Maritu Legesse

Coming soon to Selam Africa: Interview with the legendary singer, Maritu (the honey) Legesse.

Maritu used to sing inside King Haile Selase’s palace. She comes from Wolo, the birth place for most of Ethiopia’s musical notes.

Haile Gerima

Professor Haile Gerima just completed his tenth move, Teza.¹

“The movie is produced as an ancient riddle,” Professor Gerima explained. Professor Haile extracted the name of the movie also from an ancient African riddle: “Seehade Agegnehuwat - Semeles AtaHuwat,” which means I found it when I was leaving - I lost it when I was returning.” The movie is a truly touching story told in artistically powerful way.

Teza is mainly produced by Negod Gwad² Production and is distributed by Mypheduh³ Films, Inc. Professor Haile Gerima has produced many more powerful movies: some of them include:

 Hour Glass in 1972,
 Child of Resistance in 1972,
 Mirt Sost Shi Amit (also known as Harvest: 3,000 Years) in 1975,
 Wilmington 10 -- U.S.A. 10,000 in 1979,
 Bush Mama in 1975,
 Ashes and Embers in 1982,
 After Winter: Sterling Brown in 1985,
 Sankofa, in 1993 and
 Adwa in in 1999.

The award winning movie producer, Haile Gerima, was born in Gondar, Ethiopia, on March 4th, 1946. He is the first and the best Ethiopian filmmaker. Professor Gerima’s father was a very successful warrior and Play writer and producer. Professor Haile came to the United States in 1968 and studied film production. At UCLA, he was an important member of the Los Angeles School of Black Film Makers.

He has been a professor of film at Howard University, since 1975. Professor Haile Gerima is married to an African American movie producer, Professor Shirikiana Aina Girima. They have five kids.

Professor Haile Gerima is a hardworking pan-African philosopher, activist, and movie producers. His cinematography is powerfully memorable.

Just as his personality, his works are very generous and truthful. All of Haile movies are well researched and well produced. His productions are historical and satisfying for the mind and soul.

Professor Haile has thought many people from the Washington, D.C. area as well as around the world. He gives lectures that help many film makers, actors/actresses, and musicians. Professor Gerima has received many awards and honors for his dedication to the truthful and zestful depiction of life.

His students attest to his positive influence in their work and life. For example, Nato, Haile’s student from Kenya said “Professor Haile thought me to tell my own history, which led me to a successful and fulfilling path.”

Professor Gerima and his wife own a movie and book store as well as a movie studio called Sankofa, which is a place where many conscious people come together. Sankofa carries books and videos by and for African descendents, which are products that can not be found elsewhere easily.

The place is located at:

2714 Georgia Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001
PH: 202-234-4755
1-800-524-3895

http://sankofastore.com/catalog/homepage.php


Be on the look out for Teza at a theater near you.
________________
¹ The word Teza means - dew.
² The word Negod Gwad means - thunder.
³ The world Mypheduh is a Geez word, which means - archive.

Wayna

Wayna extends an invitation to the CD release party for her new album Higher Ground, THIS SATURDAY APRIL 5th 10pm at Zanzibar on the Waterfront.

The first single from the project is #3 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop singles chart and #12 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles, one slot below Janet Jackson's, Feedback.

You can listen to the song, along with 5 new tunes from the album on my myspace

www.myspace.com/waynamusic and/or facebook pages http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wayna/9669528980

Please support and spread the word where you can!

CD Release for HIGHER GROUND
Saturday April 5th at Zanzibar on the Waterfront
700 Water St SW, Washington, DC 20024
10:00pm

www.wayna.net
www.myspace.com/waynamusic

Setegn Atenaw

The legendary musician and Masinko player, Setegn Atenaw, performing at the Takoma Park Community center. Masinko is an Ethiopian string instrument. (Photo: Naomi Brookner)

By Mike Meno, The Gazette

The aromas of incense and freshly ground coffee filled the Takoma Park Community Center on Saturday, March 15th 2008. Takoma held the city’s first art exhibit to exclusively showcase local Ethiopian artists.

The exhibit, which will be on display throughout March, features the photography and paintings of four professionals, all originally from Ethiopia, as well as about a dozen Ethiopian students from Piney Branch Elementary School.

On the opening day, artist Matewos Legesse came dressed in a traditional white shirt, pants and shoes that he said would be worn to formal events in Ethiopia. Legesse contributed several paintings to the exhibit, many depicting women and apples painted in vivid colors.

‘‘The colors of Africa are so bright, very colorful,” said artist Debebe Tesfaye, whose paintings of Ethiopian market scenes also featured vibrant colors, which he said is a reflection of the dress and culture of the east African nation.

Photographer Andarge Asfaw, who came to the United States in 1972 and lives and works in Silver Spring, said he has traveled to five continents, but nothing compares to being able to capture images of his homeland.

Asfaw’s photos at the exhibit were from a trip back to Ethiopia he took in the 1990s and illustrated scenes that included wheat fields, mountains, churches and marketplaces.

One of Asfaw’s photographs showed an Ethiopian market built around a large tree with far-reaching branches — an image he says is very rare in Ethiopia these days. He said he is trying to use art as a way to alleviate the problem of deforestation, and profits from his recent book will go toward the county-based nonprofit group Trees for the Future.

Tebabu Assefa, a member of the Takoma Park Community Action Group, which co-sponsored the event, said he wanted to give the public a chance to see Ethiopian culture, but also allow local Ethiopians to embrace their own traditions.

Nefes Yemar*

By Solomon Teklai

In the past three weeks three Ethiopians who lived here in the United State have committed suicide. Among those three individuals, one worked with us in organizing the New York Abay Sport team during the late 80’s and early 90’s.

He was a father and a highly dedicated community activist. The second individual was also a father and a devoted Orthodox Christian. He attended and volunteered in churches and in many Gondar development programs. I do not have detail information about the third Ethiopian but I was told he lived in Maryland. I am sure he was a beloved son of someone and with rich personal history.

Mariam mentoring and tutoring program conducts its sessions every Saturday afternoon from 2:00-6:00pm at the Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The program is designed to tutor and mentor Ethiopian students in the DC metropolitan area. In the past six years, we have seen people of all ages come to this church seeking help to fight their mental afflictions.

We saw some crying, others praying for hours. Some of them come to our tutoring sessions and sit there with no word coming out of their mouth. Few others try to talk about something that has nothing to do with the tutoring in session but it is about the touching and sad story of their life.

Unfortunately, we are mostly engaged in tutoring and do not have the means to be of assistance to those who come there seeking help.

Yes, it is a huge challenge as the Ethiopian population in the area grows in the absence of social programs to help people in such circumstances. Is there anything that we can do as individuals to reach the soul of those people during their time of mental suffering?

Nefes Yemar* is an Amharic equivalent to “God bless the soul.”

Resource for Africa?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On February 25, 2008, President George W. Bush that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) would support five new private equity investment funds, with a combined target capitalization of $875 million, designed to invest in a variety of sectors vital to Africa’s economic development, including health care, housing, telecommunications and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The new commitments represent the largest single-day announcement in the history of the agency’s investment funds program.

“Last year, we launched the Africa Financial Sector Initiative. As part of this effort, OPIC mobilized $750 million in investment capital for African businesses,” President Bush said in a speech on the eve of his February 15-21 trip to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. “Today, I'm announcing that OPIC will support five new investment funds that will mobilize an additional $875 million, for a total of more than $1.6 billion in new capital.”

“The new era is rooted in a powerful truth: Africa's most valuable resource is not its oil, it's not its diamonds, it is the talent and creativity of its people. So we are partnering with African leaders to empower their people to lift up their nations and write a new chapter in their history…The best way to generate economic growth in Africa is to expand trade and investment,” President Bush said.

OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. said, “Establishment of these five new investment funds represents additional, tangible support for Africa, but with a dynamic focus on the social aspects of economic development and job creation on the continent.”

“These funds will encourage the growth of sectors critical to Africa’s ongoing development, such as housing and telecommunications, as well as other developmental sectors, including health care and small businesses. Their overall impact will be to broaden African capital markets and provide critical investment for social development, a model that can be replicated in other geographic areas.”
OPIC’s Board of Directors approved financing to support the funds at its January 31 meeting. More information about OPIC’s Africa-related investment funds can be found http://www.opic.gov/investment/participating/africa/index.asp

Three of the new OPIC-supported funds will help to bring new levels of efficiency and productivity to sectors critical to the continent’s continued economic growth: health care, housing development and telecommunications. The two other funds will support the growth of Africa’s debt capital markets and its SME sector.

Source: www.opic.gov

Ethiopians and African Americas

Source: HilltopOnline, Howard University, Washington
NATALIE CONE, 2/26/08

On Monday night, a bus full of New York Abyssinian Baptist Church members drove to Washington, D.C. to join the Ethiopian community to honor the church and its pastor, the Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts III. The event, which was hosted at the Ethiopian embassy, was also intended to celebrate Black History Month and to strengthen the historical and spiritual connections between the Ethiopian and African-American communities.

"During slavery, African Americans always looked at Ethiopia as a place that represented freedom, black culture, history and religion," said Princeton University professor Ephraim Isaac, who spoke at the event. "It inspired the fight against discrimination and religion. When slaves were told they were inferior, they were animals or subhuman, they would think of Ethiopia." Isaacs, who is also the founder of the African-American studies department at Harvard, quoted Langston Hughes' poem, "The Call of Ethiopia." The poem addressed the freedom of not only Ethiopia, but also the entire African continent. Sociology professor Alem Habtu of CUNY Queens College described how, as an international student from Ethiopia, he learned from African Americans during the civil rights movement. Habtu, along with some peers, took over the Ethiopian embassy in protest of issues concerning their country after hearing Stokely Carmichael and members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) speak.

The guests included members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the ambassador of Ethiopia, Samuel Assefa. Robert Wallace, CEO of Birthgroup Technologies, said he plans to build orphanages for children whose parents died of AIDS/HIV. Gary Flowers, executive director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum, addressed the need to get back to the root of black culture. "I am, because we are; and because we are, I am," Flowers said. "There is no individual advancement without group advancement."

The Embassy said the program is the first of many that will recognize the connection between the two cultures. The evening ended with the honoring of Butts, as he was presented with a piece of artwork by a famous Ethiopian painter. His long-term goal is to use the church's developmental corporation to build housing and educational facilities in Ethiopia. "We can not be chauvinistic about our connection to Ethiopia and cannot deny what needs to happen," said Butts.

Ethiopia's DNA

DNA studies trace migration from Ethiopia
Research dates origins up to 100,000 years
Los Angeles Times

Scrutinizing the DNA of 938 people from 51 distinct populations around the world, geneticists have created a detailed map of how humans spread from their home base in sub-Saharan Africa to populate the farthest reaches of the globe over the last 100,000 years.

The pattern of genetic mutations, to be published Friday in the journal Science, offers striking evidence that an ancient band of explorers left what is now Ethiopia and -- along with their descendants -- went on to colonize North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, southern and central Asia, Australia and its surrounding islands, the Americas and East Asia. A second analysis based on some of the same DNA samples corroborated the results. Those findings, published Thursday in the journal Nature, demonstrated that the greater the geographic distance between a population and its African ancestors, the more changes had accumulated in its genes.

The story of human migration revealed by DNA "compliments what's known through history, linguistics or anthropology," said Jun Li, the University of Michigan human geneticist who led the Science study.

Both research groups relied on DNA from blood samples collected by anthropologists around the world as part of the Human Genome Diversity Project, a controversial effort from the mid-1990s to gather genetic specimens from thousands of populations, including many indigenous tribes.

Previous studies have relied on data from the International HapMap Consortium, which cataloged DNA from 269 people of Nigerian, Japanese, Chinese and European descent.

"Instead of saying a particular person's genome is from Africa, this kind of data allows us to say which part of Africa they were from," said Andrew Singleton, chief of the molecular genetics section at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., and senior author of the Nature report. The studies were funded by the NIH, the National Science Foundation and private foundations.

In both studies, the researchers analyzed more than a half-million single-letter changes among the approximately 3 billion As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up the human genome. Those changes -- called "single nucleotide polymorphisms," or SNPs -- begin as random mutations and accumulate over time as they are passed from one generation to the next.

Each time a small group left its home territory to found a new population, the migration ultimately led to a unique pattern of SNPs. Comparing those patterns, the researchers were able to show that humans spread around the globe through a series of migrations that originated from a single location near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

....

Holly Bass: Poetic Dancer

Holly Bass will perform as Josephine Baker in Washington DC where she lives and works.

She is a graceful dancer and spoken word artist. She is known as a writer-performer.

Holly is energetic and poetic artist. This young diva has dedication, vision, and originality to recreate the Harlem Renaissance sentiment in her performances.

Holly is also very active in her community. She often volunteers her time and talents. She has a very generous personally which makes her performances genuine and joyful.

We wish Holly to continue shining: especially, on her current performance on February 23, 2008 at 2142 Wyoming Ave NW, Washington, DC 2008.

Additionally, Wes Felton will perform as Langston Hughes; Jade Foster as Zora Neale Hurston; Ne'a Posey as Billie Holiday; Dr. William E. Smith as Duke Ellington and introducing Dorothy Tene Redmond as Harlem Socialite "Mamie Mason."

Picture source: http://www.myspace.com/hollybassforever

Behailu Zerihun: Explorer

Behailu Zerihun traveled all over Africa on a journey to explore kinship. Enjoy Behailu’s pictures thought the mother land.

Behailu has been volunteering at the Marima Tutoring and Mentoring Program (MTMP) in Washington DC for several years.

Mariam Tutoring and Mentoring Program (MTMP) was founded in 2002 to operate and develop educational and recreational programs for elementary and high school students. The program has near a 100 percent high school graduation and collage bound rate. The program originally started as an outreach program of the Debre Selam Kidest Mariam tutoring entity. The program has helped over 260 students improve their academic future while encouraging a sense of service toward others.

MTMP meets every Saturday throughout the school year to offer elementary and high school students to help in Math, Physics, English, Chemistry, Amharic as well as mentoring them to build their confidence and community involvements. MTMP also have a confidence building programs such as public speaking and writing exercises.
MTMP also organizes filed trips, which are entertaining and educational for MTMP students, to parks, universities, planetariums and to museums.

selamawit nega

Selamawit Nega is a talented vocalist. She lives in Washington DC. She is currently working on her latest and much anticipated CD. Here is Selamawit Nega's latest music video about the Ethiopian millennium. On this single CD release, she says let it be peace, unity and love. This is one of the best millennium songs. Be on the look out for her latest CD and CD release parties near you. Enjoy Music arrangement and keyboard by Daneal WoldGebreal. Lead guitar by Peter Charley. Bass guitar Fasel Woheb. Lyrics by Selmawit Nega and Selamawit Legesse. Melody by Selamawit Nega.

"The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears"

By Elsa Gebeyehu

Dinaw Mengestu is the author of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, a Los Angeles Times bestseller and Seattle Reads pick of 2008, as well as the forthcoming novel How To Read the Air. He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1978. In 1980, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and sister, joining his father, who had fled Ethiopia during the Red Terror.

He is a graduate of Georgetown University and Columbia University’s MFA program in fiction and the recipient of a 2006 fellowship in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts and a 5 Under 35 Award from the National Book Foundation in 2007. He has written for Rolling Stone and Harper's, among other publications. He lives in New York City.

Photo: Jen Snow

Sossina Haile: Scientist and Environmentalist

Scientist Sossina used her knowledge to create energy at lower cost to human and earth. She created the world's first solid-acid fuel cell, which is a clean technology that converts chemical energy to electricity for powering cars, buses and power plants.

The fuel cell that scientist Sossina made emits only pure water. What makes scientist Sossina’s discovery extra special is that her fuel cell makes it possible to produce energy at comparatively low temperatures.

Scientist Sossina is a mother of two. She studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

According to Newsweek, Scientist Sossina says "there's nothing better than being able to combine an intellectually exciting topic with the knowledge that will be beneficial. To me, that's just glory."

Selamawit Nega: Powerful Musician

By Dr. Tedla W. Giorgis

Selamawit Nega, SelamKen, is a young renowned Ethiopian musician who has performed around the world. With fifteen years of experience in musical composition and performance, she is very much sought after by the Ethiopian communities and organizers of World music festivals.

In addition to her acclaimed performances across the Ethiopian communities both in the US and Europe, Selamawit has performed at places like the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., the World Music Institute of Washington, D.C., Dance Africa in Chicago, Dance Africa in New York, the World Music Institute of New York, Harvard University and Tufts University.

Selamawit is versatile performer and musical repertoire includes selections from the various parts of Ethiopia, including Amarigna, Guragigna, Ormigna, Tigrigna, and Welaytagna. She has also performing across the US, Europe and in Africa. Selamawit and her band are currently residing in Washington, D.C.

If there is one Olympics event that made Ethiopia famous it is the marathon. Selamawit has made a great contribution toward making the victorious Ethiopian marathon runners well known through out the world by composing and dedicating her album title “Mefeter Andenew.” Her CD and cassette was enthusiastically received both by critiques and members of the Ethiopian community.

****
Be on the look out for Selamawit’s latest and much anticipated CD. It should be released in early 2008. Her latest CD encompasses her powerful and majestic voice with variety of music from all round the world.


To contact Selamawit Nega call (202) 549-7818.
http://www.myspace.com/selamawitnega

Selam Global Enterprises

Welcome to Selam* Global Enterprise (SGE)!!!

SGE is a business and trade consulting firm. Our experts provide profitable and efficient strategic plans through our consulting, writing, and editing services. We serve individuals, governments, corporations, businesses, and entrepreneurs.

SGE is positioned to promote ideas, art works, products, and businesses in the United States and Africa. We have a team of experts ready to assist you in promoting your existing products, services, and enterprises as well as support you in starting up a new business.

SEG supports individuals in becoming successful entrepreneurs. We also offer information to government officials and private business owners about national and international economies, business and trade practices. We have experts in quantitative and qualitative analysis, economic studies, general operations, research and development, cost-benefit analysis, economic planning, international trade and econometrics.

SGE assists clients in creating and expanding businesses. For instance, if you are interested in establishing a new business or in selling your products in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, our experts will help you institute a sound and profitable business plan. We will also provide you with efficient distribution and marketing strategies. We help entrepreneurs to access the African and American markets and visa versa. Our goal is to assist our clients in developing strategies that will result in win-win situations through business and trade partnerships.

*Selam is derived from an ancient African language, Geez. It means peace.

SGE
P.O.Box 73413
Washington, DC 20056

(202) 299-4958

Dinaw Mengestu

Dinaw Mengestu won 2007's Guardian First Book Award, for his book “Children of the Revolution.” The Guardian First Book Award is worth £10,000.

Congratulation Dinaw Mengestu.

Ike Turner: River Deep Mountain High

The legendary musician, Ike Turner, passed away at the age of 76. May he rest in peace. One of his greatest works is a song titled “River Deep Mountain High,” which was Performed by Tina Turner who is known for her majestic voice.

Enjoy Ike and Tina’s work. Read the lyrics and decide how you feel about the song.


When I was a little girl I had a rag doll
The only doll I’ve ever owned
Now I love you just the way
I loved that rag doll
But only now my love has grown
And it gets stronger in every way
And it gets deeper let me say
And it gets higher day by day
Do I love you my oh my
River deep, mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby, baby, baby, baby

When you were a young boy did you have a puppy
That always followed you around
Well Im gonna be as faithful as that puppy
No Ill never let you down

Cause it goes on and on like a river flows
And it gets bigger baby and heaven knows
And it gets sweeter baby as it grows
Do I love you my oh myRiver deep, mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh how I love you baby, baby, baby, baby

I love you baby like a flower loves the spring
And I love you baby like a robin loves to sing
And I love you baby like a schoolboy loves his bag
And I love you baby river deep mountain high

Lyrics source: www.lyricsfreak.com

Two queens

Tina Turner & Angela Bassett

Ike & Tina Turner in 1966

Fire in the house

by: Edna Ravenel

Who will prove to be man or mouse;

especially when there isfire in the house

No time to run, no time to hide,

this is the time to seewho's the real genius;

with the right decisionIt is no longer a time of convince,

it a time ofdecision,

only the right one will count

Ants have shown civilized man for years,

the key to

working together

Let us note

that the turmoil of man

has resulted in thisnew world's disaster

The one's that claim to lead are mere imposters;

leadingthe whole world down a road of destruction

There's still time to turn things around,

when we takeourselves out of the way;

to allow the creator to show usearthlings the right way;

in order not to furthergo astrayDon't give up because

today is a brand new day;

with lotsof hope in every way.

The Tale of Two Nations 5

The Tale of Two Nations 5

Ethiopian and African-American Relations: A Brief Timeline
by Andrew Laurence

Harlem Renaissance

Dr. Alain Locke, the first African-American Rhodes Scholar, architect of the New Negro Movement and Howard University professor, encourages African-American artists to recognize and incorporate their African heritage within their work.

Paul Laurence Dunbar writes his poem “Ode to Ethiopia,” James Wells paints “Ethiopia at the Bar of Justice,” Meta Fuller sculpts “Ethiopia Awakening,” and Langston Hughes, called the poet laureate of Harlem, writes in Opportunity magazine “Broadcast to Ethiopia.” These are just some of the better known examples of African American artists inspired by Ethiopia.

The Tale of Two Nations 4

Ethiopian and African-American Relations: A Brief Timeline
by Andrew Laurence

1903 - 04

Henry Ellis, an African-American Wall Street broker, with assistance from Haitian Benito Sylvain, helps make possible the signature of a Treaty of Amity (Friendship) and Commerce between Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia and Robert P. Skinner for the United States. He personally congratulated Emperor Menelik on the Adwa victory which he saw, rightly, as a victory over colonialism.

The Treaty is duly proclaimed by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Dr. Joseph Vitalien of Guadeloupe becomes Emperor Menelik’s personal physician at this time.

Bright Star: Teddy Afro

By Nesanet Hailu

Teddy Afro is courageous and visionary lyricist of the new millennium. He is so fantastic, when ever people think his talent has reached the maximum, he sets yet another standard of musical performances on and off the stage.

Here are some of the standards that Teddy set

Productivity Standard:
Teddy is like a music machine. He produces new products at least every three months: singles and music videos have been continuously coming to DC and the surrounding area. We consider him a good role model because he is productive artists. He is a good reminder that art could also be profitable, if people are focused and work hard.

Courageousness Standard:
Teddy has daring lyrics. He wishes Chicago, Addis Ababa, Asmara, and the rest of Africa a happy new year. You might ask what makes that so audacious. The answer is throughout the Diaspora and inside the country; he seems to be the only one who still mention Eritrea in their songs. Most other’s wishes of New Year stop at the new and fake boarder. But Teddy Afro, seems to understand there are no boarder inside an African blood. He is generous to wish the whole Africa including Asmera to have a happy New Year.

Pan-African Standard:
Teddy does not only preach Pan-Africanisim, but like Haile Girima, he seems to show it in his artistic work. People recognize the increasingly high influence of Bob Marily’s music and spirit on Teddy Afro.

Unlike some Ethiopian artists, such as Zeritu, whose role models are talent less American boy groups, Teddy Afro seems to choice creative and original artists from people that are closer to him and artists who love his people. For us who live in the Diaspora, we feel proud to introduce Ethiopian music to our American friends through Teddy Afro’s songs. He doesn’t have a scratchy voice, like Aster’s.

Sharing Standards:
For decades Ethiopian musical seen consisted of a sorry sounding keyboard and a single vocalist. When bands had become the thing of the past, Teddy started working with great band called Abogeda.

To everyone’s pleasant surprise he also added two beautiful African American female vocalists to his band on his last U.S. tour. He also added the Setegn Atenaw, a talented masinko player, to his band. His latest video, of the American tour, is an absolute improvement from his cheap BET imitation looking music videos.

Lyrical Sophistication Standard:
He works with timely themes yet ancient words. In the time were the precious Geez is being the kicked out of the church and Ethiopia and being transferred into large libraries and universities around the western world, Teddy seems to be kind to Geez. Teddy reminds us that Geez is something beautiful and valuable – something we should learn and use.

Unlike many Ethiopian lyrics that tend to focus on negativity, Teddy has several positive and uplifting lyrics. Most Ethiopian musicians think that a song must have sad lyrics to attract people’s attention, which is untrue. People listen to music to feel better, to get some energy and relax. Teddy also has grim lyrics, such as Eyesaku Eskista meaning crying when you’re dancing.

However, he balances his negative with lyrics that promote unity such as Jah Yasteserial. Most other lyrics concentrate on female and male negative relationships, but his lyrics tend to be more universal discussing about family relationship, history, and more.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10819101

Inventor Shifferaw

Mr. Shifferaw is one of the current Ethiopian investors who lives in the Diaspora. One of his inventions, the Bowflex, is used for efficient exercise thought the world.

“More than 20 years ago, Dosho Shifferaw was trying to make ends meet by driving cabs and working at hotels – while he was hatching plans for an exercise chair that he was convinced would be a success,” explains Therese Iknoian.

“The 1974 revolution that overthrew Emperor Haile Selasie, stranded this young Ethiopian in California, where he was studying industrial design and engineering. He proved that he understood two American passions when he invented the Bowflex exercise machine and made a wile success on it by hawking it on TV,” According to The Washington Post on Sunday June 12, 2005.

To find out Mr. Shifferaw’s other inventions, visit www.doshodesign.com

Al Gore

Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on October 12, 2007. The former vice president, Al Gore, was recognized for his work on increasing awareness about environmental degradation.

As Rachel Carson did with her book, “Silent Spring,” Al Gore has been warning that global warming is "the greatest challenge we've ever faced” through his book and movie “An Inconvenient Truth."

The first millennium song

Two Washington, DC musicians -- Poppa Smith and Charlie Mack – went to Ethiopia to perform in one of the top entertainment center in Addis Ababa: Sheraton Hotel.

Poppa Smith and Charlie Mack followed Duck Ellington footsteps to go from the Chocolate City to the New Flower (Addis Ababa).

Tewodros Mekonen (Teddy Mak) collaborated with Poppa Smith and Charlie Mack to prepare Ethiopia for the millennium. Their wishes, as seen on this video, are pleasant: to provide musical instruments and agricultural equipments to Ethiopia. The director is Tikher Tefera. Enjoy the video.

Conflict Resolution in Action

Haile Gebrselassie















Left: Professor Haile Gerima - Right: Dr. Ephraim Isaac. Picture by Markos Taddesse

Thanks to Dr. Ephraim Isaac and his peace making team, more than 37 individuals are free from prisoners in Ethiopia. The peace making team includes Haile Gebrselassie who has set the world Marathon Record.

Dr. Ephraim Isaac has been attempting to promote peace in Ethiopia and around the world. According to Ed Koch, Isaac made several 20-hour plane trips from his home in New Jersey to Ethiopia to assist the political prisoners. He also has been supporting Ethiopian students for the last few decades.

Dr. Isaac is a peacemaker, visionary and teacher. He was the first professor of Afro-American Studies department at Harvard University. He directed the Institute of Semitic studies in Princeton.

He received a Peacemaker Award from the Tanenbaum Center in 2002 for his effort to resolve the boarder conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In July 2004, Dr. Isaac also received an honorary Doctor degree from Addis Ababa University.

Currently, Dr. Ephraim Isaac directs the Institute of Semitic Languages, Inc., in Princeton, New Jersey. He has taught and published widely in the areas of African languages, ancient religions and black civilizations, Ethiopian history, and the concept and history of slavery.

Ethiopian Millennium Song

Chachi and Isaac Haile Selassie, outstanding musicians, collaborated on the Ethiopian Millennium to express their positive wishes to Ethiopia, Africa and to the rest of the world.

Chachi is the first Ethiopian rapper. She also has been very active in promoting African Unity for decades. Chachi has been raising many orphans in Ethiopia.

Isaac is also an active pan-Africanist. He is an Ethiopian singer who was raised by King Haile Selassie. Isaac has been teaching the Amharic language to Jamaicans for many years in the United States.

Billie Holiday

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie

Picture by Andrew Laurence

From Afro American Newspaper

His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie, the grandson of the late Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia came to Washington, D.C., recently not only to help celebrate the Ethiopian-African second millennium but also to reinforce ties between Africans and African Americans.

INQUTATASH-Meskerem 1/2000 is the beginning of the third millennium based on the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo calendar that lags the Julian and Gregorian calendars by seven years.

On Sept. 12, one day after the Ethiopian New Year, the prince placed a wreath of green, yellow and red flowers at the African American Civil War Memorial, surrounded by a group of Ethiopian religious and military officials, and other leaders in the Ethiopian, African-American and Ethiopian World Federation community.
The congregation then proceeded to the New Bethel Baptist Church for a ceremony featuring speakers and displays.

Tamrat Medhin, president of the Ethiopian-African 2nd Millennium Council (EA2MC) formally opened the Millennium Ceremony and the honorable Councilman Jim Graham of Ward 1, which has the largest concentration of Ethiopian immigrants, presented a Ceremonial Resolution from the Council of the District of Columbia declaring Sept.12, 2007, as the "Ethiopian Millennium Recognition Day."

"It is the right day, on the dawn of the new millennium, to recognize the struggles and triumphs so many have endured for all of us, as a community of all colors, to have the opportunity to remember and celebrate this connection."
H.I.H. Prince Ermias spoke eloquently about the debt Ethiopians owe to the African-American community for their support during Mussolini's fascist invasion of Ethiopia, and their struggle for civil rights enabling the Ethiopian Diasporas to participate in the American society with dignity. H.I.H. Prince Ermias made an impassioned speech invoking the historical ties between Africans in the Diaspora, and a commitment to make the future more peaceful and prosperous for Africa and the world.

Mr. Chris Haley, the director of Slavery at the Maryland State archives who was made famous by his uncle Alex Haley's book {ROOTS,} spoke about his ancestor who arrived in September 1767 as an enslaved teenager and descendent of Kunta Kinte/Gambia. He added that one could draw a line straight across from Gambia to Ethiopia that connects all Africans together on that map. He saluted the Ethiopians who claim to be from the " Cradle of Civilization" and the birthplace of Lucy "Dinkinesh" ("Thou art wonderful"), the oldest known humanoid fossil.

"I come to you in amazement that I, a Black man born in Washington, D.C., who can trace his roots back to the Gambia, am able to stand in the presence of a descendent from the line of King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba and their child, the first Ethiopian King Menelik; amazed that I can stand before their heir, the grandson of H.I.H. Haile Selassie I," Haley said. "And as his placing of a wreath at the African American Civil War memorial commemorates and links the struggles of African descents who fought against oppression in the 1800s with Ethiopian warriors who fought against European forces in the 1900s and never gave in to colonization, I come to you, citizens of the United States and Ethiopia, in admiration.

"It is the right day, on the dawn of the new millennium, to recognize the struggles and triumphs so many have endured for all of us, as a community of all colors, to have the opportunity to remember and celebrate this connection."
Ms. Nebiat Solomon, director of the Office of African Affairs in the Office of the Mayor brought the elephant tusks residing at City Hall that Emperor Selassie donated to Washington during his visit in 1954 for display at the church.

Mr. Andrew Laurence, president of the Ethiopian-American Cultural Center displayed photos of African-American pilots Herbert Julian, aka "The Black Eagle," and Col. John Robinson who both commanded Ethiopian Air Forces against the Italians; Dr. Melaku Bayen, the first Ethiopian medical school graduate in the US, who founded the Ethiopian Research Council with diplomat Dr. Ralphe Bunche and historian Dr. William Leo Hansberry at Howard University; H.I.M. Haile Selassie presenting an Ethiopian Cross to pastor and U.S. Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem; and jazz great Duke Ellington performing in Ethiopia.

More activities are being planned to provide opportunities to strengthen the relationship between the Ethiopian and African-American communities in Washington, D.C., for the future including a religious pilgrimage to Ethiopia, cultural education programs, and grassroots actions on various local issues.

Celebration

Picture by Andrew Laurence

Picture by Andrew Laurence

Africans celebrated the African millennium near the Washington monument on September 11, 2007.

The organizers were Anteneh Demelash, Elias Fullmore, and Seaty Yoseph. Approximately 20,000 people came to celebrate the millennium.

Burntface, African Heritage, and The Pocket entertained the crowd. Food was provided by Zed’s Ethiopian Restaurant, Café Nema Somali restaurant,and Etete Ethiopian Cuisine. The program started at 5:00pm and ended midnight.

The organizers say they are already working on preparing the next year's new year event.

Happy African Millennium

AU Declaration on the Ethiopian Millennium

The following Declaration on the Ethiopian Millennium was made by the Heads of State and Government of the African Union at the Summit in January 2007.

AU Declaration on the Ethiopian Millennium

We, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the African Union, meeting during the Eighth Ordinary Session of our Assembly held in Addis Ababa, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, from 29th – 30th January 2007;

Taking note of the briefing by the Ethiopian Government on the Ethiopian Millennium to be celebrated on 12 September 2007;

Recognising with appreciation the call of the Ethiopian people to all fellow African brothers and sisters to embrace the Millennium as a truly African occasion and to join them in the celebrations;

Noting with satisfaction the commitment of the Ethiopian people to use this occasion as a unique opportunity to highlight their collective resolve to make a difference in their struggle against poverty, and to broaden the frontiers of democracy and good governance;

Welcoming the cooperation already initiated between the African Union Commission and the Ethiopian Millennium Festival National Council;

Call upon all Member States of the African Union, the Commission of the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities to extend their support towards the successful celebration of this unique African occasion – the Ethiopian Millennium.

ENDS

Abbaye (River Nile)

The river Nile (Abbaye) is the longest river in the world.

The Tale of Two Nations 3

Ethiopian and African-American Relations:
A Brief Timeline

by Andrew Laurence

1896

Ethiopia emerges as one of the fiercely independent nations in Africa, especially after its victory over the Italians in the Battle of
Adwa.

African-Americans increasing look towards Ethiopia and it’s Emperor Menelik II, as a bastion of independence in a continent colonized by European powers.

When the Italians under Mussolini again invade the country 40 years later, Africans worldwide support H.I.M. Haile Selassie’s efforts to regain freedom for Ethiopia, and celebrate on May 5, 1941, when the Emperor returns in triumph to Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Millennium Day

September 12 is “Ethiopian Millennium Day” in DC thanks to Mayor Fenty.




The Mayor of the District of Columbia, Adrian M. Fenty, Proclaimed September 12, 2007 as “Ethiopian Millennium Day” in Washington, DC.

Additionally, Mayor Fenty called upon the residents of Washington, DC to join him in recognizing the multiculturalism and diversity of the Ethiopian community.

For more information about the Ethiopian Millennium see:

www.ethiopianmillennium.com

http://www.ethiopian2000.com/

http://www.addismillennium.com/anancientland_monasteries.htm

http://www.ethiopic.com/Ethiopian_Millennium_Pages.htm

Movie: Black to Our Roots in Sankofa

Black to Our Roots is the inspirational story of group of teenagers’ journey from the inner-city of Atlanta to Ghana, West Africa in search of their ancestral home.

Beginning in Atlanta, the youth work with HABESHA, a community based organization, to raise their own travel costs through fundraising and community service projects in which they learn about their cultural history in preparation for their ultimate journey to Africa.

Sankofa Video Books & Café
2714 Georgia Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001

August 4, 2007
3PM - 8PM
$10

http://sankofastore.com

A Tale of Two Nations 2

Ethiopian and African-American Relations:
A Brief Timeline

by Andrew Laurence


1808

African-Americans along with a group of Ethiopian merchants are unwilling to accept racially segregated seating at the First Baptist Church of New York and withdraw their membership.

Determined that they would organize their own church, they establish the Abyssinian Baptist Church, now located in Harlem, New York. The name is inspired by the nation from which the merchants of Ethiopia had come, Abyssinia.

As the first non-segregated Baptist Church in America, it is led for many years by the great Pastor and US Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. after his father Adam Clayton Powell Sr., and would serve as a focal point in New York for many of the Pan-African and civil rights movements to come.

Party with a purpose Atlanta with Abezash

Party with a purpose is an event to raise funds for the Artists for Charity Children's home in Ethiopia. The AFC home is an orphanage for HIV+ orphans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

If your in the Atlanta area please join us on Wednesday the 18th of July at Django. If you can't make it to the event and would like to make a donation please visit the site below.

http://artistsforcharity.org
http://www.artistsforcharity.org/afcchildrenshome/

A Tale of Two Nations 1

Ethiopian and African-American Relations:
A Brief Timeline

by Andrew Laurence




18th - 20th Century A.D. - Numerous references to Ethiopia in the Bible, such as (Psalm 68:31) “…Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God,” provides refuge and salvation for Negro slaves in America.

During the American Revolutionary War, one African-American regiment proudly wears the appellation of “Allen’s Ethiopians,” named after Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Church in Philadelphia.

Robert Alexander Young, a slave preacher, publishes The Ethiopian Manifesto. Phyllis Wheatley, the poet-laureate of colonial America, also makes use of this discourse as did Prince Hall, a Revolutionary War veteran and founder of the African Masonic Lodge.

Drusilla Dunjee Houston, researcher and historian, writes the amazing book, Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire. Frederic Douglas Jr. orates eloquently on the Negro problem alluding inspirationally to Ethiopia.

The decisive victory over Italy at Adwa cements Ethiopia’s independence from European colonialism and has a profound impact on the quest for dignity and respect for Africans throughout the world.

Ethiopian inspired Pan-African movements give hope to those seeking justice in the eyes of God and the world. Martin Delaney, Carter G. Woodson, John Jackson, Willis Huggins, Joseph Harris, and Edward Blyden are prolific scholars who write brilliantly on Ethiopia’s origin and history.

Thinkers and scholars from William E. B. Dubois, editor of the influential Crisis Magazine, Sylvester Williams, C.L.R. James, Chancellor Williams, Walter Rodney, George Padmore, John Henri Clarke and Aime Cesaire build on these traditions of Pan-Africanism and Ethiopianism.

They point the way for future African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Haile Selassie, Sekou Toure, Leopold Senghor, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Robert Mugabe, Nelson Mandela; and African-American activists Mary Mcleod Bethune, Paul Robeson, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Harry Belafonte, Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture); and political leaders Congresswomen Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Barbara Lee, Congressmen Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Donald Payne, Ron Dellums, Gregory Meeks and John Conyers, Ambassador Andrew Young, Melvin Foote of Constituency for Africa, Randall Robinson, Danny Glover and Bill Fletcher Jr. of TransAfrica Forum, to name just a few.

Picture: Pastor and US Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Accepts the Ethiopian Lalibela Cross from Emperor Haile Selassie at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York – 1954.


To be continued…..

Mother of Creation

Source: http://www.galleryonesf.net/

Ethiopia’s Exports

Leading Export Sectors:

• Agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and agro-processing, including coffee and oilseeds.

Sectors with Greatest Export Growth Potential:

• Agriculture, fisheries, and agro-processing, including coffee, medicine, tea, honey, leather products, and horticultural products
• Energy-related, including hydropower and geothermal energy
• Manufacturing, including textiles and apparel, art, leather goods, and jewelry
• Services, including tourism, education, medicine, air transportation, and publishing

Africa’s Generosity

In 2006, Africa’s total export to the United States was worth approximately $79 billion, which increased by 22.4 percent since the previous year. The top seven African exports were oil, precious metals, organic chemicals, clothing accessories (not knitted), iron and steel, apparel and clothing, and cocoa.

The above information was found from the U.S. government trade database and it does not include the unrecorded exports.

Africa has been exporting mostly raw materials that have been building other continents for centuries. Raw materials do not have high monetary value in the international market. Raw materials – such as diamond, gold, petroleum, natural gas, iron, steel, copper, cobalt, uranium, lead, potash, forest, and coltan – have been flooding out of Africa. Eighty percent of the world’s known reserves of coltan is found in Africa. Coltan is used as a “vital components in electronic devices, ranging widely from mobile phones to laptop computers,” according to wikipedia.org.

Even during ancient times, Africa has always been generous to the world. Some of her incredible and precious offerings included and it still includes, people, music, knowledge, mathematics, arts and more.

The African Diaspora with Africa has now the capacity to add value on Africa’s export in a way it could help all: through creating trade links with each other. Economist Dr. Laurie-Ann Agama suggests Africa also increases the internal trade by creating manufacturing links amongst countries in the continent. Intercontinental trade is almost non existing in Africa. Africa and the African Diaspora also should invest to increase values of the raw materials. Check back to find out ways to be involved in the profitable international trade.

African American in Axum

Here is a young African American connecting with his roots and helping his family.

Thank you Mike-E. Ethiopia loves you.

Ethiopian HipHop

The African Millennium: Our Time

The African Millennium will start on September 11, 2007.

According to our calendar, it is time to awaken and guide our own destiny. Dr. Ephraim Isaac repeats the Prophet Isaiah’s 3,000 years old message, below, to encourage Africans to rule their fate through declaring economic independence.

“Awake! Awake! Put on your strength! Put on your new beautiful garments. Shake yourself from the dust: arise. Loose your bone from your neck....”

Dr. Isaac stressed the importance of mobilizing the African Diaspora to celebrate the Ethiopian millennium as a way to revive the African Renaissance, which is a network of people devoted to sublimate the consciousness and living standards of Africans world wide.

Purchasing African products, such us the traditional clothing and jewelry, is important in asserting economic independence.

Dr. Isaac is a peacemaker, visionary and teacher. He is the first professor of Afro-American Studies department at the Harvard University. So lets us follow his example and wear African garments.

“Best kept secret in today's world economy"

Take out all the negative information about your continent from your mind. Allow me to share positive information about our Africa.

Africa is one of the second largest continents in the world. Africa is larger than China, USA, and Europe combined. The continent is also the least crowded place on earth.

Africa is the richest in human and natural sources. There are so many African workers and intellectuals who built Africa and other continents. United States of America was built by Africans. As soon as the door to the Noble Prize started opening for Africans in the 1950s, after colonialism and slavery, Africans were able to demonstrate to the world their excellence in sciences, arts and peace making.

Other natural resources in Africa include ancient books, medicine, diamond, gold, petroleum, natural gas, copper, medicines, cobalt, uranium, lead, potash, forest, coltan and many more others minerals. Eighty percent of the world’s known reserves of coltan are found in Africa. Coltan in used as a “vital components in electronic devices, ranging widely from mobile phones to laptop computers,” according to wikipedia.org.

Mostly non Africans are currently making most money for their investment in Africa. According to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "Africa's profitability is one of the best kept secrets in today's world economy."

Now it is our time to make a profit from our continent. Let’s invest our time, money, and knowledge in our continent. Even if we cannot trade, open factories, educate people, or move to Africa now, we can start thinking positively about Africa prosperity and unity. Globalization forces us to become broad minded. Division limits our growth. Our culture also directs us to choose unity.



Picture source: http://www.etiopiamagica.it/fiori1.htm

African Film Festival - 8

Danny Glover participated on the Eighth African Film Festival, which took place in Boston from Febraury 16 to Febrauary 25, 2007.

According to MFA, Mr. Glover through his company, Louverture, produced Abderrahmane Sissako's latest film, "Bamako." Mr. Glover also acted in the film. Mr. Glover decided to work with Sissako on "Bamako" because "It attempts to present the reality of what is happening to people, while at the same time clarifying the macroeconomic context that creates that reality," he said.

Mr. Glover’s company, Louverture, is dedicated to the development and production of films of historical relevance, social purpose, commercial value, and artistic integrity.

Mr. Glover is also a dedicated Pan-Africanist. His presence in many African related events and in Africa is appreciated by many Africans.

He is also the current chairperson of TransAfrica Forum, which is an organization that serves as a major research, educational, and organizing institution for the African-American community offering constructive analyses of issues concerning U.S. policy as it affects Africa and the Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Ethiopian Returnees Give Hope

By Eliab Tarkghen

Semira is 13 years old and aspires to be a writer. She writes poems, stories and dramas. In fact she is working on a book. Her book will be about the struggle and battle of living with HIV and also sort of How-To-Guide. You see Semira is writing from experience. She is a living proof that one can lead a normal life even after being infected with HIV. Semira's story is not unique among the 13 other kids who live with her in a family style run charity by Artists For Charity (AFC). Started by Abezash, with her fellow artists Suilman and Mekeda, all returnees from the U.S, the charity feels more like a close-knit family than an orphanage. Indeed the word Orphanage feels cold, distant and heartless, and Abezash herself detest the usage of it.

All the kids came to the AFC family after loosing both their parents to the AIDS epidemic. Neglected by relatives and left to fend for themselves, some of the kids would have died if it was not for AFC. At AFC one can easily see the care that is provided to these kids. Medicine, proper nutrition and a full time Nurse is a priority. In fact when the kids arrive to AFC, most are underweight, some have low white blood cell count (WBC), and some have open soars on their body. With tender care and proper nutrition AFC helps these kids recuperate quickly. The average weight gain of AFC kid is 7 kg, and in cases like Semira it is more than weight gain, it is regaining a fighting chance. Semiria has gained 6 kg, and her WBC that was in the low teens now stands at 200. It is still far from being a normal WBC, but it is a start.

One of the many amazing things about AFC is the founders' passion and commitment. Abezash, Sulliman and Mekeda, not only run the organization, but they live with the kids. They have given up their lives in the U.S to nurture, help, and raise these bright kids. In fact the kids call them Mommy and Daddy, a testament to their closeness with the kids. Everything is about honesty, and support. It
is about knowing the true nature of the disease HIV/AIDS, as well as learning to cope with the disease. The kids will be the first one to tell you they have HIV. They know the stigma; but in their own eloquent way they make you understand, it is just another disease.

Currently, 800,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS in Ethiopia. In fact the prediction is gloomy, it is expected by the year 2014, this figure will increase exponentially to 2.5 million. It takes more than
Abezash, Suliman and Mekeda to tackle this grave threat to our nation. But they have started the hard battle for us, it is now in our hands to extend the fight and lessen the suffering of those who are
unfortunate enough to be the victim of HIV/AIDS and its aftermath.

I know Semira will finish her book. I also know one day we will see this bright writer authoring a mouth-dropping novel that may end up being a best seller. Thanks to AFC it is not a dream, but a reality in
the making.

Visit AFC website
http://www.artistsforcharity.org/
http://www.eliabconsulting.com/abezash_kids/index.html

Peace

Pan-African Colors

The ancient Ethiopian/African flag has a lion on it. The lion represents Jesus Christ, according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Towahdo Church. Many African and South American flags’ are inspired by the above Ethiopian flag. The colors, green, yellow, and red became known as the Pan-African colors, because Ethiopia was able to defeat colonialism.

Countries that have the Pan-African colors on their flags include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The following Flag is one example from Zimbabwe.



The inclusion of the Pan-African colors in many countries’ flag is one of the testaments to the unbreakable bondage that still exist amongst Africans internationally. What do you feel about the Pan-African collors?

Peace on Africa.

Ethiopia Loves Langston Hughes

The Love is mutual!




As it is evident in many of his works, on the poem bellow, Langston Hughes writes positively about Africa. Some Africans are currently translating Langston Hughes' poems to different African languages.





The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow
of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went
down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn
all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

-- Langston Hughes

One of the rivers that Langston Hughes wrote about is the Nile river that is found in East Africa and is the longest river on earth.

The Nile River is mentioned as flowing out of the Garden of Eden in the Bible. Here are some pictures of the magnificent Nile, also know as Abay and Ghion River.

How big is Africa?

Africa is one of the largest content in the world. Africa is larger than China, USA, and Europe combanied. The continent is also the least crowded place on earth.

The involuntary and semi voluntary migration out of Africa continue to weaken the mother land.

As one African singer reminisces:

“Since you (the African Diaspora) are gone,
it has been such an empty home.
Come on back to where you once belonged.
You are always welcome home.
Welcome home...”

To hear this lovely and empowering song tune into Kofi Dompere's African Rhythms radio show, every Sunday at 10:00pm. You can find the radio show at www.wpfw.org

We thank Alah for giving us such a beautiful, rich and enormous continent. And we ask God to give us the wisdom to enjoy our land.


Source: http://www.bu.edu/
EgziAbhear African Tebek

African Americans' Gift to the World

Menghistu Lemma's poem “Basha Ashebir in America” vividly recounts the experience of Basha Ashebir, an Ethiopian diplomat who was thrown out of a whites-only restaurants in Washington DC, in the early 1950s. After a verbal confrontation with the restaurant manager, Basha Ashebir had to resort to using his stick, to no avail. Seeing how Basha was perplexed by the ordeal, it was an African American who explained to him why the manager refused to serve him and eventually kicked him out: becuase of his skin color.

Learning from each other is not new for African Americans and Ethiopians. As far back as the 18th century, Ethiopians and African Americans have worked together. To move away from the segregated setting of the Church, they established the Abyssinian Baptist Church, which became the first African American Baptist congregation in New York and the fourth in the nation. Similarly, in 1930s Harlem, African Americans rallied around Dr. Malaku Bayen, Ethiopia’s envoy to the Black World, to help him put an end to Fascist Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia throught the Ethiopian World Federation.

Furthermore, thanks to great civil and human rights advocates such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and countless generations of conscious individuals who fought discrimination, African immigrants are able to take advantage of political and economic refuge in the United States. Nowadays, not only can Ethiopians eat at any restaurant, they are also the proud owners of African restaurants all over the United States.

Ethiopian artists and scholars in the Diaspora also drew their inspiration from the African American experience. Haile Gerima, who lives and works a pan-African life, learned from decades of personal encounters with African American issues and personalities. Haile, who teaches film at Howard University, has in his film Sankofa, taken us on the harrowing journey African Americans took through the middle passage and struggling through the arduous life of an African slave in an American plantation. Throught the movie Sankofa, we are re-born anew by the rediscovery, grounded in the present but connected to the past and to the spirits of our ancestors.

Skunder, which we will publish his history on this blog soon, also studied and often discussed the African American experience as it related to Africa. He voraciously consumed and learned from all African American creative productions. Through studying Black music from childhood, he incorporated what he learned from Jazz and Blues to his art. Hearing Ornette Coleman and Miles Davies create their own unique and revolutionary improvisational Jazz, Skunder similarly revolutionize African traditional art.

Continuing to work together improves the likelihood that our children will have role models, philosophers, historians, architects, scientists, artists and freedom fighters, that look like them. Then, we can start to utilize our bestowed gifts and by doing so, give back to the Black culture that nurtures us.

In this spirit, Ephraim Isaac, one of the first Africans to obtain a PhD at Harvard, and establish the African American department there, stresses the importance of mobilizing the Greater African Diaspora to celebrate the upcoming Ethiopian Millennium. The Ethiopian Calendar, which turns 2000 in less than one year, is one aspect of the rich Black heritage that goes back to the birth of humankind.

What better way to thank Dr. King and countless others for their brave vision, than to celebrate this Black Millennium and to fulfill the dreams of visionaries who had used Ethiopia as a rallying call for freedom, justice and peace. For it is one of the things that can continue to shape our shared experience, and most importantly, works to unite us.

In the words of Menghistu Lemma, the Black Diaspora should focus on what unites us: understanding that we are one people with different names.

The Amharic Version of the poem, coming soon.