PRESS RELEASE
The Ethiopian Heritage Society of North America (EHSNA) held its First Annual Ethiopian Heritage Festival “Celebrate and Discover Ethiopia.” at Georgetown University starting the evening of Friday July 1, 2011 at the Lucille M. Spagnuolo Gallery. The first day was attended by hundreds of Ethiopians representing the young and elderly, including this year’s Guest of Honor, Judge Birtukan Midekssa.
Two young emerging artists, Mekibib Gebertsadik and Meseret Desta displayed their vibrant and colorful art work on the opening day. There was an exhibition of old coins, a stamp collection, and a pictorial presentation of Arbegnias put together by the youngest Board Member of EHSNA, Leul Dawit. In addition, various poets presented their works, the highly charismatic former secretary of the International Olympic Committee Secretariat, Ato Fikru Kidane, the author of Piazza Lij talked about his book and urban life in Addis Ababa in the early 50 and 60‘s. Throughout the evening young and old poets were awakening the spirit of Ethiopia and Ethiopiawinet.
The following two days the Festival moved to the Multi Purpose Sport Center in Georgetown University. The stadium was shimmering with the green, yellow, and red flag. Ethiopian Heritage Society banners were all around. There were soccer games throughout the day, both male and female track & field runs, adult and children tug of war competitions, and young children’s sack races going on the field all day long.
Music and dancing were also part of the celebration with a major cultural troupe of 15 artists entertaining the crowd with traditional and cultural diverse Ethiopian songs. The young Abyssinian Band also preformed their mix of acrobatic rock and roll and Ethiopian traditional dances.
Sunday was the crescendo of the whole weekend – The morning started with a Women’s Breakfast get together at the Key Bridge Marriott with Judge Birtukan which was attended by various active women from the DC area and around the country. In the early afternoon, the Final Soccer game was won by the Abyssinia Atlanta Soccer team. Judge Birtukan Midekssa, Chris Flaherty, Kebadu Belachew, and Taffese Habtewold were honored and recognized by EHSNA. Moving and inspiring speeches were given by Chris Flaherty and by the 12 year old son of Ato Kebadu. As Judge Birtukan accepted her award and began to speak, strong winds and rain came pouring down, it seemed like the heavens were opened and the event was interrupted. After the heavy rain, the crowd would not budge as newer folks kept coming to the stadium; the universal feeling by the organizers and the people was the show must go on. Judge Birtukan came back to the event from her hotel and gave an arousing, touching, inspiring, and heartfelt speech, thanking all for standing with her in her time of tribulation. The Judge went on to remind all that we should celebrate our past and unite to be the change that we all want to see at the present time. She spoke of hope and a dream to see a great Ethiopia where peace and justice exists for all. The evening culminated with more music by musicians such as Berhanu Tezera (La Fonten), Abeba and Abegaz entertaining the crowd.
All in all, EHSNA’s Festival was a great weekend where Ethiopians from all over the USA and Canada came together to celebrate and honor Ethiopia. Friends and acquaintances mingled, the young and old shared the spirit of Ethiopia and Ethiopiawinet. Young children playing together in the Children Amba, making flags and necklaces, and sharing and helping one another was wonderful to see. Furthermore, the high participation of Ethiopian adopted children and their American parents, gave all hope that we are all in this together.
The Ethiopian Heritage Society would like to express its sincere gratitude to all who participated and supported the effort to make the Festival a very successful event. The organizing committee hopes the Festival was enjoyed by the thousands of Ethiopians who attended. As an organization, we would like to use this opportunity to thank all who volunteered, sponsored, media outlets, and all individuals and entities that helped to make the first annual Festival a complete triumph. EHSNA is confident that its upcoming events and festival will be even bigger, more successful, and more enjoyable for everyone. The support from the public and the success of the Festival has motivated, inspired, and encouraged the Board members of EHSNA to strive in preserving and promoting Ethiopian heritage in North America and beyond.
For more information please visit our website www.ethiopianheritagesociety.org or contact us at [email protected]
Tel# 202-466-1677
Ethiopian Heritage Festival Organizing Committee
Ethiopian Heritage Society (EHSNA)
Woyanne money-man Al Amoudi has sent his chief servant Abinet Gebremeskel to Atlanta this week to reassert control over the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America, and so far it seems that he is succeeding by bullying the timid board members. At one point on Thursday, a fight broke out between the vice-president of ESFNA and one of Abinet’s thugs. On Friday, Arawit and the other members of the Abinet gang, who are not even board members, were taking charge of the event.
Abinet arrived in Atlanta with a chartered plane (at the cost of close to $30,000), several bodyguards, a gang of thugs, and a ton of cash that his boss stole from the people of Ethiopia. Every night this week, whiskey and wine have been flowing like water at lavish private parties thrown by Abinet. On Friday night, Desta Restaurant was the place to be for ganja-smoking Al Amoudi ass-kissers where the Abinet posse arrived with two stretched SUV limousines. The {www:obscene} drinking, smoking, and eating went on until dawn.
The whole scene is beyond disgusting, especially knowing the fact that at this very moment over 10 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya have nothing to eat. The money that Abinet is throwing around in Atlanta is not his money. It was stolen by his boss Al Amoudi and the Woyanne mafia from the people of Ethiopia. Any Ethiopian who dines and wines with these blood suckers must be well aware that he/she is feasting on the blood and bone of starving children back home.
Over 40 teachers and employees of Adama University, 100 kms south of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, have been arrested during the past few days, according to Ethiopian Review’s correspondent in Addis Ababa.
The reason for rounding up and throwing in jail these number of teachers is not clear, but a teacher who escaped arrest told Ethiopian Review that the Woyanne regime police is accusing the teachers of poisoning students with spoiled food.
Most Ethiopians are staying away from the ESFNA event this year to protest its continued association with the Woyanne junta and its agent Al Amoudi who are looting and plundering Ethiopia. ESFNA has a clear choice to make: cleanse itself of all Woyannes and their {www:lackey}s, or fall apart. The video below shows a soccer match between Las Vegas and Boston yesterday at the Georgia Dome. There was no one to watch the game.
The Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) is holding its annual event this week. This year’s event is being held in Atlanta. When ESFNA was formed about 28 years ago, it had a lofty goal of bringing Ethiopians in North America together around sports and cultural activities. Since 2005, however, the organization has been hijacked by the Woyanne junta through their money-man Al Amoudi. Soon, the annual event turned from a family gathering into a pandemonium of thugs and Al Amoudi’s manwhores. In short, it became a source of embarrassment for the Ethiopian communities in N. America.
After being bullied and pushed around by Al Amoudi’s thugs for several years, finally this year ESFNA’s board members started to muster some courage to take back the organization. They, however, are up against a well-financed gang of thugs led by Abinet Gebremeskel, and, to be frank, many of the board members luck the gut to stand up for the right thing.
To provide reinforcement for this gangsters, Abinet flew from Ethiopia recently with a bundle of cash and he is now running around in Atlanta with his bodyguards.
The majority of ESFNA’s board members will hopefully do the right thing and cleanse any Woyanne element from the organization. For example, Abinet and his thugs, must be banned from all ESFNA venues. Until they show the courage to do that, all patriotic Ethiopians need to boycott the ESFNA event that is underway in Atlanta. When it comes to the anti-Ethiopia Woyanne, there must be no compromise.
Ethiopian Review will closely follow the developments in Atlanta and post updates. Stay tuned.
By Elias Kifle
This past weekend (July 1st – 3rd) the Ethiopian Heritage Society in North America (EHSNA) held a highly successful Ethiopian festival in Washington DC. During the same period, on July 2nd, members and friends of Ethiopian Review gathered to celebrate the journal’s 20th anniversary. I participated in both events and left with a feeling that {www:Ethiopiawinet} has been reborn in North America.
Two days before Ethiopian Review to hold its 20th anniversary event, the Woyanne junta held a televised press conference to falsely accuse me of organizing terrorist activities. It’s clear that Woyanne’s intention was to terrorize people not to attend Ethiopian Review’s event for fear of being accused of supporting a “terrorist.” The propaganda did in fact scared off a few individuals, but the event achieved its objectives, i.e., celebrate our past achievements and recommit ourselves to work harder in the future.
The highlight of Ethiopian Review’s event were the speeches by Artiste Tamagne Beyene and my father, Kifle Seifu. Watch the video below.
(I will post the video of Tamagne’s speech shortly.)
Guest speakers included Ato Neamin Zeleke from Timret; Dr Aklog Birara, a senior economist at the World Bank; Ato Masresha Tilahun from Ethiopian National Youth Movement; and Ato Abebe Belew from Addis Dimts Radio.
There was also an auction to raise funds for Ethiopian Review’s 2011 expansion plan.
The event was concluded at 6 PM and most of us went straight to the Ethiopian Festival that was underway at the Georgetown University in Washington DC.
When I arrived there, I could not believe my eyes. The stadium was filled with thousands of people of all ages — from small children to the elderly. I knew the festival would be a great success, but not to this extent in its first year.
As we all know, the Woyanne junta that is currently looting and plundering Ethiopia has been trying to destroy Ethiopiawinet in the Diaspora by infiltrating institutions and turning them into its own political tools. One of its victims was the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) that had been hijacked by Woyanne businessman Sheik Al Amoudi. This past weekend, Woyanne’s Diaspora campaign, financed by an annual budget of $40 million, has finally been dealt a major blow. Ethiopiawinet is being revived once again thanks to a group of patriotic Ethiopians who came together to organize such a spectacular event.
At the stadium, I met several Ethiopians from as far as California and Calgary, Canada, who came with their families to participate in the festival. It was a great feeling to spend time with them.
The organizers, led by Dr Shakespeare Feyissa, Ato Tekle Abebe, and Wzr. Meron Ahadu, did a magnificent job that has exceeded every one’s expectation.
