By Alex Pellerano, QuiteColor.com
A crippled economy, government neglect, and scarce resources have left Ethiopia with one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world. Volunteers in the U.S. have united to offer their time and effort to help remedy the situation. Watch the documentary below.
Source: Missionary International Service News Agency (MISNA)
At least 10 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed after an Ethiopian a Woyanne attack in a northeastern quarter of Mogadishu.
Witnesses said that 12 other people were wounded after a mortar shell exploded near a group of 40 civilians that were looking for refuge behind the home.
Last night the nearby military base in Hurwa quarter was attacked. Today’s victims add to the nine from night in Mogadishu as fighting continued between armed militias and Ethiopian Woyanne troops, backing the Somali transition government, which has been often denounced by human rights groups and by Somalis themselves of carrying out veritable reprisals against the population.
BY ALEX P. KELLOGG, Detroit Free Press
DETRIOT, MICHIGAN — If it seems like you’re traveling to a world thousands of miles away — and millennia old — in a way, you are.
But when you enter the Debre Guenet Abune Teklehaimanot Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church, you happen to be in Commerce Township.
And not only are you in Commerce Township — one of the most homogeneous communities in metro Detroit — you’re on a quaint little road within view of the township’s offices at 2840 Fisher Ave. The church is at 2800 Fisher.
If, as neighbors, they sound like strange bedfellows, they are. Even members of the church admit it.
“When we opened, we had a few neighbors come,” said Begashaw Deneke, chairman of the church’s governing board.
The Bloomfield Hills resident, who brings his wife and two kids with him every Sunday, says members knocked on every door in the neighborhood when they opened.
“We wanted to make sure they didn’t freak out,” he said.
The modest Ethiopian Orthodox church and its adjoining rectory will celebrate two years in their current home in August. Their Commerce locale is their first permanent home.
“The testament of its growth is the fact that we were able to purchase this church,” Haimanot Tsegaye said. “That’s what’s inspiring, that we gathered around from all over and made this happen.”
The married mother of two young children lives in Southfield. She makes the 25-minute drive with her husband and children every weekend.
She has been with the church since a handful of families brought it into being nearly seven years ago. The church that the congregation inhabits was vacated by a Baptist one looking for a bigger home.
“When you have your own building, you can open it whenever you want, and hold your service whenever you want,” said Deneke, who owns a foster care for older adults in Pontiac.
One of only two Ethiopian churches in all of Michigan — and there’s one that’s struggled to stay alive in Windsor, members say — its services are hardly intelligible to anyone who is not Ethiopian, as they are delivered in an ancient Semitic tongue called Ge’ez.
Its services began in a back hall of the Spiritual Israel Church and Its Army, an African-American church in Pontiac whose building was rented.
Slowly, it raised money for this endeavor, even benefiting from the housing crisis. When the founders first looked at the property, the asking price was more than double the $300,000 they paid for it a year later in 2006.
Founded by a handful of families, the church now serves about 110 Ethiopian adults and about 50 children. All live in southeast Michigan and nearby parts of Ohio and Ontario, though some come from farther locales, including the lengthy drives from Grand Rapids, Lansing and Kalamazoo.
Abby Tesfaye and Wyne Sebsibie traveled from Toronto for a recent Sunday service. A friend, Aida Endrias of Canton, was having a birthday party for her 7-year-old daughter, Helina Wondwossen.
“We like the services here,” said Tesfaye, who comes here two or three times a year and attends a similar church in Toronto. “It’s a very close community, and it’s small; ours is big. We get lost over there.”
The entire service at Teklehaimanot, as at all Ethiopian Orthodox services, is in the Ge’ez language. Used only in religious services, it has a role similar to that of Latin in the Roman Catholic Church.
Ancient rituals
Some of the church’s rituals have not changed since several centuries after the birth of Christ.
The church follows a 13-month lunar calendar. On Aug. 30, the memorial festival of St. Teklehaimanot is celebrated. In September, all Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox churches celebrate Meskel, Ge’ez for “cross.” It includes a large bonfire to commemorate St. Helena’s discovery of the cross on which Jesus Christ was killed.
The orthodox churches of Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ethiopia’s small neighbor to the north, were connected until the countries fought a bloody border war. Still, here in Commerce at Teklehaimanot, a handful of Eritreans attend.
“We try to bring in the faithful and not so much the division,” said member Tsegaye
In its sanctuary, as in all Ethiopian churches, a consecrated replica of the Ark of the Covenant is housed. Members never get to see it. Ethiopians believe the original pre-Christian relic is housed in a legendary Ethiopian church in their homeland.
Spiritual history
On a recent Sunday, a visiting priest preached in Amharic, the predominant language among Ethiopia’s elite, about how to love Jesus and how to love one another. Dressed in white and gold silk, Abba Gebrekidan Shiferaw spoke passionately about how that could eliminate crime, evil and pain from the world.
He has been in the United States for about three years and still speaks limited English. His job doesn’t really require it.
“I know Ethiopian spirituality,” said Shiferaw, “the culture and their heritage. … I want to explain to them what they have, so they recognize their history.”
Guests like Shiferaw — and an interim priest — have filled in for Abba Berhane Selassie Haile Meskel. The church priest has been stuck back home for months waiting for a work permit.
Men sat on the left as Shiferaw spoke, as they always do, mostly in Western clothes. Women sat on the right, many covering their heads in the traditional handwoven white cotton and silk shawls common to their attire.
The modesty in dress is not required as in Islam, but it is often expected. A PowerPoint presentation will often translate the Ge’ez portions of the program, and for those who don’t speak Amharic as well.
“There’s no real difference” between services here and back home, Deacon Solomon Bogale Yifru said.
He moved from Ethiopia to Michigan to join the church around the time it got going, at the request of the congregation. While living in the church rectory, even the surroundings don’t strike him as odd.
“The only real difference is color, and that’s not much of a difference, because I live a spiritual life.”
By Jason McLure, Bloomberg
Ethiopia received 14.8 billion birr ($1.5 billion) in loans and grants last year, the Ethiopian News Agency said, citing Getachew Admassu, a spokesman for the finance ministry.
The Horn of Africa country received about $600 million in loans and $900 million in grants from donor countries and multilateral lenders, such as the European Union and the United Nations Development Program, the news agency reported.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Millions of Ethiopian are currently facing starvation while companies affiliated with the ruling Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) use the country’s fertile lands in southern Ethiopia to grow crops for producing gas — which is more profitable than food. The beneficiaries of the profit are only members of the Meles crime family and its opportunist supporters.
Ethanol production to increase 16 fold in Ethiopia
Source: Capital
By Muluken Yewondwossen
In the next five years, the Ethiopian government Woyanne plans to produce 130 million liters of ethanol from the current 8 million liters per annum and an ethanol stove factory is also start to production.
According to Sinkinesh Ejigu, State Minister of Mines and Energy, in 2013 the country will produce over 130 million liters of ethanol from three sugar factories; Methara, Wonji, Finchaa and “Tendaho, which is under construction and will be completed soon as the fourth sugar factory in the country,” said the state minister at the workshop that Gaia Association organized on July 31, 2008.
At the same event, Tadese Haile, State Minster of Trade and Industry, said that Ethiopia has the capability to produce enough ethanol and provide to every household.
In 1999, a plant was built at the Finchaa sugar mill to produce ethanol from molasses by fermentation. This plant currently produces about eight million liters of ethanol per year, of which about two million liters are used by local industries. Finchaa is under expansion and projects to produce 16 million liters of ethanol per annum with in a year.
Ethiopia has a large, government-owned sugar industry, which produces about 115,000 tons of molasses per annum as a by-product.
In a related development, Makobu Enterprises, in partnership with the Gaia Association, have already developed expertise to produce ethanol fueled ‘Clean Cook’ stoves for exclusive manufacture under license from Dometic AB, a Swedish company.
According to Kasahun Bekele, owner of Makobu Enterprises, the factory which is being built at Tulubolo, 81 km west of Addis Ababa is invested at a cost of 2.5 million birr including two ethanol depots, which are under construction in Sebeta, 25 km from Addis Ababa in Oromia region and also Kality.
He told Capital that, the first completed stoves will be ready within 45 days, and the factory will provide 500 stoves per day. “Within six months we will increase volume up to 1500 units and have plans to export to other African countries,” he added.
Makobu Enterprises was established in 1991, and is engaged in agriculture and family health programs.
The stove, approximately 290 mm wide, 240 mm deep and 160 mm high for the one-burner model, is constructed from stainless steel. The stoves burn ‘technical ethanol’ (96% ethanol, 4% water).
Currently, the imported single burner stoves cost about 530 birr each. This will come down to about 320 birr with local manufacture, or 530 for a two burner model. Ethanol costs about 2.8 birr per liter at the factory, and will retail at about 3.5 birr per liter allowing for denaturing and distribution costs, according to the information that got from Gaia.
Currently 15% of imported fuels come as kerosene, primarily for use in cooking. Kerosene is more expensive for the nation to buy than the other petroleum fuels. It is still cross subsidized in gasoline. The savings achievable by this project in displacing kerosene during the first 7 years, assuming just a moderate scale-up, is in the range of 150 million birr.
The potential earnings in carbon credits by burning bio- fuel in place of a petroleum fuel are estimated at net 1.5 million birr.
The Gaia Association was formed to take the stove programme forward, initially in Kebribeyah refugee camp is giving for 1,780 families ethanol stoves and a ration of one liter of ethanol per day with UNHCR.
The Association buys ethanol from the government under an annual contract which has just been renewed. The ethanol is denatured with a bitter additive, to make it unpalatable for drinking, and it is also dyed blue so that it cannot be mistaken for water. This is done at the Gaia Association office in Addis Ababa, before the ethanol goes out to the camp.
Ethanol is currently transported in a 13,500 liter tanker from the sugar mill to locked storage tanks at the Kebribeyah refugee camp. The Gaia Association is buying three 30,000 liter tankers which will be large enough to supply the two camps. Each refugee family has to be registered with the UNHCR, and is issued with a stove and coupons for ethanol through the UNHCR rations system. Every ten days, the family exchanges a coupon for ten liters of ethanol.
By the end of April 2008, the Gaia Association had supplied CleanCook stoves to 1,780 refugee families in Kebribeyah refugee camp, and 50 to households in Addis Ababa. It also had 3,200 stoves on order: 800 for Teferi Ber camp; 2,000 stoves for a government housing development; and 500 for a Catholic social housing programme.
Gaia Association was (non-governmental organization) founded in 2005 with the mission of revolutionizing the household energy sector in the country by introducing ethanol as a household cooking fuel.
On June 21, 2008 in London, Gaia Association won the world’s leading green energy award, the Ashden Award, for being the promoter, according to the judges, of an outstanding sustainable energy project in Ethiopia
By Scott A Morgan
According to a Ethiopian Newspaper the Addis Fortune, the Bush Administration is concerned about the “narrowing” of Democracy in Ethiopia. The report indicates that there are two pieces of Legislation at the Heart of the Concern of the US Government.
In a joint press briefing that was held in Addis Ababa on July 24th the US Undersecretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor David J Kramer was joined by the Current Ambassador Donald Yamanoto to discuss the Concerns. On this particular trip Ethiopia was the only stop made in Africa by Ambassador Kramer. He spent a total of 48 hours in the East African Country.
During his Visit the Ambassador met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Zenawi and other Members of the ruling EPRDF (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. The Ambassador stated that the US has vibrant relations with the Ethiopian Government. Two Areas that were prominently mentioned were Security and Humanitarian Issues.
However there are two major areas of concern for this Administration in its last few months. First is the New Ethiopian Media Law. In the eyes of some experts this law makes it easier for the Government to Launch new efforts of Repression. One Chilling Chapter can allow for Defamtion Cases to be filed by the Government even if the person that was injured decides not to file charges.
This comes on the heels of the “reforms” last year of the Ministry of Information. The Government now has power to use licensing and registration as a Punishment of Dissent. Another Feature gives the Government Power to stop the Distribution of a Newspaper if the Attorney General deems a news item to be a criminal act.
The Actions against NGOs is a Major concern as some of them have been targeted for their work in the Ogaden Region. Once again Ethiopia has suffered from drought conditions and the country is heavily involved in neighboring Somalia. Some NGOs have been targeted for their work since the Controversial 2005 Elections that had a violent aftermath.
The US Congress has introduced a Piece of Legislation HR 2003 The Ethiopian Democracy and Accountability Act. It passed the House of Representatives without dissent but is currently stalled in the US Senate. This was introduced to raise the concerns of the Legislative Body after the violence plagued 2005 elections. A better way to raise US Concerns would be to pass this legislation as well as contacts with the current leadership in Addis Ababa.
For what its worth Ethiopia is a hingepin for a successful US Policy in the Horn of Africa. It has been active in Somalia on behalf of US Interests for a couple of years now. It has a long running feud with Eritrea that could erupt into warfare as well. So Whatever action Ethiopia takes probably has the blessing of this Administration. But what of the next one?
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The writer can be reached at [email protected]