ADDIS ABABA — Yaya Africa Athletics Village PLC, a new company established in 2009, has begun the construction of a modern athletics village in Sululta, 11 KM outside Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

The project is worth an estimated 80 million birr and will be constructed in three phases.

The shareholders of the company include two prominent athletes — Haile Gebrselassie and Belay Welasha, as well as an Ethiopian born Canadian businessman and former athlete Joseph Kibur.

The facility will include a running track, hotel, restaurant, gymnasium and sports clinic. It is to be built on 50,000 sq. meters of land and the first phase of the project is expected to be operational by September 2010.

“Haile, who has been making athletics history for the better part of two decades is about to make a new history by building the first private athletics village in the country. I am happy and excited to be
part of this history”, says Joseph Kibur, President and major shareholder of the company.

“our aim is to have the facility ready well before the London Olympics so that there will be enough time to produce new talent and continue Ethiopia’s winning tradition”.

Once the facility is fully operational, selected individuals will be provided with the range of services required for world class athletes.

This would include proper diet created by professional nutritionists, psychological training, climate controlled training rooms to simulate high humidity and hot conditions, and physical therapists for injury prevention and treatment.

In addition to providing services for local athletes, the hotel in the facility will also be used to house foreign athletes interested in high altitude training. By making the facility a tourist destination it will earn the country foreign currency.

(For more information please contact: [email protected] or mobile +251911-570432)

By Alicia Gossman-Steemes | MetroWest Daily News

COLORADO — In the developing world, a person born with cleft palate, cleft lip or other facial deformities will suffer not only from medical issues but also from social censure. That’s why organizations like Operation Smile exist — to bring a smile and to give life to people who otherwise would not be able to have one.

“The problem is no worse in developing countries than in developed countries, said Carol Lockhart, a teacher at Swink High School in Swink, Colo. “In a developed country the problem is taken care of soon after birth. A developed country can give the needed surgery because of the strength of its finances.”

Lockhart and Swink junior Jolysa Gallegos recently traveled to Jimma, Ethiopia, on a 14-day medical mission with Operation Smile to help entertain children and adults who were awaiting the longed-for surgery. Children and adults who are eligible for the free surgery must sit for hours in hospital waiting rooms, so volunteers play games with them and draw pictures. They even share personal pictures and a little about their lives.

“Many of the people they helped are poor and can’t go home so they hang around the hospital waiting,” Lockhart said.

“Some traveled 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) to get there and that was a big shock,” Gallegos said. “Some came from Somalia. One little girl had an abscess on her cheek and had to be given antibiotics so that it would go down before she had the surgery. We were just cheering for her because she had come so far.”

Cleft palate and cleft lip cause problems with breathing, talking and eating. Also, because the deformities are so prominent, they have a “huge psychological effect.”

“One little boy wouldn’t let me take a picture of him until he was in pre-op,” Gallegos said. Another 15-year-old boy was eager to receive an education after his surgery. He had never been denied education, Lockhart said, but he had been made to feel “uncomfortable and remorseful about his appearance.”

In Ethiopia, education is free to the public.

“The people are obsessed with education,” Lockhart said. “They want to be engineers, architects and doctors to make their country better.”

The cause of cleft palate and cleft lip is unknown. Some believe that the deformity may be caused by a lack of folic acid during pregnancy or because the mother smoked during pregnancy. Mothers of children receiving surgery are asked about their pregnancies. They are also asked why they believe their children were born with the deformity.

“The vast majority of people responded that it was the will of the true God or they believed that when the mother was pregnant, she saw someone with a cleft lip or palate,” Lockhart said.

During their mission, Gallegos said that she played a lot of volleyball with the kids, using beach balls that they had brought.

“The Ethiopian children are natural volleyball players,” Lockhart said. “They also play soccer, so they never catch the ball.”

Funds to purchase toys, including bubbles, funny sunglasss and beach balls, were donated by local chapters of Operation Smile’s Student Youth Programs. Both Swink School and Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colo. have chapters.

Gallegos and her partner Nicky from Colorado Springs had fun painting finger nails, an activity that the women from Somalia especially enjoyed. The people also enjoyed wearing paper crowns from Burger King.

“Nicky asked Burger King for donations and they gave her 80 crowns,” Gallegos said. “Both parents and kids wanted the crowns.”

“I also learned that the teddy bear is not a universal thing,” Gallegos said. “We had brought stuffed animals and we wanted to give one to a little girl. When I gave it to the father he and the other men in the room started laughing at me. They didn’t know what it was.”

Gallegos got to watch a surgery. She and her partner also made presentations at local schools about hygiene and dental care. The children, Gallegos said, were very excited to receive toothbrushes and kept getting back in line to get more. The small group also toured a Missionaries of Charity Home for the Sick and Dying Destitutes, an organization founded by Mother Theresa.

“They said no pictures,” Gallegos said. “The sicknesses were so bad. It was a very tough situation and hard to accept the fact that the people were there because they were dying and they didn’t have money.”

Although there was not much chance for tourism, Lockhart and Gallegos learned much about the people and their surroundings. They found that wherever they went, the people “swarmed” them, some just wanting to touch them. One little boy, a street child in the marketplace, wouldn’t let go of Gallegos’ hand.

“It’s hard to walk away from that,” she said.

“The people are very proud of their country,” Lockhart said. “Normal, everyday people are printed on their money because they believe that the future of the country lies in its people. They were very interested in us because we are blessed beyond measure. We didn’t see any obvious discrimination. The parents loved their children and there was lots of love and acceptance in the hospital.”

“They are a quiet and beautiful people,” Gallegos said.

By Or Kashti | Haaretz

Eleven new immigrants from Ethiopia have yet to be placed in Petah Tikva schools, and some have been waiting as long as three weeks for an assignment.

Municipal officials claim that the city’s private religious schools – which sparked a nationwide outcry when they refused to accept Ethiopian students at the start of the school year – are also refusing to accept these new students. However, the schools rejected this charge.

A few hours after Haaretz submitted inquiries to the relevant agencies, the municipality announced that all the children would be sent to a school today, and “we hope they’ll be admitted.”

However, the problem is unlikely to go away: Later this year the city is expected to get another group of 15 to 30 school-age immigrants from Ethiopia, and it is not clear where they will study.

“We get up in the morning, drink tea and watch television. There’s nothing else to do,” said Temasgen Mola, 12, who came to Petah Tikva with his parents and older brother two weeks ago from the Mevasseret Zion absorption center. On Wednesday, like many of the other immigrants, he was once again sitting in the municipality’s offices, hoping for a school placement.

Arega Gaton was also there, hoping to receive a placement for his 7-year-old daughter. “They keep telling us there’s no school for the girl,” he said. “We thought everything would be good here – that there would be a school and work. But she sits at home, and I can’t go to work because I need to take care of her.”

Under an Education Ministry decision that stemmed from an agreement reached before the start of the school year, most of the new immigrants were supposed to be absorbed by the town’s three private religious schools. But according to the municipality, all three have evaded this commitment using various pretexts.

“One principal said the last open slot in the class had just been filled, and afterward it turned out that this was inaccurate,” a municipal official said. “Another agreed to accept only 4th-grade boys, but there aren’t any in this group. The third simply refused to return phone calls.”

Only the mayor has the legal power to order the private schools to accept students. But Petah Tikva educators said that Mayor Yitzhak Ohayon has political obligations to certain National Religious Party activists who are also involved in the three schools, and has therefore refused to exercise this power.

The schools, however, deny that they are to blame.

“We’ve been absorbing [Ethiopian immigrants] for three years now, and will continue to do so,” said Hagai Unger, principal of the Darchei No’am school. “We will gladly accept anyone the city sends us.”

Another school, Merhav, said it had been asked to accept only one student, and did so.

An official at Da’at Mevinim, the third school, said it has already accepted 20 Ethiopian immigrants this year and will continue to comply with any “reasonable” request. “But so far, we haven’t received the financial support the Education Ministry promised us,” he charged.

By Kalumiana Kalumiana | The Post

Zambia edged closer to the quarterfinals of the Orange CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup after a 1-0 win over Ethiopia at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi this afternoon.

Herve Renard’s side now lead Group A with a maximum six points from their opening two matches after beating hosts Kenya 2-0 in their opening game last Saturday at the same venue.

Chipolopolo took the lead in the 30th minute through striker James Chamanga who finished off an effort after Ethiopian goalkeeper Assefa Dawit fumbled with the ball.

The goal was Chamanga’s third of the tournament following his brace against Kenya over the weekend as Chipolopolo head into their final Group A match against Djibouti tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the first half hour of the opening half against Ethiopia was an even affair.

Sebastian Mwansa also wasted a chance with a poorly taken free-kick in the 10th minutes from the edge of the penalty area.

Ethiopia had a chance to level scores five minutes before the break after an Emmanuel Mbola handball but goalkeeper Jacob Banda saved the resultant penalty.

And Kenya were by press time in action against Djibouti at the same venue in the second kickoff in Group A.

Both Kenya and Djibouti were on zero points after losing 2-0 and 5-0 to Chipolopolo and Ethiopia respectively in their opening Group A matches.