New York (TADIAS) – We first featured Ethiopian-American artist Yonie in our May 2003 issue as he single-handedly and successfully promoted his music on Seattle’s KUBE 93 FM and X104.5 FM radio stations. Citing Michael Jackson as his childhood music hero, Yonie didn’t wait for large labels to pick him up. Instead, he worked alongside some of the industry’s best mixing engineers to produce his own songs.
Yonie caught up with us recently and let us know that he’s still on the fast track. “Since we last spoke I’ve been up to lot,” he said. ” I moved to LA in 2005 to pursue acting. ”
Within three months of moving from Seattle to Hollywood he earned himself a position as a Music Video Casting Director and found himself “engulfed in a world of pretty women, million-dollar mansions and A-list celebrities like Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne and more.” Not surprisingly, Yonie caught the attention of producers who approached him about having a TV show based on his new life in Hollywood. The trailer for the film, Sunset, was recently released online and the producers are currently in negotiations with Viacom, owners of MTV, as well a few other networks. The show is expected to begin airing in January 2010.
In addition to the TV show, Yonie has also produced a film entitled ‘The Heart Specialist’ featuring stars such as Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), Wood Harris (The Wire), Brian White (Stomp the Yard) and R & B Singer Mya. The film won ‘Best Film’ award at the 2008 BET Urban World Film Festival in New York.
Yonie’s new show features Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Pharrell, Bow Wow and several other artists. We’re looking forward to the premiere!
Above:Per Bloomberg News: “Coffee shipments fell 22
percent to 133,993 metric tons from 170,888 tons a
year ago, the lowest since fiscal 2003, when they
measured 126,100 tons, the Ministry of Trade and
Industry said in an e-mailed statement, dated July 17.
Coffee earnings declined to $375.8 million in the fiscal
year through July 7 from $525.2 million a year earlier,
it said.”
By Jason McLure
Last Updated: July 20, 2009
July 20 (Bloomberg) — Coffee exports from Ethiopia, Africa’s largest producer of the beans, fell 28 percent to the lowest level in six years after a drought cut harvests. Read more.
New York (Tadias) – While Starbucks lags behind on their promise to open a support center for its coffee farmers in Ethiopia, Kansas-based Revocup Coffee Roasters is giving back 10 cents for every cup of coffee and 1 dollar for every pound of coffee sold. After revisiting their birth place, the founders of Revocup wanted to change what they saw as the “deteriorating life” of Ethiopian coffee farmers (well-described in the documentary Black Gold). Ethiopia is known as the birthplace of coffee, and the coffee ceremony is an integral part of the nation’s heritage, which is yet another reason Revocup is keen on promoting fair trade for Ethiopian coffee. Tadias recently interviewed Habte Mesfin about Revocup: Read more.
Above:Walter Cronkite, the legendary TV news anchor
once known as the “most trusted man in America,” has died
at the age of 92. Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening News
from 1962 to 1981 with his trademark sign-off, “And that’s
the way it is…” (More at huffingtonpost.com).
Above:Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, pictured here in AFP
photo as he celebrates winning the men’s 10,000m final
at the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium during the 2008
Beijing Olympic Games on August 17, 2008, “rebuffed the
challenge from his American rival Bernard Lagat (Friday in
Paris), finishing the 3000m contest in 7:28.64. Lagat, who
had given the challenge everything he had, finished in a
personal best of 7:33.15 but was no match for his Ethiopian
rival. France’s Mourad Amdouni was third in a European
season’s lead of 7:37.50.” (Read more at european-athletics.org).
Source: Radio France Internationale
Kenenisa Bekele arrived in Paris this week hoping to significantly boost his bank balance later this year. A one-million-dollar jackpot is on offer for athletes who win an event at all six Golden League meetings during the season and, at the halfway stage, Bekele is the last man standing.
At Friday’s event in the French capital though, the Olympic champion and world-record holder over 5,000 and 10,000 metres will be presented with a different challenge. Unlike the previous meetings this year, there is no 5,000 metre race in Paris. Instead Bekele will have to win over 3,000 metres if his pursuit of the jackpot can continue. This means Bekele should face stiff competition from Kenyan-born US athlete Bernard Lagat at the Stade de France, but the 27-year-old is not too disappointed at having to run over a shorter distance. Read More.
Above:Nyala Ethiopian restaurant located in L.A.’s Little
Ethiopia neighborhood.
Restaurant Review
Entertainment Today
Written by SHIRLEY FIRESTONE
Friday, July 17, 2009
The area from Olympic Blvd. going South on Fairfax Ave. has become an Ethiopian bistro walk with a slew of eateries. I had dinner at Nyala, forerunner of Ethiopian restaurants in the area who’ve had many fine write‑ups because the food is good and it’s a new experience in dining for many. Interesting artifacts are part of the charm, including a full‑bar, (also Ethiopian wines, coffees & African beers) paintings displaying their unique style of cooking, and scenes of family life. The place is large with booths and tables, but the focal point is a wonderful simulated thatch hut. First-timers are always surprised upon entering, and what a great place to entertain guests, because dining the Ethiopian way is very social. In fact, it all starts with food, beginning with a complimentary community platter of “humus” served with crispy triangles for dipping. Read More at EntertainmentToday.com.
In fact, the first time I went to Ethiopian Restaurant, 25th and Leavenworth, at 6:45 p.m. on a Friday night, I expected it to be open, but they had stopped serving food at 6:30 p.m. I could see, from my vantage point in the adjacent African grocery store, a few diners finishing meals and watching the restaurant’s flat screen TV broadcasting news and sports from Ethiopia. I could smell spices throughout the store and was immediately intrigued. The restaurant’s owner Ahmed Mahmed informed my group that they didn’t have enough food remaining — some menu items take all day to roast, so when it’s gone, it’s gone until tomorrow. He apologized and gave my friend’s son a mango juice box from the grocery’s fridge.
New York (Tadias) – Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, CEO of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, is being featured in a PBS documentary hosted by Aaron Brown on July 22nd 10pm EST.
Brown recently visited the newly opened exchange, and asserted that if this project, the first of its kind in Africa, succeeds, then it can serve as a model for the rest of the continent.
Dr. Gabre-Madhin completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University and her doctorate in Economics at Stanford University before embarking on her vision to create Ethiopia’s first commodities exchange. Crop failures and recurrent famines prompted Gabre-Madhin to focus on food security and improving buyer/seller communication in rural agricultural communities in Ethiopia.
Having followed Dr. Gabre-Madhin’s work over the course of the exchange’s first year, Brown notes that despite the global economic downturn, several key milestones have been achieved. “It is really the story of one person’s vision and how tenacious she has been, the sacrifices she has made, the intelligence she has applied, to feed a country,” Brown says.
Tune in to watch the PBS feature on Gabre-Madhin entitled “The Market Maker” on July 22nd.
———- The film will be screened on Friday, July 24th at the Four Points by Sheraton in Washington DC (12th & K), followed by a brief speech by Aaron Brown and Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin. Attendance is by RSVP. Please contact Hanna Tadesse at: hanna.tadesse@gmail.com.
Above:Still image from “Migration of Beauty” showing
protesters in D.C. (Courtesy of SandyBeagle Productions).
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Thursday, July 16, 2009
New York (Tadias) – In May 2010 Ethiopians will once again be heading to the polls, and Filmmaker Chris Flaherty has released his film, Migration of Beauty, just in time for us to reflect on the aftermath of the 2005 elections.
Flaherty, whom we interviewed last May, has spent time examining how Ethiopian Americans reacted to the violence that erupted following the controversial 2005 national election. Flaherty had originally intended to focus on the achievements of Ethiopian Americans, but later decided to focus on a feature length film that captures the Ethiopian-American experience of political participation in America in comparison to Ethiopia.
Migration of Beauty is scheduled to be shown at the 2009 African Diaspora Film Festival (ADFF) in New York City in August and November. The ADFF is a 17-day festival featuring over a 100 films focusing on the diversity of the global African diaspora experience.
Here are more still images from the film, courtesy of SandyBeagle Productions.
Congressman Donald Payne persides over a hearing to mark up HR 2003.
Abdul Kamus, one of the characters featured in the film.
Abdul Kamus visits the Statue of Liberty with his children.
New York (TADIAS) – The following is an interview with the critically acclaimed Theatre Director Weyni Mengesha, one of the founding artists of Sound the Horn – the organization behind the annual Selam Youth Festival in Toronto, Canada.
The event, which marks its 5th anniversary this year, was initially developed to empower Ethiopian and Eritrean youth in Canada through education in the arts to raise awareness about the growing number of HIV cases in both communities. Here is an interview with Weyni Mengesha:
TADIAS: How did the concept for Sound the Horn and the Selam Youth Festival come about?
Weyni Mengesha: In 2004 I was a member of People to People Canada’s youth committee along with Jerry Luleseged, Maraki Fikre, Eden Hagos and Shae Zeru. We were asked to create a panel to address the rising rate of HIV within the young members of our community. We felt that it was an important issue but that a panel would not be engaging for youth, and that we needed to do more than deliver statistics. We developed a youth arts festival because we thought the rising rate could also be a symptom of a larger problem. We started thinking of our own confusion around our identity as Ethiopian-Canadians, culture gaps with our Canadian peers, misunderstandings with our parent’s generation and the culture of silence around sexuality. Being misunderstood and lost without open communication within your household could leave young people vulnerable to risky behavior and poor choices around healthy relationships and sexuality. Sound the Horn was developed after the great success of the first festival when we decided to develop the idea further and name ourselves. We have been working together since, developing the festival and training the next generation of artists and community leaders. Sound the Horn leadership program trains ten members a year in different artistic disciplines, health education and leadership skills.
TADIAS: With all the major obstacles that plague African and other third world countries, what was the driving factor in choosing the fight against HIV/AIDS as a main cause for Sound the Horn and the Selam Youth Festival?
Weyni: The original idea was developed with People to People Canada whose focus is HIV education and support, locally and back home. It is a reality we need to be educated about, but it is also an entry point for many discussions around what is causing this to be such a big problem among people 15-26. We thought the best way to find this out is to promote communication between this age group and our community. The festival provides a platform for them to express themselves. There is content around HIV education but there are also many other issues raised through the artists who are free to perform what they want. Ultimately it is a festival built to empower and connect our community and make it healthier.
TADIAS: What can people look forward to in this year’s installment of SYF?
Weyni: We are excited to be bringing Wayna to the festival this year. This will be her first performance in Canada and we are always happy to connect our community to artists from different cities who are gaining success in their respective fields. I think our audiences will be inspired by her story of dedication, hard work and passion that lead her to her dreams. We are also excited to have Aida Ashenafi’s film Guzo which is also a Canadian premiere. I think it will offer many of the young people who have not been back home a better perspective of it. I am also very proud of our own film built by the Sound the Horn leaders that is premiering before Guzo. It is a ten minute short called “The Gap”. It is about mothers and daughters and the generation gap. I think there are lots of important issues raised with heart and humor.
TADIAS: Where do you see STH & SYF in the next 5 years?
Weyni: We have moved from a one day to a three day festival within the five years and I look forward to being able to develop it further, especially in the film section. We would love to present up to four films a year. We would also like to connect with different cities and maybe make a ‘best of’ show and take it on the road.
TADIAS: What inspires you to get involved in the community?
Weyni: I was frustrated growing up in Vancouver as one of the three people of color in my school when the only reference others had for me was from the “we are the world” music video. I remember being excited about the Ethiopian actress on general hospital. I was so hungry to see a reflection of myself in society. This is how I got into the arts, and I credit it with keeping me on the right path. If you don’t find a true reflection you can be vulnerable to investing in whatever images you find. Some of the images I found in the media around what it meant to be black were not productive. I started to create my own expressions, which is a skill I want to offer to the next generation. Sound the horn leaders create work through film, theatre, poetry that is true to who they are and their cultural realities. They become confident and skilled in speaking out and expressing their ideas with their peers and society. I feel the arts can have a huge impact on a community.
TADIAS: You are a well known and critically acclaimed Theatre Director in Canada. What are some of your exciting career highlights?
Weyni: I feel very blessed with my career thus far, I have been able to play shows across Canada, in New York and London. I love traveling because you learn so much about a society by the different ways they receive your art, I find it fascinating and very rewarding.
TADIAS: What is your advice to Diaspora Ethiopian/Eritrean up and coming artists, directors, musicians, etc.?
Weyni: I am afraid it is not going to be anything new but I do feel it is true, stick to your dreams. The more you believe in your dreams and couple them with hard work, the more you will see things fall in into place. Make time for yourself to check in , keep asking yourself what you really want to create. As an artist one of my key tools are my instincts, time alone with your thoughts can sharpen your instincts and keep them unaltered from everything around you which could water down your unique quality.
TADIAS: What should we be looking forward to from you, artistically? Any future projects in the works?
Weyni: My next main stage production is called Yellowman by Dael Orlander-Smith. I am directing it for the 30th anniversary season of Nighwood Theatre Company. It is a piece about shadism, the discrimination between us as black people for our dark or light skin.
TADIAS: Any plans to produce and direct in the US? Ethiopia?
Weyni: I have directed a couple pieces in New York, I love traveling and collaborating with new artists. I look forward to those opportunities arising. All you artists out there who want to collaborate or be involved in our festival please contact me at weyni@soundthehorn.com!
— If you go:
5th Annual Selam Youth Festival
From July 17th – 19th, 2009
104 Cedarvale Avenue
Toronto, ON, M4C 4J8
Phone: 416 690 8005
Above:Six-year-old Abiyu Baker took on the role of his favorite
superhero for a day. The playful young boy from Ethiopia came
to the U.S. seven-month ago, adopted by John and Marissa
Baker. He was born with a blood disorder and is currently
receiving treatment.
New York (TADIAS) – The award-winning Ethiopian film Guzo and Grammy-nominated singer Wayna will be featured at the 5th Annual Selam Youth Festival from July 17th – 19th, 2009 in Toronto, Canada.
The annual festival, organized by a group of artists including the artistic director Weyni Mengesha, aims to empower Ethiopian and Eritrean youth in Canada through education in the arts to raise awareness about the growing number of HIV cases in both communities. Per the event’s flier, the festival showcases spoken word, dance, film, theater, hip-hop and more.
The film Guzo, which won best picture at the 2009 Addis International Film Festival, chronicles the interaction between two young residents of Addis Ababa and their peers in the Ethiopian countryside. Over the course of 20-days both the urbanites and country folks were forced to confront stereotypes about each other and grapple with issues of gender and privilege. The film made its U.S. premiere in Washington D.C. on May 9th at GMU’s Lisner Theater.
— If you go:
5th Annual Selam Youth Festival
From July 17th – 19th, 2009
104 Cedarvale Avenue
Toronto, ON, M4C 4J8
Phone: 416 690 8005
July 13 (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia devalued its currency, the
birr, 9.9 percent against the dollar on July 10 after difficulty
obtaining foreign exchange led to shortages of imported
goods such as auto parts and medical supplies. Read more.
Examiner.com
By Shirlene Alusa-Brown
Baltimore Ethnic Events Examiner
July 12, 2009
The Walters Art Museum has one of the largest collections of Ethiopian art outside of Ethiopia. The collection of Ethiopian Art at the Walters Art Museum is exhibited with those of Byzantium and Russia in a permanent gallery devoted to the art of the Orthodox world. The Ethiopian collection of art is very large and rivals the Byzantium and Russian collections. Read more.
New York – (Tadias) – Walters Art Museum Director Gary Vikan’s fascination with Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian art began in a Washington D.C. basement during the 1960s.
——————————————————————————————– Listen on WNYC:Dr. Gary Vikan, Director of the Walters
Art Museum, talks about the significance of Ethiopian
religious icons and other objects of worship on display
at the Museum of Biblical Art.
——————————————————————————————-
“I do remember going into somebody’s house in Washington [D.C.] and seeing the Virgin [Mary] with these huge, dark eyes,” Vikan said during a recent interview. “And I remember the moment I saw it and where I was standing. The memory is very strong.”
Private collections throughout the world, like those protected beneath a Washington D.C. house, inside rock-hewn Christian monasteries in Ethiopia, or above ground in a New York City SoHo loft, have provided the Walters Art Museum with a majority of its Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian art, Vikan said.
Vikan only began collecting Ethiopian Orthodox Christian art for the Walters in 1993, the same year he curated “African Zion: The Sacred Art of Ethiopia,” an historical exhibition he said served as a “flashpoint” for the current strife occurring in Ethiopia at the time.
“In the context of doing the exhibition, it was not easy. It was a troubled moment historically” in Ethiopia, Vikan said, with Mengistu Haile Mariam’s reign of Red Terror having just ended. The trial that would prosecute members of the communist Derg, mostly in absentia, would soon begin.
“These aspects put people on edge, and they kind of spilled over, not into the exhibition itself, but the different views, it was very interesting,” he said. “The exhibition had facets that most exhibitions don’t have.”
A year later, Vikan, a medieval orthodox art scholar and trained Byzantinist, moved from chief curator to director of the Walters and began collecting Ethiopian Orthodox Christian art in earnest. The Walters now boasts the largest collection of this type of Ethiopian devotional art outside of Ethiopia in the world.
“Certainly the best, from some very interesting private collections,” Vikan said. “I was attracted to it before anyone paid much attention to it.”
When the collection of a sub-Saharan art dealer who passed away was being sold off, Vikan got a call.
“Somebody selling off the collection who knew about me – this would’ve been in 1995 in New York in a loft in SoHo – they invited me down to look at this and I thought, ‘This is really amazing,’” Vikan recalled. A stock market windfall allowed Vikan to buy a number of those pieces for the Walters, and they are now included in the museum’s 100-piece collection of metalwork, icon painting, woodcarvings and ancient manuscripts that span 1,500 years of Ethiopian Christian devotion. The collection is now the central exhibit on the medieval floor of the Walters Art Museum.
“It’s in the pride position because it is so visually powerful that nothing else could dominate it,” Vikan said. “It dominates the Byzantine art around it.”
The Ethiopian Orthodox Christian collection also shares the medieval floor with Russian, Byzantine, and Georgian Orthodox art in the Baltimore museum.
“The others revolve around Ethiopia,” Vikan said. “It would make the room look funny [if they didn’t] because the others are not as visually strong.”
New Yorkers were recently given an opportunity to view about half of the Walters’ collection when the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City hosted “Angels of Light: Ethiopian Art from The Walters Art Museum” from March 23 through May 20.
If museum-goers had a feeling they were being watched as they entered the “Angels of Light” exhibition at the MOBIA, they had good reason. Huge, dark eyes similar to those that greeted Vikan in that Washington D.C. basement over 40 years ago were looking out from various devotional icon paintings depicting Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, almost always flanked by angels with equally large eyes that symbolize holiness.
Above:Anonymous painter. Triptych with Virgin and Child
Flanked by archangels, scenes from the life of Christ,
apostles and Saint George and Saint Mercurius. Ethiopia
(Gojjam?), late 17th century. Tempera on panel. 14 78 x
4 5/16 inches left; 15 1/8 x 9 inches center; 15 1/16 x 4
7/16 inches right. 36.7 museum purchased, the W. Alton
Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund, 1996, from the Nancy
and Robert Nooter Collection.
Most of the iconic paintings date between the 15th to 17th centuries in diptychs and triptychs depicting familiar Christian scenes – Christ on the cross; the Virgin Mary, seated, with the Christ child holding a book in his left hand, and embraced in Mary’s left arm with the first two fingers of her right hand pointing downward; Christ with a crown of thorns, Christ teaching the apostles.
While the compositions of these depictions can be traced to visiting missionaries and artists carrying with them Byzantine and Western examples of Christian iconic devotional paintings after the 14th century, the Ethiopian depictions are unique from any other depiction of Christian scenes in the world, MOBIA curator Holly Flora said.
“Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity has a very close relationship to angels that is not always found elsewhere,” said Flora. “Objects relating to healing as well are emphasized in Ethiopian art.”
Also unique to the art of Ethiopian Orthodoxy is the artists’ use of vibrant colors in paintings and manuscripts.
Above:Diptych with Virgin and Child flanked by archangels, apostles,
and Saint George. Ethiopia, late 15th century. Tempera on panel.
To understand what makes Ethiopian Orthodox Christian art unique, one must understand the role African traditional religions and Judaism played in Ethiopian culture prior to the introduction to Christianity, said Ayele Bekerie, assistant professor at Cornell University’s Africana Studies and Research Center.
“The influence of ancient religious traditions are manifested in what we now call Ethiopian Christianity, particularly in reaching out to angels and visualizing the biblical stories in colors and styles inspired by the material culture and environment,” Bekerie said. “It is important to note that most monasteries and some churches are built on top of hills and mountains where you experience remarkable and colorful views of the sunrise and sunset. Besides, the landscape is always a panorama of rainbow colors.”
Ethiopian Christianity also evolved out of a Judaic culture as well, established over 3,000 years ago. Bekerie tells the story:
“Judaism is introduced to Ethiopia at the time of Empress Makeda (She is also called Azeb and Queen of Sheba) and her son, Menelik I, the founder of the Solomonic Dynasty in Ethiopia. According to Ethiopian oral tradition, Empress Makeda paid a visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem where she made a deliberate journey in order to learn from the reported wisdom of the king. She did achieve her objective and even more by giving birth to Menelik, the son of the king. Menelik’s rite of passage was to travel to Jerusalem to meet with his father. The overjoyed king asked him to become the king of Israel, but the son wanted to return back to Ethiopia.”
“His return (there are many versions) resulted in the establishment of Judaism (a new tradition of believing in one God) in Ethiopia with the most important sacred symbol of the Ark at the center of the new belief system. When later on, Christianity emerged in Ethiopia, we observe a logical evolution of the faith from Judaism. This is because the Ethiopian Christianity is the only Christianity in the world that embraces and holds the Ark of the Covenant as its defining sacred symbol.”
“Ethiopians believe the Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia,” Flora said. “They will tell you unequivocally the Ark is there.”
Ethiopians believe the Ark is located in the Aksumite Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, but every church in Ethiopia and throughout the world must have a replica of the Ark in order affirm their legitimacy, Bekerie said.
Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian civilizations in the world. The religion was practiced along the Ethiopian coastline as early as 42 A.D., Bekerie said, after a Meroë (in what is modern day Sudan) merchant introduced commoners to the religion. Due to the inclusive nature of African traditional religions, Christians were able to worship openly without fear of persecution.
Perhaps more significantly, Ethiopia became one of the first countries in the world to take Christianity as its state religion approximately 300 years later when, according to legend, Frumentius, a Christian merchant seaman from Tyre on his way to India with relatives, became shipwrecked and was delivered to the king in Axum, a powerful world empire in the fourth century, Bekerie said.
“He was raised with special care and managed to master the language and traditions of the Aksumites,” said Bekerie. When the king’s son Ezana, came to power, the long-trusted Frumentius convinced him to make Christianity the state religion.
Proof of the conversion is part of the Walters Art Museum collection. Two silver coins, slightly larger in diameter than a pencil eraser, and crafted in the 4th century, show on one side the likeness of Aksumite King Ousanas, on the other, a cross. Aksumite coins are the first in the world to carry the cross, pre-dating Constantinople.
African traditional religious practices were also incorporated into the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian religion.
Protective scrolls, made for those who were ill or believed to be possessed by demons, were created (and still are today in some remote villages, Flora said), by clerics known as däbtära. The däbtära would sacrifice a goat, sprinkle the ill or those believed to be possessed with the goat’s blood, then fashion the scroll from the sacrificed goat’s skin, Flora said.
A healing scroll from the 18th century obtained by the Walters Museum and on display there, was created for a woman named “Martha.” The scrolls combined Christian imagery with magical incantations written in Ge´ez, a liturgical language developed in Ethiopia in the 4th century. The incantations were book-ended by talismans drawn at the top and bottom of the scroll and are believed to protect their owners, Flora said. The scrolls’ recipients then wore the prayer scrolls until they were believed healed.
Above:Prayer Scroll. Ethiopia,
19th century. Ink on parchment.
65 9/16 x 3 7/16 inches. W.788,
gift of Mr. James St. Lawrence
O’Toole, 1978.
Another prayer object that is unique to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and features the well-honed abilities of Ethiopian metalworkers are processional crosses. Draped in purple textiles, the MOBIA featured six such crosses, almost six feet in height, dating as far back as the 13th century. Made of gold or silver, these crosses are carried by priests during processions and feature intricate geometrical patterns, Flora said.
“Priests carried these during mass and also used them as instruments of blessing,” she said.
Above:Hand Cross. Ethiopia, 18th–19th century.
While Ethiopian artists were almost unquestionably influenced by Western and Byzantine devotional icon painting in the 15th century, due in part, museum curators suggest, to the destruction of many church murals and liturgical objects during the Muslim invasions of the 1530s and 1540s, Bekerie said some observers are too quick to see overt Western influence in Ethiopian artists’ creative thought.
“It seems to me there is some sort of mental block not to acknowledge originality and creativity in the Ethiopian artists,” he said. “I always advise scholars to use the example of the architecture of the Debre Damo Monastery, the oldest monastery in Ethiopia.”
The monastery is constructed of stone blocks and logs, creating a distinct architectural feature, Bekerie said. Distinct painting traditions have also emerged in different regions of Ethiopia and are pursued by students over the centuries.
The monarchy and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian Church were institutional pillars that guided culture and politics in Ethiopia until the monarchy’s fall in 1974, Bekerie said.
“The monarchy is gone and the church is still place,” he said. “It is true that there are other religious institutions, including Islamic, Catholic and Protestant institutions. The oldest and by far the most influential is the Tewahedo Church. [Its] influence is apparent in art, music, social relations, food habits and literature.”
And as the collection of Ethiopian art becomes more popular, the sources for these collections become fewer, said Vikan.
“All of it’s drying up and that’s a good thing,” he said. “We need this art to be shown outside of the country, but [its distribution] needs to be controlled and shown in a way that acknowledges the dignity of the culture from which it comes.”
— About the Author: Colleen Lutolf is a reporter for Tadias Magazine.
Above:While the history of the moment was lost on no
one and Mr. Obama bathed in the rapturous welcome, he also
delivered a strong and at times even stern message.
(Photo: Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)
CAPE COAST, Ghana — President Obama traveled in his father’s often-troubled home continent on Saturday as a potent symbol of a new political era but also as a messenger with a tough-love theme: American aid must be matched by Africa’s responsibility for its own problems. “We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans,” Mr. Obama said in an address to Parliament in the capital, Accra, that was televised across the continent. Read More.
Video: Obama on Africa’s Role as Global Partner EUX.TV
WATCH: Obama Visits Historic Slave Trading Site In Ghana
Obama’s Ghana Trip Sends Message Across Africa (Video) Story Highlights
-People in Ghana wearing Obama clothing ahead of U.S. President’s visit
-Obama has singled Ghana out for praise over its democratic commitment
-Some in other countries view Obama’s Ghana visit as a snub to them
The president later heads to Ghana today, and that trip also will carry plenty of symbolic significance — and could demonstrate why Obama has the opportunity to do something in Africa that just isn’t about throwing money at the challenges that continent faces. In fact, at his press conference this morning, Obama told a personal story about his family struggles in Kenya. He mentioned that he still has relatives living in poverty there. And he stressed that Africa’s problems didn’t have to do with history or colonialism — but were instead a result of the governmental problems there. “The telling point is when my father traveled to the United States from Kenya to study … the per capita income of Kenya was higher than South Korea’s,” he said, per the AP. He also said people in Kenya can’t find a job without paying a bribe; that’s not the fault of the G8. “If you talk to people on the ground in Africa, certainly in Kenya… they will say that part of the issue is that the institutions are not working for ordinary people,” he said. So when Obama says these governments needs to stop blaming the West or stop blaming history, Africa really might listen to Obama.
Above:“The 36-year-old Gebrselassie is probably the best
example of an Ethiopian rags-to-riches story. He has come
a long way from the deprivation he grew up in in the fertile
Arsi region.”
AFP
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — On the concrete tiers of Meskel Square, a vast rallying point in Addis Ababa, armies of aspiring athletes scamper around despite biting, pre-dawn cold as they wait for their trainers to arrive. Read more.
For 25 years British documentary maker Charles Stewart has filmed Ethiopian man Aklug Adarge. The BBC’s Adam Mynott reports on one man’s life, beset by the challenges of famine and conflict, which is emblematic of the lives of so many Ethiopians.
In 1984 at the height of the worst famine in living memory thousands of people clinging to life in the highlands in the centre and north of Ethiopia were resettled.
Some were forcibly moved, others went voluntarily.
One young man Aklug Adarge was amongst those who decided to leave. He lived with his mother, sister and younger brother near the village of Arb Gebaya. Read more at BBC.
Above: A vendor holds Michael Jackson t-shirt near Apollo
theater in New York. (Photo by Kidane Mariam for Tadias).
Michael Jackson was honored at a Los Angeles memorial
service as millions watched via TV and the internet.
Related: Michael Jackson – A Trip Down Memory Lane at the Apollo Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated: Tuesday, July 7, 2009
New York (Tadias) – As the world waited for Michael Jackson’s public memorial at L.A.’s Staples Center, New York held its own remembrance ceremony in Harlem on June 30, 2009 at the world famous Apollo Theater, which helped propel the legendary singer to international stardom in 1967.
Inside the theater, a moment of silence led by the Rev. Al Sharpton was observed at 5.26 p.m., the star’s exact time of death.
And outside, admirers wrote their condolences on a temporary mural wall, and lit candles, placed flowers and souvenirs by the wall. They cried, sang and danced into the night.
Here is a short Tadias video of the scene outside Apollo Theater on
June 30, 2009.
New York (Tadias) – Good Will for Ethiopia, a Virginia based non-profit organization that operates poverty reduction programs in Addis Ababa, is planning a celebration to honor Michael Jackson and his humanitarian contributions to Ethiopia, organizers announced.
“We, the students of Good will for Ethiopia, want to recognize and celebrate his life…he was indeed a humanitarian who raised attention to poverty through his songs: “We Are the World,” and “Man in the Mirror,” and his USA For Africa project,” the group said in a statement.
“We are the World raised awareness towards famine and poverty in Ethiopia. Michael wrote the song and gathered many stars to make it happen. Michael Jackson’s sudden death shocked us all in Ethiopia.”
The event is scheduled for Sunday, July 12th 2009, from 2pm to 7pm at the Exhibition Hall, behind Meskel Square.
For information, contact: Ms. Aster Dawit at adawit@goodwillforethiopia.org. Phone: +09-11-216732 or +09-11-315610
Related: Michael Jackson: What I wish he’d known Examiner
By Michael McGuire
(With 30 years of experience in journalism, Michael McGuire has been a newspaper and financial editor, entertainment writer and online services coordinator. He can be reached at michaelmcguire@charter.net.)
In 1985, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote a song that was to reach the No. 1 spot in about 21 countries. “We are the World” was intended to raise money for and awareness of famine in a number of African nations, with a particular emphasis placed on Ethiopia. A grand concert was to follow later to raise more money. I believe I was able to part with five bucks and wished there was more I could do but it was not possible, at the time. The song and Live Aid remained in my thoughts for many years and, in 1996, my wife and I adopted two little girls from Ethiopia. I frequently find myself feeling I have learned more about life from them than they have learned from me. They are the fulfillment of our lives.
Michael Jackson with Slash – Black Or White (Live)
Related: The Song Michael Jackson Co-wrote to Benefit Ethiopia Above:To raise money for the 1984-1985 famine in Ethiopia,
45 popular singers collaborated to record the charity single
“We Are the World”, co-written by Michael Jackson and
Lionel Richie. They included Harry Belafonte, Stevie Wonder,
Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, The Pointer Sisters, Kenny Rogers,
Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon, Tina Turner and
many more. (Photo: United Support of Artists for Africa)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Monday, June 28, 2009
New York (Tadias) – The painfully wrenching images of hungry children, which invaded living rooms around the world in the mid 80’s, prompted Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to organize the 1985 Live Aid concert and ‘raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia’. The multi-nation event, which showcased some of the biggest names in the music industry, included Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the project’s signature song “We Are the World” along with Lionel Richie.
The song was recorded on the night of January 28, 1985, following the American Music Awards.
Michael Jackson skipped the A&M Studios ceremony in Hollywood, California in order to prepare the song track as a guide for the rest of the singers, whom he helped persuade to participate in the charity concert. The documentary ” We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song” , described by the New York Times as a film “which examines how the song was written, how producer Quincy Jones and songwriters Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie persuaded some of the most popular performers in America to donate their services to the project…,” highlights Michael Jackson’s important contribution to one of the biggest people-to-people humanitarian projects focusing on Africa. Participating artists included: Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Harry Belafonte, Bob Geldof, and many more.
A quick search in Wiki about the song reveals an intense moment of artistic conflict during rehearsal:
“The dispute started when Stevie Wonder announced that he would like to substitute a line in Swahili. After a few rehearsals, a full-fledged creative conflict broke out. Geldof pointed out that Ethiopians do not speak Swahili. Michael Jackson then proposed to keep his original line “Sha-lim sha-lingay” but after a few rehearsals, it too ran into opposition, because it does not have a meaning. Eventually Al Jarreau cried, “We can make a meaning” and came up with “One World, our word” which was changed one last time in “One world, our children.”
The following two part video gives behind the scenes look at the project.
EDMOND, Okla. — A 22-year-old man drowned at an apartment complex swimming pool in Edmond on Monday, police confirmed. Mareyano Asefaw came to the United States from Ethiopia in March and was recently married, said police spokeswoman Glynda Chu. Police said he drowned in a pool at the Boulder Creek apartments, located at 3621 Wynn Drive. Click here to watch the video report.
New York (TADIAS) – As the world waited for Michael Jackson’s public memorial at L.A.’s Staples Center, New York held its own remembrance ceremony in Harlem on June 30, 2009 at the world famous Apollo Theater, which helped propel the legendary singer to international stardom in 1967.
Inside the theater, a moment of silence led by the Rev. Al Sharpton was observed at 5.26 p.m., the star’s exact time of death.
And outside, admirers wrote their condolences on a temporary mural wall, and lit candles, placed flowers and souvenirs by the wall. They cried, sang and danced into the night.
Here is a short Tadias video of the scene outside Apollo Theater on June 30, 2009:
Above:A postal worker was shot in the face when he
attempted to intervene after a bank robbery near
Indianapolis, Indiana Thursday. The suspect
Brook Abebe, 42, was arrested after the incident.
Above:Dub Colossus in a Town Called Addis was inspired by
meeting, writing and working with Ethiopian singers and
musicians in Addis Ababa in August 2006, including Singer
Sintayehu ‘Mimi’ Zenebe (Pictured above).
Financial Times
By David Honigmann
Published: July 3 2009
One of the certainties of life in Addis Ababa is that the rainy season will knock out the phone network. Tsedenia Gebremarkos-Woldesilassie, one of Ethiopia’s most celebrated and decorated singers, is driving through the city at high speed, yelling into her mobile, intermittently apologising as the line fractures and drops, recalling the encounter that will soon bring her to England. Read More.
Chicago (Tadias) – The Week-long annual Ethiopian Soccer Tournament, which opened in Chicago on June 28, will conclude this weekend with a cultural festival and the final games to be held at Lane Tech Stadium.
Although we don’t have actual numbers, the crowd in Chicago seems smaller than the 2008 turnout in Washington D.C.; the festivities however are just as upbeat. Organizers are gearing up for their signature Ethiopia Day Celebration, a popular and colorful cultural display of music, dance and food. Last year’s event featured Ethiopian music legend, the late Tilahun Gessesse. The 2009 ceremonies honor another cultural icon and musician, Mulatu Astatke, among others.
As for the soccer competition: So far over 45 games have already been held involving 27 teams representing various cities from the U.S. and Canada. Four teams have advanced to the semifinals including San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle and the defending champions, Washington D.C.
The following images were captured by Nolawi Petros for Tadias Magazine.
Above: The film shows the story of Almaz (above) and her
family. An Ethiopian immigrant dreams of becoming
the Spike Lee of Israel and decides to video document
his community. “Much of the story is told through
the lens of his personal video camera as he travels
his neighborhood filming everyone and everything
from the mundane to the criminal.”
(Amharic and Hebrew w/English subtitles).
Events News
July 2, 2009
New York – Zrubavel, the first domestic film about Ethiopians in Israel, which screened in New York at the 6th Annual Sheba Film Festival in May 2009, will open in theaters today.
Even after three decades, all that most Israelis know about this population of more than 110,000 is what they read in newspaper reports: problems of integration, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence – or, more rarely, one successful Ethiopian immigrant who becomes a doctor, a pilot or a famous singer or actor. But what do we really know about the Ethiopian Jews of Israel – their values, their traditions, their language, their music, their food, their dreams, their problems and how they deal with them, their feelings?.
New York (TADIAS) – Mekdes Bekele, founder of Abshirokids, a company that provides Ethiopian parents with teaching resources on language and cultural topics, is launching one of the country’s first inter-generational summer family camps dedicated to teaching Ethiopian heritage and culture.
The weekend event at Massaneta Springs, a charming camp and conference center situated in the heart of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, will begin at noon on Friday, July 24 and concludes at noon on Sunday, July 26. The scheduled summer fun for the entire family includes both outdoor and indoor activities, including educational seminars and conferences for parents.
Here is an interview with Mekdes Bekele, who is also a mother of a young daughter.
Tadias: Mekdes, congratulations on launching this program. How does the summer camp work?
Mekdes: Thank you. The camp is designed for the entire family. We provide guests and presenters who are highly qualified and experts in their field.
There are age-appropriate activities that will appeal to both parents and their youngsters. We have activities that are geared specifically for kids from toddler to elementary school children. We also have activities that would appeal to teenagers and young adults. For the parents we have seminars and conferences that help in raising children in a multicultural environment. In addition, we have programs that would attract the entire family – such as singing, dance (Eskista), camp fire, group meals, canoe rides, hiking, volleyball, swimming, etc. The best way for people to get a good idea of the types of activities we have is to visit our website at heritageandculturecamp.org and click on Programs.
Tadias: Are there special challenges in teaching youngsters about their heritage and culture?
Mekdes: Yes, definitely. The primary obstacle is the lack of language skills. Language provides a gateway to understanding and being part of a culture. For this reason, we have a heavy focus on language. As it is well known, the younger the child, the more quickly they can absorb a new language. For this reason, we encourage parents to teach their children an Ethiopian language at an early age.
But there are also opportunities in teaching youngsters about heritage and culture. As I alluded to earlier, the sooner a child is introduced to the culture, the quicker and more long lasting the benefits. We believe that a child growing up in America that has a solid grounding in their or their parents culture will have a more positive self image and better self awareness.
Tadias: How old does a child have to be in order to be eligible to participate?
Mekdes: Since this is a family camp, there is no minimum age limit, as long as a youngster is accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Tadias: What is the duration of camp?
Mekdes: The camp will start on Friday July 24th 2009 at Noon and conclude on Sunday July 26th atNoon. It is a three-day event, however families have the option to attend either the entire Camp or come for the Saturday activities only.
Tadias: How much does it cost to participate?
Mekdes: The price varies based on the number of family members. Typically, the cost is approximately $550 for a family of 3. This price covers 2 nights select accommodations, all meals (Friday lunch through Sunday lunch, including Ethiopian Banquet, with professional music and dance show), child care, if needed. Our web site has a price calculator as part of the registration process.
Tadias: Your summer camp is in Virgina? Do you offer special package rates for out-of-state children?
Mekdes: The event will be held at Massaneta Springs – a beautiful camp and conference location near the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia. It is a short 2 hour drive from the DC Metro area and within easy driving distance from most places on the East Coast. The community has embraced this camp; in addition to families coming from the surrounding areas, we already have families registered from as far away as Florida, Ohio. and Kansas. There is no difference in price for in state and out of state attendees.
Tadias: On your promotional material you mention creating a support-group for Ethiopian parents and adoptive parents of Ethiopian children. Could you please tell us a bit more about that?
Mekdes: Whether adoptive or biological parents, we have the common goal of raising 1st generation Ethiopian Americans. What we offer is a venue and the opportunity for like minded parents of children with Ethiopian heritage to interact among each other and share experiences and knowledge on how to raise confident, capable, and compassionate Ethiopian-Americans. For example at this camp we will cover topics that apply to all of us such as: Raising confident children in a culture conscious world, Struggling for identity, and at a panel discussion parents will hear and learn from the experiences of Ethiopian-American young adults on the challenges and the opportunities of growing up in America.
Tadias: You also run another business called Abshiro Kids, which provides Ethiopian parents with teaching resources on language and cultural topics. Please tell our readers about Abshiro Kids.
Mekdes: Abshirokids, is a business that I founded to fulfill a vastly unmet need, exemplified by my own need as a parent, for resources and guidance to help teach children to speak Amharic and provide a positive cultural influence. Our main focus is to use language as the primary method to ensure that kids are connected to their culture, thus our slogan “Connecting Our Kids”
We select the products we offer with the highest standards in mind. We have also produced original material such as our popular Feedel alphabet poster. Abshirokids strives to be the most reliable resource for Ethiopian heritage families’ linguistic needs. We encourage families to incorporate language in their daily life by making these activities fun and appealing for kids. Very good examples are our Activity place mats and Feedel place mats. In addition to Feedel we offer books, CD’s songbooks and DVDs at our website: www.abshirokids.com.
Tadias: Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
The Heritage and Culture Camp is a not for profit endeavor that is partially supported by Abshirokids. This camp is a labor of love by a very dedicated group of volunteers, parents as well as others, that are putting in hundreds of hours of work to make this event a reality. It is the vision of a group of parents (our steering committee) that is coming to fruition.
Above: A woman saluted as a CNN Hero was among a
group of creative philanthropists honored Tuesday by
President Obama. The White House event highlighted
nonprofit programs that are making a difference. Alfa
Demmellash was invited after White House staffers saw
her being profiled on CNN. Demmellash runs Rising Tide
Capital, a company in New Jersey that helps low-income
entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses. (CNN).
Watch: Obama Recognizes Alfa Demmellash
CNN Hero Alfa Demmellash reacts to being recognized by
President Obama for her nonprofit work
Another Ethiopian-American CNN Hero Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated: Thursday, July 2, 2009
New York (Tadias) – Here is another CNN hero to cheer for. Alfa
Demmellash, a graduate of Harvard, is a New Jersey based social
entrepreneur whose organization, Rising Tide Capital, serves aspiring
business owners living in distressed urban communities in her state.
Video: Alfa’s interview with TsehaiNYRelated: CNN Hero: Ethiopian Woman builds school after hyena kills girl
When Washington manicurist Lidia Schaefer returned to her native
village in Ethiopia, she was troubled by what she saw: children
walking three hours each way to attend classes held not in a
school, but under a tree. CNN.com/Heroes
Related Video: Ethiopian CNN Hero Meets Supporters in NYC
Yohannes Gebregeorgis, one of the Top Ten CNN Heroes of 2008,
at Cafe Addis in Harlem, NYC. The event took place on Saturday,
December 13, 2008.
Above:For the first time in the event’s 26-year history, the
annual Ethiopian Soccer Tournament is being hosted by the
city of Chicago this year. The 2009 event opened on June 28.
Chicago (Tadias) – Ethiopians from across the U.S. are gathering in Chicago for the 2009 Soccer tournament.
The event, which also doubles as an annual cultural festival, celebrates its 26th anniversary this year. The Chicago festivities opened at Lane Tech Stadium on June 28th in the presence of this year’s guests of honor Ethiopian jazz musician Mulatu Astatke and others.
The annual event goes beyond sports entertainment, allowing families and friends in North America’s Ethiopian immigrant community to come together in celebration of both sports and their cultural heritage. The tournament weekend is a popular time for networking, alumni gatherings, small business catering, music performances, and reunion parties.
This is the first time the “Windy City” is hosting the event. Here are photos from the opening ceremonies. Stay tuned for more photos: by Nolawi Petros for Tadias.
Related from Tadias photo archives: 2008 D.C. Soccer Tournament Above:Ababa Tesafye attended the event as guest of honor. He celebrated his
birthday on July 4th. The announcer did not mention the beloved children’s television
entertainer’s age. People familiar with Ababa Tesfaye say he does not know the year
he was born. At the Ethiopians for Obama booth. We even spotted a vendor selling Obama Juice. At the international Ethiopian Women Association booth.
New York (Tadias) – The wrenching images of hungry children, which invaded living rooms around the world in the mid 80’s, prompted Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to organize the 1985 Live Aid concert and ‘raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia’. The multi-nation event, which showcased some of the biggest names in the music industry, included Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the project’s signature song “We Are the World” along with Lionel Richie.
The song was recorded on the night of January 28, 1985, following the American Music Awards.
Michael Jackson skipped the A&M Studios ceremony in Hollywood, California in order to prepare the song track as a guide for the rest of the singers, whom he helped persuade to participate in the charity concert. The documentary ” We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song” , described by the New York Times as a film “which examines how the song was written, how producer Quincy Jones and songwriters Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie persuaded some of the most popular performers in America to donate their services to the project…,” highlights Michael Jackson’s important contribution to one of the biggest people-to-people humanitarian projects focusing on Africa. Participating artists included: Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Harry Belafonte, Bob Geldof, and many more.
A quick search in Wiki about the song reveals an intense moment of artistic conflict during rehearsal:
“The dispute started when Stevie Wonder announced that he would like to substitute a line in Swahili. After a few rehearsals, a full-fledged creative conflict broke out. Geldof pointed out that Ethiopians do not speak Swahili. Michael Jackson then proposed to keep his original line “Sha-lim sha-lingay” but after a few rehearsals, it too ran into opposition, because it does not have a meaning. Eventually Al Jarreau cried, “We can make a meaning” and came up with “One World, our word” which was changed one last time in “One world, our children.”
WASHINGTON, DC – The White House announced today the appointment of 15 outstanding men and women to serve as White House Fellows. The 2009-2010 class of White House Fellows represents diverse cross-section of professions including medicine, business, media, education, non-profit and state government, as well as two branches of the U.S. military. The 2009-2010 class of Fellows and their biographies are included below.
“We are thrilled that these exceptional men and women will be joining us here in Washington for the next year,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “The program not only allows for a variety of perspectives to come together, offering expertise and experience to benefit the administration’s efforts, but these Fellows in turn carry what they’ve learned to their own communities to benefit Americans far beyond the walls of the White House.”
The White House Fellows Program was created in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to give promising American leaders “first hand, high-level experience with the workings of the Federal government, and to increase their sense of participation in national affairs.” This unique position in our nation’s government encourages active citizenship and service to the nation. The Fellows also take part in an education program designed to broaden their knowledge of leadership, policy formulation, military operations, and current affairs. Community service is another important component of the program, and Fellows participate in service projects throughout the year in the Washington, DC area. Since 1964, over 600 outstanding American men and women have participated in the White House Fellows program, each chosen because of their extraordinary leadership ability and service to others.
Selection as a White House Fellow is highly competitive and based on a record of remarkable professional achievement early in one’s career, evidence of leadership potential, a proven commitment to public service, and the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute successfully at the highest levels of the Federal government. Throughout its history, the program has fostered leaders in many fields including Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, U.S. Representative Joe Barton, writer Doris Kearns Goodwin, former Travelocity CEO Michelle Peluso, former CNN Chairman and CEO Tom Johnson, former Univision President Luis Nogales, and U.S. Court of Appeals Judges M. Margaret McKeown and Deanell Tacha.
2009-2010 Class of White House Fellows
Mehret Mandefro, 32. Hometown: Alexandria, VA. Mehret Mandefro is a primary care physician and HIV prevention researcher. She most recently was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Her research addresses the intersection of violence prevention and HIV prevention and the application of digital media in translating research. She completed a Primary Care internal medicine residency at Montefiore Hospital where she founded a nonprofit called TruthAIDS that is focused on health literacy efforts among vulnerable populations. Mehret is the managing editor for www.truthaids.org and conducts workshops on HIV prevention, health disparities, and the public health uses of media nationally and internationally as part of TruthAIDS’ outreach efforts. Her ethnographic work about HIV positive women’s lives in the South Bronx and Ethiopia is the subject of a full-feature documentary film entitled All of Us, which premiered on Showtime Networks for World AIDS Day and is used nationwide by community-based organizations and universities as an educational tool. Mehret received a BA cum laude in Anthropology and a Medical Doctorate from Harvard University, and a Masters of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as a Fulbright Scholar.
Tadias Magazine
Photos by Jeffrey Phipps
(Tadias contributing photographer)
Updated: Saturday, June 27, 2009
New York (Tadias) – Soon after the news broke that Michael Jackson, the 50-year old “King of Pop” had died, fans gathered near Harlem’s Apollo, where he was fondly remembered for his legendary performance at the world famous theater.
“The entire Apollo family is saddened to learn of Michael Jackson’s untimely passing,” said Jonelle Procope, president and CEO of the Apollo Theater Foundation Inc. “Michael first performed at the Apollo in 1969 with his brothers when he was only 9 years old, winning Amateur Night and catapulting their career as the Jackson 5. We will always remember Michael in our hearts as a true Apollo legend, known for his professionalism and grace. Our sympathy goes out to his entire family. He will be deeply missed.”
The crowed celebrated with tears and the moonwalk dance popularized by Michael Jackson. People wore t-shirts depicting the pop icon, which are ubiquitous among Harlem’s colorful vendor stands.
Tadias contributing photographer Jeffrey Phipps took the following
photos (SLIDESHOW).
Above:American pop legend Michael Jackson died Thursday
in Los Angeles after arriving at U.C.L.A. Medical Center in a
coma. He was 50. He is pictured here at the 1984 Grammys.
Jackson won eight awards for Thriller. Click here for Michael
Jackson’s Life In Pictures.
LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson, whose quintessentially American tale of celebrity
and excess took him from musical boy wonder to global pop superstar to sad figure
haunted by lawsuits and failed plastic surgery, was pronounced dead Thursday
afternoon at U.C.L.A. Medical Center after arriving in a coma, according to a city
official. He was just 50 years old, 39 of which he spent in the public eye he loved. Read more.
New York (TADIAS) – In continuation of the six-year tour of the United States, Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia opened today at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York.
Organizers held a press preview in mid-town Manhattan this morning and unveiled a multi-media exhibition of Lucy’s fossils – one of the earliest human ancestors discovered in Ethiopia. Additional items including ancient Ethiopian Orthodox bibles, biblical manuscripts, copies of the Holy Koran from the Harar region, and other historical materials conveying Ethiopia’s ancient Abrahamic heritage and diverse cultures were shown.
A replica of the Axum obelisk and the Lalibela church, designed by American artists for the exhibition, were also on display.
Donald Johanson, who made the landmark discovery of Lucy in 1974, told Tadias Magazine that the famous bones are a very important reminder of our origins in Ethiopia. “She reminds us that all of us began in Africa,” the Arizona State University Professor said during an interview at the museum. “Ethiopians should be very proud of that fact, that our ancient ancestor has been found in Ethiopia, and it is a rare opportunity for the country to share these antiquities with the rest of the world.”
Donald Johanson, the man who discovered Lucy, at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York,June 24, 2009. (Photo by Tadias Magazine)
There have been many versions of how Lucy got her name. Johanson shared its origins with us. “I was there with my girlfriend Pamela, and the Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ was playing on a small radio…that’s how she was named.” According to Johanson, an official at the Ministry of Culture, Bekele Negussie, gave Lucy her Ethiopian name Dinkenesh, which in amharic means ‘you are wonderful.’
“I hope this exhibition will encourage people to travel to Ethiopia and experience this great nation,” Johanson said.
However, several scientists have shared their concern and disapproval of the exhibition citing that Lucy’s remains are too fragile for touring and travel. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. has refused to display Lucy amidst such concerns.
Mamitu Yilma, Manger of the National Museum of Ethiopia, who attended the NYC opening, says she understands the controversy. “Although the concerns are legitimate, we have done a lot of work and professional due diligence before Lucy was allowed to leave Ethiopia,” she says. ” At the end, it is about sharing Ethiopia’s rich history, diverse culture, and our tremendous contribution to world civilization.” And “What better place to do it than in New York City, the capital of multiculturalism.”
Dirk Van Tuerenhout, Curator of the show, hopes that the exhibition will serve as an ‘Ethiopia 101’ course for the American public. “My greatest joy is when people say: “Wow, I had no idea that the Queen of Sheba was Ethiopian or that Rastafarianism is related to the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. I hope the show inspires young children to become anthropologists or archaeologists or researchers”.
The show will remain open in New York until October 24th, 2009
Here are more photos:
NYT Photographer Chester Higgins, Jr. and Mamitu Yilma, Manger of the National Museum of Ethiopia, in New York City, June 24, 2009. (Photo by Tadias Magazine – June 24, 2009)
A video exibtion of the life and times of Emperor Haile Selassie is also on display at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City on June 24, 2009. (Photo by Tadias Magazine)
Outside the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City on June 24, 2009. (Photo: Tadias)
A large poster detailing the relationship between Rastafarianism and Ethiopia at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City on June 24, 2009. (Photo by Tadias Magazine)
The Lucy show will remain open in New York until October 24th, 2009. (Photo by Tadias Magazine)
Iranian-Americans and supporters hold signs to identify with a girl known as Neda, believed to be a teenager, who was shot dead at a protest in Tehran, as Iranian-Americans and supporters protest what they say are crimes against humanity and democracy committed by the government of Iran…(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.
I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not at all interfering in Iran’s affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.[…]
This is not about the United States and the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they – and only they – will choose.
Here is the latest:
Video: Iran Issues Warning to Online Media The Associated Press
ART NEWS
The Gallery at AYN Studio Presents Stop Time: Jazz & Pictures
Posted: Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Featuring Chester Higgins Jr., Frank Stewart and Gediyon Kifle
The Gallery at AYN Studio is pleased to announce the jazz photo show featuring artists Chester Higgins Jr., Frank Stewart, and Gediyon Kifle. Stop Time refers to a musical device frequently used in jazz, in which the forward movement of the rhythm seemingly stops to allow a soloist space to improvise and continue the forward flow of the music. Contrary to suggestion, however, the rhythm never stops…quite like the history of Jazz.
Stop Time is a collection of works by these three award-winning photographers who documented jazz legends from the 20th century into the 21st Century. Each photographer brings his own narrative twist to the great history of jazz icons. Higgins (New York Times and African-American heritage photographer) begins the show with a proud portrait of Duke Ellington to set the “rhythm” of the show. Stewart (NY Foundation for the Arts Fellows and Jazz heritage photographer) brings the uncanny intimacy the musicians have with their music as well as his own intimacy with the musicians, like in his photographs, Miles in the Green Room 1981, and in 1992 Sir Roland Hannah. Kifle documents the excitement of proximity and performance of the musicians. In works like Tommy Flanagan I, II, and III and Solitude (Wynton Marsalis) one can visually hear the soul of the musician and the energy of the audience.
Dr. Patricia E. Ortman, a retired Women’s Studies Professor
and an artist, is the director of Girls Gotta Run Foundation.
Her organization provides new shoes for girls in Ethiopia who
are training to be runners. Here is an update from Pat:
TWO EXCELLENT ETHIOPIAN SUMMER ADVENTURES Dr. Patricia E. Ortman
Hello! We hope you are having a fabulous summer. If you have time and
interest, you may enjoy following along or occasionally checking in on one
or both of the following blogs.
During the past year, we assisted a brilliant young woman from Occidental
College, Kayla Nolan, in designing a proposal to research the benefits of
running for Ethiopian girls and women. With it, she won a very competitive
fellowship her school offers to students to do summer research projects.
She is now visiting, getting to know, and interviewing, in depth, members
of all four of the teams for whom we provide some support, as well as
learning an enormous amount about Ethiopia in general. She arrived in
Addis Ababa on June 2 and will be there until the end of July. Although
the internet is erratic there, she is keeping a blog for anyone who wants
to follow along: click here.
This past Spring, we provided recommendations for GGRF supporter, WCA
member and full time Philadelphia middle school educator Bonnie
MacAllister in support of her application for this exciting
Fulbright-Hayes teaching fellowship program in Ethiopia. She was selected!
The group heads out on July 8 for a five week sojourn. You can follow
along here.
Meet GGRF-sponsored partners and supporters in this video.
Above:The subway train that plowed into another stopped
train, killing at least seven people and injuring scores of
others in the nation’s capital, was part of an aging fleet
that federal officials had sought to phase out because
of safety concerns, an investigator said Tuesday.
(Read more).
Deadly metro crash
VIDEO: CNN’s Vito Maggiolo reports from the scene
of a Metro commuter train crash in Washington
Injured limp away from train
Video: DC Mayor Comments on Deadly Train Crash (AP)
New York (Tadias) – Here is another CNN hero to cheer for. Alfa Demmellash, a graduate of Harvard, is a New Jersey based social entrepreneur whose organization, Rising Tide Capital, serves aspiring business owners living in distressed urban communities in her state.
Video: Alfa’s interview with TsehaiNYRelated: CNN Hero: Ethiopian Woman builds school after hyena kills girl
When Washington manicurist Lidia Schaefer returned to her native
village in Ethiopia, she was troubled by what she saw: children
walking three hours each way to attend classes held not in a
school, but under a tree. CNN.com/Heroes
Related Video: Ethiopian CNN Hero Meets Supporters in NYC
Yohannes Gebregeorgis, one of the Top Ten CNN Heroes of 2008,
at Cafe Addis in Harlem, NYC. The event took place on Saturday,
December 13, 2008.
Above:Last year’s event was held at RFK stadium in
Washington D.C. (Photo/Tadias)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Thursday, June 18, 2009
New York (Tadias) – For the first time in the event’s 26-year history, the annual Ethiopian Soccer Tournament will be hosted by the city of Chicago this year, organizers announced. The 2009 event will take place at Lane Tech Stadium from June 28th to July 4th.
The annual gathering goes beyond sports entertainment, allowing families and friends in North America’s Ethiopian immigrant community to come together in celebration of both sports and their cultural heritage. The tournament weekend is a popular time for networking, alumni gatherings, small business catering, music performances, and reunion parties.
Organizers says that fans this year will have a chance not only to revel in the celebratory atmosphere of the tournament, but also take delight in the national significance of the host city.
“This year’s celebration is special because the city of Chicago is the first Mid-Western city to host ESFNA’s annual event,” Mekonnen Demisiew, ESFNA’s newly elected President said in a statement. “Chicago is also the home of the great leader who has brought so much excitement and hope to the world, the 44th president of the United States of America.”
The breadth of events and services provide an economic boon to local businesses, and being selected as a host city for the annual event is both a privilege and a competitive endeavor.
“ESFNA’s Chicago-09 preparation is going very well. We are excited about the possibilities this great Mid-Western city has to offer our guests,” Mr. Demisiew said. “This year’s celebrations will indeed be memorable by virtue of the presence of our highly esteemed Guests of Honor, Ethiopian jazz musician Ato Mulatu Astatke and former national team player, coach and Olympic sprinter Ato Basha Hailu.”
Related: Hot Shots from the 2008 D.C. Soccer Tournament Above:Ababa Tesafye attended the event as guest of honor. He celebrated his
birthday on July 4th. The announcer did not mention the beloved children’s television
entertainer’s age. People familiar with Ababa Tesfaye say he does not know the year
he was born. At the Ethiopians for Obama booth. We even spotted a vendor selling Obama Juice. At the international Ethiopian Women Association booth.
Above: Hillary Clinton holds up the the ninth annual U.S.
Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report in
Washington, DC, 16 Jun 2009
VOA Clinton says Combating Human Trafficking ‘Critical’
By David Gollust
State Department
16 June 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the fight against human trafficking, abroad and in the United States, is a critical part of the Obama administration’s agenda. She spoke on the release of a State Department report that listed 17 countries as failing to make significant efforts to address the problem. Read more at VOA.
Ethiopia is one of the countries cited by the report:
Ethiopia is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked primarily for the purposes of forced labor and, to a lesser extent, for commercial sexual exploitation. Rural Ethiopian children are trafficked for domestic servitude and, less frequently, for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor in agriculture, traditional weaving, gold mining, street vending, and begging. Young women from all parts of Ethiopia are trafficked for domestic servitude, primarily to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, but also to Bahrain, Djibouti, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Djibouti, Egypt, and Somaliland are reportedly the main transit routes for trafficked Ethiopians. Some women are trafficked into the sex trade after arriving at their destinations. Small numbers of men are trafficked to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States for low-skilled forced labor. While the number of registered labor migration employment agencies rose from 36 to 90 between 2005 and 2008, the government significantly tightened its implementation of regulations governing these agencies over the same period. This resulted in an increase in trafficked Ethiopians transiting neighboring countries rather than traveling directly to Middle Eastern destinations.
The Government of Ethiopia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. While the Ethiopian government’s ongoing efforts to provide pre-departure orientation to Ethiopian migrant workers and partner with a local NGO to detect cases of child trafficking within the country are notable, its limited capacity to prosecute trafficking crimes is a continued cause for concern. Police investigators remain unable to properly distinguish trafficking cases from those of other crimes or to conduct thorough investigations, and the judicial system routinely is unable to track the status of trafficking cases moving through the courts.
Recommendations for Ethiopia: Improve the investigative capacity of police and enhance judicial understanding of trafficking to allow for more prosecutions of trafficking offenders, particularly perpetrators of internal child trafficking; institute trafficking awareness training for diplomats posted overseas; engage Middle Eastern governments on improving protections for Ethiopian workers and developing a mechanism to refer trafficking victims for assistance; partner with local NGOs to increase the level of services available to trafficking victims returning from overseas; and launch a campaign to increase awareness of internal trafficking at the local and regional levels.
Prosecution
While the government sustained its efforts to prosecute and punish international trafficking offenders and initiated investigations of internal child trafficking during the reporting period, prosecution of internal trafficking cases remained nonexistent. In addition, law enforcement entities continued to exhibit an inability to distinguish human trafficking from smuggling, rape, abduction, and unfair labor practices. Articles 596 through 600 and 635 of Ethiopia’s Penal Code prohibit all forms of trafficking for labor and sexual exploitation.
The Federal High Court’s 11th Criminal Bench was established in late 2007 to hear cases of transnational trafficking, as well as any trafficking cases discovered in the jurisdiction of Addis Ababa. In June 2008, the court sentenced a man under Proclamation 104/1998 to 15 years’ imprisonment and fined him $1,357 for illegally sending an Ethiopian woman to Lebanon where she was forced to work as a domestic servant and later thrown from a building by her employer. A second defendant received five years’ imprisonment and a $452 fine for facilitating the same woman’s trafficking for domestic servitude. In 2008, police at Addis Ababa’s central bus terminal received 899 reports of internal child trafficking, an increase over the previous year. However, unlike prior reporting periods, the unit did not provide statistics on the number of cases referred to the prosecutor’s office in
2008 or the status of cases referred to the prosecutor’s office in the preceding year. Some local police and border control agents are believed to have accepted bribes to
overlook trafficking.
Protection
Although the government lacks the resources to provide direct assistance to trafficking victims or to fund NGOs that provide victim care, police employ victim identification and referral procedures in the capital, regularly referring identified internal trafficking victims to NGOs for care. During the year, the Child Protection Units (CPUs) – joint police-NGO identification and referral units operating in each Addis Ababa police station – rescued and referred children to the CPU in the central bus terminal, which is dedicated exclusively to identifying and obtaining care for trafficked children. In 2008, this unit identified 899 trafficked children, 75 percent of whom were girls. It referred 93 trafficked children to NGO shelters for care and family tracing and reunified 720 children with parents or relatives in Addis Ababa and in outlying regions. Local police and officials in the regional administrations assisted in the return of the children to their home areas. The Addis Ababa city government’s Social and Civil Affairs Department reunified an additional 46 children with their families in the capital and placed 40 children in foster care in 2008. During the year, police in Dessie Town, Amhara region replicated the CPU’s social programs without international assistance. In July 2008, the government assisted IOM with the repatriation of Ethiopian trafficking victims from Dar es Salaam to their home regions. Ethiopian missions in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Beirut have offices that provide general services to the local Ethiopian community, including limited referrals for labor-related assistance. The Ethiopian government showed no sign of engaging the governments of these destination countries in an effort to improve protections for Ethiopian workers and obtain protective services for those who are trafficked. The government made no effort to interview returned victims about their experiences in the Middle East.
Returned women rely heavily on the few NGOs that work with adult victims and psychological services provided by the government’s Emmanuel Mental Health Hospital. In 2008, there were no reports of trafficking victims being detained, jailed, or prosecuted for violations of laws, such as those governing immigration. While police encourage trafficking victims’ participation in investigations and prosecutions, resource constraints prevent police from
providing economic incentives to victims. In January 2009, the government passed the Charities and Societies Proclamation, which, among other things, prohibits foreign-funded NGOs from informing victims of their rights under Ethiopian law or advocating on behalf of
victims; this proclamation may have a negative impact on Ethiopia’s protection of trafficking victims.
Prevention
Ethiopia’s efforts to prevent international trafficking increased, while measures to heighten awareness of internal trafficking remained limited. In May 2008, after a series of deaths of Ethiopian maids in Lebanon, the government officially banned its citizens from traveling to the country; the ban remains in effect. During the reporting period, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA), employing two full-time counselors, provided 18,259 migrating workers with three-hour pre-departure orientation sessions on the risks of labor migration and the conditions in receiving countries. While these pre-departure preventative measures are commendable, they need to be matched by meaningful victim protection measures provided by the Ethiopian government in the countries to which the workers were destined. In addition, Private Employment Agency Proclamation 104/1998 governs the work of international employment agencies and protects Ethiopian migrant workers from fraudulent recruitment or excessive debt situations that could contribute to forced labor. These statutes prescribe punishments of five to 20 years’ imprisonment, which are sufficiently stringent and exceed those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. In 2009, an amendment to Proclamation 104/98 outlawing extraneous commission fees and requiring employment agencies to open branch offices in countries to which they send migrant workers was submitted to parliament for review. In January 2008, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a Women’s and Children’s Trafficking Controlling Department to collect data from Ethiopian diplomatic missions, NGOs, and police sub-stations on the status of migrant workers. Though this office has not yet issued its first report, in December it hosted an interministerial discussion on child trafficking and labor abuse for mid-level government officials from the Ministries of Labor, Justice, and Women and Children’s Affairs.
During the year, state-controlled Ethiopian Radio aired IOM’s public service announcements in four languages, as well as a program for listeners in Addis Ababa on the risk of trafficking through visa fraud. The Ministry of Education, in partnership with an NGO, revised primary school textbooks to include instruction on child labor and trafficking in the curriculum. Four teachers’ training colleges in Southern Nations Nationalities Peoples’ Regional State incorporated these topics in their teaching materials in 2008. The government did not undertake efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex acts during the reporting period. Before deploying Ethiopian soldiers on international peacekeeping missions, the government trained them on human rights issues, including human trafficking. Ethiopia has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
VIDEO: Secretary Clinton and Congressional leaders announce the
release of the ninth annual Department of State Trafficking in Persons
Report.
New York – The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival 2009 will take
place on June 18th, 19th and 20th. Events include a
retrospective photo exhibit of the first four years, a kick
off party, Family Day, The Main Day, and the Official After
Party.
This is a free event
Family Day and Main Day are June 20th at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, 1
Main Street, in DUMBO Brooklyn from 12p.m. – 8 p.m.
On June 20th, 2009, babies, toddlers, young teens and families are encouraged to head down to beautiful Empire Fulton Ferry State Park for an afternoon of Hip-Hop, community building, and fun. Children, families, teenagers, and kids are all welcome all day to this all ages event. Family Day will feature music, performances, demonstrations, and seminars from a host of organizations including Black Girls Rock, Metropolitan Hospital, The Beacon Program, The League of Young Voters, CityYear, Brooklyn Crescents Youth Lacrosse Team, and SohNup Industries NYC to name a few.
————–
The official After Party will take place at Southpaw 125 Fifth Ave. in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Lineup TBA.
The Photo Exhibit will be held at Galapagos Art Space
16 Main Street, in DUMBO, Brooklyn
June 18th
Galapagos Art Space
Above: A team of six Squash representatives made their
most important presentation so far to the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board in Lausanne,
Switzerland. But it was the youngest member of the
group, 13-year-old Hanna Fekede Balcha, who was the
star of the show.
Source: Sports Features Communications
Today marked a crucial step for the sport of Squash in its bid for inclusion in the Olympic Games from 2016. A team of six Squash representatives made their most important presentation so far to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland.
But it was the youngest member of the group, 13-year-old Hanna Fekede Balcha, who was the star of the show.
Hanna is Ethiopian, but her family moved to San Diego, USA, when she was nine years old to build a new life for themselves. Hanna was accepted to the Surf City Squash program in San Diego which enables students to play Squash alongside their studies. Through a structured programme which promotes hard work, both academically and physically, Hanna has progressed to being a Grade A student as well as Under 15 Urban Squash Champion. Her aspirations are now to push boundaries even further in becoming the first member of her family to go to university but also, at 20 years old, her dream is to represent Ethiopia at the Olympic Games in 2016.
Hanna said: “I was really nervous but enjoyed doing the presentation today. It has been amazing to travel to Switzerland and meet my hero, Nicol (David – world number one squash player). I feel like squash has given me so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise that when I was asked to take part in this presentation I jumped at the chance. I would be so happy to compete at the Olympic Games.”
Hanna joined the team consisting of IOC Member and World Squash Federation (WSF) Patron, HRH Prince Imran of Malaysia; President of the WSF, N Ramachandran; women’s world No1, Nicol David of Malaysia; former world champion, Frenchman Thierry Lincou; and the up-and-coming South African, Siyoli Lusaseni.
The Squash 2016 Bid Team pose outside the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. (L to R),
Thierry Lincou, Nicol David, N Ramachandran, Hanna Fekede Balcha, HRH Prince Imran
of Malaysia, Siyoli Lusaseni and Scott Garrett, the Bid Co-ordinator.
Prince Imran introduced the team, and the Executive Board was then shown a spectacular video, highlighting a number of the key areas that squash believe make them a worthy candidate for inclusion. Among these were the progression the sport has made to be easier and more enjoyable to watch on television; the pledge that the top athletes would compete; the range of nationalities that would be represented (current rankings show there would be 30 different countries involved); and the low cost and accessibility of the sport around the world.
President Ramachandran went on to explain how the WSF has improved the infrastructure of the game, and the way in which the professional organisations work to ensure that Squash is totally ready to be easily incorporated into the Olympic Games. He also talked about the ease and low cost addition of Squash as well as how the sport can easily be hosted in any of the four 2016 bid cities.
The players each outlined why, as athletes, the Olympic Games are so important to them personally, and the many benefits which Squash can bring to people’s lives, and to the Olympics.
Ramachandran said: “I am very proud of the presentation we have put together and what we have achieved in getting this far. I believe that we have showed squash to its full potential. I know that we have much to offer the Olympic community, and I hope that the IOC will see the merits of our inclusion.”
Above: High School student Sara Tesfai is an up and
coming Ethiopian female artist who was born and raised in
Canada. She was raised by a single mom who supported her
talent from a young age. She started singing in church and
small gatherings at a very young age.
Washington, D.C. – June 15, 2009 — Former world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield will fight a historic exhibition match in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on July 25. Holyfield’s opponent will be Sammy Retta, an Ethiopian-born American who moved from Addis to Washington D.C. when he was 16.
“I continue to strive to be the very best and I look forward to bringing it all to Ethiopia,” Holyfield told reporters according to Africa News.
“I feel so tremendous,” said Retta, as a recent news conference. “Fighting Evander is like Ali fighting in Africa.” Retta has a 18-3 professional record and was quoted at his news conference.
This boxing event will be the largest of its kind in Africa since 1974’s “Rumble in the Jungle” match between Muhammad Ali and George Forman in Zaire. The historical “Rumble in the Jungle” helped paved the way for American athletes and the sport of boxing to gain worldwide fame in the 70’s. The Ethiopian boxing match will hope to accomplish similar cultural and sporting achievements and help to increase tourism into Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Airlines Journeys is offering exclusive travel packages for boxing fans to attend the boxing exhibition explore Ethiopia. In addition to tickets to the main event, each package will include a 3 night stay in Addis Ababa, meals, a tour of downtown Addis, and round-trip airfare on Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s premier airline. Beyond Addis, Ethiopian Airlines Journeys is offering two options for travelers to continue their journey throughout Africa. The first option is a tour of the northern route of Ethiopia, which features several Unesco World Heritage Sites in Lalibela, Axum, Gondar, and Bahir Dar. The second option is a journey to Tanzania to experience some of the best safaris that Africa has to offer. Famous for its plentiful wildlife, Tanzania is home to Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti National Park.
Source: Ethiopian Airlines Journeys
About Ethiopian Airlines Journeys
The finest vacation experiences in Ethiopia and East Africa begin with Ethiopian Airlines Journeys. Ethiopian Airlines Journeys is a single-source solution to plan and realize a truly authentic vacation in one of the most exciting and historical regions of Africa. The company provides the very best service, from friendly expert guides to comfortable accommodations to delightful meals to the most fascinating African experiences. This is all provided with total customization, built around each traveler’s preferences and interests. Call toll-free 1-866-599-3797 or visit www.seeyouinethiopia.com for more information.
About Ethiopian Airlines
Ethiopian Airlines is one of the largest airlines in Africa serving 53 destinations around the globe. As the winner of the 2007 African Business of the Year and Best African Airline Award for 2006, its service and quality are unparalleled among African airlines. Featuring five flights weekly from Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport, the airline offers both morning and evening departures, with the morning departure allowing seamless connections to 32 African destinations. The airline’s web site provides excellent information on additional flights, services and special web fares. For more information about Ethiopian Airlines, visit www.ethiopianairlines.com.
Above:Last year’s event was held at George Washington
University.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Monday, June 15, 2009
New York (Tadias) – The fourth Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum is expected to take place in Washington DC on Sunday, June 21, 2009, organizers announced.
The location of the event is not yet determined.
The annual forum, which strives to attract Diaspora investors to Ethiopia, is organized by The Ethiopian American (an online Diaspora magazine) and co-sponsored by Precise Consult International (a consulting firm specializing in trade promotion, business management, and private sector development in Ethiopia) as well as USAID and VEGA (Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance)’s AGOA + project in Ethiopia.
According to the announcement:
This year’s forum will focus on US Government support of American investments, including those of the Diaspora, abroad. The forum will be divided into two sessions. Session I will explore US Government support (OPIC, Ex-Im and USAID- African Market Place initiative) for American investors, including the Ethiopian Diaspora, in investing in Africa. Session II will discuss the experiences of Diaspora and foreign entrepreneurs currently active on the ground and/or in the process of establishing ventures in Ethiopia and their views on doing business in Ethiopia. A short video will be shown discussing the opportunities and challenges of investing in Ethiopia by investors.
VIDEO | Third Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated: Thursday, July 16, 2008
New York (Tadias) – The third Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum, organized by The Ethiopian American (an online Diaspora magazine) and Precise Consult International (a consulting firm specializing in trade promotion, business management, and private sector development in Ethiopia), was held at George Washington University on Saturday, July 12, 2008. Here is the event video.
Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum – Invest in Ethiopia
— Third Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum
By Tadias Staff
Published: Thursday, July 10, 2008
New York (Tadias) – The third Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum, organized by The Ethiopian American (an online Diaspora magazine) and Precise Consult International (a consulting firm specializing in trade promotion, business management, and private sector development in Ethiopia), will be held at George Washington University on Saturday, July 12, 2008.
The event, which aims to attract Diaspora investors by making a business case for investing in Ethiopia, will be closed to the public and attendance is by invitation only.
“Since the overall objective is to attract serious potential investors and help convert their interest into tangible projects in Ethiopia, the conference will be by invitation only and targeting specific groups of the Diaspora with the most inclination to invest in Ethiopia”, said the program literature sent to Tadias Magazine.
“These groups include Diaspora entrepreneurs in the U.S and working professionals skilled in industry, the services sectors, and information technology, among others.”
The forum is sponsored by George Washigton University, USAID and VEGA (Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance)’s AGOA + project in Ethiopia.
A VEGA newsletter earlier this year cited Victor and Lily Bag Factory, the first joint American and Ethiopian owned factory, as one of their prominent projects in Ethiopia. American businessman Victor Ozeri has extensive investment experience in factories in China, which supply the U.S. market with bags and sports uniforms. (See the VEGA newsletter at vegaalliance.org)
The forum’s first panel topic seeks to address how best to integrate government and Diaspora developmental organizations to boost Ethiopian economy. Featured panelists include: Dr. Liesl Riddle from The George Washington University School of Business; Dr. Elizabeth Chakao from the George Washington University Department of Geography; Mr. Thomas Debass, Senior Advisor for Remittances & Diaspora; and Mr. Henok Assefa, Managing Partner, Precise Consult International PLC.
The second panel topic will consist of discussions regarding how to start and operate a business in Ethiopia. Featured panelists include: Mr. Yemiru Chanyalew, CEO, eVentive LLC; Mr. Michael Gizaw, Managing Director for Africa, New Frontier Capital; Mr. Bob Rabatsky, Fintrac (USAID Agribusiness Trade Expansion in Ethiopia); and Mr. Addis Alemayehu, Chief of Party, USAID VEGA Ethiopia AGOA+.
— Third Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum. At George Washington University, Jack Morton Auditorium (2121 Eye Street NW, Washington DC, USA). July 12, 2008. For details of the business forum or to RSVP, contact Yohannes Assefa at defar@att.net.
New York (Tadias) – In a wide ranging interview with Hamptons Magazine, the premier lifestyle publication of one of the world’s most opulent communities, Ethiopian American Supermodel Liya Kebede discusses her new children’s clothing line, her upcoming movie gig, politics and more.
And what does Liya think of President Obama’s performance so far?
“Fantastic. It’s such a moment for us to have him as president. The way everybody sees America has completely transformed since he’s been in office, and everybody is looking up to him,” she told Hamptons.
“For me and my kids, living in America, it’s so great to see a black president. I’m not sure I thought I would ever see it in my lifetime. And now for my kids it’s something normal, which is priceless.”
Related: Interview with Sara Nuru: Germany’s Next Top Model Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff Photos by Oliver S
Published: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
New York (Tadias) – The following is an interview with Sarah Nuru, who was crowned Germany’s Top Model last month after she beat out 21,000 contestants to claim the coveted title.
Heidi Klum, the top model host, made the announcement in front of a packed crowd of 15,000 in the Cologne Lanxess Arena.
Watch the Video
The 19-year-old fashion model from Munich, whose parents
immigrated from Ethiopia, has earned the nickname “Sunshine”
from Germany’s Next Top Model, and was wildly popular with her
competitors.
Charles Sutton — usually known as Charlie — came to Ethiopia with the Peace Corps in 1996. He was a musician, and even before he arrived, Charlie had discovered Ethiopian music through his Amharic language instructors. He describes the impact of that discovery, which directed his life toward a deep and lasting relationship with Ethiopia, its people — particularly musicians, and its language, in which his fluency and elegance continue to astonish.
Charlie needs only a brief introduction from me since he will provide the rest himself. His friends and acquaintances know Charlie to be a gracious, warm and generous man, thoughtful and polite to a fault. He is still a working musician both as a teacher and a performer. In his jazz, Charlie’s improvisations reveal the depth to which Ethiopia has entered his soul. In a recent recording, Charlie played masinko and sang, in Amharic, naturally, with two long-time Ethiopian musician friends. Characteristically, Charlie often directs the proceeds from his CD sales to the Institute for Ethiopian Studies or another deserving beneficiary.
This is the first of a three-part appreciation and reminisence by Charles Sutton about his friend, the supremely gifted singer, Tilahun Gessesse, who passed away on April 19, 2009 in Addis Ababa. All of Ethiopia, and music lovers around the world, are in mourning.
Sutton’s Tribute to Tilahun Gessesse – Part II – Ye Muzika Metsihet
Part I of my tribute to Tilahun Gessesse concluded on a late summer evening in 1966, when staff Amharic teachers and I performed his beautiful song “Oo-oota Ayaskeffam” in a music show during Peace Corps training at the University of Utah. As I begin writing again on the 40th-day memorial of Tilahun’s death, I feel privileged to join you once more in commemorating this great, iconic singer. In Part II, I will attempt to thank Tilahun in a more personal way, by acknowledging how profoundly he affected me during the years I spent as a Peace Corps Volunteer–and musical performer–in Ethiopia . Perhaps I can best do this by inviting you to revisit with me a second musical event. It occurred almost exactly two years after the Utah show. The date was September 11, 1968 (Meskerem 1, 1961), and the occasion was the Grand New Year’s Music Festival at the Ambassador Theater in Addis Ababa .
It was early, a little past eleven o’clock in the morning, when I arrived outside the Theater on that long-ago New Year’s Day. Already there was a large, animated crowd of music fans clustered around the box office, basking in the warm spring sunshine as they waited to purchase their tickets for the annual marathon show that would begin at one in the afternoon and continue until late into the night. I paused for a moment near the main entrance to gaze at a large advertising poster on which I saw my name and photograph included along with those of Tilahun and other popular vocalists whose appearances were promised.
As I made my way through the throng toward the stage entrance at the rear of the building, a newspaper boy ran after me. Under one arm he clutched a large stack of orange-colored magazines.”Mister Charles! Mister Charles!” he cried. Music Magazine! Published today! Hot off the press! Limited edition just for the Festival! Great pictures and write-ups of Tilahun, Bizunesh Bekkele, Alemayehu Eshete–all the big stars! And you, Mister Charles! You! You are in it too! Look!” With a flourish, he opened a copy and held it up for my inspection.
“Mister Charles!” he continued. “This fantastic souvenir edition costs only one birr! Get yours now, before they are all gone! “I didn’t need any more persuading. Fishing in the single, narrow pocket of my suri, I extracted the few coins necessary to make up the price. By this time, we were surrounded by several more newsboys clamoring for me to buy their copies too. Leaving the sunlight, I escaped with my purchase through the stage door into the cavernous theater’s backstage gloom.
For the equivalent of U.S. 40 cents, Ye Muzika Metsihet (“Music Magazine”, as I have translated it; the text, except for a few English words added for effect to its advertisements, is entirely in Amharic) was undoubtedly one of the best bargains I have ever encountered. Much more than a playbill, the metsihet contains in its 70 pages detailed descriptions of all the contemporary artists, groups, musical directors, and technicians; magnificent photographs and collages; and thoughtful essays covering a variety of musical subjects. There is even a section devoted to English and American pop luminaries of the day like Tom Jones, Elvis Presley, and Ray Charles. The attractive cover of Music Magazine features a young, beautiful Asnakech Worku seated amidst spring flowers, plucking the strings of her krar.
All this was the work of Shawul Baminew, a presenter of popular music on Radio Ethiopia . Music Magazine was obviously a labor of love, which I doubt has been equaled before or since. Once inside the theater, I became so absorbed in the magazine–which today remains one of my most treasured possessions–that I almost missed my cue.
Page 48 of Music Magazine features Charles and Almaz Getachew, the vivacious
singer-dancer from Wolayita, performing with Orchestra Ethiopia.
As I had done for the first time in Utah , once again I was going before an audience to sing in Amharic, but now as the veteran of dozens of television, concert, and wedding performances during the preceding year and a half with Orchestra Ethiopia , a 15-member traditional folkloric troupe. Long gone were the incongruous button-down shirt, striped tie, and slacks of my stateside initiation, replaced by the white cheesecloth cape, long white tunic, and white riding pants that constitute the Ethiopian national dress. Suspended on a leather thong from my left shoulder was a mesenko, which I had spent many laborious hours learning to play.
Even though I dressed in Ethiopian costume, sang Ethiopian songs, and made a fair attempt at performing on an Ethiopian musical instrument, you might well wonder how an amateur mesenko player–an American newcomer to the ancient land where the Peace Corps assigned him to be a teacher of English–could so rapidly have penetrated the ranks of its seasoned professional entertainers and musicians.
The paradoxical explanation is that I owed my improbable career in Ethiopian traditional music directly to the transcendent popularity of Tilahun Gessese.
The most quintessentially Ethiopian of all Ethiopian singers, but simultaneously the undisputed avatar of what was then called “modern music” (“zemenawi muzika”–Western-tinged Ethiopian pop performed on Western musical instruments), Tilahun, and his cohorts in the Imperial Bodyguard (the Army and Police Bands followed close on their heels), seemed in those days to sweep all before them, taking the world of Ethiopian music by storm. Some commentators confidently predicted that Ethiopian traditional music and musical instruments would soon face extinction as a result.
Page 25 of Music Magazine is devoted to Tilahun Gessesse, 26-year-old star
vocalist of the Imperial Bodyguard Orchestra
Orchestra Ethiopia , the group with which I had become associated, was founded under the auspices of the Creative Arts Centre of Haile Selassie I University in 1963 by the Egyptian-American composer and ethnomusicologist Halim El-Dabh, specifically to counter this trend. As Shawul Baminew wrote about Orchestra Ethiopia in Music Magazine, “In order to prevent Ethiopia’s great cultural heritage from being swallowed up by Western civilization and know-how, and with the goal of keeping the country’s native arts alive and to defend against their being swept away in a flood of foreign influences…, one branch of the Creative Arts Centre was dedicated to the preservation of traditional music and given the name ‘Orchestra Ethiopia’…[The Orchestra] would incorporate all the varied instruments characteristic of different Ethiopian ethnic groups, so that these instruments would not molder as displays in a museum, but would play on together in group performance and so be given new life and the chance to expand their musical scope.”
Ato Shawul goes on to say that the then director of the Orchestra, a gifted twenty-year old composer and poet named Tesfaye Lemma, by means of his attractive, innovative compositions and his skilled supervision of the ensemble, had not only brought it a long way toward achieving the goals that had been set for it, but had in the process also won for traditional music an unexpected resurgence in popularity.
Nonetheless, traditional music still faced an uphill fight. Tesfaye told me that the first time Orchestra Ethiopia participated in the New Year’s Festival, before he became director, an impatient audience hooted the musicians off the stage. Things had improved since then, but Tesfaye was still looking for new approaches and special attractions to help Orchestra Ethiopia hold its own against the glitz and glamor of the military bands.
That was where I came in.
Thirty years later, Tesfaye explained in an interview the genesis of his plan for me to join the Orchestra: “It was a new experience for Ethiopians when they saw a foreigner appreciating and performing their music. This brought good attention to the Orchestra, especially in those days. Many people were not conscious of their culture. They didn’t see their music and instruments as valuable. The younger people were more interested in rock music and in learning the guitar and keyboard. When I invited Charles to perform with the Orchestra, it was unusual and they woke up and said, ‘This is good music. An American is playing our music! ‘They came to have more respect for their music as a result.”
At the 1968 New Year’s Festival at the Ambassador Theater, Orchestra Ethiopia finally came into its own. Tesfaye had spent months preparing an all-new program that was greeted with unprecedented enthusiasm by the capacity crowd. The song he wrote for me then–it has been a staple of my repertoire ever since–was called “Mesenko”. The audience liked “Mesenko” so much that I had to sing it twice.
Considered by the organizers to be the least exciting attraction, Orchestra Ethiopia was always first on the bill at the New Year’s Festival, presenting a one-hour program. Next came the Police and Army Bands, each playing for two hours. The grand finale was the Bodyguard’s presentation, with Tilahun’s performance as its climax. As each group finished its job at the Ambassador, it left immediately for the Ras Theater in the mercato, where the New Year’s show was repeated in its entirety at half-price for a young, rough, more boisterous crowd.
Charles was proud when he saw his photograph positioned directly below Tilahun’s
at the center of this poster advertising a music show in 1968.
I can remember clearly the shock of the transition from the relative decorum of the Ambassador to the rough-and-tumble holiday hubbub of the Ras. We descended from our minibus at twilight into the midst of a disorderly mob through which we had to push our way to the Theater’s back entrance. Once safely inside the dimly lit stage area, we found a scene that seemed to border on chaos, with many people running about and no one apparently in charge. But there was hidden method to this apparent madness; presently we were ushered into the wings and hurriedly prepared to march out on stage. I peeked through a tear in the curtain and felt butterflies in my stomach as I glimpsed a vast, restive multitude standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the darkened, fully packed house.
If a Ras audience found fault with you, their yells, insults, hoots, and catcalls would begin immediately and make it virtually impossible for you to continue your performance. But if you won them over and they liked you, they were equally uninhibited in demonstrating their approbation–nay, love–which you could feel wash over you like a warm wave. At the Ambassador, the rhymes in my new song “Mesenko” had been greeted with polite applause; at the Ras, they elicited roars of delight. The audience began to sway and sing along. A young woman emerged from their midst, climbed a staircase at the side of the stage, and, like a lovely apparition, came dancing toward me. When she kissed me on both cheeks and pasted a 10-birr note to my forehead, the crowd went wild. She was followed by several others who stuffed money into my pockets, the collar of my tunic, under the strap of my mesenko, and even in my shoes–always to uproarious applause.
Orchestra Ethiopia ‘s entire program was very warmly received.
The bus was waiting outside to take us at last to our homes. I unwound by reading some more in Music Magazine, turning now to Shawul Baminew’s appraisal of Tilahun (whose performance that day I was sorry to have missed): “Most of you know already that Tilahun holds the first place among our country’s vocalists. Tilahun is a young man who has a pleasant disposition, is disciplined, strives to please all of his listeners whoever they may be, always has a smile on his face, and, in accordance with Ethiopian custom, respects his fellow man. Because he is like this, everyone who knows Tilahun admires and praises him. If you think I’m lying, approach him. Try him, and you will see.”
Unfortunately, 32 years would pass before I was lucky enough to discover for myself the accuracy of that pronouncement. I was a co-participant with Tilahun in four successive New Year’s festivals, but because Orchestra Ethiopia always appeared at the beginning of the show and the Bodyguard Orchestra at the end, we never met.
However, I did at least get close to Tilahun–in a manner of speaking. Two weeks after Orchestra Ethiopia ‘s success at the Festival of ’68, the entire New Year’s show was staged again by popular demand. A new advertisement posted all over town displayed the photographs of ten star performers. As always, Tilahun occupied the central position. But this time, for once–it was one of the proudest moments of my life–I joined him there.
—- I look forward to recounting to you in the third and concluding part of my tribute how I eventually did enjoy the good fortune not only to watch on two occasions from the best seat in the house as Tilahun performed, but also to meet him, express to him my admiration, hear his opinion of my singing and mesenko playing, spend some happy times with him, and become his friend.
Charles Sutton
Old Saybrook , Connecticut
June 9, 2009
Upcoming Events
Published: Thursday, June 11, 2009
NateBrown Entertainment Presents Wayna
Grammy nominated recording artist Wayna comes to Philly
for a special debut performance on June 18, 2009. It takes
place at Temptations Jazz Restaurant & Jazz Club (218 W.
Chelten Avenue Philadelphia PA 19144). There are two
shows: 8pm and 10pm. You can buy tickets at: waynaphillydebut.eventbrite.com
CNN Story Highlights
When Washington manicurist Lidia Schaefer returned to
her native village in Ethiopia, she was troubled by what
she saw: children walking three hours each way to
attend classes held not in a school, but under a tree. CNN.com/Heroes
Watch the video
Related Video: Ethiopian CNN Hero Meets Supporters in NYC
Yohannes Gebregeorgis, one of the Top Ten CNN Heroes of 2008,
at Cafe Addis in Harlem, NYC. The event took place on Saturday,
December 13, 2008.
Art News
Source: San Francisco Sentinel.com
10 June 2009
The de Young Museum hosts Meklit Hadero and Todd Brown: Light, Shadow, and the Quiet Song Between through June 27th as part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Artist-in-Residence Program in the Kimball Education Gallery. Read more at San Francisco Sentinel.com.
Ethiopia native MEKLIT HADERO is a singer, musician, cultural activist, and previous director of the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco. Meklit has lived in twelve cities, on three continents, and her musical explorations span cultural influences and genres. In December of 2007, Meklit released her first recording, titled Eight Songs. She is the recipient of a 2008 Individual Grant from the Belle Foundation for Arts and Culture. Currently, she is organizing a group of Ethiopian Diaspora artists from across North America to return to Ethiopia for a festival of traditional music at the end of this year. Meklit was selected as a 2009 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Global Fellow. The TED conference is a large gathering of artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and designers who are at the cutting edge of their fields. Along with Brown, she is a central composer, lyricist and co-founder of the musical ensemble Nefasha Ayer. Listen to Meklit’s work: MEKLIT HADERO.
Photos from L.A.’s Little Ethiopia Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
New York (Tadias) – An intergenerational poetry reading and panel discussion examining four decades of Ethiopian immigrant’s life in the U.S was held earlier this month in Los Angeles.
The Tsehai Poetry Jam, which was presented in cooperation with PEN USA, the Ethiopian Heritage Foundation and Tsehai Publishers, was held at Messob Restaurant & Lounge, located in the official neighborhood of Little Ethiopia on Fairfax Avenue.
A similar event in Chicago is scheduled for early July in conjunction with the The Fourth Annual Tsehai conference.
Below are photo highlights from the L.A. event courtesy of Tsehai Publishers.
Events News Source: Brooklyn International Film Festival Category: Documentary Director: Moritz Siebert
(a freelance journalist, a medical doctor and a filmmaker)
Showtime: 2:00 pm | Saturday June 13 | Brooklyn Heights Cinema
Synopsis
Abiyot is one of several African long distance runners, trying to make a living and career in the US. Once he was a promising member of the Ethiopian national team, but two years ago he left his country to start a new life. Weekend after weekend, he races with fellow African athletes in road races, competing over a few hundred dollars of prize money. The film follows Abiyot as he prepares for an important race. Every morning at break of dawn he tirelessly trains in the empty streets of his Bronx neighborhood. With every aspect of his daily routine centered on his training, his footsteps not only dictate the rhythm of his life, but also become the pervasive rhythm of the film. In phone calls with his family back home, Abiyot tries to convince them and himself, that the running will pay off in the long term… A film about endurance, migration and the American Dream.
Source: Washington Post
By Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 8, 2009
A stowaway who apparently hid aboard a flight from
Ethiopia to Washington was found in the plane’s
baggage hold by workers at Dulles International
Airport, authorities said last night. Read more.
Above:Visitors looking at displays of the famous female
hominid at the “Lucy’s Legacy” exhibit at Seattle’s Pacific
Science Center.
Tadias Magazine
Tadias Staff
Updated: Saturday, June 6, 2009
New York (Tadias) – After a disappointing West Coast appearance, which failed to draw crowds at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center, the world’s most famous fossil is coming to New York, organizers announced.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to introduce “Lucy” to the people of New York City because she evokes a strong response from everyone who sees her, and as such, she is the ultimate goodwill ambassador for Ethiopia,” Joel A. Bartsch, president of the Houston Museum of Natural Science said in a press release.. “Lucy not only validates Ethiopia’s claim as the Cradle of Mankind, she also introduces viewers to the rich cultural heritage that has flourished in Ethiopia over the course of the last 3,000 years, and to the vibrant country that Ethiopia is today.”
The 3.2 million-year-old Lucy, the oldest and most complete adult human ancestor fully retrieved from African soil, was secretly flown out of Ethiopia in August of 2007 for a 6-year controversial tour of the United States. The Smithsonian Institution had warned that experts don’t believe the fragile remains should travel.
Lucy will be on display at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City. The new state-of-the-art exhibition space is located in the former printing presses building of The New York Times (226 West 44th Street).
Related Video: Lucy’s Baby
Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged looks for the
roots of humanity in Ethiopia’s badlands. Here he talks
about finding the oldest skeleteon of a humanoid child —
and how Africa holds the clues to our humanity.
Above: Obama spoke at Cairo University after meeting with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the second stop of a
four-nation trip to the Middle East and Europe. (Getty)
Above:In April 2009, Matt Damon, the actor who is also
known for his active involvement in charitable work, including
the ONE Campaign, visited Ethiopia along with the ONEXONE
team.
ONEXONE Foundation Ambassador Matt Damon brings awareness to Africa’s water crisis, visiting a hand-dug well just outside Mekele, Ethiopia on Tuesday (April 20).
In his right hand, the 38-year-old actor holds a bottle of regular water, in his left is a bottle of dirty water local children in Mekele drink everyday.
You can view more pictures and video from Matt’s trip at OneXOne.com.
Above: Wolfgang Puck, 59, Restaurateur, and his second
wife Ethiopian-born Gelila Assefa Puck, 39, High-End Clothier,
share the distinction of being one of several power couples
featured on the Forbes Magazine’s list of ‘Married Celebrity
Entrepreneurs.’
‘Could you imagine if I didn’t work and just sat and home and waited for him once my kids went to bed?’ asks Gelila Assafa Puck, second wife of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. Ethiopian-born Assefa Puck owned her own Los Angeles couture store from 1998 through 2001. In 2006, she launched a line of high-end handbags, manufactured in South Africa, that sell for $7,000 to $30,000. (She says she hopes to return to fashion design when her 2- and 4-year-old sons are old enough for school.) If that weren’t enough, she also operates a non-profit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that sponsors secondary schooling for about 400 children.
See more Married Celebrity Entrepreneurs at Forbes.com.
New York (Tadias) – An intergenerational poetry reading and panel discussion examining four decades of Ethiopian immigrant’s life in the U.S was held this past weekend in Los Angeles.
The Tsehai Poetry Jam, which was presented in cooperation with PEN USA, the Ethiopian Heritage Foundation and Tsehai Publishers, was held at Messob Restaurant & Lounge, located in the official neighborhood of Little Ethiopia on Fairfax Avenue.
A similar event in Chicago is scheduled for early July in conjunction with the The Fourth Annual Tsehai conference.
Below are photo highlights from the L.A. event courtesy of Tsehai Publishers.
New York (TADIAS) – The following is an interview with Sarah Nuru, who was crowned Germany’s Top Model last month after she beat out 21,000 contestants to claim the coveted title.
Heidi Klum, the top model host, made the announcement in front of a packed crowd of 15,000 in the Cologne Lanxess Arena.
The 19-year-old fashion model from Munich, whose parents immigrated from Ethiopia, has earned the nickname “Sunshine” from Germany’s Next Top Model, and was wildly popular with her competitors.
Here is our interview with Sara.
Photo by Oliver S.
TADIAS: Sara, thank you for your time and congratulations on your tremendous
accomplishments. How does it feel to be crowned Germany’s Next Top Model?
Sara: Thank you very much, I feel very happy. Yes it is quite amazing what is going on right now. It will probably take time until I really recognize this amazing development. But so far, it is a wonderful experience and right now a very exciting time for me.
TADIAS: What does this title mean for your future career?
Sara: To be honest, the title is a great door-opener but I will not lay back and enjoy the title . I have a great chance to make the very best of my benefit. Since the 21st of May, the day I became Germany’s next Top-model, I was hardly at home, worked day and night and really enjoyed my new life as a model! That’s how I imagined it.
TADIAS: This is historical in a sense that the media is saying that you are the first black person to be crowned Germany’s Next Top Model. Did you feel additional pressure because of your cultural background?
Sara: Well, I feel honored that you call it “historical”, but I wouldn’t make a big thing of it . For me, it is of course fantastic to be a black model. I’m very happy that I became the winner of Germany’s next Top-model beside so many beautiful and talented girls. I’m Ethiopian through my parents that’s a fact and I’m absolutely proud of it. But I can’t imagine that my skin color had a big effect for my victory at this show .
TADIAS: Where do you see yourself in a few years?
Sara: It is quite difficult to predict a career, but I have a reliable agency and already great jobs and four big campaigns to work for. Of course, it is desirable for every model to be successful in the international model business. But I am someone who is down to earth and I, of course, will work hard and be calm and serene in attending to my ways.
TADIAS: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Sara: Thank you to everyone who believed in me. And, yes, just like I said stay true to yourself and never forget were you came from.
TADIAS: Good luck Sara.
Sara: Thank you very much and all the best.
Sara Nuru – One of Her First Interviews After Her Victory
WASHINGTON – CIA clandestine operative Gregg Wenzel’s official cover was lifted Monday, when it was revealed that the New Yorker killed in 2003 was a spy – not a diplomat, as claimed.
The title of Abraham Verghese’s first novel, Cutting for Stone, is intriguing, perhaps unrewardingly so. In the book’s epilogue, Verghese, a surgeon and professor at Stanford Medical School, closes with the following explanation, “Medicine is a demanding mistress, yet she is faithful, generous, and true […] every year, at commencement, I renew my vows with her: I swear by Apollo and Hygieia and Panaceia to be true to her, for she is the source of all…I shall not cut for stone.”
In an interview he clarifies,
There is a line in the Hippocratic Oath that says: ‘I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest.’ It stems from the days when bladder stones were epidemic, a cause of great suffering, probably from bad water and who knows what else. […] There were itinerant stonecutters—lithologists—who could cut either into the bladder or the perineum and get the stone out, but because they cleaned the knife by wiping it on their blood-stiffened surgical aprons, patients usually died of infection the next day. Hence the proscription ‘Thou shall not cut for stone.’ […] It isn’t just that the main characters have the surname Stone; I was hoping the phrase would resonate for the reader just as it does for me, and that it would have several levels of meaning in the context of the narrative.
The lyrical sound of the title and its poetic medical significance are certainly convincing, however, I am not sure to what extent this title pervades multiple layers of the narrative as Verghese intends it to. Certainly the title confirms the intrinsic, if not central, role of medicine in the novel. Stone is the shared name of the three main characters but ‘cutting for stone’ is the name Verghese bestows upon the equally important character that medicine and surgery personify in the novel. But beyond rhetoric the title does not resonate emotionally throughout different levels of meaning in the novel.
The novel is rich and warm like the womb that opens the central conflict of the story, or like quicksand, disabling you from exiting Verghese’s world until the last page of the text.
The essence of Cutting for Stone is divided between Marion’s coming of age and Ethiopia’s. It is also tinged with a desire for the magical to impart its warmth and weakness upon the real. One of the most attractive things about Verghese’s first novel is the emotion the book evokes, the womblike comfort within its pages.
The novel recounts the story of Marion and Shiva Stone, Siamese twins separated at birth by their surgeon father, Thomas Stone. In the realm of magical realism the twins are born attached at the skull and almost as soon as they are separated from each other they are separated from both parents as well. Their mother, Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a nun working at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa, dies in childbirth. No one in the hospital was aware of her pregnancy, not even the presumed father, Dr. Thomas Stone. Stone, Mission Hospital’s main surgeon, disappears grief-stricken immediately after Sister Mary’s death. The twins are orphaned before they leave the delivery room only to be swiftly rescued by the Indian Ob-Gyn, Hema, and her soon-to-be husband, Dr. Ghosh. The plot is a rambling coming of age story that tracks Marion and Shiva’s childhood and rise to adulthood set against the background of Ethiopia’s turbulent political climate. The novel crosses three continents, coming to a treacherous climax in New York City.
It is no coincidence that Verghese was born and raised in Addis Ababa to Indian parents around the same time as his protagonist. Verghese’s own biography closely reflects that of the protagonist twins in his novel.
Part II: The African Bildungsroman
Cutting for Stone, knowingly or not, follows the formula of the German literary genre, the bildungsroman. The German Enlightenment term, coined by German philologist, Johann Morgenstern, refers to a genre of novels that follow a similar plotline mapping the psychological, moral and social development of a, usually young, protagonist. Examples of this range from the revolutionary model, Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship to Harper Lee’s contemporary interpretation in To Kill a Mockingbird. Verghese’s novel follows the bildungsroman formula almost exactly: the protagonist matures from child to adult, this maturation is long and arduous and rife with challenges and conflicts, eventually one or all of these conflicts forces the protagonist to flee their home and begin a personal Odyssey. The independence and demands of this journey are what eventually enable the protagonist to integrate comfortably and successfully into society. I will not map out Marion Stone’s corresponding steps in hope that you will map them yourself whilst reading the book.
In The Situation and the Story, writer Vivian Gornick explains, “there is the story and then there is the situation, the writer must be aware of both.” In Cutting for Stone the story is Marion’s coming of age, the situation is Ethiopia. But it is not that simple. The story is also Ethiopia’s coming of age and these two wide-eyed adolescents—no not the twins, Marion and Shiva—Marion and Ethiopia, must mature in their own individual ways.
Cutting for Stone is by all measures a novel about Africa, but it is more importantly a novel about daily life and about growing up. It just so happens that our protagonist experiences daily life and grows up in Africa. Like the British Romantics, Verghese emphasizes the importance of place as well as plot and character, acknowledging their inherent union. Ethiopia is a central driving force of the narrative. It is the ghost character, like Thomas Stone, omnipresent yet never quite defined. Like the twins who center the story, the setting of the narrative is divided; it is at once the coming of age of Marion and the coming of age of Ethiopia. With creative chronological license Verghese maps the crashing tides of Ethiopia’s political climate throughout the twenty-five years of Marion and Shiva’s youth.
Ethiopia is a character like a magical realist creation, her intrinsic parts are outlined and detailed, but they are detailed in emotion, not in reality. Verghese writes Ethiopia like the regal male peacock adorned with all his iridescent feathered glory, when in fact, she more closely resembles the unplumbed female by his side. As readers, we enter that magical reality, coming to understand a place most of us do not know as if it is our own. Early in the novel Verghese describes Ghosh’s introduction to Ethiopia, “Ghosh didn’t understand any of this till he came to Africa. He hadn’t realized that Menelik’s victory had inspired Marcus Garvey’s Back to Africa Movement, and that it had awakened Pan-African consciousness in Kenya, the Sudan, and the Congo. For such insights, one had to live in Africa.” For such insights one had to live in Africa or in Verghese’s epic novel.
While reading I wonder if there is a sense of guilt involved for Verghese, if this ode to Ethiopia is a tax or homage owed to a fatherland—I use the expression fatherland rather than native land, or birthplace, because of the ambiguity and driving force that very subject ignites throughout the novel. In an interview Verghese reveals,
Even in this era of the visual, I think a novel can bring out the feel of a place better than almost any vehicle. […] I also wanted to convey the loss many felt when the old order gave way to the new. Ethiopia had the blight of being ruled by a man named Mengistu for too many years, a man propped up by Russia and Cuba. My medical school education was actually interrupted when Mengistu came to power and the emperor went to jail. As an expatriate, I had to leave. It was my moment of loss. Many of my medical school classmates became guerilla fighters who tried to unseat the government. Some died in the struggle. One of them fought for more than twenty years, and his forces finally toppled the dictator. Meles Zenawi, now prime minister of Ethiopia, was a year behind me in medical school.
While it is the omnipresence of Ethiopia, coming of age, and personal conflict that drive the novel there is also a very poetic emphasis on what is not present. Absence is a prevalent motif throughout the novel. The theme of things missing from the story is prevalent throughout the novel, things happening offstage like in Greek tragedy, or not at all. Until the end of the novel there is never any confirmation of Marion and Shiva’s conception. Three chapter titles are dedicated to absence: Missing Fingers, Missing People, Missing Letters.
Part III: The Writer’s Writer
There is no doubt about it; Verghese is a lyricist whose way with words rivals his mastery of the scalpel—though I cannot attest to this as I have never had the opportunity to be operated on by him. Indeed, he is a prose poet whose manipulation of words makes every minutia an event of Biblical and lyrical proportions. It is the sanctity of his syntax, the deliberate and precise choice of words and their order in the sentences in which they appear that sets his novel apart, forcing even the least interested reader to continue turning pages, trancelike and mystified. Simple sentences such as the following are rendered at once wholesome and cavernous by the depth and simplicity of his language. Of Ghosh’s barber Verghese writes, “One never doubted for a moment that it was Ferraro’s destiny to be a barber; his instincts were perfect; his baldness was inconsequential.” Many writers are lauded for their attention to detail, Verghese is to be praised for his dedication to detail. To Verghese, life is indeed, in the details.
The Baton Rouge Advocate writes, “Clearly Verghese paid attention in English Lit 101. He begins this entrancing novel with an opening sentence that is so full of implication it’s practically Dickensian.” It is true that Cutting for Stone can be read as a rolodex of mastered literary techniques and signatures. The scent of scribes past is at once foetid and intoxicating across the pages. Their influences and identifying traits mark Verghese’s pages, just as the archive of great writers mark every work of fiction, to its benefit or detriment, depending on the skill of he or she who whittles these influences into something they can use to better illustrate their essence of their own novel.
Most reviews of Cutting for Stone, including this one, cite different authors Verghese has drawn influence from, some as a critique of his writing, some as an accolade. Different historical-literary genres shutter through the critics’ lens like a widening aperture. While I don’t disagree with these comparisons I do believe that they distract from Verghese’s own brand of writing, one that may in turn be imitated in its own right.
Many critics have accused Verghese of foraging unsuccessfully into the realm of magical realism and according to Mexican literary critic Luis Leal they may be correct. Leal argues, “Without thinking of the concept of magical realism, each writer gives expression to a reality he observes in the people. To me, magical realism is an attitude on the part of the characters in the novel toward the world […] If you can explain it, then it’s not magical realism.” But won’t any child’s reaction to the world will be magical tinged by the real or vice versa, otherwise, how would we absorb and understand it all? For me one of the most beautiful qualities about the novel is Verghese’s ability to recount fifty years through the eyes of a child, with wonder, whimsy and heartbreak. This being said, the epic, rambling pace of the novel would be better executed with Verghese giving in to the story’s demand for a magical realist telling. Instead, the novel’s all too realist tone is difficult to swallow alongside its magical and leaping storyline. Imagine Paul Farmer writing Love in the Time of Cholera and you can begin to imagine Verghese’s first foray into fiction.
While literary forefathers stalk like quill-tipped ghosts across Verghese’s pages the real muse is medicine herself. The danger in this is that it risks losing the mystical tone the novel has so successfully created. Verghese’s fault lies in him knowing too much, the over-realism of his medical descriptions blunt the magic of the rest of the novel.
Indeed, too much medicine takes the magical out of realism. During passages such as the following my rapture is dulled completely,
With the colon swollen to Hindenburg proportions it would be all to easy to nick the bowel and spill feces into the abdominal cavity. He made a midline incision, then deepened it carefully, like a sapper defusing a bomb. Just when panic was setting in because he was going nowhere, the glistening surface of the peritoneum—that delicate membrane that lined the abdominal cavity—came into view. When he opened the peritoneum, straw-colored fluid came into view. Inserting his finger into the hole and using it as a backstop, he cut the peritoneum along the length of the incision.
It is as if Verghese believes the only currency he can trade with is his knowledge of medicine. I only wish his confidence in the poetry and lyricism of his writing was enough for him to abandon his crutch of medical vernacular.
There are moments though, when his descriptions leave the kingdom of Gray’s Anatomy and help the non-medical understand medical problems, such as the enigmatic and complex problem of obstetric fistula. Verghese’s haunting and powerful description of the arrival of a young girl with fistula to the mission is one of the most powerful in the book.
An unspeakable scent of decay, putrefaction, and something else for which words remain to be invented reached our nostrils. I saw no point in holding my breath or pinching my nose because the foulness invaded instantly, coloring our insides like a drop of India ink in a cup of water. In a way that children understand their own, we knew her to be innocent of her terrible, overpowering odor. It was of her, but it wasn’t hers. Worse than the odor (since she must have lived with it for more than a few days) was to see her face in the knowledge of how it repulsed and revolted others.
Verghese’s surgical sword is double-edged and while it jars the melodic pace of the rest of the novel, it is for the most part an important addition to the story and soul of the book.
Part IV: The Dueling Careers
A journalist interviewing Verghese asks, “Was there a single idea behind or genesis for Cutting for Stone?”
Verghese’s complex answer was the following, “My ambition as a writer was to tell a great story, an old-fashioned, truth-telling story. But beyond that, my single goal was to portray an aspect of medicine that gets buried in the way television depicts the practice: I wanted the reader to see how entering medicine was a passionate quest, a romantic pursuit, a spiritual calling, a privileged yet hazardous undertaking.” Verghese cares for his characters in the same way an ideal surgeon would, he feels for them. The Economist critiques, “surgery is indeed a wonderful metaphor, but it should be wielded with precision.”
He continues, “I wanted the whole novel to be of medicine, populated by people in medicine, the way Zola’s novels are of Paris.”
Indeed, medicine is the medium through which the tale is propelled forward, the catalyst to characters’ coming of age and falling apart.
Not by coincidence, Verghese’s life parallels that of the twin protagonists in the story. He executes a balancing act between two careers, conjoined unknowingly like Siamese twins, but unlike Thomas Stone, while Verghese fathered these twins, he did not abandon them, he raised and nurtured them to grow into unique but also inherently linked careers.
Cutting for Stone deftly conveys the eerie and perhaps poetic similarity between the seemingly disparate vocations of surgery and writing. As Verghese writes of Ghosh in the novel, “he had a theory that bedroom Amharic and bedside Amharic were really the same thing: Please lie down. Take off your shirt. Open your mouth. Take a deep breath…The language of love was the same as the language of medicine.”
Like medicine, writing is in the details. Describing Thomas Stone during the birth of his Siamese twins, Verghese has the patience to describe, “His hair was parted on the right, a furrow that originated in boyhood with every tamed by the comb to know exactly which direction it was to tilt.” Like medicine, writing is about people, about being interested by people, by humanity. Interviewed Verghese concludes, “The beauty of medicine is that it is proletarian, and its prime prerequisite is that you have an interest in humanity in the rough.” Though Verghese counters,
I think sometimes we make too much of the doctor-writer business—it’s in danger of becoming a cliché. I’ve not put MD behind my name on any books, except one that was called Infections in Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care Facilities. Unless I’m writing a diet book or a textbook like the one above, the doctoring seems kind of irrelevant—the writing has to stand on its own, don’t you think? […] I remember hearing the aphorism ‘God is in the details’ both in medical school and at the Writer’s Workshop. When we see a patient we take a ‘history’—the word ‘story’ is in there.
Part V: The Writer is I
In an interview Verghese explains, “To paraphrase Dorothy Allison, fiction is the great lie that tells the truth about how the world really lives. It is why in teaching medical students I use Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych to teach about end-of-life issues […] A textbook rarely gives them the kind of truth or understanding achieved in the best fiction.”
As a child I owned a children’s book called, Lives of the Writers with 19th century Daumier-style caricature drawings of all the great writers in history and a brief but biting one-page biography of each author. Some quirky anecdote or sibling rivalry, information we, ostensibly, could not read from their books. Or could we? Is not every novel a life of the writer? Verghese’s certainly is.
By the end of the novel, the only thing lacking is a comprehensive biography of the man whom we cannot imagine having invented, nor even vicariously living the events detailed in these pages. The voice is too strong, the involvement too deep.
If it is, in fact, fiction then Verghese has achieved a feat indeed, he has made the living narrator out of the page. I don’t believe that is the case, I believe all of Marion Stone is Abraham Verghese, the question is, how much of Abraham Verghese is Marion Stone? Verghese includes a foreword and an afterword, but what I want is a during. I want a detailed autobiography of Verghese, to cross check the fraternal or identical twin-ness of the writer and the written. Though maybe that is too much to ask, similar perhaps to asking a doctor to betray the Hippocratic oath.
— About the Author: Chloe Malle is a freelance journalist currently based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where she teaches English as a Second Language and assists an American physician at the local Mother Theresa Clinic. Chloe studied creative writing and comparative literature at Brown University.
New York (TADIAS) – Pottery has traditionally played a functional role in Ethiopian society, and ceramists have generally been seen in a less than favorable light. In fact, in certain areas, ceramics was even associated with witchcraft. Ato Mamo Tessema impacted Ethiopians’ perceptions of ceramics and ceramicist. His work became seen and continues to be seen as an art form rather than a product with a utilitarian function. Ato Mamo’s artwork and career as the founder and curator of the National Museum of Ethiopia has also had a lasting legacy on Ethiopian artists, including Sofia Temesgien Gobena.
This article will discuss Ato Mamo’s influence on changing the perception of ceramists and ceramic art in Ethiopia, as well as his influence on the career of his cousin Sofia T. Gobena, who passed away in 2003. This article will further discuss how Sofia’s family is seeking to promote the notion of ceramics as an art form in Ethiopia.
Mamo Tessema was born on August 24, 1935 in Nekemet, Wollega, Ethiopia. He graduated from Teacher’s Training School at His Imperial Majesty’s Handicraft School in Addis Ababa. After studying in Ethiopia, he went to the U.S., where he attended the Alfred University, and the New York College of Ceramics. He received his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts from Alfred. At Alfred, Ato Mamo’s studies were not limited to ceramic design, he also studied wood carving, painting, sculpture, welding, graphics, lithography, photography, furniture design, and history of art, among other things. Thus, Ato Mamo’s studies provided him with a well-rounded background in art, which is reflected by his artwork.
Above Left: “Warrior,” welded steel sculpture by Mamo Tessema (Photo credit – National Archives, Contemporary African Art from the Harmon Foundation, select list
number 239).
Above Right: “Welded Bird,” welded steel sculpture by Mamo Tessema
(Photo credit – National Archives,Contemporary African Art from the Harmon
Foundation, select list number 240).
Ato Mamo’s work has been exhibited in a number of locations including at the: Alfred Guild at the State College of Ceramics; 1961 UNESCO exhibit; Temple Emanu-El in Yonkers, New York; Washington Heights branch of the New York Public Library; Hampton Institute and Commercial Museum in Philadelphia. The latter five exhibitions were done through the assistance and/or sponsorship of Harmon Foundation, which during its existence from 1922 to 1967, played an instrumental role in promoting the awareness of African art in the U.S. Ato Mamo has also exhibited his work in other countries, including in Ethiopia.
“The Capture,” woodcut. By Tessema, Mamo (Photo credit – National
Archives,Contemporary African Art from the Harmon Foundation, select
list number 237.
After returning from studying in the U.S., Ato Mamo became well-known as a ceramist. This resulted in Ethiopians beginning to appreciate ceramics as an art form. To this day, when Ethiopians think of ceramics as an art form, Ato Mamo immediately comes to mind.
Ato Mamo also taught at the Handicraft School after his return to Ethiopia. Ato Mamo further embarked on the ambitious and worthy project of establishing the Ethiopian National Museum, the first museum in the country. Among the purposes of the Museum were to demonstrate the illustrious art and culture of Ethiopia to visitors, and to educate Ethiopian children about their rich history. As the founder and curator of the museum, Ato Mamo traveled throughout the globe, presenting Ethiopian artifacts to the world.
It can be said that his influence is felt by many now, when one travels through the bustling art scene in Ethiopia. There seems to be a greater appreciation of artwork as new private galleries are opened. Ato Mamo saw the importance of Ethiopian art and history, and the need to archive it. For this Ethiopians should be grateful.
Sofia T. Gobena Sofia at her Masters of Arts Show
Sofia Temesgien Gobena was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 18, 1964. She came to the United States of America in July 1972 with her parents, Abebetch B. and Temesgien Gobena. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Antioch College in Ohio, and a Master of Arts in ceramics and glass from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She also completed her work for her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Wisconsin. Sofia unexpectedly passed away at the age of 38, though in her short life she was a prolific creator. Here are but few samples of her work.
To learn about ceramics in Ethiopia, Sofia visited one of the traditional ceramics producing stations. Sofia’s art professors and colleagues described her artistic abilities as transcendent and the kind of talent that comes around perhaps once a decade.
During Sofia’s visit to a traditional ceramics station
in Ethiopia.
Although Sofia’s life was brief, she was a prodigious artist, leaving behind numerous paintings, sculptures, glasswork, and ceramic pieces that are testaments to the beauty of her creative spirit. While some of this work had previously been seen during her Master of Arts show that was held in Madison, Wisconsin, her artwork received greater exposure at an art show that was held on June 18-20, 2004, in Washington, D.C. at the WorldSpace Corporation. The art show was put together by her family, with the assistance of Mamo Tessema.
Sofia’s influences in ceramics were the well-known U.S. ceramicists Peter Voulkos and Daniel Rhodes. Mamo Tessema was also an important influence in Sofia’s art. The Sofia T. Gobena Foundation was established in Sofia’s memory. The purpose of the foundation is to distribute funds to educational institutions in the United States and abroad that support and encourage the promotion of ceramic arts. Contributions have already been made to the Addis Ababa University Art Department to develop a ceramics department.
In sum, Mamo Tessema’s art work and legacy as the founder of the Ethiopian National Museum has had a significant influence on Ethiopia and artists. One such artist was Sofi a T. Gobena, in whose name a foundation was established to promote the ceramic arts.
— About the Author: Lydia Gobena, sister of Sofia T. Gobena and a cousin to Ato Mamo Tessema, is a trademark attorney and partner at Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, one of the top intellectual property law firms in the world. She is also a jewelry artist based in New York City.
Above:Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga, pictured here in IAAF photo
at the Delhi Half Marathon 2008, won the USD 155,000
Sunfeast World 10K Bangalore 2009 event in the elite
men’s section clocking 28:13 seconds. Read more at Deccan Herald.
The Times of India
By Biju Babu Cyriac
1 Jun 2009
BANGALORE: Deriba Merga and Aselefech Mergia, the Ethiopians who kept a low profile in the lead-up to the race day, emerged victorious in contrasting styles in the 2nd Sunfeast World 10k Bangalore on Sunday. Read more.
Above: “From the 16th to the middle of the 19th centuries,
virtually the whole of the Middle East was under the suzerainty
of the Ottoman Empire. When one of the Zagwe kings in Ethiopia,
King Lalibela (1190-1225), had trouble maintaining unhampered
contacts with the [Ethiopian] monks in Jerusalem, he decided to
build a new Jerusalem in his land. In the process he left behind one
of the true architectural wonders known as the Rock-hewn Churches
of Lalibela.” (From Tadias archives: History of Ethiopian Church
Presence in Jerusalem).
AFP
By Emmanuel Goujon –
LALIBELA, Ethiopia (AFP) — The ancient mystery shrouding Lalibela, Ethiopia’s revered medieval rock-hewn churches, could be lifted by a group of French researchers given the go-ahead for the first comprehensive study of this world heritage site legend says was “built by angels”. The team will have full access to the network of 10 Orthodox chapels chiseled out of volcanic rock — some standing 15 metres (42 feet) high — in the mountainous heart of Ethiopia. Read more.
New York (Tadias) – Ethiopian double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, who headlined one of the many high powered competitions at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City on 30 May, finished second in the Women 5000 meter run. Linet Masai of Kenya was first.
Dibaba was challenged by, among others, Genzebe Dibaba, her younger sister who came in third, and Kim Smith from New Zealand, the national record holder at 5000 and 10,000m.
The Reebok Grand Prix is the fourth stop of USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series and it was held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.
Here are the top five results for Women 5000 meter run
1. Linet Masai (Kenya) at 14:35.39A
2 Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia ) at 14:40.93A
3 Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia ) at 15:00.79
4 Kim Smith (New Zealand ) at 15:26.00
5 Jen Rhines (United States) at 15:32.39
Press Conference Tirunesh Dibaba and Kim Smith – 2009 Reebok Grand Prix2009 Reebok Grand Prix PreviewTadias photos from the 2007 Reebok Grand Prix in New York
Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) — Ardent Energy Group (AEG) Inc, a full service biodiesel company focused on the cultivation and refining of high quality biodiesel from non-edible biological feedstock, announced today an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOARD) of Ethiopia to transfer 15,000 hectares, approximately 37,000 acres, to AEG for the purpose of cultivating jatropha and castor. The resultant crop will be refined into usable biodiesel fuel.
“We started with the idea that in order to make biodiesel cost-effective we had to control the source of the oil and that became our “farm to fuel” strategy that begins with the securing of land for cultivation,” said Y. Daniel Gezahegne, founder and CEO of Ardent Energy Group. “By growing our crop in Ethiopia and distributing our fuel throughout the world, we are able to create jobs while creating a business that helps wean the world from petroleum-based fuels.”
The 15,000 hectares outlined in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is in the Metekel Zone, Gublak District within Benshangul Gumuz in western Ethiopia. The MOU establishes a 50-year lease on the land for AEG, and includes permission to operate an oil crushing plant and biodiesel processing facility.
Jatropha and castor were selected as the first source of oil by AEG due to the resiliency of the plant, its ability to grow in marginal soil conditions and the extremely high-yield of oil to hectare as compared to other crops such as soybean. The ability of jatropha to thrive in harsh climates is also favorable, as the plant will not be competing with land that could otherwise be used for food production.
Ardent Energy Group is committed to creating sustainable, safe, reliable fuel from non-feedstock sources. More information is available at http://www.ardentenergygroup.com.
About Ardent Energy Group Ardent Energy Group Inc. is a US.
Corporation registered in the
State of Nevada. The business
development office is located in
Elk Grove, California. AEG is a
full service biodiesel company
focused on the cultivation and
refining of high quality biodiesel
from non-edible biological
feedstock.
Above:Double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, pictured
here at the 3rd Annual Reebok Grand Prix two years ago, will
compete at this year’s event in New York. The Reebok Grand
Prix is the fourth stop of USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship
Series and will begin at 3:00pm on May 30th at Icahn Stadium
on Randall’s Island. (Photo: Tadias Magazine).
Tadias photos from the 2007 Reebok Grand Prix in New York
Dibaba, Powell, Campbell-Brown set for New York
(Athletics Weekly)
May 27th 2009 Dibaba, Powell, Campbell-Brown set for New York
DOUBLE Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba from Ethiopia will make her season’s debut over 5000m at the Reebok Grand Prix, May 30, after injury forced her to miss the World Cross Country Championships. The two-time world 10000m champion and world 5000m record-holder’s shape is not known but the US all-comers’ record of 14:24.53, held by archrival Meseret Defar, could be under threat. Read more
Above:“Sonia Sotomayor has reason to be thrilled –
she is a slam dunk to get confirmed for the Supreme
Court, Thomas M. DeFrank writes.” – (NY Daily News).
Introducing Judge Sonia Sotomayor: “Pride of the Bronx”
Judge Sotomayor has made the American dream her own. Born
and raised in a South Bronx public housing project to Puerto
Rican parents, Sotomayor has distinguished herself in academia,
as a big-city prosecutor, and as a leading figure on the federal
bench. If confirmed, Judge Sotomayor would start with more
federal judicial experience than any new Justice in 100 years.
Above:Ethiopian store owner Hagos Admasu Gebreagziabher
was killed in front of his wife in Jacksonville, Florida.
JACKSONVILLE, FL –Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officers are looking
for two men they believe shot a man to death. The victim was
found late Monday night in front of a neighborhood store on
W. 13th Street near Canal. He’s been identified as 41-year-old
Hagos Admasu Gebreagziabher. Read more.
Fasil Amdetsion is an attorney from Ethiopia who speaks in riddles. With an undergraduate degree from Yale in both history and international studies, and a law degree from Harvard, he is a thinker.
Working with prestigious New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, he is also a do-er.
One of the things Fasil has done recently is analyzed the legal, geopolitical, and historical dimensions of the longstanding dispute over the Nile. He has followed the course of this river from an early age, growing up in the Nile River basin. Read more at Huffingtonpost.com.
Above: “Despite his best efforts the 28 year old Merga fell
short running a course record of 27:23.9 in an incredible
solo effort. He earned himself USUS$5,000 “gender bonus”
for closing down the four minute twelve seconds head start
given to the women elite racers as well as US$2,000 for a
new course record.” – IAAF (Photo -Victah Sailer).
IAAF
Ottawa, Canada – Could Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga break the World 10k record just a month after winning the 2009 Boston Marathon? “That’s the $100,000 question,” said his agent Hussein Makke referring to the bonus money on offer for beating Micah Kogo’s pending record time of 27:01 at the MDS Nordion 10km in Ottawa. Ottawa, Canada – Could Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga break the World 10k record just a month after winning the 2009 Boston Marathon? “That’s the $100,000 question,” said his agent Hussein Makke referring to the bonus money on offer for beating Micah Kogo’s pending record time of 27:01 at the MDS Nordion 10km in Ottawa. The event – an IAAF Silver Label Road Race – started at 6:30 p.m. with large crowds turning out in sunny 20 degree temperatures to learn the answer. Read more.
Washington, D.C. – April 20, 2009 — Ethiopian Airlines Journeys would like to be the first to congratulate Deriba Merga on winning the Boston Marathon.
Ethiopian Olympian, Deriba Merga, won his first Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 42 seconds. The Ethiopian finished almost a minute ahead of Kenyan Daniel Rono.
Merga, who finished in 4th place in the Beijing Olympics, finished first among the more than 26,000 participants in Boston. Regarded as the third-fastest Ethiopian marathoner of all time, Merga now joins the famous list of Ethiopians that have won the Boston Marathon including Hailu Negussie and Abebe Mekonnen.
Merga was born in Nekemt and trains with the Ethiopian squad in Addis Ababa. Merga’s mentor is world record holder and beloved Ethiopian runner, Haile Gebrselassie.
Fellow native Ethiopian runner and former Boston Marathon champion, Dire Tune, finished second in the closest Women’s final ever. Her time of 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 17 seconds fell one second short of Kenyan, Salina Kosgei.
“Ethiopia takes great pride in their marathon runners,” said Marian Wargo, Director of Sales for Ethiopian Airlines Journeys and a native New Englander. “The athleticism and training commitment of these runners is truly amazing.”
Americans who wish to visit the fascinating homeland of these world-famous runners need look no further than Ethiopian Airlines Journeys. Whether it’s visiting the captivating history of the Northern route or experiencing the indigenous tribal cultures of the Southern route, Ethiopian Airlines Journeys crafts customized vacations to meet all needs. This month’s featured package is an Archaeological Adventure of Ethiopia with a chance to discover “The Ark of the Covenant.”
About Ethiopian Airlines Journeys
The finest vacation experiences in Ethiopia and East Africa begin with Ethiopian Airlines Journeys. Ethiopian Airlines Journeys is a single-source solution to plan and realize a truly authentic vacation in one of the most exciting and historical regions of Africa. The company provides the very best service, from friendly expert guides to comfortable accommodations to delightful meals to the most fascinating African experiences. This is all provided with total customization, built around each traveler’s preferences and interests. Call toll-free 1-866-599-3797 or visit www.seeyouinethiopia.com for more information.
About Ethiopian Airlines
Ethiopian Airlines is one of the largest airlines in Africa serving 53 destinations around the globe. As the winner of the 2007 African Business of the Year and Best African Airline Award for 2006, its service and quality are unparalleled among African airlines. Featuring five flights weekly from Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport, the airline offers both morning and evening departures, with the morning departure allowing seamless connections to 32 African destinations. The airline’s web site provides excellent information on additional flights, services and special web fares. For more information about Ethiopian Airlines, visit www.ethiopianairlines.com.
Above:Those arrested reportedly belong to a group headed
by former opposition party leader Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-
American economics professor at Bucknell University, who was
elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. He has been accused of
masterminding a plot to assassinate officials.
Source: Reuters
* ‘Coup plotters’ remanded without charge
* Prosecutors tell court investigations completed
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Reuters) – A group accused of plotting to overthrow the Ethiopian government were remanded in custody on Monday again after spending more than one month in prison without any charges or visitation rights, relatives said. Read more.
Related: A year to election, Ethiopia opposition cries foul
May 14, 2009
10 hours ago
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopia’s opposition accuses the regime of pulling out all the stops to prevent change in next year’s elections, using a familiar arsenal of arbitrary arrests and trumped-up coup charges. Read more.
Related: VOA: Potential For Violence Shadows Ethiopia’s 2010 Election
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
06 May 2009
Ethiopia’s next national election is a year away, but tensions are already increasing. At least two opposition politicians have recently been jailed, both possibly facing life in prison, and security forces have arrested dozens of others, accusing them of plotting against the government. Both government and opposition leaders are expressing concern about the potential for election-related violence. Read more.
ADDIS ABABA, May 5 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition
leader said on Tuesday an anti-government plot had been
invented as an excuse to arrest potential candidates ahead
of national elections next year. Read more.
Ethiopia Denies Coup Plot, Calls 40 Detainees ‘Desperadoes’ Above:Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).
VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.
Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.
By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa
Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.
New York (TADIAS) – The following is an interview with Sarah Nuru, who was crowned Germany’s Top Model last month after she beat out 21,000 contestants to claim the coveted title.
Heidi Klum, the top model host, made the announcement in front of a packed crowd of 15,000 in the Cologne Lanxess Arena.
The 19-year-old fashion model from Munich, whose parents immigrated from Ethiopia, has earned the nickname “Sunshine” from Germany’s Next Top Model, and was wildly popular with her competitors.
Here is our interview with Sara.
TADIAS: Sara, thank you for your time and congratulations. How does it feel to be crowned Germany’s Next Top Model?
Sara: Thank you very much, I feel very happy. Yes it is quite amazing what is going on right now. It will probably take time until I really recognize this amazing development. But so far, it is a wonderful experience and right now a very exciting time for me.
TADIAS: What does this title mean for your future career?
Sara: To be honest, the title is a great door-opener but I will not lay back and enjoy the title . I have a great chance to make the very best of my benefit. Since the 21st of May, the day I became Germany’s next Top-model, I was hardly at home, worked day and night and really enjoyed my new life as a model! That’s how I imagined it.
TADIAS: This is historical in a sense that the media is saying that you are the first black person to be crowned Germany’s Next Top Model. Did you feel additional pressure because of your cultural background?
Sara Nuru. (Photo by Oliver S.)
Sara: Well, I feel honored that you call it “historical”, but I wouldn’t make a big thing of it . For me, it is of course fantastic to be a black model. I’m very happy that I became the winner of Germany’s next Top-model beside so many beautiful and talented girls. I’m Ethiopian through my parents that’s a fact and I’m absolutely proud of it. But I can’t imagine that my skin color had a big effect for my victory at this show .
TADIAS: Where do you see yourself in a few years?
Sara: It is quite difficult to predict a career, but I have a reliable agency and already great jobs and four big campaigns to work for. Of course, it is desirable for every model to be successful in the international model business. But I am someone who is down to earth and I, of course, will work hard and be calm and serene in attending to my ways.
TADIAS: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Sara: Thank you to everyone who believed in me. And, yes, just like I said stay true to yourself and never forget were you came from.
TADIAS: Good luck Sara.
Sara: Thank you very much and all the best.
Sara Nuru – One of Her First Interviews After Her Victory
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 21, 2009; 10:39 AM
President Obama today delivered a forceful defense of his approach to closing the Guantanamo Bay prison and fighting terrorism, arguing in the face of criticism from both the left and right that America must adhere to its fundamental values as his administration works to safeguard the nation while cleaning up what he described as a legal “mess” left by the Bush administration. Read more. Watch video of the speech:
The picture above is a stenciled portrait of Alemayehu Eshete, a renowned Ethiopian vocalist, being displayed at an exhibition in Addis at Alliance Ethio-Francaise’s gallery starting from Friday, May 15 as a part of the 8th Ethiopian Music Festival.
The work by French painter, Pierr Dumond, (known by his artistic name Artiste-Ouvrier) is based on a photograph from Abyssinia Swing, showing Alemayehu in his youth as a nineteen-year old obscure singer.
The second portrait based on a photo taken six months later illustrates the
singer’s stunning transformation that came with his new-found fame and an
Elvis Presley look.
The acrylics works are highly detailed stencils and silk screened on canvass. Artist-Ouvrier’s technical skill in combining emphatic brushstrokes with photographic imagery has captivated viewers.
The artist has also displayed other portraits of Ethiopian musicians such as Tilahun Gessesse and a group portrait of Tilahun Gessesse, Mahamoud Ahmed, Bizunesh Bekele.
The collections are among the 600 works that Artist-Ouvrier has been doing since
March 1, 2009 in preparation for the Music Festival.
The Festival which opened on Friday this year has chosen to honour two composers and arrangers, Sahle Degago and Lemma Demissew, two prevalent figures of “Swinging Addis “,”unfairly erased from collective memory”, according organizers.
Sahle Degago has spent his whole musical career among the Imperial Bodyguard Orchestra. An inspired melodist, a delicate songwriter and above all an arranger as sophisticated as prolific, he was the main architect of the successes of other members of the Orchestra such as Tilahoun Gessesse, Bezunesh Bekele or Mahmoud Ahmed, according to the promotional brochures.
The career of Lemma Demissew bloomed in the shade of the Army Band. Contrary to Sahle Degago, who was strongly Ethiopian in his approach, Lemma Demissew was often a feverish modernist, deeply inspired by the electric wave born on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. A pianist, a composer, a singer, he will also remain, for our music lovers’ soft little hearts, the beloved arranger of many of Mahmoud Ahmed’s or Alemayehu Eshete’s anthological vinyl records.
——–
Publisher’s note: This piece is re-posted from the Visual Poets Society’s blog with permission.
Above: This undated photo released by the Jefferson
County Sheriff’s Office, shows Anthony Warren. A video
released by the sheriff’s office shows five Birmingham
police officers beating an apparently unconscious Warren
after a roadway chase in Alabama on Jan. 23, 2008. The
video surfaced a year later after prosecutors were
preparing to try Warren for assault in connection with the
chase. The five policeman were fired. Warren pleaded guilty
to first-degree assault and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
(Miami Herald )
New York (Tadias) – 19-year-old Bewunetwa Abebe, who participated in the recently completed 2009 International Beauty and Model festival in China, has won the title of Model of Africa.
She was the second teenage Ethiopian model from the Ethiopian Millennium pageant to represent Ethiopia at an international beauty competition, which took place in Kunming, the capital of southwest China’s Yunnan province, a primarily agricultural province of 45 million.
The 3-weeks event from April 22 to May 7 gave the
participants an opportunity to display their country’s
attire as well as their posing skills.
Above:Yehune and Tutu Belay take a seat in their new
restaurant, which is decorated with imported arts and
crafts. (Photos By Lois Raimondo — The Washington Post)
WaPo
By Tom Sietsema
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The co-owner of the Ethiopian Yellow Pages of the Washington area estimates there are more than 45 dining rooms serving doro wot and injera. So how does Yehune Belay, who just added the title of restaurateur to his résumé, hope to distinguish his place in Shaw from the pack? By re-creating the atmosphere of an Ethiopian home, he says. Read more.
Related from Tadias archives: Little Ethiopia in LA: How it happened
Tadias Magazine
By Azeb Tadesse & Meron Ahadu A perspective from the people behind the idea
Los Angeles (Tadias) – By now, most people have heard of Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles, a place named for its unique ability to put forward a serving of Ethiopia. Along with the news, there have been many speculations on how this event came about and what it took to visibly acknowledge the essence of the area. As with most things in this world, Little Ethiopia began as a notion. Over a 10-year period, a number of Ethiopian restaurants and specialty store businesses slowly began to relocate to a strip on Fairfax Avenue. The neighborhood was soon transformed from an abandoned boarded up drive-by strip into a hub for community life, buzzing with colors, aroma, and affability of Ethiopian’s ancestral home. As years passed, Ethiopians and Angelinos began to label the area as “Little Addis”, “Little Ethiopia”, and “Ethiopian Restaurant Row”.
The notion began to take hold after PBS aired a segment of Huell Howeser’s popular “Our Neighborhood” show entitled “Little Ethiopia”. Meron Ahadu, co-author of this article, was the tour guide for that segment and the show got its title from the fact that the strip offered visitors a slice of Ethiopia.
The chain of events that led to the fruition of Little Ethiopia began when Meron Ahadu and Tirsit Asrat organized a fundraising for Congressman Mervyn Dymally, who played a key role in the mid 80’s in helping Ethiopians get amnesty. At the time, he was running for a seat in the California State Assembly. Unfortunately, the turnout by the Ethiopian community was disappointing. Nonetheless, it was at this event that the idea of Little Ethiopia was put forth and the Congressman pledged his support.
Five women came together to plan another benefit for the Congressman with a goal to get better participation from the Ethiopian community. It was at this time that the need became apparent to form a non-partisan organization that stood for an increased involvement of the Ethiopian community in the U.S. democratic process. Hence, the Ethiopian-American Advocacy Group (EAAG) was established. In addition to raising funds for Congressman Dymally, the function held on July 26, 2002 was the launching ceremony of EAAG. Various city and state officials attended this highly successful event. One of the short- term projects presented at this occasion was Little Ethiopia and it won the support of Herb Wesson, Speaker of the House for the California State Assembly, and Councilman Nate Holden of District 10, where Little Ethiopia was proposed to be located.
On August 7, 2002, the motion to name Little Ethiopia was presented to the Los Angeles City Council. Consequently, as a result of aggressive lobbying of several political personalities by EAAG members, the City Council voted unanimously to designate the area on Fairfax Avenue, between Olympic and Pico, as Little Ethiopia. The enormous support and candid enthusiasm of the City Council members and the larger Ethiopian community came as a pleasant surprise to many, even to those who worked on the project. A highly successful street festival organized by the community followed on November 24, 2002, to inaugurate the area as Little Ethiopia. A one-block stretch of Fairfax was closed to through traffic for a street festival featuring children’s village, cultural dance and music, fashion show and contemporary Ethiopian music. Approximately 5,000 people attended the festival from all walks of life and congratulations were received from around the globe. City officials and community leaders unveiled the sign designating the place as Little Ethiopia and thus the area was renamed bearing Ethiopia’s name.
This event was truly significant in many respects; firstly, this was the first time in the entire history of the United States that a city has recognized an African country by naming an area after it. Secondly, Little Ethiopia is the only place outside of Ethiopia that bears the name of the motherland. As one drives through the area, it is difficult to ignore the official sign designating the area. In that respect, it indicates that Ethiopians have arrived, are here to stay, and have stood up to be counted as vibrant members of the City of Los Angeles. Finally, yet importantly, this is a legacy for the next generation of Ethiopian-Americans. They will not be burdened with the task of establishing their identity but will have a footnote in the history books to refer to as they strengthen and build their presence in the U.S. and aboard.
It is quite overwhelming to realize that a deed at the local level should have such a universal significance. However, this only bears witness to the importance of engaging one’s surrounding, and begs the question: what can be accomplished if we focus on our commonality by setting aside our differences? What could the 65,000 Ethiopians in Southern California do if they join forces? How about the more than 500,000 Ethiopians in the U.S.? Better yet, what could a coalition of a couple of million African immigrants accomplish? EAAG hopes we will find out in our lifetime.
Above:Evander Holyfield (a.k.a. ‘The Real Deal’) and Ethiopian
American boxer Sammy Retta.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
New York (Tadias) Evander Holyfield and Ethiopian American boxer Sammy Retta have arrived in Addis Ababa to prepare for an exhibition match on July 26 to help raise funds for AIDS victims, Ethiopian Television reports.
The event will mark Holyfield’s first boxing gig since his controversial loss to Nikolai Valuev.
The 46-year-old former undisputed heavyweight champion will face off in July the less known Sammy Retta, whom according to AFP, “is a 35-year-old with a record of 18 wins and three losses in super-middleweight bouts” and “at 230 pounds, he now outweighs his more illustrious rival.”
The upcoming fight has been described by AFP “as one of the highest-profile all-American boxing bouts on African soil since the legendary 1974 ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ that pitted Muhammad Ali against Joe Frazier in the former Zaire.”
New York (TADIAS) – A few months ago we received a note from one of our readers in Ethiopia. “I’m thinking you might enjoy hearing a grassroots perspective on eco ethical fashion from Ethiopia’s 1st IFAT certified fair trade company” it stated. “it is my great pleasure to introduce our firm, soleRebels to you.”
We’ve heard of fair trade Ethiopian coffee and clothing. And now Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Co-Founder and Managing Director of SoleRebels is successfully running Ethiopia’s first fair trade footwear company.
Since its 2005 debut at New York’s Fashion Week, eco-fashion has morphed from its humble beginnings as an alternative trend into high-end boutique apparel labeled “green,” “sustainable,” “organic,” “all-natural fiber” and our personal favorite – “vegan.” SoleRebels footwear is available for purchase on several online shopping sites including Amazon and Endless.com. Introducing SoleRebels Tilahun describes her work as “a story of fair trade, eco-sensibility, great innovative footwear products and HOPE!”
Photo courtesy of SoleRebels
Tilahun’s fans are equally enthusiastic. Jasmin Malik Chua, New Jersey based Environmental Writer and Editor of Treehugger.com, dubs SoleRebels as “Fair Trade, Eco-Friendly Shoes With Plenty of Soul.” Worldchanging, a non-profit organization which describes itself as “a global network of independent journalists, designers and thinkers covering the world’s most intelligent solutions to today’s problems,” features SoleRebels products in their Bright Green Footwear for Humanity section, highlighting how Tilahun’s concept fuses business and trade “not foreign aid to leverage positive change in that region.”
But Tilahun says it best: “One of the truly unique and exciting things about soleRebels is that we are green by heritage, and NOT because some marketing folks told us to be! We maximize both recycled inputs and craft our materials in the traditional manner — the way they have always been made in Ethiopia – by hand.”
She summarizes their ethos in three words: “Roots, Culture, Tires.” SoleRebels products are created using indigenous practices such as hand-spun organic cotton and artisan hand-loomed fabric. Tires are also recycled and used for soles. The end result is environmental friendly, vegan footwear. “Historically that is the way things have been done,” Tilahun says, and it not only makes great sense to continue the tradition, it also has generated income for local artisans.
Below is our recent interview with Bethlehem:
TADIAS: Tell us a bit about yourself…where you grew up, who or what is influential in your life.
Bethlehem: My name is Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu. I was born and grew up in the Zenabwork/Total area of Addis Ababa. I am a graduate of Unity University College in Accounting. My family has been a huge influence on me, especially my parents. They are loving, caring, thoughtful people. They taught me the value of respect for one’s family and larger community. The way they treated other people always struck me as it was always in a manner that dignified and respected the person regardless of who they were. My parents encouraged me to get higher education and to embrace learning, and they taught me the value of hard honest-to-goodness work. Both my folks have always set a great example in terms of being committed to what they do. They instilled in me a pride about working honestly that informs so many of the things that I do.
TADIAS What did you do before you started Sole Rebel?
Bethlehem: Before I began SoleRebels, or Bostex plc as our umbrella company is called, I worked with various companies in the leather and apparel sector in a variety of capacities including marketing and sales, design, and production. This gave me good industry knowledge that has been extremely useful in terms of setting up my company and growing it. After working in the private sector for a while I had a strong desire to start to focus my business skills on my community, which is one the most impoverished areas in Addis. I knew that there were so many talented people there who could do great things if only given a chance. I repeatedly saw what a lot of these people could do in terms of various craft and creative skills. However, owing to extreme poverty, stigma, marginalization and a whole load of other factors, many of them could not even get simple jobs. This was devastating for me as I grew up with them — they were my neighbors, my family members. I knew that anything that I did for the community had to be business-oriented. I wanted to show people that if we all worked hard we could have jobs that pay decently and we could all have regular work and we could all start to feel the pride that comes with financing ourselves and not waiting for handouts.
TADIAS: Who are the other co-founders of Sole Rebel? Tell us a bit more about your collaboration with them and when you started Sole Rebel?
Bethlehem: My family has played significant and ongoing roles in the company’s formation and operation. My brother Kirubel has been a key point-man in the origination of the company, doing a lot of crucial legwork for the company. He continues to be deeply involved in operations and marketing. A graduate of Unity University College in I.T., he brings an important set of skills to the team. My brother Brook provides a solid addition to the management of the company in his role as Director of Production. Brook is a graduate of Addis Ababa University in Economics.
Kirubel presenting soleRebels at the SIAO Burkina Faso artisan fair, October 2008. (Courtesy photo)
TADIAS: What inspired you to become a green business? Are there models that you followed in the process, either domestic or international?
Bethlehem: It’s an interesting question that you ask about models that we looked to regarding being a “green business.” I would answer that instead of looking outwards we looked deeply inwards, to ourselves, our country, our culture and our community.
I think the idea of a “green business” is a bit of a fad label that doesn’t express the value of who and what we are. To me a better way of understanding who we are and why we do what we do is to say: “SoleRebels is as an innovative and ethical company committed to creating world-class footwear and apparel products and great community-based jobs while utilizing the immense, diverse, sustainable and eco-sensible materials and cultural arts of Ethiopia that are by their very nature “green” and have always been.”We want to express the key fact that we are embracing these deeply sustainable and traditionally zero carbon methods of production not because it’s the “in” thing, or because we held a focus group about it, or because some marketing genius told us to be “green.” We embrace it because these production methods and ideas and ethos are an integral part of Ethiopia’s cultural fabric, and are by their essence sustainable and low impact.
Ethiopians reading this can relate: we grew up watching members of our families spin cotton with an inzert – the traditional wooden hand-drop spindle used here for centuries to spin cotton. I spun many rolls of fetel with my mom. We line our shoe interiors and strap linings with the fabric made from this organic hand-spun cotton. We also grew up watching shemmanies hand-loom gorgeous fabric to make netalla, gabbis etc on their simple wooden looms. These two functions – hand spinning and hand looming – which are integral to our production process as well, are true examples of highly sustainable zero carbon production that we have been utilizing here in Ethiopia for centuries. Another example would be the barabassao and selate recycled tire shoes, which have been widely worn here for years. They are wonderful examples of our recycling ethos . As a company we have embraced this idea in full and craft many of our soles from recycled car tires. Working in this manner preserves important cultural assets, and gives our customers incredibly cool and stylish footwear. And 100% local input means this is a deeply sustainable mode of production and export. What we offer goes far beyond “green” labels and really extends in to meaningful ideas about sustainability, ecologically sound practices and authenticity. To me the whole idea of “green” , if we want to call it that, is really where places like Ethiopia have something to offer the world in terms of not just amazing products , but adding authenticity in the whole dialogue.
TADIAS: Can you describe your logo?
Bethlehem: We look to homegrown models of sustainability for our inspiration on multiple fronts . and nowhere is this fact better reflected than in our logo. All our products carry our symbol – the ancient and exalted koba plant . Koba is an indigenous plant cultivated in ethiopia for thousands of years. It is a marvel of natural efficiency and every part of the koba plant is put to use. Its fibers are used in the creation of a range of things – from baskets to tapestries to parts of our shoes. A Koba plant’s roots are a source of food.
TADIAS: What were the impressions of your first customers?
Bethlehem: We have been extremely fortunate to have had some excellent, enlightened and savy buyers right from day one. Their reactions on the whole were “Wow this is great . Let’s start getting some products to our customers.” And so off we went..and we haven’t stopped growing. Customers like Endless, and Amazon and their buying teams recognized early on the value a brand like SoleRebels offered on various levels in terms of fair trade and eco-products, and I’m proud to say that they have manifested that support by carrying over 90 unique SoleRebels styles. We are deeply honored by that support and we live to validate that support every day by designing and delivering world class footwear to these retailers and their final customers. We also view our retailers’ support as something that needs to be earned over and over in everything that we do for them. And we are committed to keep on winning that support.
TADIAS: How many people do you employ now?
Bethlehem: SoleRebels has supplied over 40 people from our community with full-time dignified and well-paying work, and a further 100 part-time jobs. Through our supplier network and our subcontractors, we have created an additional 55 jobs in areas such as the supply of inputs including hand-spun cotton and hand-loomed fabric. And this is just the beginning.
TADIAS: What are some of the most successful projects you have launched to turn a social profit and give back to the community that is producing SoleRebels? How have the lives of your employees and families changed?
Bethlehem: Our operational philosophy includes the principle and provision of honorable wages for artisans workers – a wage that honors their skill, dedication and outputs. As a resident of Zenabwork I am doubly proud that I have been able to participate in elevating the living standards of my fellow Ethiopians in a dynamic and significant manner. We are very excited about the financing program the company runs, which assists workers to purchase their own homes. We are also very proud of our back2school support program that encourages and supports workers who want to finish their schooling – be that high school or more advanced education. We offer people in this program flexible work hours and financial support for their efforts. Our “tie-back promotions” program, where we tie back a certain percentage of the sale revenue from specified styles to a variety of initiatives helps us to support the education of the children of our artisans. In addition we have an onsite kitchen, which provides breakfast and snacks for our workers. We also provide matching funds to our employees through our one4one program.We have a sub brand called b*knd – the name we give to all SoleRebels products that are created and crafted especially for vegans, and everyone else who doesn’t want any animal-related products in their footwear. We are also about to kick-off a great initiative called Growing Green, with the aim of funding organic gardens in the local community that are run by community entrepreneurs, using a portion of the sales generated from b*knd styles. The garden entrepreneurs will in turn sell their products locally. Their payback for our funding will be in the form of a certain amount of produce that they will supply for our workers no cost . So this is a great way to promote local entrepreneurs and commerce and give something of ongoing value to our workers.
TADIAS: What are a few ways that our readers could get more involved or learn more about green entrepreneurship in Ethiopia?
Bethlehem: I would say that in terms of getting more involved, we always say that the Diaspora Ethiopian community can play a key role by supporting Ethiopian products and brands. In our case they can show this support by buying products from our retail partners like Endless and Amazon.com. They can also promote the brand to the wider communities they live in — this is a tried-and-true method that many Diaspora communities have engaged in, and that has helped indigenous brands to enter international markets. More importantly, Diaspora Ethiopians can use the SoleRebels story to broaden the image that people may have about Ethiopia, and to help get beyond the relentless focus on the Ethiopia as being synonymous with aid and/or poverty. They can proudly point and say “look what this great Ethiopian company is doing with trade . Look at their amazing and cool and eco-fabulous products…and you can order them online or buy them in Urban Outfitters stores.” To me this has the power to elevate people’s ideas and consciousness about Ethiopia to new levels and to see that trade and not aid is the key. It really serves as a direct development tool. More orders equals more jobs and more income and benefits for the wider community. Trade is such an essential key to upliftment as it is the key to job creation, income realization and ultimately, if conducted on the right terms, that all too elusive thing that sustains us all – hope. And the Diaspora community can play an active and important role in making this happen, being at the forefront, building something universally popular, while also asserting control over our destiny. That is a fascinating proposition.
In terms of learning more, we ourselves are always happy to communicate with people who want to learn ore about us and what we do. We encourage people to write and get in touch with us at rootsculturetires@gmail.com, and we would be honored to hear from everyone! Thanks for taking the time to get to know a little bit more about us. We really appreciate it.
TADIAS: Thank you Bethlehem for the interview.
— About the Author: Tseday Alehegn is the Editor-in-Chief of Tadias Magazine. She is a graduate of Stanford University (both B.A. & M.A.) and in addition to her responsibilities at Tadias, she is completing her Doctoral studies at Columbia University.
Above:An man enjoys a beer in a coffee shop in northern
Ethiopia.
AFP
Monday, May 18, 2009
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — It’s nearly an hour before midnight in a street in one of Addis Ababa’s bustling districts and less than a dozen young men can be spotted below the glow of half-lit street lights. In near-slow motion, a handful of vehicles pass by over potholed roads while gay men and male prostitutes hold discreet conversations on cracked pavements. Read more.
President Obama gave the commencement speech at Notre
Dame University on Sunday, May 17, 2009. Below is the
text of the President’s speech, as prepared for delivery.
But first, watch as Obama accepts an honorary degree
to hearty applause:
The President’s speech, as prepared for delivery.
Thank you, Father Jenkins for that generous introduction. You are doing an outstanding job as president of this fine institution, and your continued and courageous commitment to honest, thoughtful dialogue is an inspiration to us all.
Good afternoon Father Hesburgh, Notre Dame trustees, faculty, family, friends, and the class of 2009. I am honored to be here today, and grateful to all of you for allowing me to be part of your graduation.
I want to thank you for this honorary degree. I know it has not been without controversy. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but these honorary degrees are apparently pretty hard to come by. So far I’m only 1 for 2 as President. Father Hesburgh is 150 for 150. I guess that’s better. Father Ted, after the ceremony, maybe you can give me some pointers on how to boost my average.
I also want to congratulate the class of 2009 for all your accomplishments. And since this is Notre Dame, I mean both in the classroom and in the competitive arena. We all know about this university’s proud and storied football team, but I also hear that Notre Dame holds the largest outdoor 5-on-5 basketball tournament in the world – Bookstore Basketball.
Now this excites me. I want to congratulate the winners of this year’s tournament, a team by the name of “Hallelujah Holla Back.” Well done. Though I have to say, I am personally disappointed that the “Barack O’Ballers” didn’t pull it out. Next year, if you need a 6’2″ forward with a decent jumper, you know where I live.
Every one of you should be proud of what you have achieved at this institution. One hundred and sixty three classes of Notre Dame graduates have sat where you are today. Some were here during years that simply rolled into the next without much notice or fanfare – periods of relative peace and prosperity that required little by way of sacrifice or struggle.
You, however, are not getting off that easy. Your class has come of age at a moment of great consequence for our nation and the world – a rare inflection point in history where the size and scope of the challenges before us require that we remake our world to renew its promise; that we align our deepest values and commitments to the demands of a new age. It is a privilege and a responsibility afforded to few generations – and a task that you are now called to fulfill.
This is the generation that must find a path back to prosperity and decide how we respond to a global economy that left millions behind even before this crisis hit – an economy where greed and short-term thinking were too often rewarded at the expense of fairness, and diligence, and an honest day’s work.
We must decide how to save God’s creation from a changing climate that threatens to destroy it. We must seek peace at a time when there are those who will stop at nothing to do us harm, and when weapons in the hands of a few can destroy the many. And we must find a way to reconcile our ever-shrinking world with its ever-growing diversity – diversity of thought, of culture, and of belief.
In short, we must find a way to live together as one human family.
It is this last challenge that I’d like to talk about today. For the major threats we face in the 21st century – whether it’s global recession or violent extremism; the spread of nuclear weapons or pandemic disease – do not discriminate. They do not recognize borders. They do not see color. They do not target specific ethnic groups.
Moreover, no one person, or religion, or nation can meet these challenges alone. Our very survival has never required greater cooperation and understanding among all people from all places than at this moment in history.
Unfortunately, finding that common ground – recognizing that our fates are tied up, as Dr. King said, in a “single garment of destiny” – is not easy. Part of the problem, of course, lies in the imperfections of man – our selfishness, our pride, our stubbornness, our acquisitiveness, our insecurities, our egos; all the cruelties large and small that those of us in the Christian tradition understand to be rooted in original sin. We too often seek advantage over others. We cling to outworn prejudice and fear those who are unfamiliar. Too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism; in which the world is necessarily a zero-sum game. The strong too often dominate the weak, and too many of those with wealth and with power find all manner of justification for their own privilege in the face of poverty and injustice. And so, for all our technology and scientific advances, we see around the globe violence and want and strife that would seem sadly familiar to those in ancient times.
We know these things; and hopefully one of the benefits of the wonderful education you have received is that you have had time to consider these wrongs in the world, and grown determined, each in your own way, to right them. And yet, one of the vexing things for those of us interested in promoting greater understanding and cooperation among people is the discovery that even bringing together persons of good will, men and women of principle and purpose, can be difficult.
The soldier and the lawyer may both love this country with equal passion, and yet reach very different conclusions on the specific steps needed to protect us from harm. The gay activist and the evangelical pastor may both deplore the ravages of HIV/AIDS, but find themselves unable to bridge the cultural divide that might unite their efforts. Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son’s or daughter’s hardships can be relieved.
The question, then, is how do we work through these conflicts? Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort? As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?
Nowhere do these questions come up more powerfully than on the issue of abortion.
As I considered the controversy surrounding my visit here, I was reminded of an encounter I had during my Senate campaign, one that I describe in a book I wrote called The Audacity of Hope. A few days after I won the Democratic nomination, I received an email from a doctor who told me that while he voted for me in the primary, he had a serious concern that might prevent him from voting for me in the general election. He described himself as a Christian who was strongly pro-life, but that’s not what was preventing him from voting for me.
What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my website – an entry that said I would fight “right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman’s right to choose.” The doctor said that he had assumed I was a reasonable person, but that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable. He wrote, “I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words.”
Fair-minded words.
After I read the doctor’s letter, I wrote back to him and thanked him. I didn’t change my position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my website. And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that – when we open our hearts and our minds to those who may not think like we do or believe what we do – that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.
That’s when we begin to say, “Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.
So let’s work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term. Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women.”
Understand – I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. No matter how much we may want to fudge it – indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory – the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.
Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words.
It’s a way of life that has always been the Notre Dame tradition. Father Hesburgh has long spoken of this institution as both a lighthouse and a crossroads. The lighthouse that stands apart, shining with the wisdom of the Catholic tradition, while the crossroads is where “…differences of culture and religion and conviction can co-exist with friendship, civility, hospitality, and especially love.” And I want to join him and Father Jenkins in saying how inspired I am by the maturity and responsibility with which this class has approached the debate surrounding today’s ceremony.
This tradition of cooperation and understanding is one that I learned in my own life many years ago – also with the help of the Catholic Church.
I was not raised in a particularly religious household, but my mother instilled in me a sense of service and empathy that eventually led me to become a community organizer after I graduated college. A group of Catholic churches in Chicago helped fund an organization known as the Developing Communities Project, and we worked to lift up South Side neighborhoods that had been devastated when the local steel plant closed.
It was quite an eclectic crew. Catholic and Protestant churches. Jewish and African-American organizers. Working-class black and white and Hispanic residents. All of us with different experiences. All of us with different beliefs. But all of us learned to work side by side because all of us saw in these neighborhoods other human beings who needed our help – to find jobs and improve schools. We were bound together in the service of others.
And something else happened during the time I spent in those neighborhoods. Perhaps because the church folks I worked with were so welcoming and understanding; perhaps because they invited me to their services and sang with me from their hymnals; perhaps because I witnessed all of the good works their faith inspired them to perform, I found myself drawn – not just to work with the church, but to be in the church. It was through this service that I was brought to Christ.
At the time, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was the Archbishop of Chicago. For those of you too young to have known him, he was a kind and good and wise man. A saintly man. I can still remember him speaking at one of the first organizing meetings I attended on the South Side. He stood as both a lighthouse and a crossroads – unafraid to speak his mind on moral issues ranging from poverty, AIDS, and abortion to the death penalty and nuclear war. And yet, he was congenial and gentle in his persuasion, always trying to bring people together; always trying to find common ground. Just before he died, a reporter asked Cardinal Bernardin about this approach to his ministry. And he said, “You can’t really get on with preaching the Gospel until you’ve touched minds and hearts.”
My heart and mind were touched by the words and deeds of the men and women I worked alongside with in Chicago. And I’d like to think that we touched the hearts and minds of the neighborhood families whose lives we helped change. For this, I believe, is our highest calling.
You are about to enter the next phase of your life at a time of great uncertainty. You will be called upon to help restore a free market that is also fair to all who are willing to work; to seek new sources of energy that can save our planet; to give future generations the same chance that you had to receive an extraordinary education. And whether as a person drawn to public service, or someone who simply insists on being an active citizen, you will be exposed to more opinions and ideas broadcast through more means of communications than have ever existed before. You will hear talking heads scream on cable, read blogs that claim definitive knowledge, and watch politicians pretend to know what they’re talking about. Occasionally, you may also have the great fortune of seeing important issues debated by well-intentioned, brilliant minds. In fact, I suspect that many of you will be among those bright stars.
In this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true, have confidence in the values with which you’ve been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. Stand as a lighthouse.
But remember too that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It is the belief in things not seen. It is beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us, and those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.
This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, and cause us to be wary of self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open, and curious, and eager to continue the moral and spiritual debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works, charity, kindness, and service that moves hearts and minds.
For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It is no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. To serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth.
So many of you at Notre Dame – by the last count, upwards of 80% — have lived this law of love through the service you’ve performed at schools and hospitals; international relief agencies and local charities. That is incredibly impressive, and a powerful testament to this institution. Now you must carry the tradition forward. Make it a way of life. Because when you serve, it doesn’t just improve your community, it makes you a part of your community. It breaks down walls. It fosters cooperation. And when that happens – when people set aside their differences to work in common effort toward a common good; when they struggle together, and sacrifice together, and learn from one another – all things are possible.
After all, I stand here today, as President and as an African-American, on the 55th anniversary of the day that the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Brown v. the Board of Education. Brown was of course the first major step in dismantling the “separate but equal” doctrine, but it would take a number of years and a nationwide movement to fully realize the dream of civil rights for all of God’s children. There were freedom rides and lunch counters and Billy clubs, and there was also a Civil Rights Commission appointed by President Eisenhower. It was the twelve resolutions recommended by this commission that would ultimately become law in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
There were six members of the commission. It included five whites and one African-American; Democrats and Republicans; two Southern governors, the dean of a Southern law school, a Midwestern university president, and your own Father Ted Hesburgh, President of Notre Dame. They worked for two years, and at times, President Eisenhower had to intervene personally since no hotel or restaurant in the South would serve the black and white members of the commission together. Finally, when they reached an impasse in Louisiana, Father Ted flew them all to Notre Dame’s retreat in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin, where they eventually overcame their differences and hammered out a final deal.
Years later, President Eisenhower asked Father Ted how on Earth he was able to broker an agreement between men of such different backgrounds and beliefs. And Father Ted simply said that during their first dinner in Wisconsin, they discovered that they were all fishermen. And so he quickly readied a boat for a twilight trip out on the lake. They fished, and they talked, and they changed the course of history.
I will not pretend that the challenges we face will be easy, or that the answers will come quickly, or that all our differences and divisions will fade happily away. Life is not that simple. It never has been.
But as you leave here today, remember the lessons of Cardinal Bernardin, of Father Hesburgh, of movements for change both large and small. Remember that each of us, endowed with the dignity possessed by all children of God, has the grace to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we all seek the same love of family and the same fulfillment of a life well-lived. Remember that in the end, we are all fishermen.
If nothing else, that knowledge should give us faith that through our collective labor, and God’s providence, and our willingness to shoulder each other’s burdens, America will continue on its precious journey towards that more perfect union. Congratulations on your graduation, may God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Above:“Gov. Martin O’Malley has created a new commission
to help business and community development interests of
African immigrants who have come to Maryland.” (AP)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Sunday, May 17, 2009
New York (Tadias) – An Ethiopian American has been appointed to serve on Maryland’s newly established commission to assist “the business and community development interests” of the state’s growing African immigrant population.
Governor Martin O’Malley signed an executive order establishing the Commission last week and swore in 21 members of the body, including Ethiopian American Yonnas K. Kefle, an adjunct professor of economics at Frederick Community College.
The primary objective of the commission is to increase Maryland’s outreach to its residents who have immigrated from African countries, similar to the state’s other commissions handling the affairs of Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern communities.
Since 1990, the African population has more than tripled in places such as greater Washington, including its Maryland suburbs. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics there are close to one million African immigrants in the United States, with the largest communities residing in U.S. urban cities including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis, and in the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. More than half of the African-born population came to the United States between 1990 and 2000. According to the Brookings Institution, estimates of the African-born population has soared past 130,000 in each city, with recent census data showing forty three percent of Africans in the U.S. as having college degrees. Ethiopian Americans, as a segment of the new immigrant population, comprise the top three African populations in America.
Valentina Ukwuoma, the head of the Bureau of Solid Waste for the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, has been named chair of the commission.
NEW YORK — Tadese Tola of Ethiopia made history by running 27:48—the fastest 10K ever recorded in Central Park—at the Healthy Kidney 10K. This was his second match-up with Kenya’s Patrick Makau in New York City and his second win, after last year’s NYC Half-Marathon, in which he edged Makau by one second.
Tola and Makau ran the first half of the race side by side until Tola pulled away in the fourth mile. Judging by his form and the ease with which he won, Tola was in control of the race from start to finish. “After mile four, we were moving at a fast pace, and I was confident I’d have the record,” said Tola afterward. “This was a good course for me, and I am very happy now.” Read more.
Related: Ethiopian Native From The Bronx Triumphs in
Pittsburgh Marathon
Above:Kassahun Kabiso, 23, is from Awassa, a lakeshore
town about 130 miles south of Addis Ababa. He left behind 16
brothers and sisters in 2002, and eventually ended up at the
“Mecca for African runners in New York: the Westchester Track
Club.”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Karen Price and Matthew Santoni
Monday, May 4, 2009
Ethiopian native triumphs; local grad women’s No. 1
in Pittsburgh marathon
They kept pace through the South Side, up Forbes Hill to Oakland, through Shadyside, Homewood and into East Liberty. Even at mile 25 of the 26.2-mile Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, Ethiopian native Kassahun Kabiso and Jim Jurcevich of Columbus, Ohio, were still side-by-side, running at a blistering pace of 5:27 minutes per mile past thousands of spectators. With just under a mile left, Kabiso widened a gap to beat Jurcevich by just three seconds with a time of 2:22:51 in the 20th running of the marathon and first since 2003. Read more.
Above:Evander Holyfield (a.k.a. ‘The Real Deal’) “a multiple
world champion in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight
divisions”, and “the only boxer to win the heavyweight title
four times,” will participate in an exhibition fight in Ethiopia.
He is to face off Ethiopian-American Sammy Retta (above right)
in Addis Ababa on July 26, 2009
Boxingscene.com
Former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield will return to the ring for the first time since a controversial decision loss to Nikolai Valuev. He takes part in an exhibition match in Ethiopia on July 26 to help raise funds for AIDS victims. The 46-year-old will take on Sammy Retta in Addis Ababa. Read more.
The fight would rank as one of the highest-profile all-American boxing bouts on African soil since the legendary 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” that pitted Muhammad Ali against Joe Frazier in the former Zaire. Read more at AFP.
VIDEO: The Rumble In The Jungle: Muhammad Ali defeats
George Foreman (October 30, 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire)
Above:Those arrested reportedly belong to a group headed
by former opposition party leader Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-
American economics professor at Bucknell University, who was
elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. He has been accused of
masterminding a plot to assassinate officials.
May 14, 2009
10 hours ago
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopia’s opposition accuses the regime of pulling out all the stops to prevent change in next year’s elections, using a familiar arsenal of arbitrary arrests and trumped-up coup charges. Read more.
Related: VOA: Potential For Violence Shadows Ethiopia’s 2010 Election
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
06 May 2009
Ethiopia’s next national election is a year away, but tensions are already increasing. At least two opposition politicians have recently been jailed, both possibly facing life in prison, and security forces have arrested dozens of others, accusing them of plotting against the government. Both government and opposition leaders are expressing concern about the potential for election-related violence. Read more.
ADDIS ABABA, May 5 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition
leader said on Tuesday an anti-government plot had been
invented as an excuse to arrest potential candidates ahead
of national elections next year. Read more.
Ethiopia Denies Coup Plot, Calls 40 Detainees ‘Desperadoes’ Above:Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).
VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.
Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.
By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa
Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.
Above: The Gibe III dam is under construction on the Omo
River, approximately 300km southwest of Addis Ababa. It is the
third in a series of cascading hydroelectric projects in the region.
(Source: BBC)
Opinion: Ethiopia’s Gibe III dam: a balanced assessment LA Times
A project its size will have negative consequences, but Ethiopians
should be better off once the hydroelectric dam is up and running.
By Seleshi Bekele and Jonathan Lautze
June 4, 2009
The Gilgel Gibe III hydroelectric dam under construction in Ethiopia is no small piece of infrastructure. It holds the potential to fundamentally alter flow patterns in the Omo River watershed and will cost about $2 billion to build. It will indeed have impacts — both positive and negative — on the environment and people living in the watershed.
Yet, do these facts make the project inherently bad? Does the fact that the investment is big and costly doom it to failure? In her May 14 Times Op-Ed article, Lori Pottinger uses such thinking to argue that the African Development Bank and U.S. government should not finance the dam’s construction and instead look for alternatives to address Ethiopia’s water and environmental needs.
Big dam, bigger problems
By Lori Pottinger
May 14, 2009
Right now, the Obama administration is participating in its first annual meeting of the African Development Bank, which is mandated to fund critical infrastructure for poor African nations. On the agenda is financing one of the biggest projects ever considered by the bank, the $2.1-billion Gilgel Gibe III dam in Ethiopia. Read more.
Nazret.com: Ethiopia – Friends of Gibe Full steam ahead
Leftist environmental wackos are hard at work to stop Ethiopia from developing and nazret is re-running the following article to reinforce its strong support of the construction of Gilgel Gibe III. Today another leftist writes in the Los Angeles Times trying to stop Ethiopia from this project. Don’t let foreigners dictate what Ethiopia can and can’t do. It is with the utmost humility that I ask our readers and experts in this field to submit articles to the international media and also contact African Development Bank in support of Gilgel Gibe. We must win the media war waged by the so-called environmentalists who quite honestly don’t give a squat about Ethiopia. As Ato Semon beautifully crafted in the article below Full steam ahead. Read the piece at Nazret.com.
New York (Tadias) – Speaking to a diverse crowd of more than 60,000 people at Arizona State University, President Barack Obama used his first commencement address as president to urge young graduates to get involved in their communities and to avoid measuring personal success only on the basis of material wealth. Watch the video here. You can also read the full text of Obama’s prepared remarks below.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Below is the text of President Obama’s remarks at the Arizona
State University Commencement, as prepared for delivery.
Thank you, President Crow, for that generous introduction, and for your inspired leadership here at ASU. And I want to thank the entire ASU community for the honor of attaching my name to a scholarship program that will help open the doors of higher education to students from every background. That is the core mission of this school; it is a core mission of my presidency; and I hope this program will serve as a model for universities across this country.
Now, before I begin, I’d like to clear the air about that little controversy everyone was talking about a few weeks back. I have to tell you, I really thought it was much ado about nothing, although I think we all learned an important lesson. I learned to never again pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA bracket. And your university President and Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.
In all seriousness, I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven’t yet achieved enough in my life. I come to embrace it; to heartily concur; to affirm that one’s title, even a title like President, says very little about how well one’s life has been led – and that no matter how much you’ve done, or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to do, more to learn, more to achieve.
And I want to say to you today, graduates, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone, one that you and your families are rightfully proud of, you too cannot rest on your laurels. Your body of work is yet to come.
Now, some graduating classes have marched into this stadium in easy times – times of peace and stability when we call on our graduates to simply keep things going, and not screw it up. Other classes have received their diplomas in times of trial and upheaval, when the very foundations of our lives have been shaken, the old ideas and institutions have crumbled, and a new generation is called on to remake the world.
It should be clear by now the category into which all of you fall. For we gather here tonight in times of extraordinary difficulty, for the nation and the world. The economy remains in the midst of a historic recession, the result, in part, of greed and irresponsibility that rippled out from Wall Street and Washington, as we spent beyond our means and failed to make hard choices. We are engaged in two wars and a struggle against terrorism. The threats of climate change, nuclear proliferation, and pandemic defy national boundaries and easy solutions.
For many of you, these challenges are felt in more personal terms. Perhaps you’re still looking for a job – or struggling to figure out what career path makes sense in this economy. Maybe you’ve got student loans, or credit card debts, and are wondering how you’ll ever pay them off. Maybe you’ve got a family to raise, and are wondering how you’ll ensure that your kids have the same opportunities you’ve had to get an education and pursue their dreams.
In the face of these challenges, it may be tempting to fall back on the formulas for success that have dominated these recent years. Many of you have been taught to chase after the usual brass rings: being on this “who’s who” list or that top 100 list; how much money you make and how big your corner office is; whether you have a fancy enough title or a nice enough car.
You can take that road – and it may work for some of you. But at this difficult time, let me suggest that such an approach won’t get you where you want to go; that in fact, the elevation of appearance over substance, celebrity over character, short-term gain over lasting achievement is precisely what your generation needs to help end.
I want to highlight two main problems with that old approach. First, it distracts you from what is truly important, and may lead you to compromise your values, principles and commitments. Think about it. It’s in chasing titles and status – in worrying about the next election rather than the national interest and the interests of those they represent – that politicians so often lose their way in Washington. It was in pursuit of gaudy short-term profits, and the bonuses that come with them, that so many folks lost their way on Wall Street.
The leaders we revere, the businesses that last – they are not the result of narrow pursuit of popularity or personal advancement, but of devotion to some bigger purpose – the preservation of the Union or the determination to lift a country out of depression; the creation of a quality product or a commitment to your customers, your workers, your shareholders and your community.
The trappings of success may be a by-product of this larger mission, but they can’t be the central thing. Just ask Bernie Madoff.
The second problem with the old approach is that a relentless focus on the outward markers of success all too often leads to complacency. We too often let them serve as indications that we’re doing well, even though something inside us tells us that we’re not doing our best; that we are shrinking from, rather than rising to, the challenges of the age. And the thing is, in this new, hyper-competitive age, you cannot afford to be complacent.
That is true in whatever profession you choose. Professors might earn the distinction of tenure, but that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll keep putting in the long hours and late nights – and have the passion and drive – to be great educators. It’s true in your personal life as well. Being a parent isn’t just a matter of paying the bills and doing the bare minimum – it’s not bringing a child into the world that matters, but the acts of love and sacrifice it takes to raise that child. It can happen to presidents too: Abraham Lincoln and Millard Fillmore had the very same title, but their tenure in office – and their legacy – could not be more different.
And that’s not just true for individuals – it is also true for this nation. In recent years, in many ways, we’ve become enamored with our own success – lulled into complacency by our own achievements.
We’ve become accustomed to the title of “military super-power,” forgetting the qualities that earned us that title – not just a build-up of arms, or accumulation of victories, but the Marshall Plan, the Peace Corps, our commitment to working with other nations to pursue the ideals of opportunity, equality and freedom that have made us who we are.
We’ve become accustomed to our economic dominance in the world, forgetting that it wasn’t reckless deals and get-rich-quick schemes that got us there; but hard work and smart ideas -quality products and wise investments. So we started taking shortcuts. We started living on credit, instead of building up savings. We saw businesses focus more on rebranding and repackaging than innovating and developing new ideas and products that improve our lives.
All the while, the rest of the world has grown hungrier and more restless – in constant motion to build and discover – not content with where they are right now, determined to strive for more.
So graduates, it is now abundantly clear that we need to start doing things a little differently. In your own lives, you’ll need to continuously adapt to a continuously changing economy: to have more than one job or career over the course of your life; to keep gaining new skills – possibly even new degrees; and to keep taking risks as new opportunities arise.
And as a nation, we’ll need a fundamental change of perspective and attitude. It is clear that we need to build a new foundation – a stronger foundation – for our economy and our prosperity, rethinking how we educate our children, and care for our sick, and treat our environment.
Many of our current challenges are unprecedented. There are no standard remedies, or go-to fixes this time around.
That is why we are going to need your help. We’ll need young people like you to step up. We need your daring and your enthusiasm and your energy.
And let me be clear, when I say “young,” I’m not just referring to the date on your birth certificate. I’m talking about an approach to life – a quality of mind and heart.
A willingness to follow your passions, regardless of whether they lead to fortune and fame. A willingness to question conventional wisdom and rethink the old dogmas. A lack of regard for all the traditional markers of status and prestige – and a commitment instead to doing what is meaningful to you, what helps others, what makes a difference in this world.
That’s the spirit that led a band of patriots not much older than you to take on an empire. It’s what drove young pioneers west, and young women to reach for the ballot; what inspired a 30 year-old escaped slave to run an underground railroad to freedom, and a 26 year-old preacher to lead a bus boycott for justice. It’s what led firefighters and police officers in the prime of their lives up the stairs of those burning towers; and young people across this country to drop what they were doing and come to the aid of a flooded New Orleans. It’s what led two guys in a garage – named Hewlett and Packard – to form a company that would change the way we live and work; and what led scientists in laboratories, and novelists in coffee shops to labor in obscurity until they finally succeeded in changing the way we see the world.
That is the great American story: young people just like you, following their passions, determined to meet the times on their own terms. They weren’t doing it for the money. Their titles weren’t fancy – ex-slave, minister, student, citizen. But they changed the course of history – and so can you.
With a degree from this university, you have everything you need to get started. Did you study business? Why not help our struggling non-profits find better, more effective ways to serve folks in need. Nursing? Understaffed clinics and hospitals across this country are desperate for your help. Education? Teach in a high-need school; give a chance to kids we can’t afford to give up on – prepare them to compete for any job anywhere in the world. Engineering? Help us lead a green revolution, developing new sources of clean energy that will power our economy and preserve our planet.
Or you can make your mark in smaller, more individual ways. That’s what so many of you have already done during your time here at ASU – tutoring children; registering voters; doing your own small part to fight hunger and homelessness, AIDS and cancer. I think one student said it best when she spoke about her senior engineering project building medical devices for people with disabilities in a village in Africa. Her professor showed a video of the folks they’d be helping, and she said, “When we saw the people on the videos, we began to feel a connection to them. It made us want to be successful for them.”
That’s a good motto for all of us – find someone to be successful for. Rise to their hopes and their needs. As you think about life after graduation, as you look in the mirror tonight, you may see somebody with no idea what to do with their life. But a troubled child might look at you and see a mentor. A homebound senior citizen might see a lifeline. The folks at your local homeless shelter might see a friend. None of them care how much money is in your bank account, or whether you’re important at work, or famous around town – they just know that you’re someone who cares, someone who makes a difference in their lives.
That is what building a body of work is all about – it’s about the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up to a lasting legacy. It’s about not being satisfied with the latest achievement, the latest gold star – because one thing I know about a body of work is that it’s never finished. It’s cumulative; it deepens and expands with each day that you give your best, and give back, and contribute to the life of this nation. You may have set-backs, and you may have failures, but you’re not done – not by a longshot.
Just look to history. Thomas Paine was a failed corset maker, a failed teacher, and a failed tax collector before he made his mark on history with a little book called Common Sense that helped ignite a revolution. Julia Child didn’t publish her first cookbook until she was almost fifty, and Colonel Sanders didn’t open up his first Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was in his sixties. Winston Churchill was dismissed as little more than a has-been, who enjoyed scotch just a bit too much, before he took over as Prime Minister and saw Great Britain through its finest hour. And no one thought a former football player stocking shelves at the local supermarket would return to the game he loved, become a Super Bowl MVP, and then come here to Arizona and lead your Cardinals to their first Super Bowl.
Each of them, at one point in their life, didn’t have any title or much status to speak of. But they had a passion, a commitment to following that passion wherever it would lead, and to working hard every step along the way.
And that’s not just how you’ll ensure that your own life is well-lived. It’s how you’ll make a difference in the life of this nation. I talked earlier about the selfishness and irresponsibility on Wall Street and Washington that rippled out and led to the problems we face today. I talked about the focus on outward markers of success that can lead us astray.
But here’s the thing, graduates: it works the other way around too. Acts of sacrifice and decency without regard to what’s in it for you – those also create ripple effects – ones that lift up families and communities; that spread opportunity and boost our economy; that reach folks in the forgotten corners of the world who, in committed young people like you, see the true face of America: our strength, our goodness, the enduring power of our ideals.
I know starting your careers in troubled times is a challenge. But it is also a privilege.
Because it is moments like these that force us to try harder, to dig deeper, to discover gifts we never knew we had – to find the greatness that lies within each of us. So don’t ever shy away from that endeavor. Don’t ever stop adding to your body of work. I can promise that you will be the better for that continued effort, as will this nation that we all love.
Congratulations on your graduation, and Godspeed on the road ahead.
New York (Tadias) – One of the most anticipated music shows in London next week is Ethio-jazz inventor Mulatu Astatke’s collaboration with the Heliocentrics collective. “Even if the evening doesn’t live up to expectations, the Ethiopian bandleader’s new album is sure to make it onto my end-of-year-list of the best releases,” writes culture commentator Clive Davis on his Spectator blog.
Mulatu collaborates with Heliocentrics collective (VIDEO)
On his blog, Mr Davis also points out the amazing soundtrack of Jim
Jarmusch’s 2005 movie “Broken Flowers”, which featured Mulatu’s
music. Here is the video:
Above:The 1656 painting “The Pellkussen gate near river
Vecht in Utrecht” by Jan van Goyen is seen in this image
released by City Museum IJsselstein, Netherlands, Tuesday
May 12, 2009. Art thieves broke into a museum in a small
Dutch town and stole six 17th- and 19th-century Dutch
landscapes. City spokesman Mark de Kok says three of the
stolen paintings were river scenes by Jan van Goyen, a
Rembrandt contemporary. De Kok said two more paintings
were damaged when the thieves dropped them as they
escaped. He said the burglary took place overnight. Monday.
It was the second art heist this month in the Netherlands.
AP
Tues., May 12, 2009
AMSTERDAM – Thieves pried open the emergency door of a small Dutch museum with an iron bar and made off with six 17th- and 19th-century landscape paintings — the second major art heist in 10 days in the Netherlands. Read more.
Review: Ethiopian Artist Elias Simé at Santa Monica
Museum of Art Above:Simé walks among some of his sculptures at the
Santa Monica Museum of Art. Credit: Michael Robinson
Chavez/LAT.
To step into the fantastically jam-packed installation now at the Santa Monica
Museum of Art is to step into another world: a nuanced universe suffused with compassion, sensuality and wisdom, a place so far removed from the cold calculations and multi-tasking distractions of life in Los Angeles that it seems you have to be a specialist (or very privileged) to go there.
It’s all too easy to see the 60-plus sculptures, 40-odd paintings, seven thrones and five wall reliefs by Ethiopian artist Elias Simé as an anthropologist would: ingenious artifacts from a fully formed culture fundamentally different from our own and probably part of a way of life being squeezed out by global consumerism.
But “Elias Simé: Eye of the Needle, Eye of the Heart” is nothing of the sort. Read more.
MEQUAT MARIAM, Ethiopia – A giant eagle glides gracefully over a remote mountaintop in northern Ethiopia as a barefoot man draped in goatskin watches. “It’s a big bird that makes a peaceful sound,” he says in the local Amharic language to two foreigners who have approached the cliff edge. “Where is your country?” Until a few years ago, most people who live in these small villages surrounded by dramatic scenery and rock-hewn churches had never even seen anyone from outside Ethiopia. Read More.
Ethiopia is being hit hard by a dramatic slump in demand for flowers as the
global economic crisis forces consumers to curb spending on
perceived luxuries.
Sabeta, Ethiopia – A local pop song trills out from the radio, filling the cavernous packing hall at the Ethio Highland Flora farm in Sabeta, a 45-minute drive from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Dozens of workers tackle a seemingly endless stack of exotically named roses, separating the short stems and rotten petals from the bright Valentino, Duo Unique, Wild Calypso, and Alyssa blooms destined for Europe. Most of the farm’s 400 employees earn less than a dollar a day, but it is a steady wage in one of the world’s poorest nations where 80 percent of the population lives off the land. Read more.
Mother’s Day:
Essence Magazine’s Interview with Michelle Obama & Mom
Essence magazine’s current cover story, dedicated to to Mother’s Day,
features an exclusive interview with First Lady Michelle Obama and her
mother, Marian Robinson. In the following CNN video, Tony Harris talks
with Essence editor Angela Burt-Murray about the interview.
Denver police announced Wednesday evening they have arrested a man in connection with last Saturday’s fatal shooting of a 7-Eleven store clerk. Dale Wayne Baylis, 46, was taken into custody without incident outside his home at 1308 S. Logan Street. He is suspected of killing Natnael Mulugeta, a 28-year-old Ethiopian immigrant.
Authorities ID Denver Store Clerk Shot to Death
Examiner.com
DENVER (Map, News) –
May 4, 2009
Authorities have released the name of a Denver convenience store clerk who was shot and killed over the weekend. The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner says 27-year-old Natnael Mulugeta died of a perforating rifle wound to the chest. His death was ruled a homicide. Read more.
The Denver District Attorney’s Office has said an officer who shot a man who charged him with what appeared to be a knife but was a cross was justified in firing his gun. Prosecutors decided not to file criminal charges against officer Gregory Ceccacci, who shot Samson Ferde at 4 a.m. during a Dec. 29, 2008, domestic violence call. Read more.
Above:Liya Kebede holds a baby while on a visit to Africa for
the World Health Organization. (Courtesy of WHO).
NBC News Liya Kebede: Supermodel on a mission
Wed., May 6, 2009
Each month, we highlight a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. This month we speak with supermodel, actress, WHO ambassador and mother, Liya Kebede, about her work on health issues related to childbirth. You may recognize Kebede as the former face of Estee Lauder or from the cover of magazines including Vogue’s May 2009 issue. Kebede, who is Ethiopian, founded her own organization to reduce mortality among mothers, newborns and young children and well as to help mothers and children stay healthy. Read more.
(NEW YORK) – When J. Crew creative director Jenna Lyons and team met supermodel, mother of two, and International Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede, a relationship was born. Lyons approached Kebede to appear in the April catalog, but both quickly realized their relationship needn’t end there. Read More.
Above:Those arrested reportedly belong to a group headed
by former opposition party leader Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-
American economics professor at Bucknell University, who was
elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005.
AFP
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — A prominent Ethiopian opposition leader rejected on Thursday accusations by the regime that he was the mastermind of a plot to assassinate top officials, calling the charges a fabrication. Read more.
Ethiopia Asked to Name ‘plotters’ (BBC)
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
The Ethiopian government has been asked by rights group Amnesty International to disclose the identity of 35 people arrested more than 10 days ago. They were accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The group says more people have been detained since, including an 80-year-old man in need of medical attention. The government says those arrested were all members of the opposition group Ginbot Seven, founded by the exiled mayor of Addis Abba, Berhanu Nega. The BBC’s Elizabeth Blunt in the capital, Addis Ababa, says he was one of the most charismatic opposition figures at the time of the last elections in Ethiopia in 2005. Read more at BBC.
VOA: Potential For Violence Shadows Ethiopia’s 2010 Election
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
06 May 2009
Ethiopia’s next national election is a year away, but tensions are already increasing. At least two opposition politicians have recently been jailed, both possibly facing life in prison, and security forces have arrested dozens of others, accusing them of plotting against the government. Both government and opposition leaders are expressing concern about the potential for election-related violence. Read more.
ADDIS ABABA, May 5 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition
leader said on Tuesday an anti-government plot had been
invented as an excuse to arrest potential candidates ahead
of national elections next year. Read more.
Ethiopia Denies Coup Plot, Calls 40 Detainees ‘Desperadoes’ Above:Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).
VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.
Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.
By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa
Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.
Just over a year ago, Berhanu Nega was locked in an Ethiopian jail. Now he is returning to Bucknell to re-join the economics department.
Nega was an economics professor at Bucknell from 1990 until 1994, when he returned to his native Ethiopia to join the Department of Economics at Addis Ababa University. He established and directed the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Organization, the first such independent research institute in Ethiopia.
He eventually became a leader in the democratic opposition in Ethiopia, serving as deputy chairman for the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. In 2005, he became the first elected mayor in Ethiopia’s history after winning more than 75 percent of the vote for mayor of Addis Ababa.
The ruling party, however, declared victory in races throughout the country and arrested Nega and other opposition leaders on charges of treason.
“Thus ended the Ethiopian democratic experiment that had started with such high hopes, leaving the country in the darkness of totalitarian rule,” Nega said, in a talk on campus in February.
Among Nega’s supporters during his imprisonment were several Bucknell faculty members and President Brian C. Mitchell, who wrote letters calling for his release.
After 20 months in jail, Nega was released in July 2007. He returned to Bucknell as a visiting international scholar in economics in Spring 2008.
Since his release, Nega has urged the United States and other Western nations to back democratic movements in Ethiopia and other African countries by withdrawing support given to dictators in the name of stability.
“The principle of freedom and liberty that you believe in are the natural rights of every human being, wherever they are,” Nega said. “This is the principle that the average American shares with the forces in Ethiopia who have struggled with their sweat and blood to establish political order in their country.”
The 7th Circuit reinstated an Ethiopian woman’s petition for asylum, ruling that the immigration judge failed to fully analyze her family ties. She allegedly belongs to a tribe linked to the former military regime whose members are now in exile. Antchineche Tsegaw Ayele is an ethnic Amhara, a tribe associated with the Mengistu regime which ruled Ethiopia before its overthrow by the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front. Read more.
Above:A microbiologist tests samples for Influenza
A (H1N1), also called swine flu, at the Dallas Department of
Health and Human Services laboratory in Dallas on May 1,
2009. (Reuters).
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
MAY 5, 2009
Texas state health officials have confirmed the first death of a Texas resident with swine flu. Few details have been released, but officials say the woman was in her 30s and lived in Cameron County, along the U.S.-Mexico border, and had other, chronic health conditions. The Texas Department of State Health Services said she died earlier this week. Read more.
Above:Bulcha Demeksa, leader of one of the largest opposition
parties in Ethiopia.
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, May 5 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition
leader said on Tuesday an anti-government plot had been
invented as an excuse to arrest potential candidates ahead
of national elections next year. Read more.
Ethiopia Denies Coup Plot, Calls 40 Detainees ‘Desperadoes’ Above:Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).
VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.
Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.
By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa
Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.
Just over a year ago, Berhanu Nega was locked in an Ethiopian jail. Now he is returning to Bucknell to re-join the economics department.
Nega was an economics professor at Bucknell from 1990 until 1994, when he returned to his native Ethiopia to join the Department of Economics at Addis Ababa University. He established and directed the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Organization, the first such independent research institute in Ethiopia.
He eventually became a leader in the democratic opposition in Ethiopia, serving as deputy chairman for the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. In 2005, he became the first elected mayor in Ethiopia’s history after winning more than 75 percent of the vote for mayor of Addis Ababa.
The ruling party, however, declared victory in races throughout the country and arrested Nega and other opposition leaders on charges of treason.
“Thus ended the Ethiopian democratic experiment that had started with such high hopes, leaving the country in the darkness of totalitarian rule,” Nega said, in a talk on campus in February.
Among Nega’s supporters during his imprisonment were several Bucknell faculty members and President Brian C. Mitchell, who wrote letters calling for his release.
After 20 months in jail, Nega was released in July 2007. He returned to Bucknell as a visiting international scholar in economics in Spring 2008.
Since his release, Nega has urged the United States and other Western nations to back democratic movements in Ethiopia and other African countries by withdrawing support given to dictators in the name of stability.
“The principle of freedom and liberty that you believe in are the natural rights of every human being, wherever they are,” Nega said. “This is the principle that the average American shares with the forces in Ethiopia who have struggled with their sweat and blood to establish political order in their country.”
New York (TADIAS) – Part two of Tadias TV’s Ethiopians in Hollywood series features writer and director Zeresenay (Zee) Berhane Mehari, who worked as Cinematographer and Second Unit Director on Aida Ashenafi’s highly acclaimed new film Guzo (Amharic for Journey).
The film, which won best picture at the 2009 Addis International Film Festival, chronicles the interaction between two young residents of Addis Ababa and their peers in the Ethiopian countryside. Over the course of 20-days both the urbanites and country folks are forced to confront stereotypes about each other and grapple with issues of gender and privilege. The film is scheduled to premier in Washington DC on May 9th at the Lisner Theater (GWU).
Zee first appeared on Tadias on our June-July 2004 print issue. The following interview was taped in Los Angeles last month. Part one of this series highlighted Academy Award nominee Leelai Demoz, who discussed his role as one of the judges at the 2009 Addis International Film Festival and his experience as a filmmaker.
Part one: Academy Award Nominated Director Leelai Demoz;
Above:Kassahun Kabiso, 23, is from Awassa, a lakeshore
town about 130 miles south of Addis Ababa. He left behind 16
brothers and sisters in 2002, and eventually ended up at the
“Mecca for African runners in New York: the Westchester Track
Club.”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Karen Price and Matthew Santoni
Monday, May 4, 2009
Ethiopian native triumphs; local grad women’s No. 1
in Pittsburgh marathon
They kept pace through the South Side, up Forbes Hill to Oakland, through Shadyside, Homewood and into East Liberty. Even at mile 25 of the 26.2-mile Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, Ethiopian native Kassahun Kabiso and Jim Jurcevich of Columbus, Ohio, were still side-by-side, running at a blistering pace of 5:27 minutes per mile past thousands of spectators. With just under a mile left, Kabiso widened a gap to beat Jurcevich by just three seconds with a time of 2:22:51 in the 20th running of the marathon and first since 2003. Read more.
New York – Kassahun Kabiso (above), the top New Yorker to finish the race in 2003, 2004, and 2006, participated in the 38th ING New York City Marathon on November 4, 2007.
The race through New York’s five boroughs (Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan), unites dozens of culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, passing over five bridges, and finishing up at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
Kabiso, 23, who was profiled by the New York Times four years ago, is from Awassa, a lakeshore town about 130 miles south of Addis Ababa. He left behind 16 brothers and sisters in 2002, and eventually ended up at the “Mecca for African runners in New York: the Westchester Track Club.” His fellow Ethio-New Yorkers and running mates from the Bronx include, Worku Beyi, 20, and Demesse Tefera, 24.
“The Africans come, they arrive, they fall from the sky,” Coach Mike Barnow, founder of the club, told the New York Times.
“Who knows how these runners get here, but they get here.”
Above:Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).
VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.
Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.
By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa
Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.
Just over a year ago, Berhanu Nega was locked in an Ethiopian jail. Now he is returning to Bucknell to re-join the economics department.
Nega was an economics professor at Bucknell from 1990 until 1994, when he returned to his native Ethiopia to join the Department of Economics at Addis Ababa University. He established and directed the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Organization, the first such independent research institute in Ethiopia.
He eventually became a leader in the democratic opposition in Ethiopia, serving as deputy chairman for the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. In 2005, he became the first elected mayor in Ethiopia’s history after winning more than 75 percent of the vote for mayor of Addis Ababa.
The ruling party, however, declared victory in races throughout the country and arrested Nega and other opposition leaders on charges of treason.
“Thus ended the Ethiopian democratic experiment that had started with such high hopes, leaving the country in the darkness of totalitarian rule,” Nega said, in a talk on campus in February.
Among Nega’s supporters during his imprisonment were several Bucknell faculty members and President Brian C. Mitchell, who wrote letters calling for his release.
After 20 months in jail, Nega was released in July 2007. He returned to Bucknell as a visiting international scholar in economics in Spring 2008.
Since his release, Nega has urged the United States and other Western nations to back democratic movements in Ethiopia and other African countries by withdrawing support given to dictators in the name of stability.
“The principle of freedom and liberty that you believe in are the natural rights of every human being, wherever they are,” Nega said. “This is the principle that the average American shares with the forces in Ethiopia who have struggled with their sweat and blood to establish political order in their country.”
