VIDEO: Ye New York Emama – comedy (very funny)
Comedia Meskerem Bekele
Ethiopia
Ethiopian men sweep Philladelphia half-marathon
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA—Yirefu Birhanu won the Philadelphia Distance Run on Sunday as Ethiopian men finished 1-2-3 in the half-marathon.
Liliya Shobukhova, of Russia, won the women’s race, edging out six-time winner Catherine Ndereba, of Kenya.
An estimated 15,800 runners took part in the 13.1-mile race, held in good conditions, with temperatures in the 50s and a light wind.
Birhanu broke away from the pack with about a half-mile remaining to go, finishing in one hour, one minute, 22 seconds. He was trailed by countrymen Terefu Zwedie (1:01.23) and Girma Tola (1:01.26). The sweep by the Ethiopian men broke Kenya’s traditional hold on the top spot; McDonard Ondara was the top Kenyan finisher, placing fourth in 1:01.32.
“I didn’t expect to win,” said Birhanu, who had not raced since he competed in the Boston Marathon, where he was forced to drop out due to stomach problems.
In the women’s race, Shobukhova (1:10.21) earned first place over Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba, a six-time winner, by a mere 10 seconds.
The Russian started to make her move at the 10-mile mark and was able to keep a slim lead to the finish line near the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“At about 10 miles, the Kenyan girls tried to push the pace,” Shobukhova said through a translator. “But I was able to break away from the group.”
Shobukhova competed in last month’s Olympic Games in Beijing, finishing sixth in the 5,000.
Ndereba said she was still feeling
Lion kills a man in eastern Ethiopia after straying from park
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A lion ate a local man in eastern Ethiopia after escaping from a game park, police said on Sunday.
Staff at the Metehara sugar factory ventured into a nearby cane plantation last week to search for a missing worker.
“They came upon a lion and the field was soaked with blood,” a police spokesman, Commander Demsash Hailu, told Reuters.
“The lion escaped but they found the missing man’s head.”
He said they suspected the big cat had strayed from the Awash Game Park, some 225 km (140 miles) east of the capital Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s national symbol is the rare black-mane lion, which is on the currency and often depicted in statues.
A German national and his Somali wife kidnapped in Puntland
BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) – Gunmen kidnapped a German man and his local wife in northern Somalia on Saturday, a local official said.
“They were heading to visit his in-laws. They took them towards the hills to the east. We have sent many troops to save them,” Muse Gelle Yusuf, governor of the northern port town of Bosasso, told Reuters.
Yusuf said the German had been in the town for several weeks, spending time with his wife’s family. He did not name the man.
Yusub Mohamed, a relative of the abducted woman, saw the kidnappers stop their vehicle.
“They grabbed the German and his wife at gunpoint and drove them away,” he said.
The kidnapping of foreigners and aid workers for ransom is common in lawless Somalia, where the Western-backed interim government is fighting Islamist insurgents.
Last month, pirates from the north of the Horn of Africa country freed two German hostages who they had held hostage since June. A member of the gang said a ransom of $1 million had been paid.
Woyanne exports meat while people in the country starve
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following report is by Woyanne regime mouthpiece Walta Info Center (WIC). It talks about meat export while people in the country eat food in shifts and children are quitting school because they are too weak to learn. Ethiopia is currently being governed by some of the dumbest people on earth. Professor Kanazawa of London School of Economics must have based his study on officials of the Woyanne regime when he stated in his paper that Ethiopia is a country with the lowest IQ in the world. Only the dumbest of the dumb would export food when his own people starve.
Efforts underway to raise annual meat export to 30,000 tons
Addis Ababa, September 18 (WIC) – The Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Technology Institute said it has been undertaking capacity building activities that help achieve the plan set by the government to raise the annual meat export of the country to 30,000 tons from 6,000.
Institute Director General, Dr Ameha Sebsibe, made the remark at a training program on Ethiopian beef fabrication organized here by the Ethiopian Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards and Livestock and Meat Marketing Program (SPS-LMM), in collaboration with The Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Technology Institute.
Dr Ameha said a capacity building is necessary to raise Ethiopian beef fabrication up to the international standard in order to attain the government meat export target.
Ethiopia is exporting about 6,000 tons of meat at present and most of the meat being exported comes from goat and sheep, Dr Ameha said, adding that the meat being exported from livestock does not satisfy the international standard.
Accordingly, the Institute has been providing support to investors engaged in the sector to boost meat export through raising productivity and beef fabrication standards, he said, adding that the Institute has been providing training that focuses on beef fabrication to experts drawn from 10 abattoirs.
The training is being given by a professor who has come from Texas A&M University, USA, and it will help bring the Ethiopian beef fabrication up to the international standard, thereby attracting new clients and raising foreign exchange earnings, according to Dr Ameha.
Ethiopian Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards and Livestock and Meat Marketing Program (SPS-LMM) Deputy Chief of Party, Belachew Hurisa, on his part said that SPS-LMM has been exerting efforts to create a conducive situation to make Ethiopian animal and animal products competent in the international market.
Accordingly, SPS-LMM has been engaged in activities to enable the beef fabrication of export abattoirs meet the demand of the market.
Training of trainers is therefore being given for 21 experts drawn from 10 abattoirs. The training is aimed at enhancing the standard and amount of the nation’s meat export, he noted.
Njombe, Tanzania
By Brie, Peace Corps Volunteer
I love Njombe – which is a strong statement for what it is. Njombe is my banking town, which basically just means that it has a bank, which of course my village does not. Njombe is known for being the coldest town in Tanzania and for its sweeping views of hills and hills into the far distance. Mostly, I love Njombe because it is bigger than village- but is still really only one main street where you run into people you know. Njombe is one of the regions that the PC has been in the longest, so Njombe citizens are used to us and there is not the danger of harassment, theft, etc. that there is in other banking towns. Njombe also has a cheese shop/factory, one of the biggest markets I have seen in Tz (where you can get giant avocados for the equivalent of thirty cents), some of the fastest Internet in the country, and the Millimani Hotel, which is the home away from home for PCVs. Basically, no one should really love Njombe, because there is not much here, but I do because it is a chance for a hot shower and to stay up late and speak English with my friends.
I made new friends this weekend in Njombe- I should say there is very little Wazungu (foreigners) in Njombe- pretty much just us. But I was introduced to some through my friend, Josh. Zummi and Adina have been friends of PCVs for over a decade. They are both in their early 30s and have a two year old son. Zummi was born in Tanzania and Kiswahili is his first language, however, he is Austrian and has that citizenship. Adina is Dutch and has lived in Tanzania for 20 years. They both speak multiple languages, and live on a flower farm outside of Njombe. The farm sells roses to European markets. (I am actually going out there tomorrow- so more of an update on that later). It is supposed to be amazingly beautiful and PCVs are always welcome to stay there. Anyways, Adina picked me up from the Milimani in her truck and I had never met her but I figured white woman, must be her. And she took me to the Kibena Club, which is sort of a run down, but fun athletic club/ hangout with a pool, bar, tennis courts, etc. We met Zummi there and they attempted to teach me how to play Squash (I am horrible- but they assure me I will be better in no time.) Then other young European expats started to show up for a bbq. There was probably only about 20 of us total- but some Italians, a couple from Holland, some Germans, etc. And I caught a glimpse of what it might be like to be in the field with money- as they have cars, running water, etc. It was interesting to spend time with Europeans in Africa. They all spoke English for my benefit, as I felt very under qualified in the language category, but I had a great time making new friends
The hard part of Njombe is transport to and from site. Mine sucks. The car leaves at 4.45 AM- it is just pick up truck, that luckily I get the front of. The roads are horrible and the last two times I have been riding in the truck it has broken down. Our driver, Stanley, I have decided, is an amazing mechanic. He hops out into the dark with one tool and some electrical tape and has the car running again- until 15 minutes later when he has to repeat whatever process he goes through. Here, I should say a bit about Tanzanian men. Before I came here many Americans were worried for me- these were Americans who have never been to Africa. Tanzanian men are not like men of Central America or even Europeans. There is no cat calling, there is some respect for white women, and Tanzanians in general are very passive people and rarely say what they mean. That being said, Tanzanian men always propose. Petti, my language teacher in Kilosa, told us to be prepared for this. That they figure they might as well try, and are not hurt or forceful when rejected. After you reject them, they go on to talk with you more about something totally unrelated. Anyways, Tanzanians have a great sense of humor. So when Stanley proposed, I told him that Baba Marekani was planning on being a rich man from my bride price and would retire from farming from this money. (My villagers all think my dad is a farmer, which I haven’t bothered to correct, as being an attorney is too difficult to explain.) Because I am very beautiful so of course I would be very expensive. I also reminded him that American women are unable to cook Ugali and men in America cook, clean and watch kids. I had him cracking up and that was that. Anyways, on this particular trip we were running late, as nothing here runs on time, and breaking down along the way. By 9 PM we were almost back to my village when the car broke down to an unfixable state. I ended up having to walk 6K home in the dark with 4 Tanzanian men that I didn’t know. They carried my stuff and were very chivalrous, but I didn’t get home until after 11 PM. We had left Njombe at 1 PM- so it took over 10 hours to go 60K. And that is why it is difficult to be an impatient American in Tanzania.