Ethiopian Eskista choreography : Minyeshu

Bizarre Foods - Raw Meat in Ethiopia

AFC's 3rd Annual Holiday Benefit.

On December 12, 2009 Artists for Charity, an organization that supports orphans in Ethiopia, raised over $23,000 in Washington DC, according to the founder of the organization, Abezash Tamerat. She thanked the donors and the people who assisted her to coordinate the event.

“Our heartfelt appreciation and deepest gratitude also goes out to our artists, sponsors and volunteers, who donated their art work, resources and time, respectively. We especially want to thank our Washington-D.C.-based AFC team for their hard work on arranging this event, and for making it all come together. This event would have been impossible without their creativity, hard work and dedication.”

Nubia -

THIS IS AFRICA

Ethiopia's Royal Photographer

DIASPORA

Sheba Azeb Zekiros

The artworks of Sheba Azeb Zekiros were exhibited at the Harvard Kennedy School during the Africa Week celebration from April 4 to April 12, 2009.

Ms. Zekiros’ artworks were accepted well by the gusts and the Africa Caucus at the Harvard Kennedy School that prepared the program.

Ms. Zekiros explains the experience as “encouraging and inspiring for me and will focus on creating more. I'm also honored by your letter and thank you for everything.”

Corvallis-Gondar: Sister Cities

The Corvallis-Gondar Sister Cities Week event will be held in Corvallis, OR from May 10-16.

The host organization of the event, the Corvallis-Gondar Sister Cities Association, is a non-profit organization in Oregon that was formed in 2004. According to the website, the organization aims to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Gondar, Ethiopia, by developing sustainable solutions to local community challenges.

Every year, the organization plans and presents Sister Cities Week activities and holds an annual membership meeting.

This year, Itsuhi Kawasi and Setegn Atenaw are some of the invited guests to the Sister Cities Week.

The city of Corvallis, Oregon has also forged a sisterhood with Uzhhorod, Ukraine.

For more information about the organization, visit http://www.sistercities.corvallis.or.us/

M.K. Asante Jr.

Langston Hughes Award - Last week, M.K. Asante Jr. was honored to receive the 2009 Langston Hughes Award from the Langston Hughes Society. Best Documentary at AWDFF –

This week, his latest film, The Black Candle, narrated by Maya Angelou, won the Best Documentary prize at the Africa World Documentary Film Festival.

Green Footwear

Just in time for the warmer weather comes stunning and sustainable footwear from Ethiopian soleRebels. The soleRebels Collective makes some of the most stylish and green footwear on the planet.

Started by Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu several years ago, the company has grown from a small operation to a major employer in an impoverished community of Addis Ababa.

The African company produces Ethiopia’s first Fair Trade certified footwear, the company also uses organic cotton and recycled tires in their handcrafted footwear.

The prolific eco-company makes a wide range of eco-shoes and sandals. You can purchase soleRebels via Urban Outfitters, Amazom.com or Endless.com.

Source: www.greenmuze.com

Chris Brown

Chris Brown was recently spotted shooting hoops in his home state of Virginia at the University of Mary Washington. A photo has surfaced on TMZ that shows Brown with the school's women's basketball team. In the photo, Brown is surrounded by smiling team members while he poses with his arms crossed and his head tilted back.

Source: www.mtv.com

We strongly believe abusing a person mentally, emotionally, or physically is wrong.

Seble Alem

Desta

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, TN (WRCB)- Desta Bume's 11th grade classmates at Signal Mountain High School listen when he speaks. Occasionally he helps teach them Pre Calculus. The 17-year-old Ethiopian exchange student is attending the school thanks to host parents Jock and Megan Dunbar, who found Desta through the Cherokee Gives Back student exchange program.

Desta says, "Day to day, I help students in class, if there's something they don't understand, I try to help them."

Desta's help is much appreciated by junior classmates. He has earned their respect with his knowledge, his kindess and his work ethic. In addition to excelling in the classroom, he has emerged as the star of the school's cross-country team. He says the classroom facilities are similar in Ethiopia, but while his largest class at Signal Mountain is 28 students, his smallest in his home country is about 150...in the same size classroom. His high school in Ethiopia has about seven thousand students.

Wouter Dewet, a fellow junior says, "You can't help but be inspired, because he has so little, and has managed to do so much."

What Desta has done is rise to the top of his class in Ethiopia, at a school with 7,000 students, far removed from the luxurious surroundings of Signal Mountain. He had to work hard to support his family, walking several miles each day with no shoes until he was 14.

Classmate Tim Hatch said, When i heard his story, I felt like a complete jerk. I take everything for granted, and the things he went through, i can't even imagine."

His host family says Desta is enjoying the U.S. but it's their lives that are enriched. They smile when remembering his first visit to a pizza restaurant (his favorite food), a drive-through car wash, the beach, Atlanta, Nashville and the top of the Empire State Building in New York. Megan Dunbar says the family didn't expect to learn so much from an Ethiopian exchange student.

She says, "When you get into the program, you think about how much we can give this Third World student. But it's the exact opposite. It's how much we have learned from him.

Desta is completing his junior year at Signal Mountain, and must return to Ethiopia for his senior year. What happens after that?

Classmate Aaron Pierce says, "Well actually, I'd like to see him to go a really good college and become a surgeon."

Source: http://www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp?s=10084964

Daggy D + Ras Kidus- Abran ymerbenal

Abeba and Tigest

Andargé Asfaw

By Hohete Arefeaine

I am pleased to announce that Washington area professional photographer, and my friend, Andargé Asfaw, will be bringing his traveling gallery exhibition Ethiopia From the Heart, to the Rouse Foundation Gallery at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland.
The exhibition reception, artist talk and book signing will take place March 19 from 6-8pm. The exhibition itself will run from March 5 - April 18. 2009.

In Ethiopia From the Heart, Andarge has captured Ethiopia’s quiet splendor and highlighted the country’s deep and abiding link to faith and culture. Deeply concerned that the Ethiopia resplendent in his photographs is rapidly disappearing, Andarge has committed to doing his share in working towards raising awareness of the degradation of
the environment, placing at risk the traditional livelihoods and cultures of his homeland, Ethiopia.

The belief that no-one person can do everything, but that each and every one of us has the power to do something characterizes Andarge’s work. Not only is his book, Ethiopia From the Heart, produced using post consumer materials where possible.

In addition, proceeds from each copy of Ethiopia from the Heart funds tree planting projects in Ethiopia. Through partnerships with Trees for the Future, Greener Ethiopia, Mission Green Earth and Ethiopian Airlines, Andarge is embarking on an exciting project that he will be sharing with us during his artist talk.

His goal for the coming year of planting up to 100,000 trees through this partnership, beginning with his mother’s village in Ethiopia, and of how each one of us can be a part of this legacy is one of the highlights of the evening.

I invite you to share an evening celebrating the works of Andarge Ethiopia from the Heart, and the ongoing mission of this powerful new partnership.

To find out about Andargé Asfaw visit www.ethiopiafromtheheart.com.

Earth Hour: Turn off lights

The District of Columbia will participate in Earth Hour 2009, a global event in which tens of millions of citizens, businesses and government leaders will turn off their lights to make a statement about the urgent need for action on climate change.

Beginning at 8:30 pm on March 28th, the District will turn off non-essential lighting on many buildings and landmarks, including four facilities owned by the District government. Emergency lighting will remain on as required by law and regulation.

More than 850 cities in 80 countries have committed to turning out for Earth Hour.

You should also turn off your home and office lights to preserve our beautiful earth for the future generation. By turning off lights around you, you will also get a brake form the daily light pollution.

Source: DC Government

Color photo of Earth from NASA

Teza: The best film

The Ethiopian film "Teza" won three special prizes during the 21st pan-African Cinema and Television Festival (FESPACO), the brightest of African scenarios, according to information monitored here.

The Ethiopian film "Teza" by director Haile Gerima took the Golden Stallion of Yennenga on Saturday for best film at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival.
It deals with big themes -- emigration, return, dictatorship, racism, war and the position of women -- without getting preachy.

Gerima was not present in Ouagadougou to collect the award, so his sister Selome Gerima, who co-produced the film, accepted it on his behalf.

Speaking to AFP on Friday, she said she and her brother had worked 14 years to bring the epic story to the screen.

"When Haile does a film he is very serious. He does very broad research. Then, after the shoot, he edits himself and creates his own soundtrack," she explained.

The film premiered in Ethiopia on January 3 to sold-out audiences and is still drawing in the crowds. There has been an emotional response to the story, she explained.

"It is a very sensitive film and it makes you remember what it was like (under Megistu). Many people have forgotten but when they see the film they remember. When we show the film people come up to us afterwards to tell us, 'I've lost my brother' and so on," Gerima said.

The awards ceremony marked the official closing of the 21st edition of Africa's biggest film festival also known as FESPACO.

The second-place Silver Stallion went to South-Africa's John Kani for "Nothing but the Truth". Adapted from a play, it explores a librarian's experiences with racism in South Africa during and after the apartheid era.

The Bronze Stallion went to audience favourite "Mascarades" (Masquerades), an Algerian comedy about a boy who invents an imaginary rich suitor for his narcoleptic sister.

Source: unknown

Museum of African Art

Ms. Johnnetta Cole, 72, is the new director of the National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC. She is an anthropologist and the former college president.

Teza in Ouagadougou

Ouagadougou prepares for Africa's Oscars

The jury of the bi-annual Pan-African Film and Television Festival in Ouagadougou, will announce on Saturday which film gets the coveted African Oscar, The Golden Stallion of Yennenga.

In all there are 19 films from Africa vying for FESPACO's top honour. Here is an overview of some of the movies tipped to win.

"Teza," Ethiopia 2008, directed by Haile Gerima - A frontrunner according to many, having already won a jury prize and a prize for best screenplay at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, Teza revolves around an idealistic scientist who returns to Ethiopia during the brutal 1970s-1980s regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu.

Beautifully filmed, "Teza" switches between present and past in a series of flashbacks between protagonists time studying in Germany in the 1970s, Ethiopia in the 1980s, and the present.

It deals with big themes: emigration, return, dictatorship, racism, war and the position of women without getting preachy.

Source: Ouagadougou

International Film Festival Rotterdam

The 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) took place on early 2009. On 31 January, the audience awards at the International Film Festival Rotterdam were announced in the Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
.
“The Dioraphte Award for Hubert Bals Fund film held in highest regard went to the film Teza by the Ethiopian film maker Haile Gerima.

The KPN Audience Award went to Slumdog Millionaire by Danny Boyle and co-director Loveleen Tandan.

The IFFR counted 341,000 visitors to the films, exhibitions, live shows and events, including the 8,000 film lovers who attend the fully booked Volkskrant day on Sunday 1 February 2009.

Teza by Haile Gerima was given the Dioraphte Award (€10,000) by the festival audience for the most highly regarded film made with a contribution from the Hubert Bals Fund.

Teza is an epic about the turbulent recent history of Ethiopia, seen from the perspective of a politically moderate intellectual who tries to maintain his integrity in barbaric conditions,” DearCinema Desk reported.


For the resent interview with Professor Gerima copy and past the following link:

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/oneonone/2009/02/20092595828659594.html

Historic Inauguration Pictures

Picture source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

African teff taking root in Midwest

By MARCIA VANDERLIP of the Tribune’s staff
Published Wednesday, January 14, 2009
You can learn a lot about a person’s culture by exploring her pantry.

I didn’t know anything about teff, for example, until my Eritrean friend Akbaret Hailu Hagos invited me into her pantry last week to see the 10-pound bag of teff flour. She goes through the teff pretty quickly because it is used in the family's daily bread, injera. She buys the big bags online, to save a little. “It's hard to find here,” she said, adding that it is more expensive than all-purpose flour.

Last week, after spending some time sampling Akbaret's delicious native food — including the spongy, pancake-like injera made with teff — I wondered why teff is so, well, foreign to this country. Farmers here grow lots of corn, wheat and sorghum, but not so much teff. This is puzzling because the tiny grain is high in protein, nutrient-rich and it is gluten-free. It's also drought-resistant and, by some accounts, can be grown just about anywhere.

In East Africa, teff is the staple grain, ground into flour to make the injera, which is shared at daily meals in Eritrea and Ethiopia.

I couldn't find a Missouri farmer who grew teff for food. The closest I came to Missouri was Kansas. Edgar Hicks, a grain-marketing consultant in Omaha, Neb., told me about a handful of farmers in Nicodemus, Kan., who are growing teff, thanks to a USDA Conservation Innovation grant received a year ago, administered by Solomon Valley Resource Conservation and Development Area in Kansas.

This year, the farmers used a grass drill to plant 40 acres of the tiny seed in May, June and July. The May crop grew well in warm, dry weather. The later crops failed to mature because of unusually wet weather late in the season. “It's a learning process,” said Teresa Webb, program assistant at Solomon Valley. “People need to know that food does not magically appear in the grocery store. It's a process that is sometimes not easy.”

Still, teff is growing in Kansas, and it looks promising as an “alternative” rotation crop, a way to supplement farmers' income. “We wanted to sell it to ethnic markets” and health markets, Webb explained, “for people with celiac” disease who are allergic to gluten, “and people from Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea who want their native grain.”

When Hicks first imagined the market for teff in Kansas, he envisioned “an ecomomic development tool” for these particular Kansas farmers, descendents of African slaves. “Originally, my intention was to grow teff like they do in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it is hand-grown and labor intensive.

We wanted to create something with a value-added feel,” he said. Hicks wanted to see “the farmer, the grower and the buyer all coming together. People could come to this community, get to know the culture, learn how people are sharing, how they eat. I think we need to get back to the way people used to eat — sharing a meal in a communal way.”

He thinks the Ethopians and Eritreans have something to teach us about sharing crops and meals. He also thinks there is demand for teff as a food crop, but communities and farmers will need to be educated about how to use it and grow it. By the way, the grain is currently grown for flour in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Idaho. Farmers in other states, like Ohio and Tennessee, are planting the sturdy teff grass as forage food for horses and cattle.

Meanwhile, out in Western Kansas, Solomon Valley has been getting lots of calls from California, Texas, Maine and even Europe. People want to know where to get teff seed to process into flour, Webb said.

Back in Columbia, I picked up a 24-ounce bag in the gluten-free section at Clover’s Natural Market for just less than $7. (I later found the small bags in the health food aisles at Hy-Vee and Gerbes. Also, if you don’t mind buying on Amazon.com, you can purchase from Barry Farms, a 1-pound bag for $3 or a 5-pound bag for $14.20.)

I mixed up my package of flour with some yeast and water and let it sit, covered, for a day. The next day, my husband poured the all-teff flour batter into a crepe pan and made mini injera, which looked more like a cross between a tortilla and a crepe, only it was deep brown in color, smelled of cocoa and had a robust, nutty flavor. Teff pancakes might not appeal to everyone. I liken it to drinking stout or a hearty microbrew as opposed to a thinner lager.

We lined a wide plate with our injera tortillas and ladled on some Spanish pot roast to share with a friend who is allergic to wheat. Our American adaptation was pretty good, though it did not come close to the soft, delicate injera made by Akbaret. We ate it with our hands, in solidarity and communion with Eritreans. Try it some time. The kids will love it. This kid did.

Source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2009/Jan/20090114Food002.asp

Rev. Joseph Lowery Inaugural Benediction

"...Lord, ... we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around ---- when yellow will be mellow ---- when the red man can get ahead, ---- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!..."

Picture source: www.washingtoninformer.com

Business Start-ups Important to Job Creation

Business Start-ups Important to Job Creation, Study Finds

Start-up companies are a major contributor to job creation, even in the midst of significant economic downturns, a new U.S. Census Bureau study funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation finds.

The first of three issue briefs to be released this year highlighting data from Business Dynamic Statistics (12 pages, PDF), the report, Jobs Created From Business Startups in the United States (4 pages, PDF), found that while business start-ups declined slightly during most cyclical downturns, start-ups remained robust even in the most severe recession over the sample period.

According to BDS data, private sector business start-ups accounted for approximately 3 percent of overall employment per year from 1980 to 2005. While a small fraction of overall employment, it was a large percentage compared to the average annual net employment growth of about 1.8 percent over the same period. According to the report, the pattern suggests that if jobs from start-ups were excluded, the rate of U.S. net employment growth would be negative over the sample period.

The report also found that firms with fewer than five employees account for roughly 20 percent of new jobs in any given year, while substantially larger start-up firms — those with 250 to 499 employees — account for approximately 1.3 percent of employment in their size class.

"Job growth is essential for our economy to rebound, and this study shows that new firms have historically been an important source of new jobs in the United States," said Kauffman Foundation vice president of research and policy Robert E. Litan. "Our research into the early years of business formation consistently shows how vital new firms are to our economy, and this data should give policy makers and budding entrepreneurs alike great hope for how we can solve our current crisis — create and grow jobs through entrepreneurship."

“Kauffman Foundation-Funded U.S. Census Bureau Data Highlight Importance of Business Startups to Job Creation in the U.S..” Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Press Release 1/14/09.

Source: Philanthropy News Digest

Teza in Addis

A Negod-gwad and Pandora Film production, Teza, was premiered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on January 3rd, 2008.

Approximately, 1,260 people came to the opening day, which is full capacity at the National Theater. Among the attendee were many African Union dignitaries and other diplomats.

The movie will be showing at the National Theater for a month.

The movie so far has won more than ten awards in different international film festivals. Some of the awards include:

Venice Film Festival:
- Special Jury Prize
- Osella - Best Screenplay
- SIGNIS Award - Special Mention
- For Peace and the Richness of Diversity Award
- Leoncino d'oro Award 2008 (Agiscuola)
- Cinema for UNICEF commendation


Carthage/Tunisia Film Festival: (African Carthage Film Festival):
- Golden Tanit – Best Film Award for its "modesty and genius."
- Best Music
- Best Cinematography
- Best Scenario
- Best Image
- Best Editing
- Best Supporting Actor (Abeye Tedla).

Amiens/France International Film Festival France:
- Golden Unicorn
- Best Feature Film

Venezuela:
- Amazonia Award Films

Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece:
- The Human Value’s Award

Dubai International Film Festival:
- Best Composer


The stars of the movie include Aaron Arefe, Abeye Tedla, Takelech Beyene, Teje Tesfahun, Nebiyu Baye, Mengistu Zelalem, Wuhib Bayu, Zenahbezu, Asrate Abrha, Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, and Veronika Avraham.

According to Alissa Simon, the movie is set during the repressive regime of Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. "Teza unfolds through the eyes of a German-educated intellectual who returns to his homeland full of idealism after the deposition of King Haile Selassie. Haile Gerima rewards the viewer's with a potent sense of Ethiopian history and culture.

Picture: (L-R) Guest, Author Yasmina Khadra, co-director of the Toronto Film Festival Cameron Bailey, musician Harry Belafonte, director Deepa Mehta and director Haile Gerima onstage during the Cultural Bridge Panel discussion on day three of The 5th Annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on December 13, 2008 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images.)