Ethiopian Airlines has embarked on a strong expansion programme that includes pressing of an order for 10 Boeing 787-800 dream-liners.
The airline’s world sales manager Amare Tsadik briefed Malawian travel operators during their weekend visit at Ethiopian Airlines head office in Addis Ababa to orient them on what the airline offers.
“The aviation market in Africa and globally is strong. The 9/11 had bare or minimal effect on our company and we have continued to grow, posting close to US$800 million in profits in 2007 and we expect over US$1.2 billion this year,” said Tsadik.
Ethiopian Airlines—which operated its first flight to Cairo, Egypt in 1946—has grown in terms of passenger numbers to 2.5 million in the last financial year flying into 50 destinations
“Africa has a great market we look at the market and we want to ensure that our customers have the best facilities. That is why we built an all-purpose cargo terminal which holds any cargo including wet cargo,” said Tsadik.
On his part, the airline’s senior marketing officer Fasika Beharnu took Malawi tour operators to the airline’s head office, aviation school, maintenance and cargo places explaining that the company employs close to 5,000 people and provides its own services.
“When you are selling tickets in Malawi we want you to understand the product your are selling is a complete product. We provide most of our service from cleaning to catering, training and maintenance to ensure that we provide quality standards,’ said Beharnu.
The aviation school also trains international pilots, cabin crews and maintenance staff and the company does offer many of its services across the continent.
Kenneth Kamole of Lloyds Travel said the tour was beneficial to the travel agents as they could now explain properly what Ethiopian Airlines offers to its customers.
Through Ethiopian Airlines, air cargo can be directly sent to Lilongwe from over 50 destinations which include business hubs of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Bangkok in Thailand, Beijing in Mainland China, Hong Kong, London in the United Kingdom and Washington DC.
Jemal Ambo from Ethiopia, centre, with his wife Rumana (left) and his children (from left) Lomi, Yasriba, Adel Malik and Awel. Photo: Rebecca Hallas
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: THE last time Ethiopian refugee Jemal Ambo saw four of his children was a decade ago, when he fled his homeland on foot in the dead of night, terrified for his life.
Yesterday the abattoir worker from Collingwood said all he could do was “hug and kiss and hug and kiss and cry”, when he was finally reunited at Melbourne Airport with his children, now aged between 11 and 17.
“Today I see them, I’m very happy, they are very different,” Mr Ambo said of the reunion, in which his five other children met their siblings for the first time.
Mr Ambo, who is from the Oromo people, a large ethnic group in Ethiopia, walked more than 400 kilometres from his home in Agarfa to Kenya in 1998, after learning he was suspected of being a member of the anti-government Oromo Liberation Front.
“If you’re suspected of being a member of the OLF, God knows what could happen to you. A lot of people would have lost their lives,” said Lyda Dankha from the Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, which helped the family bring the children to Australia.
Two years after he left Ethiopia, Mr Ambo’s wife Rumana Kedir Osmar managed to join him in a refugee camp in Kenya. But Rumana could only bring one of her sons, who was then aged two. She was forced to make the heartbreaking decision to leave behind two of her children and two of Mr Ambo’s children with his previous wife, who died in custody.
“There are no words to describe the desperation we felt at leaving our children to be cared for by relatives and there will be no words to describe the joy of having them finally with us,” Mr Ambo, who speaks little English, said through Ms Danka.
“We didn’t know whether our children were still alive.” In 2003, Mr Ambo, Rumana and their son were granted a refugee visa to Australia. The couple subsequently had three more children and were also successful in bringing Rumana’s 19-year-old daughter from another marriage to live with them. But Ms Dankha said the application to get Mr Ambo’s other four children to Australia had taken almost two years.
“Even on Friday we still did not know whether they would be boarding the plane because they had to do a final medical.”
Ms Dankha said the last time Mr Ambo had seen his daughter Yasriba she was not even one, and now she was almost 11. “They will have a lot of catching up to do,” she said.
Yesterday’s joy was only marred by the fact Mr Ambo’s 19-year-old son remains missing.
The Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre’s Sonia Vignjevic said the Ambo reunion was a great story of family reunion against all odds.
But on a more prosaic level, the next challenge would be finding “suitable and affordable housing” for nine children and two adults.
Dashen Bank’s profit reached a record 239.1 million birr both for the bank itself and for the over-a decade-old private banking industry as a whole, according to the bank’s board of directors report released on Thursday at the Sheraton Addis. The profit the bank secured is 28.3 percent higher than what the bank made during the previous year, according to the report.
The record profit has literally astounded the bank’s president who, upon reporting the bank’s last fiscal year performance ended last June 30 said he asked himself if that trend would continue.
“When the bank made a net and record profits of about 133 million birr and 188 million birr in 2005/2006 and 2006/2007, respectively, the shareholders were asking: Will that trend keep up?” Lulseged Teferi said. “Now I am asking myself that question.”
The bank made a gross profit of 332.5 million birr and paid over 93 million birr for government in taxes, the report indicated. During its 14 years of operation, the bank paid a total of 326 million birr in taxes, according to the report.
The bank’s overall assets reached 7.8 billion birr during the reported period, registering a 1.8 billion birr increase from that of the previous year, the report indicated. The number of deposit account holders at the bank has reached 487,410, according to the report.
During the reported fiscal year, the bank mobilized a net 413.7 million birr and 1.3 billion birr in loans and deposits, respectively.
The president assured shareholders that the loan portfolio of the bank, which indicates whether a given bank’s operation is healthy or not, is sound enough with the level of the non-performing loans (NPLs) against the total loan the bank mobilized standing at 5.9 percent.
Dashen Bank’s 5.9 percent NPLs is way below the ten percent mark for banks to be considered health by international standards.
The bank currently shares 27.7 percent of the total deposit mobilized amongst the private banks while the total loans issued by the bank accounts for 26.1 percent the amount mobilized by the eight private banks, according to figures obtained from the National Bank of Ethiopia.
The number of Visa-branded cards issued by the bank has exceeded 34,000, while the bank was able to collect over USD 31 million from the service.
The bank disclosed launching International Money Transfer Service as an agent of MoneyGram in Ethiopia, as of Wednesday. It is also preparing to acquire and issue MasterCard, according to the president.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The 2008 Toyota Great Ethiopian Run registration closed at the end of last week with all 32,000 places sold out for the race which this year takes place on Sunday 23 November.
Ethiopia’s annual international 10km remains Africa’s biggest by participant numbers with just short of 29,000 finishing the race last year which was won by 20-year-old Tsegaye Kebede who three months ago was the surprise bronze medallist in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon.
Among the guests attending this year’s race is Sweden’s 2004 Olympic Heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft, while Britain’s Mo Farah, European 5000m silver medallist, is currently training in Addis Ababa and is likely to participate in the race.
In addition to the 32,000 participating, around 3,000 youngsters aged 11 and under will take part in the 2008 AIMS Children Series, the third leg of a series of races promoting running for children in the developing world. These races have a special resonance with the event’s fundraising campaign for orphans and vulnerable children which is being jointly promoted by Great Ethiopian Run and UNICEF Ethiopia.
EMPORIA, KANSAS – Two people were treated at Newman Regional Health and released after the vehicle they were in collided with a deer at Milepost 134 on Interstate Highway 35.
Mekedem Belete, an immigrant from Ethiopia, was driving north on I-35 when a deer ran from the ditch and was struck by the vehicle. He was treated for a laceration on his hand.
A passenger in the vehicle, Raniya A. Adem, 35, was kept under observation for possible back and head injuries, according to information from the Lyon County Sheriff’s office.
They were taken to the hospital by Emporia-Lyon County Ambulance Service.
Both had been released by 8 a.m. today, according to a Newman spokesperson.
TORONTO — Rick Hodes’s, left, first contract with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (the Joint) was to last only six weeks. That was more than 20 years ago but the American-born doctor is still at his post, ministering to the sick and frail in Ethiopia.
For years, Hodes’ patient base consisted of Beta Israel and in more recent times, the Falash Mora, descendents of Beta Israel who converted to Christianity generations ago.
The Beta Israel have left Ethiopia, mostly for Israel, and the Jewish state has cut off the Falash Mora immigration.
Nevertheless, the Joint, which closed its clinic in Addis Ababa serving the Falash Mora, will continue to operate in Ethiopia, though it will shift its focus to the wider population, Hodes said.
Hodes was in Toronto last week to meet select groups of UJA supporters and Birthright alumni, update them on the Falash Mora immigration and raise money to support the Joint’s works. He also visited Jewish communities in Washington, D.C., Columbus, Ohio, Memphis, Tenn., Houston, Tex. and Cleveland, Ohio.
Hodes said he’ll continue to minister to the sick and frail in Ethiopia despite the Joint’s shift in emphasis. The Joint still operates a clinic for the Falash Mora in Gondar, in northern Ethiopia, where the Beta Israel lived for centuries. The Joint clinic there is staffed by a local doctor and nurses and provides medical services for a few thousand Falash Mora. “It’s not clear whether all will end up in Israel or not,” said Hodes, who travels to Gondar every few weeks.
In the meantime, Hodes will focus on providing medical services to Ethiopians of all religions – whether Christian or Muslim. While that has been part of Hodes’ mandate for years, with the end of aliyah, it has become the predominant part of his practice.
“The Joint is staying in Ethiopia and working in the non-sectarian development field, as am I,” he said.
Among its projects, the Joint sends Israeli doctors to Ethiopia to teach and brings Ethiopian doctors to Israel for training. It builds schools, educates girls and digs wells.
Hodes works part of the week in the Mother Teresa Mission in Addis Ababa, focusing on spinal conditions, cancer and heart disease. He recently arranged for eight Ethiopian youngsters to travel to Ghana for spinal surgery.
Hodes said “I need at least $250,000 per year just to maintain things as they are.” The Joint, which is funded by Jewish communities around the world, only supports the office and staff in Ethiopia. Hodes is looking for other sources of funds to operate the medical scholarships, the Ghanian operations and other activities.
“We’re funding this from outside the [Jewish] federation system,” he said. Federation supporters would have to designate funds specifically for the Joint’s Ethiopian projects. North American Jewish federations provide the Joint with its core budget, though federation funds do not go to the agency’s non-sectarian programs.
That makes Hodes a part-time fund raiser, applying for grants, soliciting assistance from contacts abroad and by efforts like last week’s meet and greet.
“A lot of Jews are interested in helping more than just the Jewish community,” he said. “A lot are not interested in helping Jews but would help Africans.”
The upside from that approach is that “it can actually bring them into the community and into the Jewish system.”
Jennifer Kraft, director of community relations for the Joint, noted that even in its earliest work in Gondar in the early 1980s, the organization provided benefits not just to Jews but to the wider Ethiopian community. That raised the level of trust from the Ethiopian government, allowed the Joint to become entrenched in local society and helped a wide variety of people.
“The Joint builds bridges, performs mitzvot, fosters good will and helps rescue the Jewish community…Rick Hodes is the epitome of mitzvot,” she said.
For more information on the Joint, please go to their website
Jemal Ambo from Ethiopia, centre, with his wife Rumana (left) and his children (from left) Lomi, Yasriba, Adel Malik and Awel. Photo: Rebecca Hallas