(AP) NEDJO, Ethiopia — Rome Berihun barely remembers Ethiopia’s deadly border war with Eritrea, but she feels its effects – in her shortness of breath, trouble swallowing and a tumor-like growth in her neck.
The 16-year-old is among about 80 percent of Ethiopians suffering from an easily preventable deficiency of iodine, an essential nutrient that was readily available from Eritrea until the 1998-2000 war halted all trade between the countries.
“It suffocates me,” said Rome, who has developed a lemon-sized goiter, or enlarged thyroid gland, in her neck – a common symptom of low-iodine diets. “I can’t breathe. I can’t swallow.”
Iodine deficiency and its largely irreversible effects – the most severe is brain damage – can be devastating. Most children born to iodine-deficient mothers appear normal but have difficulty learning and staying in school. Other symptoms include deafness, speech defects and goiters.
Dr. Iqbal Kabir, head of UNICEF’s Nutrition and Food Security section in Ethiopia, said only 4 percent of Ethiopia’s 77 million people consume iodized salt – among the lowest percentages in the world.
“I have never seen any other country like this,” said Kabir, who has worked in the nutrition field since 1983, and in that time has worked in three or four countries that used to have iodine deficiency problems, including Bangladesh and Tanzania. Both have since improved their lot.
In Ethiopia, Kabir said, “If this problem continues, a generation will suffer.”
Most countries protect against iodine deficiency, simply by adding iodine to salt at a cost of about 2 cents a pound. Most people get enough iodine simply by eating plants grown in iodine-rich soil or seafood that also carries the trace amounts of the nutrient.
But Ethiopia is landlocked, and its soil is iodine-poor. The country used to get its salt from the Eritrean port of Aseb, where iodization factories added the nutrient. But since the war, most Ethiopian salt comes uniodized from the salt flats of northern Ethiopia.
Eritrea and Ethiopia have been feuding over their border since Eritrea gained independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war.
Ethiopia is among the world’s 13 most iodine-poor countries, including India, Pakistan, Ghana and Burkina Faso, Kabir said. Nearly 64 percent of Pakistanis suffer from iodine deficiency, according to the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders.
In Africa, Burkina Faso reports nearly 48 percent iodine deficiency rates, and Ghana tops 71 percent.
The United Nations estimates that up to 80 percent of Ethiopians suffer from the deficiency.
Ethiopia is working to fix the problem. Belaynesh Yifru, a nutrition expert in the Ministry of Health, expects newly purchased iodization machines to be operating within three months in northern Ethiopia.
But for those already suffering the effects – particularly developmental problems – this promised solution comes too late. And for those with goiters, the only treatment is surgery, a faraway option for the rural poor.
Dinke Baja, 13, blinked away tears as she touched her bulging neck in the remote village of Kelay.
“I don’t like it,” said Dinke, who has not seen a doctor because her family hopes the goiter will go away on its own. “I don’t know what causes it.”
Doctors in the area say they’re doing their part to spread awareness, but often, it’s too late. Dr. Fekede Jara, one of three doctors for Nedjo’s 20,000 residents, says he sees eight to 10 patients a day with a goiter.
In the bustling surgery ward of the largest hospital in nearby Nekemte, Dr. Adam Lemma prepared to operate on Hanmbissa Farada, a farmer who decided he was ready to shed his goiter after 25 years. The goiter, the size of a small melon, dwarfs Hanmbissa’s thin frame.
Adam, who like many Ethiopians goes by his first name, is the hospital’s main general surgeon and performs up to four goiter-removal surgeries a week. At his hospital, which is government-run and where surgeries are subsidized, the most expensive goiter removal surgery costs about $5.50 – a considerable sum in a country where average per capita income is $180.
“We have to concentrate more on prevention than on surgery,” Adam said. “It is a preventable disease.”
But for those in the remote areas, prevention seems as far away as that distant war so many years ago.
The building in this photo is not owned by Aba Gebremedhin. It belongs to Sunshine Construction owner Samuel Tefesse. We will post the correct photo shortly after making verifications. We are also gathering photos of buildings that are owned by Bereket Simon, Dula Aba Gemeda (real name: Menase Wolde Giorgis) and other high level Woyanne officials. We apologize for the mistake we made here.
Aba Gebremedhin’s (formerly Aba Paulos) recently built rental property in Addis Ababa is ready for lease. The Woyanne-installed fake patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is becoming one of the richest businessmen and real estate developers in Ethiopia. When does he have time to conduct his ‘religious services’?
Samuel Tafesse’s house near Bole Airport
Samuel Tafesse’s house near Bole Airport. It can house at least 20 middle-income families.
NAIROBI, Kenya — Islamist insurgents overpowered Somali government troops on Monday, seizing a strategic town and continuing their steady march across the country.
According to witnesses, several truckloads of Islamist fighters stormed Bulo Burti, a town north of the capital, Mogadishu, and killed eight government soldiers. Government troops then fled, and residents said that government offices, weapons depots and several armed trucks fell into the hands of the Islamists.
“Very quickly they took over,” said Islow Ahmed, who owns a small general store in Bulo Burti, which is located along one of the major north-south trading routes in Somalia. “We all want peace. But now we’re all afraid.”
Ever since it took over the capital in late 2006, Somalia’s transitional government has been struggling to suppress an Islamist insurgency. Thousands of Ethiopian Woyanne troops helped install the transitional government in Mogadishu and oust an Islamist administration that had controlled the city for six months.
But the Islamists are fighting back, gaining ground and recruits, and the transitional government seems increasingly on its heels.
Government officials say they desperately need help to defeat the Islamists, who the government believes are getting weapons and money from Arab countries. The government has pleaded for the United Nations to send in peacekeepers, but the United Nations has so far seemed reluctant to do so.
In recent weeks, the Islamists have routed government troops in several towns, though their typical strategy is to inflict losses, snatch weapons and then melt back into the bush. It was unclear on Monday whether Bulo Burti was one of the first towns the insurgents had seized — and held. Some residents said that the Islamists stayed after the fighting, retaining control over the roads leading in and out of town. But government officials said that the insurgents had eventually withdrawn.
The Islamists seem to have a lot of local support in Bulo Burti. In the fall of 2006, the town’s clerics threatened to behead anyone who did not pray five times a day.
But Abdi Awaleh Jama, an ambassador at large for the government, contended that the loss was not the result of an organized Islamist movement, but rather an extension of the clan fighting that has plagued Somalia for the past 17 years since the central government collapsed.
“It’s a flea biting,” he said. “These are clan militias. They use the name Islamists to get attention.”
The Islamists have often teamed up with clan militias, especially those who have their own long-standing grievances against the government. The Islamists came to power in 2006 by uniting clan militias and driving away the warlords who had been preying upon the population.
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Mohammed Ibrahim contributed reporting from Mogadishu
(Reuters) – Ethiopia’s two greatest track runners Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele could meet over 10,000 metres at the Beijing Olympics.
“It’s up to the federation, but they could end up together in the 10 kms. It’s a big possibility,” their manager Jos Hermens said in Edinburgh shortly after Bekele won his sixth world long-course cross country title on Sunday.
Gebrselassie’s fitness in a 10,000 metres race at Hengelo on May 24th will be a big factor.
Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele
So too will Bekele’s choice of events for Beijing. He has yet to decide whether to defend his Olympic 10,000 metres title, chase gold in the 5,000 where he was the silver medallist in Athens four years ago or tackle both races.
“I can’t say this far ahead but to do both would not be easy,” Bekele said. “The pollution might mean I would have to focus on one.”
Gebrselassie’s course is much clearer. The world marathon record holder is bypassing the longer race at the Games because he is concerned the pollution could affect his health.
The 1996 and 2000 Olympic 10,000 metres champion and former world record holder hopes to qualify for Beijing at that distance with a strong Hengelo showing. He has no road races planned until then.
“He has to catch up with some speed work,” Hermens said. “He needs the track training.”
Hermens said Bekele was likely to run a 5,000 at Hengelo. The current 5,000 and 10,000 metres world record holder also wants to compete in the African championships from April 30th to May 4th on home soil in Addis Ababa.
“It’s a bit close to this so it won’t be easy but I do believe I have to take part, though I’m not sure what distance I will run,” he said.
Bekele has never run outdoors in the United States but that is likely to change in June.
The Olympic champion is working on plans to compete in the June 8th Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, Hermens said.
“He knows he needs to be there,” his manager added.
Bekele was scheduled to compete over two miles last year in the meeting which is heavily supported by his sponsor Nike, but withdrew because of lack of fitness.
“It is too early for sure to say what he might run,” Hermens said.
Meeting director Tom Jordan also confirmed Bekele was expected in Eugene.
“I do anticipate he will be competing in the Prefontaine Classic, but I do not know at what distance,” Jordan said.
(The Daily) – Inside Washington Hall, located in the South Central District of Seattle, 500 people sing prayers in unison. Sounds of Amharic spill from the auditorium into the basement below as volunteers pack traditional lunches of injere, a traditional Ethiopian bread, into foam containers.
A variety of shoes are placed neatly upon the stairs leading up to the auditorium. A pair of women’s gold pumps and men’s Nikes, lay in a corner of the entrance.
Outside the doorway, worshippers bow, kissing the floor before entering the sacred church.
The rhythmic sounds of the priest’s voice echoes within the large establishment and excited whispers of children are heard from the back of the room. This service is performed without instruments, completely relying on the voices of the worshippers singing a cappella.
Early on Sunday mornings, St. Michael’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church meets within the walls of the historic structure. It’s one of three Ethiopian Orthodox churches in Seattle, and offers a place for Ethiopian Seattleites to praise God while preserving their culture.
Sofonias Estifanos, who immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia nine years ago, has been coming to the church since it was established nearly five years ago. He attends service every Sunday. Being able to speak Amharic, bond with other Ethiopians and continue religious traditions specific to his church are all important to him.
“Without the church here, I don’t know how I would survive,” Estifanos said. “This is the only piece of Ethiopia we have here.”
Bare feet are cushioned by decorative rugs covering hard wood floors. A young girl twirls around in circles using her scarf as a cape, behind pews in the back. Men stand on the left and women on the right. The majority of the members wear white scarves. Women wear them wrapped around their faces, and men drape them around their shoulders.
The service goes through several phases, starting with prayers and singing. It finishes with a sermon by the Abatachen, the equivalent of a high priest in Amharic. It is not uncommon for people to stand, kneel or sit during different times of the service. At one point, the priest walks around the room with the Bible, and offers it to be touched by each member of the congregation. Members gently press their foreheads against the book as a sign of respect.
In 2000, the census reported that more than 4,000 people of Ethiopian decent were living in Seattle. Today, it is difficult to determine the number of the growing population, but local community members predict that the amount has more than tripled.
The church frequently holds about 500 people, but on religious holidays like Easter, up to 1,000 squeeze into the building.
Every Sunday feels like a vacation back home, Beyene Ayenew said. The Ethiopian immigrant misses everything about home, except for the school system.
For Ayenew and many Ethiopian other immigrants in Seattle, the opportunity to attend college was a huge factor in moving to the United States.
“At home in order to attend college you have to be very rich,” he explained. “Student loans do not exist; you have to pay for college in cash.”
Since college was not an option in Ethiopia, Ayenew worked for 10 years as a carpenter and a portrait artist to pay the bills.
The opportunity to come to the United States was presented when Ayenew fell in love with a U.S. citizen who was visiting her family in Ethiopia.
Three months after meeting, the two married. After the ceremony, his wife returned to the United States. It was two years before Ayenew was able to gain citizenship and finally be with his wife. The pair had differing opinions and plans for the future. Ayenew wanted to attend school and start a family; she wanted to work and buy cars, he explained. Two years later, she filed for divorce.
“I am feeling very alone, and I am all by myself during the week,” he said. But at church he feels like he is part of a strong community.
Many of his friends are busy working, so his days consist of using the computer, watching television or painting alone in his apartment.
The former carpenter remains positive. He often thinks about his ultimate goals of attending the University of Washington for architecture, starting his own business and raising a family.
After the service, the basement is packed for a celebration. On this day Ayenew eats a plate of traditional Ethiopian food consisting of beans and vegetables on injere, a soft, circular pancake-like bread. There is barely room to stand, and each person in the room is touching. In the Ethiopian church, there is no such thing as “personal space.” Holding foam containers, they share food and stories from their weeks.
“When I am here everything feels the same … I feel like I am back home,” Estifanos said. “Except for the weather, of course.”
At the end of the lunch, Ayenew and Estifanos hug goodbye. They both look forward to next Sunday, when they can spend another few hours back at “home.”
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[Reach reporter Chantal Anderson at [email protected].]
To get popular support for next month’s local elections in Ethiopia, Woyanne cadres have started to force farmers in Oromia Region (Killil) to sell teff and other crops below the market value. Those who refused to sell at prices set by Woyanne cadres were jailed and their crops have been confisicated… Read more by zikkir News Service >>
