Tag Archives: Maryland

In Maryland, Ike Leggett Wins Primary Election By A Wide Margin

June 25, 2014 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Wednesday, June 25th, 2014

Washington, D.C. (TADIAS) — The incumbent Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland Isaiah “Ike” Leggett, who was endorsed by the Ethiopian-American Council (EAC), has won his primary contest for re-election.

The Washington Post reports that Mr. Leggett “had a wide lead in his bid for the Democratic nomination for a third term, according to the early voting tallies” of the June 24th primary.

“Thanks to all who voted,” Leggett tweeted. “Always exciting to be part of the consistent refresh of our democracy.”

Video: The first ad of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett’s 2014 reelection campaign

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News

Update: Isiah Leggett’s Press Conference with Ethiopian Media

April 5, 2014 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Saturday, April 5th, 2014

New York (TADIAS) — How large is the Ethiopian community in Montgomery County, Maryland? “Well the county overall is 1.1 million residents and we have about 10% of that population from continental Africa,” answered Isiah ‘Ike’ Leggett, the County’s Executive, during a teleconference with Ethiopian media last week. “And from that ten percent, which is about 110,000, I think the best figure is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 directly in the county, but it overlaps with two other counties in our region and Washington, D.C.”

In fact, Mr. Leggett said that he had a recent meeting with a group from Washington, D.C. that established an office in Montgomery County to help them with providing some support to issue micro-loans to the Ethiopian community, for small businesses, restaurants, and people who are interested in purchasing tax services. He emphasized: “We are trying to be more engaged and support some of those organizations from the economic development standpoint. Of course, we are promoting Ethiopian culture through our libraries, recreational facilities and within our schools as well. We are trying to address it from a cultural perspective, from an educational perspective, a business approach as well as simply trying to remove some of the obstacles for people who want to reside and stay in Montgomery County and in this country — to help them facilitate that process as well.”

Organized by the Ethiopian-American Council (EAC) the press conference, which took place on Tuesday, April 1st, was intended to introduce Mr. Leggett to the larger Ethiopian community and to announce EAC’s endorsement of his candidacy for a third term as Montgomery County Executive. Mr. Leggett took several questions from Ethiopian journalists on a range of issues that are pertinent to the Ethiopian-American community and residents of the county in general. Topics of discussion included immigration reform, jobs, education, business, access to health care, affordable housing, as well as his support for an Ethiopian community center and his trip to Ethiopia a year and a half ago to sign a sister city agreement between Montgomery County and the historic Ethiopian city of Gonder.

“I carried a delegation of about 60 people with me to Ethiopia for about ten days,” Mr. Leggett said of his trip in the fall of 2012. “We had an opportunity to travel throughout the country with a signing ceremony in Gonder to establish our sister city relationship. The Ethiopian community in the county had expressed very strong views that they thought, and I believed them, that we should establish one of our sister city relationships with Gonder.” He added: “We have several other [such agreements] including China and South Korea. But we thought given the history of Ethiopia and the many residential Ethiopians that are here in Montgomery county from Ethiopia who are contributing to our local economy, whether its in education or various professions, we were delighted that we had the opportunity to visit and to host many follow-up meetings with people from Gonder, Ethiopia and Montgomery county.”

Regarding his stand on immigration reform Mr. Leggett, who is also the current President of the County Executives of America (a position he assumed in August of 2013), said he feels strongly about the issue at a national level. “First of all we start with the general premise of the county that we treat people with dignity and respect and make certain that the resources that we have in the county are available to all people — that we do not discriminate or we do not have hard core kinds of restrictions as it relates to the immigrant population in Montgomery County,” he said. “That involves everything from health care to housing and to a variety of other resources that we provide in Montgomery County.” He added: “We have a very large number of Ethiopians that serve on boards and committees throughout Montgomery county and our county government. Thirdly, we try to promote all kinds of cultural, religious and educational activities, which the Ethiopian community is an active part of. And fourthly, it’s in the area of economic development that we’re reaching out [and] working with the Ethiopian [business] community.”

In addition, Mr. Leggett pointed out that his staff is constantly in contact with members of the Ethiopian community in Montgomery County “to make certain that we respond to many of their concerns” and to assist in creating an Ethiopian community center. Mr. Leggett continued: “For example, there is a very large festival event that was held in Maryland this past summer and Montgomery County played a part as host. We are working on a variety of fronts trying to ensure that we support a community center whereby there will be a common place where Ethiopians can consistently gather. And they do so now, but often times it’s at different locations, its not as consistent, it’s not as focused as we would want it to be. With a community center Mr. Legett shared that they can provide activities ranging “from cultural events to religious events, or simply a meeting place that they would have as a common location within our county.” Mr. Leggett emphasized that “more importantly, my office is and has opened its doors so that we can be supportive of what the Ethiopian community wants. I think that’s the best response we can have. The more important side to this is to be receptive to the Ethiopian community and things that they would like to see us do and to have an ongoing dialogue. If you have that as a model and you are prepared to work aggressively with that, very positive things can happen.”

According to his bio Leggett, who was initially elected as Montgomery County Executive in 2006 (and re-elected in 2010), was born in Deweyville, Texas in 1944. “Leggett attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and, after serving in the Vietnam War, earned a law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. In 1986, he became the first African-American elected to the county council in Montgomery County, Maryland and served on the council through 2002. He remains the only African-American ever elected to that body at-large.”

At the press conference last Tuesday Mr. Leggett repeatedly urged Ethiopian- Americans to volunteer in his campaign and noted that on the 27th of April, his wife is having “a large event in Silver Spring,” an engagement, he stated, for women across the board “so she is encouraging Ethiopian women and others to come.” He added: “That involvement provides a number of things because many years ago when I first moved into Montgomery County and got involved, I started by assisting other candidates and learning from them about the elements of politics and public service and I was able to expand from that to run for office myself at a lower level and eventually worked my way up to County Executive.”

Mr. Leggett said that he hopes to see Ethiopian-Americans vying for elected office in the United States in future years: “So that you are not looking at Iike Leggett who is running for Country Executive or some other office and representing the views of the Ethiopian community, but you have people from Ethiopia or people with strong background and connection with Ethiopia who are running themselves, that’s the progress that I want to see happen.”

Below are clips of the audio from the teleconference.

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You can learn more about County Executive Isiah ‘Ike’ Leggett at www.ikeleggett.org.

Video: Leggett Leads a Delegation to Gonder Ethiopia, Montgomery County’s Sister City (2012)

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Art, Featured

‘Difret’: Audience Reaction at 2014 New African Films Festival (Video)

March 19, 2014 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

Washington, D.C. (TADIAS) — During the Q&A session at the 10th Annual New African Films Festival — that was held at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland this past weekend — filmmaker Zeresenay Mehari and producer Mehret Mandefro, fielded questions regarding their award winning movie Difret, including how they came across the epic story. Zeresenay shared that in 2005 he had met Meaza Ashenafi’s brother at a dinner where he heard about his sister. Zeresenay recalled being told “you should make a movie about my sister.”

“Yeah, I laughed about it and then I typed up her name and a thousand pages came up.” He added: “And what she was able to [do] in Ethiopia at that time blew me away. And I wanted to meet her and I asked to meet her, and a couple of months later we met. She was very skeptical that a man, an Ethiopian man at that, wanted to do a story about women’s issues.”

Difret, which won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, narrates the true story of a teenager who was a victim of telefa (the archaic custom of marriage by abduction in Ethiopia) and later gained public attention when she was arrested and charged with murder for the killing of her abductor. The girl’s subsequent acquittal on the grounds of self defense is owing not in small part to the courageous and tireless effort of the now legendary lawyer Meaza Ashenafi.

“Bringing this issue of gender to the surface and making a difference in Ethiopian law is really very important,” said Martha Negash, an audience member and a former law school classmate of Meaza, emphasizing that she’s proud her friend’s work.

“I have a lot of respect for Mehret and Zeresenay for choosing to really talk and discuss in detail about women’s issues,” shared Dr. Menna Demessie. “Of all the films they could have made to make a film about the struggles of young women in Ethiopia, while also being very sensitive to the culture and tradition, I really respect them for that.” Menna added: “First of all its based on a true story, so the fact that there is success or light at the end of the tunnel is key to the fact that there are women who against all odds are still fighting on behalf of other young women and willing to put themselves at the forefront of these issues that I find very empowering.”

Among those who watched the film included Ambassador Imru Zelleke, “Very well done,” he noted. “Both from the technical point of view and the history reflects the present day Ethiopia with all its contradictions between the old and new. It was marvelous, a first class job.”

Asked to name additional social subjects that he would like to explore in future cinema projects, Zeresenay told Tadias that he is interested in tackling immigration. “I want to talk about that,” he said. “I also have a story that I wanted to do about human trafficking and prostitution. That’s an issue that is affecting us a great deal.” He cautioned: “Of course, they are far away from being full conceptualized works.”

Mwiza Munthhali, Public Outreach Director of Trans Africa, and one of the presenters of the New African Films Festival, stated that compared to when they first started showing at AFI Silver Theatre nearly a decade ago, the number of films shown at the annual festival has doubled with 18 African motion pictures curated from all parts of the continent making their debut in 2014. “The number of films to choose from has also expanded stupendously in the last ten years,” Munthhali said.

Below is Tadias Magazine’s video coverage of the event by Tsedey Aragie.

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Featured, Interviews

Brewing Change: Maryland’s Blessed Coffee Eyes Retail Market

November 10, 2013 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Monday, November 11th, 2013

New York (TADIAS) — If everything goes as planned the husband and wife team of Tebabu Assefa and Sara Mussie, co-founders of Blessed Coffee established three years ago in Silver Spring, Maryland under the state’s Benefit Corporation law, may soon open a new cottage cafe that offers not only premium Ethiopian coffee roasted on site, but also a community space where you can hold meetings, cooking classes, book reading clubs and other activities.

At a dinner last month celebrating the venture’s third anniversary at Addis Ababa restaurant in Silver Spring the couple announced their plans to expand the venture unveiling their “Brewing Change” crowdsourcing campaign for funds to build a prototype facility in Maryland that they hope to duplicate across the country. The gathering was attended by a diverse group of elected officials, business leaders, social entrepreneurs and activists — among them state Senator Jamie B. Raskin who authored Maryland’s Benefit Corporation law.

In an interview with Tadias Magazine Tebabu said that for the past three years they have been introducing their Blessed Coffee brand at coffee shops, farmers markets and festivals around Maryland. “We are now moving to the second phase, from wholesale to opening our own retail shop,” Tebabu added. The “Brewing Change” campaign was conceived in his living room by a group of 16 volunteers from various professions and cultural backgrounds that had met at his home every other week for nearly six months. “They are made up of men, women, young, old, Latinos, Black, White, you name it,” he said. “They are business experts, freelance writers, IT professionals, and community organizers.”

The driving factor behind the operation is neither charity nor profits exclusively, but a combination of both. As Tebabu puts it: “to create wealth while making a difference on both sides of the Atlantic.” He pointed out that coffee is the second most traded commodity next to oil, and that the market share is large enough to go around.

“We call our business model a ‘Virtues Exchange,’ he explained. The idea is to go beyond foreign aid and fair-trade through public-private partnerships that create jobs in America while empowering coffee farmers in Ethiopia as stakeholders in the transaction. In the process, he said, they also aim to educate the U.S market about the Ethiopian traditions of consuming coffee.

“My wife Sara reminded the gathering at Addis Ababa restaurant that in Ethiopia we drink coffee with a social purpose, in a relaxed fashion, with neighbors, friends and family to catch up with the latest news, gossip, and other happenings,” Tebabu told Tadias. “Here in America, on the other hand, people grab a cup to run.”

Tebabu said they plan to present their “grassroots social change model” at a local symposium in Silver Spring tentatively scheduled for January 2014 called “The African Diaspora Business Community Conference,” that they will host. “We are assembling local organizational partners that reflect the shifting paradigm in the Diaspora especially among the young generation,” he said. “We have already enlisted, for example, the dynamic organization, Young Ethiopian Professionals (YEP) and Qmem, a new business started by two Ethiopian American youth who were inspired by their trip to Ethiopia to do the same thing with spices as what we are trying to do with coffee.”

For now Blessed Coffee is enjoying invitations from Ethiopian and other organizations to present their coffee and ceremony at various cultural and religious events. Their latest was in New York when they were invited by the Ethiopian Israeli group Chassida Shmella to take part at last week’s Sigd service at Bnai Jeshurun Synagogue in Manhattan.

“It was magical,” said Tebabu of the ceremony marking the ancient Ethiopian Jewish festival (now a national holiday in Israel). “I was struck by how similar it was to Sigdet in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.”

Below is a video narrated by co-founder Sara Mussie explaining their mission.

Watch:

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You can learn more at www.blessedcoffee.us. Click here to meet the Brewing Change Team. See the Brewing Change Campaign at www.indiegogo.com.

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Events, Family, Featured

Maryland’s 2nd Ethiopian Festival in Pictures

July 26, 2012 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tigist Selam | Events News

Updated: Friday, July 27, 2012

Washington, D.C. (TADIAS) – Last weekend’s 2012 Ethiopian Festival in Silver Spring, Maryland featured traditional dance, music, food, vendors, award ceremony and a live concert by Mahmoud Ahmed, transforming the downtown Veterans Plaza into Little Ethiopia for the day.

According to organizers, the annual event is also designed to link Ethiopian-American businesses, artists, community leaders, and residents with policy makers, news media, and other private-sector organizations in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.

For Tebabu Assefa, Founder of Blessed Coffee, and also one of the festival’s chief organizers, the celebration was more personal.

“The whole thing was inspired by the achievement gap. I got two kids, they’re going to school, and it all comes down to teaching our kids about their culture and identity,” Tebabu said. “It’s our obligation to make them aware and inspire confidence in them about who they are.” He added: “America is a great place, don’t get me wrong, but there are a lot of stereotypical issues underneath. In order for me to combat that I need to tell my children where they come from, a place called Ethiopia, a land of many faces, many cultures and many people. It is my obligation to give my kids a foundation in which they can embrace their American identity. Otherwise we are deforming them, we are displacing them, we are misinforming them.”

Tebabu said his efforts are also his way of responding to the wide-spread “victim narrative” when it comes to media coverage of Ethiopia and Ethiopians.

“I am going to be very open, bold and straight,” he said. “On the flip side, for far too long I was offended by one-sided, sensationalized negative image of Ethiopia defined by Western media because we have not done our job.” Tebabu continued: “Of course, some of those stories are based on reality, but we are much more than that. It is our responsibility to fill that gap.”

Below is a slideshow from Maryland’s 2nd Annual Ethiopian Festival.

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Events, Featured, News

Tadias TV: Dr. Abeba Fekade at Women’s Day Event in Maryland

April 1, 2012 Tadias Magazine 14 Comments

Tadias Magazine
By Tsedey Aragie

Updated: Monday, April 2, 2012

Washington, DC (TADIAS) – Last week’s Women’s Day Celebration in Silver Spring, Maryland hosted by Miss Africa USA 2011, Ghysaline Tchouga of Cameroon, featured various speakers including author Sonya Jackson Myles and Founder of the International Ethiopian Women’s Organization Dr. Abeba Fekade. The event was designed to highlight various current topics affecting women worldwide. Many of the speakers presented individual projects, which they said were intended to address issues concerning woman suffrage especially in Africa.

Dr. Abeba Fekade, who is also a psychologist and an adjunct professor at George Mason University, offered strong views about the continuing plight of female migrant domestic workers in the Middle East. Her opinions reflected the larger mood among Ethiopian women in the Diaspora following last month’s widely-publicized, videotaped beating and apparent suicide of Alem Dechassa, the young woman that was abused outside the Ethiopian embassy in Lebanon. I sat down with Dr. Abeba for an interview following her talk.

Watch:

Featured, News

Maryland Spotlights Blessed Coffee – The State’s Newest Benefit Corporation

September 24, 2011 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Monday, September 26, 2011

New York (TADIAS) – Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland seemed in a jovial mood at the inauguration of Blessed Coffee in Takoma Park last week, sipping a cup of Ethiopian coffee, schmoozing with attendees, and surprising organizers by hanging out 45 minutes longer than expected. The Governor was spotlighting a local business established under the state’s Benefit Corporations law. The event was held at the Takoma Park Old Town Gazebo on Friday September 16th, 2011 and included traditional Ethiopian music and coffee ceremony, during which Mr. O’Malley was served a cup of joe brewed from Yergacheffe beans grown in Ethiopia.

“The Governer was supposed to stay for only 30 minutes, but he was having so much fun they had to drag him out after one hour and 15 minutes.” said Tebabu Assefa, the co-founder of Blessed Coffee.

“How did it go?”, a man was heard asking on the background during our phone interview with Mr. Assefa. “Wonderful, wonderful, oh man, it was a hit,” the affable Mr. Assefa replied, after aplogizing to us for the interuption. “Did you see the Washington Post article? I am elated.”

“It’s like hitting the jackpot,” Mr. Assefa said turning his attention back to our interview. “It’s like winning it all when elected officials, the community and the press show up to celebrate what I have been urging for a long time.”

Blessed Coffee, which promises to split its profits between community projects in Maryland and supporting the coffee growing region in Ethiopia, is the second organization created under Maryland’s new law. It was founded earlier this year by Mr. Assefa and his wife Sara Mussie. “I have worked very hard for the last 7 seven years to see this day,” Mr. Assefa said. “I have walked from the halls of Congress to the hills of Yirgatchefe to make this happen.” He added: There was a time when people thought I was a fool, but I stuck with it because as an activist, I believed in development and cultural promotion. And in the grander scheme of things, it contributes to the international business discourse of how to connect the farmer directly to the global market.”

Speaking of the international business discourse, we asked Mr. Assefa about recent news reports on how Ethiopian coffee beans are being pass up by boutique U.S. roasters and retailers because the rules of the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange make it impossible to know where most of the country’s beans are grown. Mr. Assefa noted that he is aware of the report, saying there is a loophole called a “relationship market” that allows outside buyers to develop direct link with the farmers. “Right now, we are buying it from the wholesaler Royal coffee, which has contact with the farmers in Ethiopia,” he said. ” They know where the beans are coming from and as demand increases, we also plan to do the same.”

The Washington Post reported that Governor O’Malley and state Senator Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), “who sponsored the legislation last year, offered words of encouragement during the ceremony. A ‘benefit corporation’ isn’t all about social responsibility, officials said. Companies that use the law need to make money, to thrive. The new law is as much about social responsibility as it is about job creation, O’Malley said. ‘It all comes back to jobs,’ he said.”

“The law allows community-minded companies to take the high road rather than the high bid,” Raskin said.

Among those who spoke at the event included Tadesse Meskela, Founder and Manager of the 200,000-member Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative, which produced the coffee served at the event. “Tadesse is my hero,” said Mr. Assefa. “He has been the voice of the Ethiopian coffee farmer on the international stage for many years.”

Mr. Assefa said: “The governer was so fascinated by his speech, he asked for a copy and posted it on his blog.”

Take a look at photos from the celebration below:

Popcorn being served at the opening ceremony of Blessed Coffee – one of Maryland’s first ventures to be formed under the state’s “benefit corporation” law. (Photo by Matt Andrea)

State Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery) and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) at the inauguration of Blessed Coffee on Friday September 16th, 2011. (Photo by Matt Andrea)

Governor O’Malley speaking at the event. (Photo by Tamirat Mekonen)

Children at the inauguration. (Photo by Matt Andrea)

Tebabu Assefa, the co-founder of Blessed Coffee, at the opening ceremony of his company at the Takoma Park Old Town Gazebo on Friday September 16th, 2011. (Photo by Matt Andrea)

State Senator Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), who sponsored the “benefit corporation legislation last year, speaking at a ceremony in downtown Takoma Park marking the launch of Blessed Coffee on Friday September 16th, 2011. (Photo by Matt Andrea)
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Related:
Takoma Park coffee company is among first ‘benefit corporations’ in state (Washington Post)

Events

Governor Martin O’Malley to Attend the Inauguration of Blessed Coffee

September 15, 2011 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
Events News

Thursday, September 15, 2011

New York (TADIAS) – Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland will attend the inauguration of Blessed Coffee, a community-based organization in Silver Spring, established under the state’s Benefit Corporations law that creates a new class of businesses that are required to deliver a measurable positive impact on society while meeting higher standards of accountability and transparency. The event will take place on Friday September 16th, 2011, 11:30am to 1:30pm at the Gazebo (Carroll and Westmoreland Avenues) in Old Town Takoma Park.

Blessed Coffee, founded by Tebabu Assefa and Sara Mussie, is the second Benefit Corporation in the state and it pledges to allocate 50% of its net profits from wholesale revenue to social programs in the coffee-growing region and 50% of net profits from retail and coffee shop revenue to support more than a dozen associations in the greater Silver Spring-Takoma Park area. Maryland became the first state to pass Benefit Corp legislation in April 2010. Several states have followed suit since then.

Organizers say the event will feature traditional Ethiopian music and coffee ceremony. Guest speakers include State Senator Jamie Raskin (D-20, Silver Spring and Takoma Park), Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-Founder of B Lab, as well as Tadesse Meskela, Founder and Manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative — a 200,000-member farmers union in Ethiopia, which was the subject of the documentary Black Gold.
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If You Go:
Friday, September 16, 2011
11:30 to 1:30pm
Gazebo (Carroll and Westmoreland Avenues)
Old Town Takoma Park.
Silver Spring, Maryland

Events

Silver Spring Celebrates Ethiopian Fashion, Lifestyle & Culture

June 25, 2011 Tadias Magazine 2 Comments

Tadias Magazine
Events News

Published: Saturday, June 25, 2011

Sliver Spring (TADIAS) – Celebrate all things Ethiopian from fashion shows to cultural performances and food at the annual Ethiopian festival in downtown Silver Spring today.

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

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

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

Wub Abyssinia Fashion Models will showcase designs by Mulu Birhane who makes her first U.S. appearance, as well as works by U.S. based designers, including Betelhem Fashion, Arada Wear, Markos Design, and Hewan Design.

If you Go:
Ethiopian Festival, Sliver Spring
Saturday June 25 from 3-9 PM
908 Ellsworth Drive
Downtown Sliver Spring
Call: 202-390-5182
Minew Shewa Entertainment
Tebabu & Associates

Courtesy photos.

Ethiopian Business and Lifestyle