re-establish himself as an artist in America and his overall experience as an immigrant.
“Mekbib Gebertsadik is an award-winning artist who immigrated to the U.S. on a diversity visa in 2001 from Ethiopia. He achieved wide-ranging success — living full-time off his art with his own studio — while in his home country, but has had trouble replicating his success here. He now works nights at FedEx,” the show’s introduction notes.
“Mekbib Gebertsadik has created art his entire life. Upon completing his higher education, Mekbib worked as a full-time studio artist, winning an international competition in 2000 in the Netherlands. He moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia with his wife in 2001.”
Washington, D.C. – The African Heritage Dancers/Drummers and Little Ethiopia DC will jointly celebrate Kwanzaa – a week-long celebration created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga to strengthen Pan-African culture and community – and Genna – Ethiopian Christmas event celebrated on January 7th. The event takes place on December 26, 2010 at the African Heritage Center.
“The upcoming Kwanzaa/Genna celebration will proactively highlight the shared African heritage of both the African-American and the Ethiopian communities,” organizers said in a press release.
“The ‘People To People- A Shared African Heritage’ celebration will present performances and ceremonies by the African Heritage Dancers and Drummers and also include candle lighting, Ethiopian coffee, and libation ceremonies. There will be guest performances by Ethiopian artists Kuri, Assefu and Almaz.”
If You Go: People To People Holiday Celebration
Sunday Dec. 26, 2010
African Heritage Center, 1320 Good Hope Road SE, Washington DC 20020
Time: 7:00 to 8:30 P.M.
Contact Mel Deal 202-355-8183 or Tamrat Medhin 202-255-1400
The central panel of the triptych had over the centuries become blackened with the sprinkling of perfume that the monks use as they worship.
The hugely important and stunning painted wood panel is now visible in its original coloured glory, showing a pale-faced Jesus with black curly hair and rosy cheeks.
His hand has three digits raised and two down as if blessing the person looking at him.
He has a halo and is wearing a gown and is perched on his mother’s knee and she too has a halo.
The monks at the Monastery of St Stephen on an island in Lake Hayq in the north of the African country believe the icon, known as The One Who Listens, to be miraculous. Read more.
New York (TADIAS) – As we wrap up the year and review the contributions in the area of literature, fine arts, film, music and enterprunership, I can’t help but notice that it has been a year of rejuvenation for arts and popular culture among the Ethiopian Diaspora — from the publication of Dinaw Mengestu’s How To Read The Air, to Julie Mehretu’s Grey Area, and from Kenna’s Summit on the Summit to Dawit Kebede’s Press Freedom Award, this year was packed with big achievements and new beginnings. As you may notice, there are many other great stories that are not noted here. It was a tough list to choose from. As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.
The award-winning Ethiopian American novelist and writer Dinaw Mengestu, whose work has become a voice for his generation, has given us a new gem by way of his book entitled How To Read The Air. As The New York Times notes, the young writer – who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – populates his novels “by exiles, refugees, émigrés and children of the African diaspora…” This book, of course, goes far beyond the Ethiopian American experience, even though Dinaw does extremely well in this regard as well. As he put it succinctly during a recent interview, “It’s less about trying to figure out how you occupy these two cultural or racial boundaries and more about what it’s like when you are not particularly attached to either of these two communities.” The new book follows the author’s highly successful début novel The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, described by Bethonie Butler in the Washingtonian magazine as “a poignant novel set in DC about immigration, gentrification, and assimilating to the new amid memories of the past.” The reason why I love this New York Times bestseller is because the substance of the book mirrors my own feelings and reflection about my own generation.
2. Julie Mehretu’s ‘Grey Area’
Artist Julie Mehretu
I couldn’t help but lose and find myself in each of Julie’s Mehretu’s paintings at the Guggenheim Museum earlier this year. She is not only one of the most admired American female artists, but also the most high-priced Ethiopian born artists of all time. Her work ‘Untitled 1’ sold for $US1,0022,500 at Sotheby’s in 2010. Her collection of semiabstract works displayed at the Guggenheim was inspired by “a multitude of sources, including historical photographs, urban planning grids, modern art, and graffiti, and explores the intersections of power, history, dystopia, and the built environment, along with their impact on the formation of personal and communal identities.”
3. Davey and Rasselas’ Atletu (The Athlete)
Abebe Bikila (SBCC Film Reviews)
I have my fingers crossed this will be the first Ethiopian film that will win the Oscars. But either way, the story of Abebe Bekila – the barefooted Ethiopian man who stunned the world by winning Olympic gold in Marathon at the 1960 games in Rome – is one to be told and in this regard the movie is doing a superb job. I really hope it will get the recognition it deserves in the coming year.
(Meklit, Tsehai Poetry Jam – L.A.’s Little Ethiopia)
This sweet and amazingly talented singer/song-writer takes me on a musical journey to the heart of the Bay Area and Brooklyn, as well as to the countryside of Ethiopia. I have never heard such a sincere, poetic and soulful blend of American and Ethiopian music. Reviewers have compared Meklit’s voice to that of the legendary singer Nina Simone. “Once you hear her smooth and silky voice it will be hard to forget it,” NPR’s Allison Keyes reported. Meklit obtained a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Yale University before moving to San Francisco to pursue her true love – music. NPR’s guest host described Hadero’s sound as “a unique blend of jazz, Ethiopia, the San Francisco art scene and visceral poetry…It paints pictures in your head as you listen,” she said. I can’t agree more.
5. Haile Gerima’s Film ‘Teza’
Mypheduh Films
Haile Gerima’s award winning film ‘Teza’ continues to draw crowds at special screenings around the country. The most notable in 2010 was the film’s premiere in Los Angeles on Monday, September 13th, honoring the late Teshome H. Gabriel, a long serving Professor at UCLA and a leading international figure on third world and post-colonial cinema. The director himself is a professor of film studies in the East Coast. Per NYT: “Among the courses Haile Gerima teaches at Howard University is one called ‘Film and Social Change.’ But for Mr. Gerima, an Ethiopian director and screenwriter who has lived here since the 1970s in what he calls self-exile, that subject is not just an academic concern: it is also what motivates him to make films with African and African-American themes.” Personally for me though, there has never been such an accurate, honest, insightful and simply well-made film about the Ethiopian experience abroad and in the homeland. This film continues to influence my professional, but more importantly, personal life.
6. Marcus Samuelsson’s ‘Red Rooster’
Marcus Samuelsson at the Red Rooster Harlem
I hope Marcus’ long awaited restaurant brings together artists, musicians, writers, and alike from the Ethiopian Diaspora and beyond right into the heart of Harlem. From the menu to the décor, I am certain that I won’t have to drag my downtown friends to hangout uptown. But for Marcus, it is clear that the aim is much bigger than fine dining. In a way, it is a contribution to the revitalization of this historic neighbourhood and we salute him for that.
7. Mulatu Astatke Still on The Move
Mulatu Astatke (Source:Telegraph)
The father of Ethiopian Jazz doesn’t seem to stop. As Peter Culshaw wrote of him on the UK paper Telegraph earlier this year, “At the age of 66, Mulatu Astatke is having the time of his life. The jazz composer and performer from Ethiopia is in the midst of a full-blown Indian summer in his career. He received a huge boost when influential film-maker Jim Jarmusch used his music for his 2005 film Broken Flowers, and was also a key figure in the 2007 The Very Best of Ethiopiques compilation, one of the most unlikely best-sellers of the last decade. Once heard, Astatke’s music is not easily forgotten. His signature vibraphone playing style uses the distinctive five-note Ethiopian scale and is like jazz from a parallel universe, by turns haunting, romantic and a touch sleazy, as though the soundtrack to some seductive espionage B-movie.” Enjoy the following video.
8. First Addis Foto Fest
Curated by the exceptionally talented and award-winning photographer Aida Muluneh, this festival showcased works by notable visual artists from around the world at venues throughout Addis Ababa for the very first time. My hope is that, with events such as Addis Foto Fest, local artists continue to network with international artists from all disciplines. Here is an interview with Aida Muluneh about photography.
9. Dawit Kebede’s ‘Press Freedom Award
Dawit Kebede at CPJ Awards 2010, NYC
As the editor of Awramba Times, an independent and local Ethiopian newspaper, he spent almost two years in prison after reporting on the Ethiopian election in 2005. Five years later he receives an international award, encouraging others to write without fear. He is an inspiration to many around the world, particularly to those in our profession.
Inspired by his father’s water-borne disease, Ethiopian born Academy Award-nominated Hip Hop artist Kenna climbed the Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about the global water crisis. He was followed by an MTV crew. I salute Kenna on his artistry, as well as dedication to educate the youth on global issues affecting all of us. Watch Kenna talk about the project.
— About the Author: Tigist Selam is host of TADIAS TV. She is a writer and actress based in New York and Germany. (Tigist’s photograph by Ingrid Hertfelder).
Above:The tragic death of a young man that sparked outrage
in the Ethiopian community has been ruled a homicide. (File)
Tadias Magazine
News Update
Updated: Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Washington, D.C. (Tadias) – The death of 27-year old Ethiopian immigrant Ali Ahmed Mohammed, who died in October after a physical confrontation with five men associated with DC9 nightclub, has been ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner’s office.
“The family wishes to commend those at the Medical Examiner’s office for their hard work and dedication in helping to uncover that Ali’s death was a homicide,” family attorney Billy Martin said in the statement. “The family is confident that law enforcement will continue its investigation into Ali’s tragic death and that the Medical Examiner’s report is a step toward justice for Ali. The Medical Examiner’s findings, however, also reminds us that Ali suffered a cruel and senseless death. Ali did not deserve to die for allegedly breaking a window. The family remains heartbroken and cannot have peace until those responsible for Ali’s death are brought to justice.”
The victim died of “excited delirium associated with arrhythmogenic cardiac anomalies, alcohol intoxication and physical exertion with restraint manner,” the medical examiner’s office said – citing the manner of death as “homicide.” Per WaPo: “Although criminal charges in the case were dismissed because of the initial lack of autopsy findings, authorities said they would not be legally barred from refiling charges if new information warranted such a move. The autopsy finding of homicide appears to make a new criminal case likely.”
However, the U.S. attorney’s office issued the following press release saying the case is still under investigation: “The Medical Examiner has now completed an autopsy related to the unfortunate death of Ali Ahmed Mohammed. The Medical Examiner’s forensics examination has concluded that a variety of factors led to the death of Mr. Mohammed, and we intend to carefully study these conclusions as part of our legal analysis of this tragic incident. Our deliberate and comprehensive factual inquiry continues, and we again express our sincere appreciation to the family of Mr. Mohammed for their patience and understanding as we work to reach a just conclusion to our investigation.”
Ali, who was a resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, came to the United States from Ethiopia in 1997. He graduated from Coolidge Senior High School in Washington, D.C. He died on the morning of Friday, October 15, 2010 after the five DC9 employees allegedly chased, then tackled and beat him. The incident happened after he was denied entrance to the bar around 2:30 a.m., and after he allegedly returned to throw a brick through the window. “In my opinion, you talk about a beating like this as a result of property damage, someone has lost his life in a savage beating in what appears to be vigilante justice, it’s ridiculous,” Washington, D.C’s police chief Cathy Lanier had said at the time.
District prosecutors had initially charged the men with second-degree murder – which were later reduced to charges of aggravated assault – but eventually dropped all charges noting insufficient evidence to support the case. “Dropping the charges enabled authorities to continue their investigation and preserved their option to refile charges,” according to The Washington Post. “The death and investigation has prompted intense responses both from supporters of the DC9 employees and from family and friends of Mohammed.”
The employees have said they are innocent.
Watch: Ali Ahmed’s Family Says Death Ruled Homicide
Above: 12-year-old Matthias Berhanu, who was killed during a
school field trip in East Texas. He was struck by a falling tree.
By JONATHAN BETZ WFAA
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 9:49 PM
GARLAND – Hundreds paid tribute at a memorial service Sunday for 12-year-old Matthias Berhanu, a Richardson boy who was killed on a school field trip in East Texas. Matthias was sitting at a bench at Sky Ranch when he was struck by a falling tree.
Friends and family members read poems and spoke about their beloved classmate on Sunday at the memorial service at St. Michael Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Garland.
Above:Beejhy Barhany, founder and director of BINA, and Bizu
Riki Mullu, founder of Chassida-Shmella. (Bizu photo via UJF.org)
Tadias Magazine
By Dana Rapoport
Published: Monday, December 20, 2010
New York (Tadias) – “My journey is nothing special,” said Beejhy Barhany at the Hue-Man Bookstore, on 125th street in Harlem. “It’s the every-Israeli, ordinary path.”
In many ways she was right. The curly-haired young Ethiopian woman with a pearl knitted sweater and a ton of charisma, Barhany, 34, pursued a common route for a young Israeli: graduation, military service, backpacking in South America, and finally – New York.
Barhany, founder and director of BINA, Beta Israel of North America, an Ethiopian-Jewish organization in New York, is driven by the same curiosity and entrepreneurial instinct that brought some 25,000 Israelis as immigrants to the city. But going three decades back, Barhany and approximately 500 Ethiopian Jews living in New York, share a saga of traveling that is everything but ordinary.
“We left everything behind — land, property, cattle — when my relatives in Israel wrote to us in a letter: “Now is the time to come,” she recalled of that middle-of-the night in 1980, when the three-year journey began from the northern province of Tigray, Ethiopia. Barhany was four-years–old.
The term for Ethiopian Jews in Amharic is Falasha, a term of derision as outsiders or foreigners. They call themselves Beta Israel, ”The House of Israel.”
For over 2,500 years the Beta Israel community observed Orthodox Judaism, but for hundreds of years, the Ethiopian Jewry was unknown or disregarded by the rest of the Jewish world.
The regime of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, and persecution by different tribes in Ethiopia, prompted the Israeli government, with no diplomatic relations with Ethiopia, to facilitate the rescue of thousands of Beta Israel.
Barhany and the group of people from her village walked for two months, until they arrived in Sudan. Three years later, they were given the green light to leave, by car, from Khartoum to Kenya, from Kenya to Uganda, then to Italy and finally – to Israel.
With a huge support and millions of Jewish American dollars, in 1991 a secret negotiation with the Ethiopian government was made, and within 36 hours, with 34 jumbo jets, “Operation Solomon” brought a total of 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
One of those young children who landed in Israel that year is Angosh Goshu (Dorit). After six years in Brooklyn, her memory of the emotional arrival in Israel seemed even more contrasted. “We saw toilets, bathrooms and things like that, things we never saw before,” she said during an interview in a busy, fluorescent-lit Dunkin’ Donuts shop.
For the thirty thousand agriculturally trained, Amharic speaking Ethiopian immigrants, Israel, in the midst of the high-tech boom, was a very different landscape.
After she completed her Army service, like Barhany, Gogshu too, found herself emigrating for the second time in her life. This time, to New York.
She lives with her brother Neo, on Church Avenue and is studying to be a nurse. Between her job and her studies she helps Bizu Riki Mullu, founder of Chassida Shmella, to foster a community and promote Ethiopian culture and tradition.
There’s another advantage to life in New York. “In Israel we are different, we stand out more than we do here,“ Barhany said. “It might be easier for a non-Ethiopian to find a job there, than it is for Ethiopians… here it can be easier, no one will categorize you.”
A recent Israeli study found that, roughly 20 years after they came to Israel, unemployment in the Ethiopian community is more than double than in the whole Jewish population in Israel. Forty percent of Ethiopians are jobless or are not looking for one. It also found that only sixteen percent of Ethiopian Israelis are high-school graduates.
Like many of their peers in their early twenties, they decided to come to New York. Unlike most, however, they founded, or helped to start two non-profits: BINA and Chassida Shmella.
Chassida Shmella is the word stork in Hebrew and Amharic. It echoes an old tradition, of asking the storks as they migrate from Europe, (over Israel) to Africa: “Stork, stork, how is our beloved Jerusalem?”
These two organizations help Ethiopians network in the big city as well as help them to preserve their tradition.
Above:The renowned Ethiopian-Israeli BETA Dance Troupe was one of the highlights at the 2010 Sigd
festival in New York hosted by Chassida Shmella, The Ethiopian Jewish Community of North America,
and the 92nd Street Y Resource Center for Jewish Diversity.
The community has grown in the last five years but these organizations still struggle for support. Their community is too small to receive funding from larger organizations, and they are having trouble growing, because they lack support for education, for Jews and non-Jews about Ethiopia’s Jewish heritage.
Shabbat Dinners with Ethiopian food, Annual Ethiopian Film Festival and other cultural programs by BINA and Chassida Shmella are much needed. It’s crucial not only to strengthen the sense of community, but also to overcome ignorance from American Jews and even Israeli New Yorkers.
“Ninety Nine percent of people did not believe that I was Jewish,” said Goshu, 28, wearing a silver Star-of-David pendant. “And then, there were the Israelis, who asked ‘What, are you Ethiopian? What are you doing here? Were you unhappy in Israel?’” She replied with the same question. “Why are you here? Were you unhappy there?”
American Jewish foundations, which were key players in the Ethiopian Jews’ exodus, replied to Barhany’s request: “Isn’t it enough we brought them to Israel?”
During the Sigd holiday festival in the Upper East Side 92Y in September, Mullu, dressed in a traditionally-embroidered white dress, said they still need a lot of help.
“We are reaching out for everybody, every organization, every individual to be involved, to help us grow this organization, to help a younger generation be a part of the Jewish nation.”
Reaching out to everyone has worked. Barhany said that more than thirty percent of the Ethiopian-American community supports and participates in the community’s events. With fewer resources but a lot of enthusiasm, their help is crucial for these organizations’ growth.
After ten years in New York, Barhany is no longer a stranger, but she’s not ready to announce the end of her journey just yet.
“I call myself the wandering Jew,” she said.
Like the storks, she will keep traveling. Israel, and Ethiopia are her next stops, but not the last.
— About the Author: Dana Rapoport is a journalist based in New York. She worked as a foreign news editor for Israel’s largest broadcast news channel, Channel2, before attending the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Rapoport also holds a BA in History and Theatre from Tel Aviv University. She hopes to keep covering the Ethiopian community here, and in Israel.
Above:Mengistu Worku (Bottom R) was an Ethiopian soccer
player recognised as Ethiopia’s best soccer player of all time.
(The victorious Ethiopian team at the 3rd African Cup, 1962.)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Mengistu Worku 70, Ethiopia’s greatest footballer of all time and the last head coach who took the Ethiopian national football team to the African Nations Cup in Libya in 1982, has died here today.
Mengistu recently returned home after undergoing medical treatment in Bangkok, Thailand for the two years.
The 3rd African Cup winner has been in Bangkok for two years undergoing medical treatment but his condition has worsened. Mengistu was said to have returned home along with a medical doctor and special medical equipments for follow-up treatment. {Read more}
New York (Tadias) – Chef Entrepreneur Marcus Samuelsson opened the doors of Red Rooster Harlem to friends, neighbors and media at an event last month designed to give a sneak peak of his new restaurant.
The evening, co-hosted by Uptown Magazine, attracted an eclectic group of New Yorkers – including Harlem residents, business leaders, politicians, artists, museum curators, TV personalities and more. The two-floor space, decorated for the event with stunning photographs featuring local artists, includes a lounge downstairs where guests were treated to a memorable piano performance and live DJ music.
In the following video, Marcus gives Tadias a brief tour of Red Rooster Harlem. Samuelsson notes the availability of this new space for world music entertainment programs, including live shows by Ethiopian singers and performers.
Above:Images from the most popular stories of 2010 posted
on Tadias.com b/n January 1, 2010 and December 15, 2010.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Thursday, December 16, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Some of the top stories featured on Tadias.com this year include, among others, the tragic crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, a violent arrest inside an Ethiopian church in Texas (caught on tape), the appointment of Captain Amsale Gualu as the first female captain at Ethiopian Airlines, as well as our exclusive interviews with rising music star Meklit Hadero, international model Maya Gate Haile and Ethiopian legend Teshome Mitiku.
The stories are displayed in the order in which they were ranked by Google Analytics. We have included links to each article as well as videos when available.
Here’s a look at the 10 most-read stories of the year.
1. Names of Passengers Aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 Above: Ethiopian women mourn the death of a relative killed aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, which crashed into the Mediterranean sea minutes after taking off from Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport in the early hours of Monday, January 25, 2010. The 90 passengers and crew that perished hail from nine countries: Ethiopia, Lebanon, Britain, Canada, Russia, France, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. (Photo: Getty Images).
2. Tadias TV Interview with Meklit Hadero Above: We caught up with rising music star Meklit Hadero during her summer concert at Le Poisson Rouge in New York on June 1st. The Manhattan appearance was a homecoming of sorts for Hadero, who spent part of her childhood in Brooklyn. She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Political Science before settling in San Francisco where she launched her music career in 2004. Her debut album, On A Day Like This, has garnered national attention with repeated highlights on NPR. Reviewers have compared her sound to that of Music legends Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell. Watch the video below.
3. Exclusive Interview With Model Maya Haile Above: Earlier this year we also highlighted international model Maya Gate Haile. The Ethiopian-born model grew up in Holland before relocating to New York where her fashion modeling career has flourished. She is represented by the world’s top modeling agencies including IMG, Elite and Ford. Maya also works closely with UNICEF’s New Generation program. Her husband, Chef Entrepreneur and Author Marcus Samuelsson, introduced her to UNICEF and currently serves as Ambassador for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Here is Tigist Selam’s conversation with Model Maya Haile at home in Harlem.
4. Violent Arrest Inside Ethiopian Church Caught on Tape Above: The incident happened at the Dallas Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Garland, Texas, on Sunday, May 2nd when a female congregate, Yeshi Zerihun, interrupted morning announcements to ask questions about church business, including about the presence of the unusually large number of police officers outside the church that day. She was told her questions were out of order, but other worshipers began shouting for answers. An amateur video shows the cops entering the church following a man in a suit and hysteria breaking out. Watch here the local news report.
5. Ethiopia Election Marred by Charges of Voter Intimidation Above: Ethiopia's 2010 national election was marred by charges of fraud and voter Intimidation. The country's two largest opposition parties were crushed in parliamentary elections held on May 23, 2010. The nation's 31.9 million registered voters went to the polls to select 547 members of parliament and representatives to regional councils. The results showed the ruling party sweeping 99 percent of announced seats. Opposition leaders contested the results through the court system which they eventually lost. The election process was roundly criticized by international observers. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi dismissed outside criticism as foreign interference – violating the sovereignty of Ethiopia. (Photo credit: AP)
6. Ethiopian Airlines Appoints First Female Captain Above: She may not be the first Ethiopian woman pilot, but Captain Amsale Gualu Endegnanew (right) is just as pioneering. She is the first female to become captain in the history of Ethiopian Airlines. “Captain Amsale proudly took off her first flight from the left hand seat of the flight deck of a Q-400 aircraft from Addis Ababa to Gondar then to Axum and finally returned back to Addis Ababa after a total of 3.6 flight hours,” the airline said following her historic flight on October 14, 2010. We don't have a video of Captain Amsale, but take a look below for a tour inside Ethiopian Airlines' latest Boeing jet. (Photo: Ethiopian Airlines via Nazret.com.)
7. Ethiopian Community Mourns 5 Dead in Seattle Fire Above: Nisreen Shamam (left), Yaseen Shamam (C) and Joseph Gebregiorgis (R). They were among those killed in an apartment fire in Seattle on Saturday, June 12, 2010. Thousands attended a public memorial service held on Saturday, June 19 at Seattle Center’s KeyArena. The service included an emotional visual tribute: One by one, the lives lost were celebrated on screen, a series of snapshots taken in happier times. The boy who dreamed of playing point guard for the Boston Celtics. The siblings who adored their older brother. The girl who liked to jump rope. And the young woman who could win any argument she set her mind to. Killed in the swift-moving fire at Helen Gebregiorgis’ apartment were three of her children — Joseph Gebregiorgis, 13, Nisreen Shamam, 6, and Yaseen Shamam, 5; her sister, Eyerusalem Gebregiorgis, 22; and a niece, 7-year-old Nyella Smith, daughter of a third sister, Yordanos Gebregiorgis. (Seattle Times)
8. Simon Bahta Arrested in New York City Above: New York City police arrested Simon Bahta Asfeha, the man wanted for the Virginia killings of his girlfriend – 27-year old Seble Tessema – and their 3-year-old daughter. Investigators in Alexandria had initially thought that Asfeha “may have sought refuge in the large Washington, D.C., area Ethiopian community or in a homeless shelter, ” according to America’s Most Wanted TV show. But he apparently had run away to New York City, where a witness alerted authorities on his location. He was captured without incident on Thursday, April 29 2010 in a coordinated effort between NYPD, the U.S. marshals, and Alexandria police. Watch below local media report of the crime.
9. The Nun Pianist: Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru Above: Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru after performing for the first time in 35 years in Washington, D.C. on July 12, 2008 (File photo by Makeda Amha). The 85-year-old classical pianist and composer, whose music has been popularized in recent years by the Ethiopiques CD series, is attracting younger audiences. “Every time I have put this on at least three new conversions occur, where the listeners go on to permanently install this woman’s music on their stereo,” Meara O’Reilly notes in a recent highlight on Boing Boing. “My neighbor even stalked me once just so she could listen to it more, until I just gave her my extra copy.” Listen to the music here.
10. Exclusive Interview With Ethiopian Legend Teshome Mitiku Above: Teshome Mitiku (second from right) has not returned to Ethiopia since his abrupt departure in 1970. In a recent exclusive interview with Tadias Magazine, the legendary artist who made a historic appearance accompanying the Either/Orchestra at the prestigious Chicago Jazz Festival in September, talked about his extensive music career, his memories of Ethiopia and his famous daughter, the Swedish pop star Emilia. Teshome burst into Ethiopia’s music scene during a period in the 1960′s known as the “Golden Era.” He was the leader of Soul Ekos Band, the first independent musical ensemble to be recorded in the country. The group is credited for popularizing Amharic classics such as Gara Sir New Betesh, Yezemed Yebada, Mot Adeladlogn and Hasabe – all of which were written by the artist. Prior to settling in the United States in the early 1990′s, Teshome spent over 20 years in Sweden, where he continued to hone his music skills, earn a graduate degree in Sociology, and witness his daughter grow up to become a Swedish ballad and pop music singer. We spoke with Teshome Mitiku over coffee on U street in Washington, D.C. The following sound features one of the artist's favorite songs, Gara Sir New Betesh.
Swedish pop singer Emilia (Teshome Mitiku’s daughter)
Washington, D.C. (Tadias) – When Eskat Asfaw joined the Entrepreneurship Club in Frostburg State University’s business department as a student, he had no idea a great business venture would soon be born. When his professors pointed out that there was an unfulfilled need for transporation for college students, Asfaw had a moment of enlightenment and immediately set to work to address that gap.
“I have always wondered how students without cars moved around,” said Asfaw, who immediately brought his exciting idea to his colleagues and advisors: to provide transportation to students who reside a good two and half hours away from major public transportation stops. Asfaw then presented his idea alongside his two major investors — his parents who agreed to help him finance the purchase of his first van.
From there College Shuttle was born — “an innovative business addressing a need that is largely not met,” says his sister Alegnta Asfaw.
Today, after two years in operation College Shuttle has become a company with 7 colleges and university clients and serving close to 100 students in any given week. Asfaw runs three more vans and provides access to a dozen more.
To meet the growing demand, this young entrepreneur runs his business literally all day and night. “If I am not responding to a phone call I am checking the website (Collegeshuttles.com), or driving occasionally when the demand is high. I will take a break when my company grows to its potential.”
The self-professed music lover admits that before he bumped into this great venture he had always wanted to own a nightclub. In the past, he had supplemented his living through parties that he organized in the Metro Washington region and at Frostburg State University, where he earned his business degree.
Asfaw’s business is not only a pioneering idea but also a great job opportunity that pays well for students who are looking for weekend jobs to supplement their income. He has more than a dozen students working for him as web developers, marketers, and van drivers.
College Shuttle transports student to and from public transportation stops throughout the Baltimore and DC metro regions. “It was an instant success” said Eskat (short for Eskatnaf). “All I had to do was put some flyers up with my number and email address.” Although starting up any business includes some level of risk, his family says “he is always careful and makes sure ….he is responding to a need.”
Dr. Marty Mattare, one of his professors who was instrumental in the success of his company and still lends a hand when needed, says “Eskat has shown great persistence in his pursuit of College Shuttle. He worked very hard to make it a success and sought feedback and advice from a number of people. College Shuttle has also provided great opportunities for students to work in an entrepreneurial environment and contribute to a successful small business startup. I have no doubt that Eskat will go far with this enterprise!”
College Shuttle has received the Trident Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Asfaw is recognized in the Frostburg/Alleghany area for creating jobs and stimulating economic growth. According to his professor, he has inspired other students to become entrepreneurs and has himself mentored more than 15 students in Frostburg and continues to do so. His sister Alegnta says, “I believe this is the kind of leadership and innovative thinking that we want to showcase among young Ethiopians in America.”
The 26 year-old businessman left Ethiopia as a young boy in the early 90s has never been back. However, someday he wants to return with “some philanthropic project in Ethiopia—particularly in the education area.”
Eskat Asfaw of College Shuttle won the 2010 Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. He “was very enterprising; he had a vision of a company and worked diligently to make it successful,” says Dr. Marty Mattare, his former professor. (Courtesy Photograph
MT: How do you feel about the award and your professor’s comment?
EA: It is very humbling and nice to get everyone’s support.
MT: Tell us a bit about yourself. Where were you born? Where did you grow up?
EA: Well I was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we lived in Bole area; and then migrated to Kenya when I was about 7, then moved to America in 1996.
MT: What was it like growing up in Kenya?
EA: Kenya was nice, I went to elementary school there. I liked Kenya. I have more memories of Kenya than Ethiopia — I only remember our dog and house {in Ethiopia}.
MT: You went to college in Frostburg, Maryland. Tell me about Frostburg.
EA: Frostburg is in Western Maryland. That is where I went to school. I was a business major. I went to Montgomery college first and then transferred to Frostburg State University, and I graduated from there in 2009.
MT: I read in one of your college newspapers that your idea for College Shuttle was appluaded by the business department at Frostburg State University. Can you tell us more?
EA: I joined the Entrepreneurship Club as soon as I heard about it. I used to go to all the business conferences religiously, and when I heard about this club I had to go — who better to join than me [laughs]. The club advisor was a really nice man. He was telling us about different things that the school needs….since he was there for 27 years. One of the needs was transportation. I was wondering about transportation myself so I kind of took it to heart and kept thinking about it, writing down numbers and stuff in class. My advisors were very impressed with my idea.
MT: Transportation for whom?
EA: For the students in Frostburg. It is about 2 and 1/2 hours away…and there is no way to get there except by train or car.
MT: Where are the students from?
EA: Most of the students are from Baltimore and DC metro area.
MT: So, you were still in school when you got started.
EA: Yes, it started there and then. I didn’t know anyone. I used to go to class and then back to my apartment. I met with one guy and I asked him if he can help me to get to know people. That summer I put together some flyers with my personal information. I did the flyers a week before school started …….and the calls started coming. The majority of our customers are freshmen or sophomores and don’t own cars yet.
MT: How do you handle the logistics of running such a business?
EA: We now have an 877 toll free number as well as a web site. Most of our customers go online and register and pay online. Once they do that we send them a pickup time.
MT: Your shuttle service is limited to weekends. Why?
EA: The whole point is to get the students home for the weekend. They have different reasons for going home every weekend, leaving on Friday and returning on Sunday.
MT: Do you drop off the students at their homes?
EA: We drop off our customers at public areas close to their home such as metro stations, malls etc. It is a lot easier for their parents to pick them up when they are at a closer location. The majority of the time it is parents who make the arrangement for their kids. They would rather do that than driving two and half hours to come get their kids.
MT: How large is your customer base?
EA: We serve seven colleges now: Frostburg, West Virginia, Allegany College, Petomac State College, and three more colleges in Eastern Maryland. Our focus is just students. Our motto is students need their own transportation services. As students they have already a lot to deal with. We are just trying to fulfill the transportation part of it. Our time slots and services are flexible to students to meet their need. Students are very rash themselves. We work with their ever changing last minute decisions.
MT: What makes your business different than other shuttle services? Do you have any competition?
EA: Yes, there is a competition such as the bus line and train stations….but what we do is quite different. The way we treat our customers and the simple fact that our business is solely dedicated to students makes us preferable and it makes a world of difference to our success.
MT: How many employees do you have?
EA: I am the sole owner but I have many drivers. I also drive when necessary. I love driving. I have a lot of students that work for me, about a dozen. They work on graphic design, web designing, marketing; a lot of the work is done by the students themselves. So it is kind of a great side job for them. I set high standard for them and if they meet that standard they get paid more and they stay with me longer.
MT: How many vans do you have?
EA: We have three of our own but we do have access to many more on a need basis. Our vans are 15 passenger buses.
MT: Where do you say your entrepreneurial spirit comes from?
EA: Well, I always enjoyed business. Even when I was in high school in Silver Spring I had a lawn mowing business. My sisters used to work for me and we worked in a couple of areas in the neighborhood. I just enjoy business. When I got to college I started promoting parties. That is how I made most of my money. Then this came along and I just knew I wanted to make it a success and I truly believed in it.
MT: Do you have role model?
EA: Nick Friedman from College Hunks Hauling Junk. We have a lot of similarities and the way he transformed a simple idea to a nationwide success impresses me. I met him for a coffee once and he gave me few feedbacks and it helped shaped my business. I still communicate with him when I need to. He is my strong role model in business. On a personal level, I also look up to my father and older brother; they are great individuals that see the future clearly. And one thing I figured out as I matured is that my father is always right. Sometimes I wish I listened to him more. Another thing is my father supported all my decisions in life. He cares about my business as much as I do.
MT: Tell me about your family. How have they influenced you?
EA: Family means a lot to me. We are very close family. Everyone knows everything about everyone…my mom calls about ten times a day to checkup on me. My mom and dad were my main investors when I started the business. Without them I wouldn’t have been a business owner. They helped me buy the first van. To this day I turn to them for advice. In Ethiopia my grandparents were business owners. My mom was also into coffee business. In this country, my parents own a popular store in Chevy Chase. So from early on I understood that business played a huge role in American lifestyle. I would say, the culture in whch I grew up has a big influnce in me. Even if I grew up in America, I feel like how I was brought up makes it easier to respect my customers and easier to talk to them without feeling of entitlement. And I get a lot of positive feedback from customers saying, you are very down to earth and I think it is an Ethiopian thing.
MT: What’s the long-term plan for College Shuttle?
EA: I want to go national and hire a lot of college students. My goal, in about 6 years or so, to be in as many universities and colleges as possible. I am doing the research on the need. I see it happening already. A lot of rural universities and colleges have transportation gaps. Most of the colleges we service right now, we were asked to be there. I feel like we are doing a community service as well. Parents can have safe transportation for their kids to and from colleges. We service everyone and our customers are from all walks of life. I think it is also a great idea to explore what you can do as an individual and contribute to the work force. You will end up creating a job not only for yourself but for others too.
MT: Thank you and we wish you great success.
EA: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my story.
—
New York (Tadias) – Artists for Charity hosted its 4th Annual Holiday Benefit Art Auction this past weekend. The network of artists, volunteers and donors operate a home for HIV positive orphans in Addis Ababa. The 2010 gathering took place on Saturday, December 4th at the WVSA Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Here are images from the event:
Auctioneer Steven Talbot, AFC Founder Abezash Tamerat and her daughter getting ready to start the live auction.
A painting of Cherkos up for bid.
Omo Valley portrait.
Addis street scene by Solomon Asfaw.
Steven Talbot and Michael Astatkie discuss an AFC child’s art.
Bidders at the 2010 AFC art Auction.
At the 2010 Artists for Charity Fundraiser.
— Learn more about AFC at Artistsforcharity.org.
Above:The Addis Foto Fest is taking place at various venues
throughout Addis Ababa — from Dec. 7th to Dec. 11th, 2010.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Updated: Wednesday, December 8, 2010
New York (Tadias) – The inaugural Addis Ababa international photography festival, Addis Foto Fest, is underway in Ethiopia this week, and showcases a diverse array of work from local and international photographers and artists using various mediums. The week-long calendar of events includes several exhibitions, film screenings, academic discourses and other workshops.
Directed & curated by Aida Muluneh – winner of the 2010 CRAF’s International Award of Photography – the installations include exhibitions highlighting images by established and emerging international photographers, while bringing to the foreront contemporary talents from the African continent. Participants include Chester Higgins Jr, Antonio Fiorente, Zacharias Abubeker, Rosa Verhoeve, Jean-Baptiste Eczet, Ralf Baecker, Endalkatchew Tesfa Gebreselassie and Petterick Wiggers.
In their press release organizers stated: “The first edition of Addis Foto Fest brings together photographers from Africa and the Diaspora, in order to foster a dialogue through various exhibitions, concerts, panel discussions, residency programs, portfolio reviews, film screenings, slideshow presentations & much more.” According to the group’s web site: “A special tribute will be given to legendary photographer Shemelis Desta, who will come from London for the opening of the show with the support of the British Council.” The former court photographer is credited for his historical treasure-trove capturing official state activity in Ethiopia between 1963 and 1982. Other highlights include screenings of “Mo and Me”, a documentary directed by Salim Amin, “Arrested Development”, a 3 minute video made in 2003 by British artist Grace Ndiritu, “Invisible Borders”, a collective project presented by Emeka Okereke, as well as slideshows entitled “On the Roof” and “The Brooklyn Photo Salon” presented by OTR Project and Regine Romain respectively.
The events take place at various venues throughout Addis Ababa from December 7th to December 11th. The festival is sponsored, among others, by the African Union & the Delegation of the European Union to the African Union, Prince Claus Fund, AECID, Goethe-Institut, British Council, Alliance éthio-française, CulturesFrance, Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Embassy of Canada and the Addis Ababa University.
Above:New work by Tesfaye Tessema. (Symphony in Colors
I, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 42×30 inches) – Skoto Gallery, NY.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Source: Skoto Gallery
Updated: Thursday, December 9, 2010
New York – Skoto Gallery is pleased to present Symphony in Colors, an exhibition of recent paintings by the Ethiopian-born artist Tesfaye Tessema. This will be his third solo show at the gallery. Reception is on Thursday, December 9th, 6-8pm, the artist will be present.
Tesfaye Tessema’s recent paintings exploits strategies that combine the physicality of paint, whether thin or thick, with an awareness of the role abstraction play as a means of expressing universal human emotions. He employs expressive gestures, deep sensitivity to texture and a mastery of tonality and color that gives his pictures a kind of interior glow where sight, memory and emotion fuse into a texture of vibrations and pulsations that allows the viewer a freedom of imagination, interpretation and emotional response. The question of where the inside and outside worlds meet, the ambiguity of space and surface tension are formally resolved in his pictures by an emphasis on concept and process over end-product while maintaining rigorous affirmative critical propositions about discrete cultural and historical realities.
In Tesfaye Tessema’s pictures, the filter of personal experience of doing, of painting and making art, away from his Ethiopian homeland for over three decades is not just essential to the substance of his creative process, but also bears witness to his ability to embrace a continuum of cultural precedents and influences, creativity with an open-ended improvisational sensibility and an awareness of the crucial links between culture, politics and social agency. The selection in this exhibition evokes the expansive possibilities of life and art in a world of changing realities and ceaseless change, and for an artist who has found a way to look forward, to engage the future and to challenge the present Tesfaye Tessema’s work is a testament to the ability of art to express big ideas about humanity.
Symphony in Colors I, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 42x30 inches
Tesfaye Tessema was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he studied at the School of Fine Arts before leaving for the United States in the early 1970s. He obtained an MFA in Fine Art at Howard University, Washington DC, where he was exposed to the richness and diversity of the art of Africa, especially the classical art of West Africa where myth, metaphors and legend abound. His extensive travels in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Mexico over the years have further broadened his perspectives on the commonality in socio-religious forms among various cultures. He has been included in numerous international survey including “Project Rolywholyobei – Circus from the Museum by John Cage”, 1994, Guggeinheim Museum, New York and Radford University Art Museum, Radford, Va, 2008. His work is in several public and private collections.
If You Go:
Symphony in Colors
Tesfaye Tessema, Recent Paintings
December 9th, 2010 – January 22nd, 2011
SKOTO GALLERY 529 West 20th Street, 5FL.
New York, NY 10011 212-352 8058
info@skotogallery.com www.skotogallery.com
New York (Tadias) – With the holiday season upon us and in this season of giving, we’d like to highlight the work of Artists for Charity (AFC) – a network of artists, volunteers and donors who operate a home for HIV positive orphans in Addis Ababa. The non-profit organization will hold its 4th Annual Holiday Benefit Art Auction, featuring the work of emerging and established artists, on Saturday, December 4th at the WVSA Gallery in Washington, D.C.
The AFC Children’s Home got its start seven years ago after its founder Abezash Tamerat, a young soul-searching artist traveled to Ethiopia and learned firsthand about the impact of HIV/AIDS on children.
In her bio that she sent to Tadias, Tamerat states: “In 2003, I traveled to Ethiopia and saw first-hand the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. Having lost their parents to the deadly virus, many children were left unable to fend for themselves as orphans. Relatives took in these children only to find the bonds of family too weak to overcome the stigma of AIDS in Ethiopia; they were neglected and abused by the very people they looked to for help. Having grown up in the foster care system in the United States I knew that these children deserved better. They deserved the same opportunities that I received. Compelled to act, I started a children’s home for HIV-positive double orphans who had been turned away by other childcare organizations because of their age, poor health, or disability. I was ridiculed at first. People asked me why I would start a home for dying children. At that time, there were no guarantees that these children would live to see their next birthday. But for as long as they are given hope, the spirit in children is strong. Surrounded by a loving environment, placed on a nutritious diet, and provided life-saving antiretroviral medication, these children have not only survived – they have thrived.”
Artists for Charity Founder Abezash Tamerat. (Photo Courtesy of Artistforcharity.org)
Fast forward to 2010 and the home still provides all the basic necessitates for these children, such as food, shelter, medical attention, school fees and supplies. The group also has other projects, including an Artist-in-Residency program which allows qualified volunteers to spend up to a year in Ethiopia while sharing their creative talent with AFC children.
“Seven years later, Artists for Charity is going strong,” Abezash says. “We have grown into an international network of artists, volunteers, and donors; each is dedicated to our mission — proving that many people working together can accomplish much for those who need hope the most. If you feel compelled, I hope you choose to join us and become an Artist for charity.”
The annual art auction, which helps to raise funds for the organization, is scheduled for Saturday, December 4th in Washington, D.C.
If You Go:
AFC’s 4th Annual Holiday Benefit & Art Auction
WVSA Gallery (1100 16th Street, NW)
Advance tickets: $20
Ticktes at the door: $25
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.
Learn more at Artistforcharity.org
New York (Tadias) – Washington, D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration has voted to reinstate the liquor license for DC9, the nightclub that was shut down following an October incident in which five club employees – including former co-owner William Spieler – were accused of beating a man who died outside the bar. The city’s Police Chief Cathy Lanier had acted to suspend the liquor license after noting the circumstances of Ali Mohammed’s death on the morning of Friday, October 15, 2010. The men had allegedly chased Ali then tackled and beat him after he was denied entrance to the bar around 2:30 a.m., and after he allegedly returned to throw a brick through the window. The employees have said they are innocent and prosecutors have dropped all charges, citing insufficient evidence to support the case.
Ali, who was a resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, came to the United States from Ethiopia in 1997. He graduated from Coolidge Senior High School in Washington, D.C.
According to Cynthia Simms, spokeswoman for the liquor licensing board, the reopening of DC9 on Dec. 15 is attached to certain conditions. Simms said the decision will be reviewed at another hearing scheduled for January 19, 2011.
Per the The Washington Post: “Among other conditions of DC9’s reopening, the club will not be allowed to employ Spieler of any of the four other men involved in the Oct. 15 incident, Simms said. She said the board’s ruling could be reversed or altered Jan. 19 if more information about Mohammed’s death becomes available. Police and the medical examiner’s office are continuing to investigate the encounter on the street that night and Mohammed’s medical condition and injuries at the time, authorities said. They said they would not be legally barred from refiling criminal charges in the case if new information warranted such a move.”
—
Photographs from Wednesday Dec. 1st, 2010 (Outside the ABRA office) Friends brave rainy day to gather outside 1250 U street. (Photo: Samson Balekier)
Taken on December 1, 2010 at 1250 U street in D.C. Photo by Samson Balekier.
Related: Tadias TV: Reactions to the beating death of Ali A. Mohammed
Liquor board rejects DC9 reopening
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The owners of District club DC9 lost a bid Wednesday to reopen after members of the District’s Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration unanimously voted to keep it shuttered in the wake of an October incident in which five club employees were accused of beating a man who died outside the popular nightspot.
District prosecutors dropped charges against the five employees on Nov. 5, saying evidence available at that point did not support the case.
The employees have said they are innocent.
DC9 is on Ninth Street near U Street in Northwest.
Another hearing on the club’s reopening is set for Dec. 1, said alcohol board spokeswoman Cynthia Simms. Read the story at The Washington Post.
Today’s photo: Friends and family stage a rally (Wednesday, November 17, 2010) Friends and family staged another rally on Wednesday morning, Nov 17 outside the hearing.
Photos by Samson Balekier.
—————-
DC9 Poised to Regain Liquor License, Ali’s Friends Prepare to Protest Tadias Magazine
Video and Editorial
Published: Sunday, November 14, 2010
New York (Tadias) – The beating death of 27-year old Ethiopian immigrant Ali Ahmed Mohammed continues to spark outrage and dismay in the Ethiopian American community. The murder charges filed against DC9 nightclub co-owner and four of its employees, which were later reduced to charges of aggravated assault, have since been dismissed entirely citing the medical examiner’s determination that the victim’s injuries were not consistent with a brutal beating.
While the liquor license for DC9 was revoked following the incident, the bar has been granted a new hearing before the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, scheduled for Wednesday, November 17 at 9:30 a.m. “That hearing has been set because representatives for DC9 filed a request to the board that it reconsider its Nov. 1 decision to continue the bar’s suspension for at least 30 more days,” TBD reports. “This new hearing doesn’t necessarily supplant the already scheduled Dec. 1 status hearing, but if the Board decides to go ahead and take action on the case on Wednesday, it theoretically could.”
The city’s Police Chief Cathy Lanier had acted to suspend the liquor license last month after noting the circumstances of Ali’s death on the morning of Friday, October 15, 2010. According to initial police reports, the young man who worked as a security guard at a local deli, was denied entry to the DC9 nightclub around 2:30 a.m., but he returned to throw a brick through the window. What followed next was described by Lanier as extralegal punishment against the victim. Five men chased Ali— including the club’s owner Bill Spieler and employees Darryl Carter, Reginald Phillips, Evan Preller, and Arthur Zaloga – then tackled and beat him, police said. When officers arrived, all five men were still on the scene and Ali was in critical condition, Lanier said. He was pronounced dead a short time later. “In my opinion, you talk about a beating like this as a result of property damage, someone has lost his life in a savage beating in what appears to be vigilante justice, it’s ridiculous,” the police chief had said.
Attorneys for the defendants have been aggressive in their attack of the police version of events, accusing the cops of rushing to judgement. According to the Washington City Paper, during an ABRA hearing earlier this month, “The defense played a radio call placed by the EMTs who picked up Mohammed the night he died. In a call to Howard University hospital, the emergency workers describe Mohammed as being a victim of cardiac arrest, not bludgeoning. They explain that Mohammed has had a “cardiac arrest after a fight.” They also recount that he went unconscious in the presence of police, contradicting the police version of events—which claims Mohammed was dead or very close to it when the first officer arrived on the scene. Throwing the wrench into the credibility of the EMTs, though, is the fact that they refer to the young Mohammed as a ’45-year-old.'”
Meanwhile, Ali’s parents are still awaiting proper explanation of what exactly happened to their son. Friends and family say they plan to stage another rally on Wednesday morning. At a gathering held last week outside the U.S. attorney’s office, the mother, Sashie Bule, who carried a sign bearing her son’s photo is reported by The Washington Post to have stated: “I need answers…I want to know what happened to my son. He didn’t deserve this.” Nunu Waco, Ali’s cousin, told The Washington Post, her family was shocked by the prosecutors’ decision to drop all charges. “Our family deserves better,” she said. “American citizens deserve better.”
U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. insists the investigation is continuing. “Our work is not done,” Machen said in a statement after all charges were dismissed by his office. “The tragic death of Ali Ahmed Mohammed demands that we undertake a careful and comprehensive investigation to determine precisely how he died. . . . The search for justice cannot be rushed, and we will continue to pursue an active and vigorous inquiry.”
Organizers say Wednesday’s gathering is scheduled near 12th and U street.
In the following video, Tadias TV documents the reactions of Ali’s friends and individuals in the community to the prosecutors’ decision to drop all charges.
Tadias TV: Reactions to the beating death of Ali A. Mohammed
Related News Videos:
Related: Man Died After Beating Outside DC9 Nightclub (WUSA 9)
New York (TADIAS) – Early last month we attended a fundraiser for the Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF) in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Organizers had hoped long-distance legend Haile Gebrselassie would be the featured guest speaker. Haile, who had injured himself a day earler at the New York City Marathon, had flown directly home from NYC following the race and could not attend the gathering. The event, co-sponsored and hosted by the Chevy Chase Running Company, took place on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at the Chevy Chase Running Company store.
According to GGRF, portions of the proceeds from the event will help to “subsidize scholarships for girls to attend training at the Yaya Africa Athletics Village, an athletic center in Sululta, Ethiopia, which is presently under construction and in which Mr.Gebrselassie is a partner.” GGRF was established in 2006 to provide funds for athletic shoes, clothes, meals, coach subsidies, and other training-related expenses for disadvantaged Ethiopian girls who are training to be professional runners. One of its sponsored athletes, Dinknesh Mekash Tefer of Running Across Borders, recently broke the women’s course record for the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon in Scotland, winning her first international race.
The following video features Tigist Selam’s conversation with Dr. Patricia E. Ortman, Executive Director of the foundation, as well as footage of additional speakers at the event.
Above:Tigist Selam and Damon Dash at the New York public
screening of the film Left Unsaid. (Photo by Stephen Knight)
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Published: Friday, November 26, 2010
New York (Tadias) – The first public screening of the film Left Unsaid — whose characters utilize Facebook as the networking tool to explore hot-button social issues — took place at the Dash Gallery in Tribeca last week.
Written and directed by Nelson George, Executive Producer of “Good Hair,” Left Unsaid starts with a woman who uses Facebook to invite a group of online friends from her new neighborhood in Brooklyn to her apartment for Sunday brunch. The conversation that unfolds among this multi-cultural group highlights issues of online relationships, parenting, professional ambitions, marriage, sex, race, gentrification and comical relief by way of urban legends. The Huffington Post notes: “As for the roster of talented actresses who grease his web series script, they came into the project after George quaintly bumped into many of them in the neighborhood.”
The film features, among others, writer and actress Tigist Selam, host of Tadias TV, who plays an Ethiopian-German character named “Bethlehem” – a role that reflects the actress’ own cultural background as half-Ethiopian and half-German. “I met Nelson George at his book signing for his new book ‘City Kid’ last year, I had just moved from Los Angeles back to New York,” Tigist says. “It turned out we lived across the street from each other.” According to the actress, this chance encounter led to her role in the movie. “We started talking about our passion for film and travel, and he told me about the idea of Left Unsaid. I immediately was interested in participating and he started to write for my character ‘Bethlehem,’ which is vaguely based on my Ethiopian and German experience. Initially it was a really small project that somehow organically grew into something much bigger. We just went with the flow and saw it beautifully unfold during the summer. I have learned so much and look forward to many more years of collaboration with Nelson.”
The event at Dash Studios on November 15th was hosted by the venue’s owner, hip-hop and media mogul Damon Dash. The evening attracted an eclectic group of guests. “Some of the attendees were my friends for many, many years and it was so beautiful to have shared that experience with them,” Tigist said. “We hope to have a screening of Left Unsaid in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles next year.’
The online series, which garnered good review at the American Black Film Festival in Miami this past summer, is now live on the web at http://www.Leftunsaidseries.com. Tigist Selam is featured in chapters 3, 4, 8, 14 & 18.
Above:Dawit Kebede, Editor of Awramba Times newspaper in
Ethiopia, was honored with CPJ’s 2010 press freedom award.
Tadias TV
Events News
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Ethiopian journalist Dawit Kebede, Founder and Managing Editor of Awramba Times, was one of four journalists who were honored at the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 20th Annual International Press Freedom Awards benefit dinner on the evening of Tuesday, November 23rd at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria. Dawit Kebede was one of the first journalists to be jailed for reporting on the violence following Ethiopia’s 2005 national elections. He was released two years later by presidential pardon. He continues to live and work in Addis Ababa where he publishes the last independent political Amharic newspaper in the country.
The CPJ event, which attracted nearly 1000 guests, also paid tribute to award winners Nadira Isayeva of Russia, Laureano Márquez of Venezuela and Mohammad Davari of Iran (Davari did not attend the ceremony because he remains imprisoned in Iran).
The awards dinner raised a record of nearly $1.5 million for CPJ. It was chaired by Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman and President of Sony Corporation, and hosted by former “NBC Nightly News” Anchor Tom Brokaw. The award presenters included Christiane Amanpour, Host of ABC News’ “This Week,” Victor Navasky, Chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review, and Robert Thomson, Editor-in-Chief of Dow Jones & Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal.
Above:Giant Films has released behind the scenes clips of its
lastest commercial directed by Ian Gabriel for Johnnie Walker’s
first African Giant, Haile Gebrselassie. Watch the video below.
This video is shot on location in Ethiopia (Filmed & Edited by Greg Webster of Giant Films)
Above:Dawit Kebede, Editor of Awramba Times newspaper in
Ethiopia, was honored with CPJ’s 2010 press freedom award.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Updated: Wednesday, November 24, 2010
New York (Tadias) – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based advocacy group that monitors the well-being of media professionals around the world, held its 20th Annual Awards Dinner on Tuesday, November 23rd in New York City. The event recognized four journalists: Dawit Kebede of Ethiopia, Nadira Isayeva of Russia, Laureano Márquez of Venezuela, and Mohammad Davari of Iran, who are recipients of the 2010 International Press Freedom Award.
The awards dinner, which raised a record of nearly $1.5 million for CPJ’s work, was chaired by Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and president of Sony Corporation, and hosted by former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw, replacing current NBC anchor Brian Williams, who was originally scheduled to host the evening.
According to CPJ, Dawit Kebede, who is the Founder and Managing Editor of Awramba Times, was one of the first journalists to be jailed following Ethiopia’s 2005 disputed national elections, which also resulted in the unfortunate crackdown on press freedom. “Kebede, 30, was among the last to be released under a presidential pardon nearly two years later,” CPJ notes on its web site. “Unlike many of his colleagues who went into exile, Kebede chose to stay in Ethiopia after he walked free from Addis Ababa’s Kality Prison.”
“Here are three things people should know about me,” Kebede says. “First, it is impossible for me to live without the life I have as a journalist. Second, unless it becomes a question of life and death, I will never be leaving Ethiopia. Third, I am not an opposition. As a journalist, whatsoever would be a governing regime in Ethiopia, I will never hesitate from writing issues criticizing it for the betterment of the nation.””
The organization also presented a 2009 International Press Freedom Award to J.S. Tissainayagam of Sri Lanka, who was jailed and could not accept the honor in person last year.
Here are biographies of the awardees courtsey of CPJ:
Mohammad Davari, Iran
RAHANADavari, 36, editor-in-chief of the news website Saham News, exposed horrific abuse at the Kahrizak Detention Center, videotaping statements from detainees who said they had been raped, abused, and tortured. The center was closed in July 2009 amid public uproar, but by September of that year the coverage had landed Davari in Evin Prison. Read more.
Nadira Isayeva, Russia
Isayeva, 31, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Chernovik (Rough Draft) in the southern republic of Dagestan, has incurred the wrath of security services in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus for her relentless reporting on their handling of violence and militant Islam in the region. In 2008, authorities brought a criminal case against her under anti-extremist legislation after she published an interview with a former guerrilla leader, who accused local authorities of corruption and of being in thrall to the Kremlin. Read more.
Dawit Kebede, Ethiopia
Kebede, 30, was one of the first journalists to be jailed for independent reporting on Ethiopia’s 2005 election violence. The government rebuffed Kebede’s attempts to get a publishing license after his release but relented in the face of public pressure. Kebede launched the Awramba Times in 2008, and today it is the country’s only Amharic-language newspaper that dares question authorities. Read more.
Laureano Márquez, Venezuela
If there were an Algonquin Round Table in Caracas, Laureano Márquez would have a seat. Journalist, author, actor, and humorist, Márquez has found rich fodder in Venezuela’s idiosyncratic political landscape. He is the scourge of left-wing President Hugo Chávez and other politicians for his biting columns in the Caracas-based daily Tal Cual and other national publications. Read more.
Above: Ethiopian Airlines took delivery of of its first 777, the
African continent’s first -200LR and the 900th 777 to roll off
of Boeing’s assembly lines. (Photograph by Jeremy Lindgren) Click here for Exclusive Photo Gallery at NYC Aviation
Video: Africa seen as a growing market for Boeing – (KING 5 News)
By Glenn Farley – KING 5 News Aviation Specialist NWCN.com
Posted on November 17, 2010 at 6:46 PM
EVERETT, WA. — Outside of Boeing’s gigantic factory, the company reached a milestone Wednesday. Boeing delivered its 900th 777 airliner.
The buyer of the 900th 777 (and four other 777-200LR’s) is Ethiopian Airlines. The east African country is the link that connects Africa to the rest of the world.
The LR in 777-200LR stands for “long range,” and the planes Ethiopian Airlines bought should do the job, for example, connecting Washington, D.C. direct to Addis Ababa, the airline’s hub.
Ethiopian Airlines already has a sizable Boeing fleet, with 737’s, 757’s, and 767’s. It has standing orders for 787 Dreamliners and more 737’s, in addition to the big continent-connecting 777’s. Their fleet is one of the world’s youngest.
Oakland, California, – Ethiopian author, Ato Getty Ambau, was chosen third among many candidtes who participated in an annual literary contest held by the Moonbeam Awards for this year, for his first novel entitled, Desta and King Solomon’s Coin of Magic and Fortune. He was awarded with a medal of achievement for it. The medal cermony and book-signing took place this weekend in Traverse City, Michigan at the City Opera House…
According to the orgnizers, last year they had 1500 participants in all the categories. This year, they said, because they had a lot more good competitors in YA (Young Adult literary fiction) category, they had to chose the top 4 with one of the ranking (of the three) to be a tie, which turned out to be the bronze medal or the third ranking for Getty Ambau.
The participants come from some 45 states, 5 Canadian provinces and 7 other English-speaking countries.
Mr. Getty Ambau’s book-signing was scheduled from 10:00 AM to 3:00PM and reading from his novel from 3-4PM along with others. The award cermonies will take place from 5-7 PM.
Getty Ambau is a graduate of Yale University. Even though he was educated in the natural and social sciences, his inner calling for literature prompted him to explore his hidden talent resulting in his first magical novel. His achievement is a good news for us Ethiopians as this will portray a positive image of Ethiopia and Ethiopian writers.
—
Above:NYT said it stands by its story after Haile criticized the
paper regarding an article on his retirement, un-retirement and
political pressure during an appearance on Ethiopian Television.
Haile Gebrselassie Reconsiders and Won’t Quit Racing The New York Times
By JERÉ LONGMAN
Published: November 15, 2010
Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, the distance-running star who stunningly announced his retirement after dropping out of the New York City Marathon on Nov. 7, said Monday that he had reconsidered and would continue racing.
“Running is in my blood, and I decided to continue competing,” Gebrselassie wrote on his Twitter account. “My announcement in New York was my first reaction after a disappointing race.”
Jos Hermens, Gebrselassie’s agent, said from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, that Gebrselassie had reacted emotionally after leaving the New York course at 16 miles of the 26.2-mile race. He also felt guilty for having dropped out of a half-marathon in New York earlier this year.
“He wasn’t thinking when he said he wanted to stop,” Hermens said. “He was too emotional.” Read more.
The owners of District club DC9 lost a bid Wednesday to reopen after members of the District’s Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration unanimously voted to keep it shuttered in the wake of an October incident in which five club employees were accused of beating a man who died outside the popular nightspot.
District prosecutors dropped charges against the five employees on Nov. 5, saying evidence available at that point did not support the case.
The employees have said they are innocent.
DC9 is on Ninth Street near U Street in Northwest.
Another hearing on the club’s reopening is set for Dec. 1, said alcohol board spokeswoman Cynthia Simms. Read the story at The Washington Post.
Today’s photo: Friends and family stage a rally (Wednesday, November 17, 2010) Friends and family staged another rally on Wednesday morning, Nov 17 outside the hearing.
Photos by Samson Balekier.
—————-
DC9 Poised to Regain Liquor License, Ali’s Friends Prepare to Protest Tadias Magazine
Video and Editorial
Published: Sunday, November 14, 2010
New York (Tadias) – The beating death of 27-year old Ethiopian immigrant Ali Ahmed Mohammed continues to spark outrage and dismay in the Ethiopian American community. The murder charges filed against DC9 nightclub co-owner and four of its employees, which were later reduced to charges of aggravated assault, have since been dismissed entirely citing the medical examiner’s determination that the victim’s injuries were not consistent with a brutal beating.
While the liquor license for DC9 was revoked following the incident, the bar has been granted a new hearing before the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, scheduled for Wednesday, November 17 at 9:30 a.m. “That hearing has been set because representatives for DC9 filed a request to the board that it reconsider its Nov. 1 decision to continue the bar’s suspension for at least 30 more days,” TBD reports. “This new hearing doesn’t necessarily supplant the already scheduled Dec. 1 status hearing, but if the Board decides to go ahead and take action on the case on Wednesday, it theoretically could.”
The city’s Police Chief Cathy Lanier had acted to suspend the liquor license last month after noting the circumstances of Ali’s death on the morning of Friday, October 15, 2010. According to initial police reports, the young man who worked as a security guard at a local deli, was denied entry to the DC9 nightclub around 2:30 a.m., but he returned to throw a brick through the window. What followed next was described by Lanier as extralegal punishment against the victim. Five men chased Ali— including the club’s owner Bill Spieler and employees Darryl Carter, Reginald Phillips, Evan Preller, and Arthur Zaloga – then tackled and beat him, police said. When officers arrived, all five men were still on the scene and Ali was in critical condition, Lanier said. He was pronounced dead a short time later. “In my opinion, you talk about a beating like this as a result of property damage, someone has lost his life in a savage beating in what appears to be vigilante justice, it’s ridiculous,” the police chief had said.
Attorneys for the defendants have been aggressive in their attack of the police version of events, accusing the cops of rushing to judgement. According to the Washington City Paper, during an ABRA hearing earlier this month, “The defense played a radio call placed by the EMTs who picked up Mohammed the night he died. In a call to Howard University hospital, the emergency workers describe Mohammed as being a victim of cardiac arrest, not bludgeoning. They explain that Mohammed has had a “cardiac arrest after a fight.” They also recount that he went unconscious in the presence of police, contradicting the police version of events—which claims Mohammed was dead or very close to it when the first officer arrived on the scene. Throwing the wrench into the credibility of the EMTs, though, is the fact that they refer to the young Mohammed as a ’45-year-old.'”
Meanwhile, Ali’s parents are still awaiting proper explanation of what exactly happened to their son. Friends and family say they plan to stage another rally on Wednesday morning. At a gathering held last week outside the U.S. attorney’s office, the mother, Sashie Bule, who carried a sign bearing her son’s photo is reported by The Washington Post to have stated: “I need answers…I want to know what happened to my son. He didn’t deserve this.” Nunu Waco, Ali’s cousin, told The Washington Post, her family was shocked by the prosecutors’ decision to drop all charges. “Our family deserves better,” she said. “American citizens deserve better.”
U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. insists the investigation is continuing. “Our work is not done,” Machen said in a statement after all charges were dismissed by his office. “The tragic death of Ali Ahmed Mohammed demands that we undertake a careful and comprehensive investigation to determine precisely how he died. . . . The search for justice cannot be rushed, and we will continue to pursue an active and vigorous inquiry.”
Organizers say Wednesday’s gathering is scheduled near 12th and U street.
In the following video, Tadias TV documents the reactions of Ali’s friends and individuals in the community to the prosecutors’ decision to drop all charges.
Tadias TV: Reactions to the beating death of Ali A. Mohammed
Related News Videos:
Related: Man Died After Beating Outside DC9 Nightclub (WUSA 9)
New York (Tadias) – We recently took a quick trip to Washington’s U Street neighborhood nicknamed ‘Little Ethiopia.’ Andrew Laurence, a long time resident of D.C. – whom CNN recently called the “unofficial historian” of the block – shared with us some interesting insights.
Here is Tadias TV’s brief tour led by Andrew Laurence.
Video: Tadias TV Explores Washington’s Ethiopian Neighborhood
Above:Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam poses for Tadias.com
at Queen of Sheba restaurant on Monday, November 8, 2010.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Photos by Marie Claire Andrea
Published: Friday, November 12, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Gebre Gebremariam, last Sunday’s surprise winner of the New York City Marathon, was treated to a victory dinner on Monday night at Queen of Sheba – the popular Ethiopian restaurant located in Midtown Manhattan.
Gebremariam gave Ethiopians something to cheer about after the highly anticipated appearance by Haile Gebrselassie ended in mid-course due to injury, forcing the legendary runner to prematurely announce his retirement. He has since changed his mind about the retirement decision. Haile was also a no-show on Monday evening in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he was the scheduled speaker at Girls Got To Run Foundation’s fundraiser. (Click here for Tadias TV’s coverage of this event)
Below are exclusive images from Gebre Gebremariam’s victory dinner at Queen of Sheba restaurant on Monday, November 8, 2010.
Gebre Gebremariam at Queen of Sheba restaurant, Nov 8.
Victory dinner for Gebre Gebremariam at Queen of Sheba in Manhattan.
Philipos Mengistu, owner of Queen of Sheba, opens the Champagne.
Cheers for Gebre Gebremariam – Winner of the 2010 New York City Marathon
Gebre Gebremariam poses with Queen of Sheba staff. (November 8, 2010)
Above:Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam crosses the finish line
in Central Park in his marathon debut. (Associated Press)
BY Wayne Coffey
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Originally Published:Sunday, November 7th 2010, 12:03 PM
Updated: Monday, November 8th 2010, 1:15 AM
He took his gloves off in the 23rd mile, flinging them into the air as if they were autumn leaves. His ski cap came off not long after. Soon Gebre Gebremariam was gone, shedding his two top competitors next, a rawboned Ethiopian ruling a remarkable race that included a stunning retirement, an indomitable miner and the largest field in the annals of sport.
“It’s my first marathon, and I’m number one here,” said Gebremariam, 26, not long after he crossed the finish line in two hours, eight minutes, 14 seconds, to capture the 41st ING New York City Marathon Sunday. “I am so happy to win.”
In achieving his upstart triumph on a day when a record 45,344 runners started, the 5-10, 123-pound Gebremariam became the first rookie to win the race in 27 years, taking a prize that most figured would go to his 37-year-old countryman, Haile Gebrselassie, the marathon world record-holder and a man widely acclaimed to be the greatest distance runner in history.
Above:John A. Boehner, the House Republican leader, in an
emotional moment during a victory gathering for GOP’s Nat.
Congressional Committee in Washington – Photo by NYT.
The New York Times
By JEFF ZELENY and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: November 3, 2010
Republicans captured control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday and expanded their voice in the Senate, as discontented voters, frustrated about the nation’s continuing economic woes, turned sharply against President Obama just two years after catapulting him into the White House.
Mr. Obama now faces the prospect of shared government in Washington for the balance of his term, and the unusual balancing act that comes with a divided Congress. Read more.
MSNBC Video: Obama Appeals for ‘Common Ground’
MSNBC Video from the TODAY show: Election night in a nutshell
Above:Haile Gebrselassie (L) and Derartu Tulu will represent
Ethiopia at New York City Marathon on Sunday November 7th.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Updated: Saturday, November 6, 2010
Special Note:
Ethiopian fans plan to gather at Columbus Circle, which has bleachers set up for spectators and a special stage sponsored by Continental Airlines to provide inspiration for the final .2 miles.
You can take the 1, D, or A train to 59th (8th avenue).
Haile and Derartu Expected to Take Charge at NYC Marathon
Published: Tuesday, November 2, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Long-distance running legends Haile Gebrselassie and Derartu Tulu are widely expected to lead the charge in their respective categories at Sunday’s New York City Marathon.
Gebrselassie, who has more than 130 major-race victories under his belt and is the current world record-holder, will run the New York City Marathon for the first time. Although questions have been raised about the possibility that the double Olympic 10,000-meter gold medalist may not be able to conquer the difficult New York City Marathon route in world record time, his agent says he remains motivated and optimistic. “We have to be realistic; we know there are not that many opportunities left,” Jos Hermens of the Netherlands told The New York Times. “But in his mind, he is so competitive, he feels he can run half a minute or a minute faster in ideal conditions and in good health.” Gebrselassie will be joined by fellow Ethiopian Gebre Gebremariam and the professional men’s defending champion Meb Keflezighi of the United States, among others.
In the pro women’s field, two-time Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu, the first Ethiopian woman to win the New York City Marathon, will defend her title while leading a pack of other women from her country. Other participating Ethiopian female athletes include the 2010 Boston Marathon champion Teyba Erkesso, Werknesh Kidane, and Bronx resident Buzunesh Deba. Derartu also faces tough competition from American Shalane Flanagan, the 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medalist, and Mary Keitany of Kenya, the 2009 World Half Marathon champion – both making their marathon debut – as well as from experienced marathoners like Ludmila Petrova and Inga Abitova of Russia.
—
2010 Abebe Bikila Award Goes To Paul Tergat of Kenya
Meanwhile, one of Haile Gebrselassie’s professional rivals, Paul Tergat of Kenya – considered to be one of the most accomplished long-distance runners of all time – will receive the 2010 Abebe Bikila award for his contributions to distance running. Tergat, who retired in 2009, will be honored at a ceremony preceding the Continental Airlines International Friendship Run on Saturday, November 6, also here in New York City.
The New York Times highlights the long and friendly competition between the Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes: “Their rivalry has been one of the richest in running history and symbolizes the development of distance running by Ethiopia (Gebrselassie) and Kenya (Tergat). Over the course of a decade, Gebrselassie, 37, and Tergat, 41, ruled the distance running world,” NYT notes. “From 1996 to 2000 Gebrselassie won titles in the 10,000 meters at the world championship and Olympic Games. Tergat finished second each time. Gebrselassie set the 10,000 world record (26 minutes 43.53 seconds) in 1995 until Tergat broke the record (26:27.85) in 1997. Gebrselassie reclaimed the record (26:22.75) in 1998, now held by Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele (26:17.53).”
The annual prize , named after Ethiopian legend and double Olympic marathon winner Abebe Bikila, has been awarded to athletes since 1978, and it honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to the sport of long-distance running. Per Wiki: “Past winners of the award include: Olympic gold medallists Frank Shorter, Rosa Mota and Lasse Virén; world record breakers Paula Radcliffe, Khalid Khannouchi and Paul Tergat; and multiple major marathon winners Grete Waitz, Alberto Salazar and Joan Samuelson. While the award has typically been associated with elite level runners, particularly marathon runners, it has also been given to non-athletes. Fred Lebow – creator of the New York Marathon – became the first person to win the award who was not a professional athlete in 1995. The 2001 award was given to Mayor of New York Rudy Guiliani on the basis of his dedication to the city in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The 2009 winner, long-time road running organizer and event director Allan Steinfeld, was the third non-professional athlete to receive the award.”
If You Go:
New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 7 Daylight savings time ends at 2:00 a.m. on Sun.,
Don’t forget to set your clocks.
Ethiopian fans plan to gather at Columbus Circle, which has bleachers set up for spectators and a special stage sponsored by Continental Airlines to provide inspiration for the final .2 miles.
You can take the 1, D, or A train to 59th (8th avenue).
Above:Marcus Samuelsson near his new Red Rooster in
Harlem. (Photo: Christian Hansen for The New York Times)
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Published: Sunday, October 31, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Red Rooster, Marcus Samuelsson’s highly anticipated new restaurant in Harlem, will open later this month.
Located at 310 Lenox Avenue, between West 125th and West 126th streets, Red Rooster pays tribute to a legendary speakeasy of the same name from the Harlem Renaissance.
For Samuelsson the goal is bigger than fine dining . “I always wanted to live in Harlem. Harlem was the community that I knew about when I was in Sweden. It was what I knew about America and African-American culture. I’ve always thought about Harlem. Harlem is not going to change because we talk about it. It’s going to change because we do something,” he had said during an interview with Tadias Magazine following the White House dinner he prepared for the Obamas’ first State Dinner last year. Samuelsson has chosen Harlem as his home and states: “I put my money in the economy. For me it’s not a PR stint. For me it’s a lifestyle. I sold my place and moved to Harlem to experience it.”
BlackAtlas.com, the premier travel website for African Americans, has produced the following video of Samuelsson giving a tour of Harlem, starting from the location of his new restaurant and passing by several popular spots including the Abesha-owned cafe Settepani, a popular hangout for Harlem’s young elite.
BlackAtlas will also hold a pre-opening celebration of Red Rooster in mid-November and invite you to participate. You may have a chance to win two tickets to NYC for the event.
For more details email Editor@blackatlas.com or click here to register.
Video: BlackAtlas.com with Chef Marcus Samuelsson
Video: Be the First to Dine at Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem
Scientists in Ethiopia have unearthed 22-million-year-old fossils, fauna and flora, completing a chain of data that could shed light on the phenomenon of climate change.
The latest discovery was made in an ancient lake bed 150 kilometers northeast of the Ethiopian capital. It is not the oldest find of amphibian, mammal and fish fossils in Africa. But principal investigator Mulugeta Feseha, a geologist at Addis Ababa University, says it completes a picture of climatic conditions over a 30-million-year period.
“This is a unique aspect of Ethiopian geology that can contribute towards modeling of ancient climate or environmental reconstruction. When we think of developing a model we have to find sites that are 28 million, 25 million, 20, 10 up to zero. That is how you develop a model. So this 22-million-year-old fossil site fills a gap that has never been identified in all parts of Africa.”
Mulugeta says since there were no humans on earth 20- to 30-million years ago, comparing carbon-dioxide levels between then and now will help in understanding to what extent human activity affects climate change. Read more at VOA.
Above:Mehret Mandefro is a White House Fellow, and Peter
Levin is Senior Advisor in the U.S. Depart of Veterans Affairs
Opinion: Huffingtonpost.com
By Mehret Mandefro and Peter Levin
Posted: October 22, 2010 05:23 PM
The Boston-based website patientslikeme.com has created a large community that works together “to enable people to share information that can improve the lives of patients diagnosed with life-changing diseases.” To make this happen, they have “created a platform for collecting and sharing real world, outcome-based patient data and are establishing data-sharing partnerships with doctors, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, research organizations, and non-profits.” The beauty in their design lies in the fact that the goals they have outlined are easily customized to anyone’s personal experience of battling a life-changing disease.
Of course, there’s nothing new about advocates who build communities that set goals, solve problems and help achieve better stakeholder outcomes. A for-profit company focused on relief of disease-born suffering is laudable, but not exactly original. What is abrupt and new is the rapid growth and abundance of recently created virtual groups, and how amazingly durable they seem to be. It is no exaggeration to claim that the Internet has transformed the commons from tragic and depleted to vibrant and inexhaustible. “On line” strangers cross domestic class and international boundaries to freely choose their priorities, interests, and new friends.
Above: Haile Gebrselassie, who is preparing for the 2010 NYC
Marathon, will keynote an event to benefit Girls Gotta Run Org.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Published: Thursday, October 21, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Long-distance legend Haile Gebrselassie will be the featured speaker at a fundraiser for the Girls Gotta Run Foundation on Monday, November 8, 2010 at the Chevy Chase Running Company, located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, organizers announced. The event will take place the day after the athlete’s highly-anticipated debut at the upcoming New York City Marathon.
“Haile Gebrselassie, arguably the greatest living distance runner in history, has graciously agreed to be our featured speaker,” said Patricia E. Ortman, GGRF’s Executive Director. “He will speak about his life and career and answer questions from the audience.”
The foundation – which was profiled here last year – was established in 2006 to provide funds for athletic shoes, clothes, meals, coach subsidies, and other training-related expenses for disadvantaged Ethiopian girls who are training to be professional runners. One of its sponsored athletes, Dinknesh Mekash Tefer of Running Across Borders, recently broke the women’s course record for the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon in Scotland, while winning her first international race.
Organizers hope that portions of the proceeds from the Maryland gathering will help “subsidize scholarships for girls to attend training at the Yaya Africa Athletics Village, an athletic center in Sululta, Ethiopia, which is presently under construction and in which Mr.Gebrselassie is a partner.”
The event, co-sponsored and hosted by the Chevy Chase Running Company, will take place at the Chevy Chase Running Company store.
If you go:
Haile Gebrselassie Featured Speaker at GGRF Fundraiser
Monday, November 8, 2010.
From 7 to 9 p.m.
4461 Willard Avenue
Chevy Chase, Maryland,
Tickets will be $25.00 and sold only at the door
Learn more at: girlsgottarun.org
Cover Image: The 2010 New York City Marathon Poster bearing Haile Gebrselassie’s photo at the 155 Street “C” train station in Manhattan. (Tadias)
Above:One of the memorials honoring Ali Mohammed during
the candelight vigil. He was killed by a gang of men last week.
The Hilltop
The Student Voice of Howard University
By Genet Lakew
Managing Editor
The block of Ali Mohammed’s death also served as the site of his vigil.
Friends, family, and members of the Ethiopian and D.C. community came together to remember the life of the 27-year-old man who died early Friday morning.
Attendees held up neon green and bright yellow signs that read “The Truth Shall Prevail,” “We Want Justice” and “Any Death Should Not Go Unpunished.” Some shined white and pink candles and another person hoisted the green, yellow and red Ethiopian flag. A few women were clad in all black attire, a way to show mourning after a death in Ethiopian culture.
While the debate over whether Ali’s death was homicide or if he died from preexisting conditions continues, his family and friends mourned his loss.
“My son was not a violent man and did not deserve to die as he did,” said his father, Ahmed Mohammed Galtchu, Tuesday evening, holding back tears.
Galtchu said he and his family hope for justice for his son and punishment for those responsible for his death. He thanked the crowd for coming out to show their support.
Ali died at approximately 3:15 Friday morning at Howard University hospital. Earlier, at 2:30 a.m., he was on 9th Street NW trying to get into the DC9 bar and club. To his disappointment, Mohammed was turned away from the party.
He allegedly threw a brick through the windows of the venue in frustration. Soon after, five men who worked at the club, including the owner, chased him down the 2000 block of 9th Street. According to statements made by D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier, these men allegedly “savagely beat” Mohammed to death.
The employees were arrested and initially charged with second-degree murder. That charge was later reduced to aggravated assault, a move that upset Mohammed’s family.
Ali’s cousin Nunu Wako, who spoke during the vigil, said she had never seen him raise a hand on others and the beating of “five to one is utterly barbaric, is savage.”
Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham was present and expressed support for the Mohammed family.
“We share the loss today of Ali,” said Graham. “We will have justice in this case.”
Graham emphasized his close relationship with the Ethiopian community in D.C. and particularly the unofficial “Little Ethiopia” neighborhood of 9th Street.
He announced that there is “evidence sufficient to justify charge of murder” in the case.
“Igziabeher yimesgen, amen, amen,” Graham said, meaning “Thank God” in Amharic, a few of the terms he picked up when he visited Ethiopia in 2004 and in his dealings with his Ethiopian constituents.
He urged the crowd to please let the situation run its course and allow the authorities to handle the case.
A woman from D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s African Affairs office read a letter from the Mayor, who shared his condolences for the Mohammed family.
Above: The owner of DC9 club and four employees have been
charged in a fatal beating of Ali Ahmed Mohammed of Ethiopia.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Washington, D.C. (Tadias) – Friends and family of Ali Ahmed Mohammed, who was beaten to death last week by a gang of five men here, will gather for a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening.
According to the city’s Police Chief Cathy Lanier, the 27-year-old Ethiopian immigrant was denied entry to the DC9 nightclub around 2:30 a.m. on Friday October 15, but he returned to throw a brick through the window. What followed next was described by Lanier as extralegal punishment against the victim.
Five men chased Ali— including the club’s owner Bill Spieler and employees Darryl Carter, Reginald Phillips, Evan Preller, and Arthur Zaloga – then tackled and beat him, police said. When officers arrived, all five men were still on the scene and Ali was in critical condition, Lanier said. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
“In my opinion, you talk about a beating like this as a result of property damage, someone has lost his life in a savage beating in what appears to be vigilante justice, it’s ridiculous,” the police chief said.
All five men were initially charged with second degree murder, but they were later released after the chargers were reduced to aggravated assault. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff signaled in court that the charges might change again, depending on the findings of the D.C. Medical Examiner.
Meanwhile, a police source tells the Washington City Paper that he is certain at least one of the five accused will face murder charges. According to the paper, the cop said a witness had “watched the defendants Carter, Zaloga, Speiler and Phillips kick and stomp the victim on the head and the body as defendant Preller held the victim down.” The witness claims to have watched Spieler “kick Mr. Mohammed several times, then stop when the police approached and attempt to flag down police.”
“The source offers that the five suspects may have been on automatic pilot: ‘Sometimes people do things and they regret what they do afterward,'” the newspaper reported.
Per FOX 5 News: “One of the attorneys put forth an ‘initial discovery request’ that any security video of the incident be preserved.”
The next court hearing will take place on November 8.
The candlelight vigil is scheduled for 6:00 PM at the corner of 9th and U Street.
Video: Man Died After Beating Outside DC9 Nightclub (WUSA 9 Online)
Early in Dinaw Mengestu’s new novel, “How to Read the Air,” the main character, a troubled young Ethiopian-American named Jonas Woldemariam, goes to a job interview, only to be asked, “Where’s that accent of yours from?” by a prospective boss baffled by his seemingly alien provenance. “Peoria,” Jonas replies, puzzling his interviewer even further.
Life has sometimes been like that for Mr. Mengestu, too. His name, “so clearly foreign and other,” he admits, and pedigree can make it difficult for some of the people he encounters to see past an ostensibly exotic exterior to the very American core underneath.
But as a novelist, Mr. Mengestu, 32, has made such doubts and confusion about identity and belonging his stock in trade. His work is populated by exiles, refugees, émigrés and children of the African diaspora, all struggling both to find a place in the American landscape and to make sense of their attenuated relationship to the world they left behind.
“It’s less about trying to figure out how you occupy these two cultural or racial boundaries and more about what it’s like when you are not particularly attached to either of these two communities,” he said recently in an interview in Manhattan at the offices of his publisher, Riverhead Books.
New York (Tadias) – She may not be the first Ethiopian woman pilot, but Captain Amsale Gualu Endegnanew is just as pioneering. She is the first female to become captain in the history of Ethiopian Airlines.
According to the company, the pilot was at controls of a next generation Bombardier airplane for her historic flight, which she performed over domestic routes on October 14, 2010. “Captain Amsale proudly took off her first flight from the left hand seat of the flight deck of a Q-400 aircraft from Addis Ababa to Gondar then to Axum and finally returned back to Addis Ababa after a total of 3.6 flight hours,” the airline announced in a press release.
“Captain Amsale joined Ethiopian Airlines Pilot Training School on July 10, 2000 and started her career as first officer on November 26, 2002. Since then, she has trained and worked on Fokker-50, 757 and 767 aircraft as first officer. Captain Amsale has been able to complete successfully all the necessary training requirements and passed through rigorous checks to gain her four stripes. She has a total of 4475 flight hours under her belt when she becomes the commander-in-chief of her flight.”
In a brief statement following her groundbreaking flight, Captain Amsale said this moment has been a long time coming. “It is a great privilege to become the first female captain of the national carrier,” she said. “I have been trained and passed through various ladders at Ethiopian Airlines.”
“The company has been very supportive of my efforts to realize my vision of becoming a captain,” she added.
Congratulating her on the occasion, Weyzero Elizabeth Getachew, a Senior Vice President for Human Resource Management and the highest ranking female executive in the airline said, “Captain Amsale’s success is a great achievement on her part and it is also an achievement for the airline. It is my hope that other females will be inspired by her success and Ethiopian will see more female candidates in the near future.” The country’s flag-career currently has four female pilots working as first officers.
Who is Ethiopia’s first female pilot?
Some say Weyzero Asegedech Asefa, who became a pilot post World War II, is the first Ethiopian female pilot. While others argue that Weyzero Mulumebet Emeru, whose flight training was interrupted when the Italians envaded Ethiopia in 1936, holds the title of first Ethiopian female pilot.
—
More photos courtesy of Ethiopian Airlines via Nazret.com
Above:Negrero Debero, the missing Ethiopian limo driver in
DeKalb County, Georgia, has been found alive, sources say.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated: Friday, October 15, 2010
Atlanta (Tadias) – The 33-year-old Ethiopian limo driver from DeKalb County who had been missing since early Saturday has been found alive.
A family friend says Negrero Debero was found on Thursday and has been admitted to Gwinnett Medical Center for treatment.
Negrero disappeared after he was last seen Saturday morning at about 6 a.m. According to police, he was last seen driving a black Lincoln Town Car with the license plate number 355 REJ, which authorities located last week, smashed and abandoned on Interstate 85.
Per WSBTV.com: “Friends of Debero told Channel 2 Action News the circumstances of the disappearance seem very odd, and how he was located was more bizarre. ‘He was found in the bushes without his clothing. We’re hoping detectives on the case are still going to be working,’ said Surafel Asmamaw.”
“We still want answers to what happened that Saturday morning when he disappeared,” said Getachew Techill, Debero’s friend.
Earlier in the week, “Family and friends {who put up a $10,000 reward for information} told Channel 2 Action News reporter Kerry Kavanaugh that about 100 members of the Ethiopian community came together Tuesday night to distribute fliers and to ask for people to spread the word about the missing man.”
“We’ve gone to gas stations, apartments and streets…,” said searcher Yeshr Teklu.
Negrero has a fiancée and a 4-year-old daughter.
According to WSBTV.com, witnesses claim Debero was drinking at a bar the day he disappeared.
—
When Haile Gebrselassie, the world-record holder from Ethiopia, competes in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 7, he will be both a star and a growing anachronism.
Gebrselassie is classically trained as a runner. He competed in cross-country and won two Olympic gold medals on the track at 10,000 meters before turning his full attention to the 26.2 miles of the marathon. He is the only man to have run under 2 hours 4 minutes, setting his world mark of 2:03:59 at the 2008 Berlin Marathon.
Now 37, Gebrselassie was also groomed in a relatively closed system of Soviet-influenced coaching and training techniques in the East African nation, which was run by a Marxist military junta from the mid-1970s until the early-1990s.
Ethiopia has long produced great marathoners: Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon in 1960 and 1964, becoming the first black African to win a gold medal. His countryman Mamo Wolde won the 1968 Olympic marathon. Fatuma Roba won the women’s Olympic marathon in 1996 and three Boston Marathons. Derartu Tulu, a two-time Olympic champion at 10,000 meters, is the defending women’s champion in New York. Many consider Gebrselassie the greatest distance runner ever.
The difference now is that individual greatness is being enhanced by billowing numbers. In recent years, a flood of Ethiopian runners has challenged the international marathoning supremacy of neighboring Kenya. While Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya, the reigning Olympic champion, won the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, Tsegaye Kebede and Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia finished second and third.
“Tune-In” Anywhere Watch the ING New York City Marathon on TV, Web, and Mobile
Television In New York: The race will be broadcast live exclusively on NBC 4 New York beginning at 9:00 a.m. with the pre-race warm up and continuing through the race across all five boroughs, the bridges, and to the finish line until 2:00 p.m. A two-hour highlight show will follow on NBC Sports (NBC 4 in New York) from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
In the United States: NBC Sports will broadcast a two-hour highlight show nationwide, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on November 7; check local listings for details. Universal Sports will also air the race live from 9:00 a.m. EST on their digital network. In the New York metro area, NBC Sports is on NBC 4 New York.
Around the World: A highlight show will be carried in nearly 125 countries worldwide. Check your local listings for details.
Web
The Marathon will be streamed LIVE on UniversalSports.com, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Coverage includes the main race, pro men’s, and pro women’s feeds. You can also watch the archived race on demand.
Mobile
Coming in late-October, download the ING New York City Marathon iPhone/iPad app from the iTunes store and take the Marathon with you anywhere! The app will feature:
Live race-day video feeds of the professional race
The five-hour NBC 4 New York show
Real-time photos
Elite runner leaderboard
Individual runner split tracking
“Cross-Path” feature displays your location with respect to the runner
Above: Nelson George shares Ethiopian food with Tigist Selam
at Zoma in Harlem as part of a travel piece for BlackAtlas.com.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Wednesday, October 13, 2010
New York (Tadias) – In a video posted on BlackAtlas.com, the website’s travel expert-at-large Nelson George visits Harlem, highlighting the historic neighborhood’s evolving culture. Near the end of the segment, the filmmaker stops by Zoma restaurant, located on 113th & Frederick Douglas Boulevard, for a taste of Ethiopian food. He was accompanied by his friend actress Tigist Selam, host of Tadias TV.
“Growing up mainly in Germany, I always romanticized Harlem for it’s political and cultural significance, and when I moved to New York from London in 2005, I already knew that I wanted to live in Harlem,” says Tigist. “What I didn’t know about was the existing and rapidly growing Ethiopian community in Harlem.”
She says: “These days, I am happy to claim Harlem as my home. Thank you for allowing me to share my favorite dish with Nelson George and Black Atlas!”
The first time Dr. Ruth Eshel witnessed esketa (which means shoulder dance, in Amharic), she was astounded. “I knew immediately that this was something new and different, something I had never seen before,” Eshel said with enthusiasm over a cup of steaming coffee at Tel Aviv’s renowned Performing Arts Center. “For someone like me, who has been dancing and choreographing for many years, to see something entirely new was very refreshing,” she continued, smiling wider at the memory. Eshel’s dream of one day forming an Ethiopian dance troupe was rooted in that first experience as an awestruck spectator.
Several years prior to that, her career as a dancer had been tragically curtailed by a serious car accident. Undeterred, she continued to choreograph, research and write about her great passion. Author of “Dancing With the Dream: The Development of Artistic Dance in Israel From 1920 to 1964” and a dance critic for the daily newspaper Haaretz, she flourished as a field researcher after 20 years of performing on stage.
In the early 1990s, as Ethiopian immigrants arrived in Israel by the thousands, her curiosity about their culture was piqued. “I’m not ethnic, and my background is in modern dance and experimental, avant-garde work, but I was attracted to their movement. My interest was both artistic and general,” she said. Read more.
New York (Tadias) – The Hub of Africa Fashion Week, which took place in Addis Ababa last month, showcased the latest collections in clothing, footwear and accessories from emerging local designers hailing from several African countries. The event was coordinated by Clairvoyant Marketing Agency and Yoha Entertainment.
The fashion week highlighted local designers and international models. The runway show featured, among others, New York-based Ethiopian American model Maya Gate Haile.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia released the country’s most prominent opposition leader from jail on Wednesday, four months after the government’s landslide win in elections criticised by Western powers.
Birtukan Mideksa, a former judge, is the leader of Ethiopia’s biggest opposition party, Unity for Democracy and Justice. She left Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa with her daughter and mother.
Her car slowed to a crawl as about a thousand supporters lined narrow streets decorated with flags and posters near her home on the outskirts of the capital.
Supporters, some in T-shirts bearing her image, chanted and sang “Birtukan is our Mandela” and “No government is stronger than God” as they threw flowers on a red carpet that marked out the last few hundred metres to her house.
Government opponents say she was jailed because she was a threat to the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) at the May 23 election, which gave Prime Minister Meles Zenawi another five-year mandate. The government denies that. Read more.
Photos: Ethiopian opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa freed Birtukan Mideksa speaks to reporters from the window of a prison van after
being freed from prison in Addis Ababa. (Photograph by REUTERS)
Ethiopian opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa (R) returns home to her family (AFP)
Birtukan Mideksa had been in prison since December 2008 (AFP)
New York (Tadias) – The St. Mary Hospital Foundation hosted its 19th annual Gala at the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds last week. The event, held on Saturday, September 25, 2010, recognized a number of honorees for their contributions to the organization during the year – including Ethiopian American high school student Abi Mariam, who was named this year’s Young Humanitarian.
The theme for 2010 was “The High Desert … A World of Possibilities” and was sponsored by High Desert Primary Care Medical Group and Premier Healthcare.
Abi, who began volunteering at St. Mary Medical Center in 2007, was honored for her activities at the hospital while simultaneously juggling school work and several extra curricular programs, including co-founding an on-campus tutoring club and completing five Advanced Placement courses. Her mother, Mesrak Gessesse, is Director of Network Development at St. Mary, and her father, Alemayehu G. Mariam, is a lawyer and professor at Cal State San Bernardino. “I’ve grown up at St. Mary Medical Center,” Abi said. “I like being able to give back to an organization that’s given a lot to my family and my community.”
After high school, Abi plans to attend college and study political science and government. “I have been fortunate to realize at a young age that a life serving others is a life well lived, and I believe my talents and interests will be best directed to helping others through my understanding and usage of our government,” she said. “I’ve been blessed with an unbelievably supportive family, wonderful teachers and amazing friends…These gifts are not mine to keep; they’re something I should share with others, and the only way I can give back some of what I’ve been given is through service.”
The other honorees included Dr. David Bolivar, who was also named Humanitarian of the Year in part because of the school he recently helped to build in Colombia; Ron and Dorthy Axelrod, who were acknowledged as Patrons of the Year for their charitable estate planning through St. Mary Hospital Foundation; and Dr. William Suval and his wife Diane, who were recognized as this year’s Honorary Chairs for their extensive involvement in community-oriented programs.
—
