Baby Nile Lechwe antelope at the Budapest Zoo

Baby Gizmo, a Nile Lechwe antelope, was born Feb. 15 at the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden.

Nile Lechwe are native to Sudan and Ethiopia and are part of a family of African antelope called Reduncines. According to the San Diego Zoo, the "Nile" part of their name is self-explanatory (think geography), and "Lechwe" is the Bantu word for "antelope." (You can say either "LEECH-wee" or "LETCH-way" and be correct.)

Their numbers were considered "near threatened" when the last wild population data was collected in 1983. Today, their status in the wild is unknown.

Hope for Children US Event at the Embassy of Ethiopia

Additional information regarding the event that
will be held at the Embassy of Ethiopia this Friday.

First, the event is FREE.

Sidamo Coffee and Tea will be there, and they will be doing a coffee
ceremony. (www.sidamocoffeeandtea.com)

There will be Ethiopian food as well as Ferengi/Continental/American
food.

The event is kid-friendly, there will be a table for children to
color or play during the evening.

There will be a silent auction and there are A LOT of Ethiopian items
in the auction -- great, fun things including some wonderful art work
from an emerging Ethiopian artist.

If you are looking for ways to help and become involved in the
Ethiopian/Ethiopian-American community a number of other non-profits
will have representatives in attendance.


Please Join Us For

"A Night in Ethiopia"

To Support Hope for Children's

Youth Learning Center

Friday, September 26, 7 PM

The Ethiopian Embassy, 3506 International Drive, NW, Washington, DC

Hosted by Carol Rhees, Bonnie Harkness, Freda and Gary Temple,

Ruthann Bates, Catie Dupont


Please bring your friends and family!

RSVP carhees@... / 301.229.9591

For more information, go to www.hopeforchildrenus.org

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We hope that you can join us on September 26 for a fun-filled and
informative evening. If you are unable to attend but wish to make a
tax-deductible contribution, checks should be made payable to Hope
for Children US and should be mailed to 5801 Searl Terrace, Bethesda,
MD 20816. You can also donate on-line at our website,
www.hopeforchildrenus.org.

Parking: Parking in the evening is available in any of the reserved
Embassy spots along International Drive. There is also a parking
garage on Van Ness where you turn onto International Drive.

We hope to see you on the 26th!

Hope for Children US - Event September 26, 2008

Please Join Us For
"A Night in Ethiopia"
To Support Hope for Children's
Youth Learning Center

Friday, September 26, 7 PM
The Ethiopian Embassy, 3506 International Drive, NW, Washington, DC

Hosted by Carol Rhees, Bonnie Harkness, Freda and Gary Temple,
Ruthann Bates, Catie Dupont

Please bring your friends and family!

RSVP carhees@aol.com / 301.229.9591
For more information, go to www.hopeforchildrenus.org


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We hope that you can join us on September 26 for a fun-filled and informative evening. If you are unable to attend but wish to make a tax-deductible contribution, checks should be made payable to Hope for Children US and should be mailed to 5801 Searl Terrace, Bethesda, MD 20816. You can also donate on-line at our website, www.hopeforchildrenus.org.


Parking: Parking in the evening is available in any of the reserved Embassy spots along International Drive. There is also a parking garage on Van Ness where you turn onto International Drive.

We hope to see you on the 26th!

Have you gotten your tickets to the 2008 Mesgana Dancer Tour yet?

September 7, Ethiopian New Yearʼs Festival @ Lake Merritt Park, Oakland, CA
September 13 @ Rose Wagner Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT
September 20 @ GW Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC
September 27 @ South Orange Performing Arts Center, South Orange, NJ

For more information visit www.coeef.org

Jihur School Project - News from 2008 and goals for 2009

Dear Friends,

This if to inform you that Grade Nine Classrooms and the Administration building of our Jihur School Project will be completed this summer. The Government has promised to furnish the classrooms and has already assigned five teachers.

The project has achieved a 25%completionon rate with Grade ten classrooms, laboratory facilities, library building and a football court remaining. You will agree with us that this is a major milestone.

On behalf of the Executive Committee and the 2000 boys and girls of the Jihur Elementary School we express our gratitude to you for making this possible. So far the project has attracted US60,000 donations but a lot more is expected from us. Our target is to raise an additional US60,000 in the next academic year. We have opened a PayPal account for donations. We have started accepting small monthly donations of $25. 50, 100 or 200 to ensure a continuous cash flow. All donations are tax deductible.

We count on your continued support and please let us know your monthly pledge for planning purposes.Remember this is a project very well managed with no overhead cost.

Members of the support group here in the US, the Executive Committee in Addis and the district committee in Ethiopia are all volunteers. The contractor is supervised by a supervising engineer provided by the Government.

You can get additional information on the project management structure from the project website.Visit our website www.jihurschool.com for on line donations through our PayPal account.

Sincerely,
Getinet W Giorgis
For the Diaspora Support Group

Selam Negussie publishes "Fire on the Mountain" in Ethiopia

"Fire on the Mountain"

Selam Negussie found the book "Fire on the Mountain" in the library where she works and read it. She liked it, specially because it was an Ethiopian folk tale, though it was retold in English by an American writer, Jane Krutz. She believed that if this story were written in Amharic, Ethiopian children would enjoy it. That was why she translated it.


"Fire on the Mountain", as Selam herself admitted, is an old folk tale. But writing and presenting it for reading has a fresh appeal to what used to be told only orally, she says. Moreover, documenting an oral story preserves its content though not in its originality.

Folk tales are passed down generations orally as fathers and mothers tell their children and grandchildren. In the process, the stories are added to or reduced from and modified in different ways. In some cases, characters and settings undergo minor changes to give them local flavor as the same story is retold in another country.

Selam has read "Fire on the Mountain" written by two other foreigners besides Jane Krutz. The stories were basically the same, but featured different styles. [The late Wolf Leslaw had written "Fire on the Mountain and Other Ethiopian Folk stories" in the 1940s.]

"If children in other countries can read our stories why not our own children in whose country the stories originated?" asked Selam. This presentation in Amharic does not only entertain children, but also helps them develop taste for reading.

"Fire on the Mountain" tells the story of Alemayehu, an opphan boy who is hired by a wealthy, arrogant country man. When the man declares that he has once spent a night on the freezing top of the mountain all by himself and says no one else can perform such feat, Alemayehu, dares to take the challenge. The man bets a sum of money and cows that Alemayehu will not make it. But Alemayehu returns from the mount alive early the following morning. How did he not freeze to death? the rich man asks. Alemayehu says he has seen fire flickering on top of a distant mountain. "So I imagined myself sitting by the fire and enjoying its warmth", he answered. "That was how I survived".

Looking at fire is as good as lighting one, the man argues, and refuses to give Alemayehu the reward he has promised. The rest of the book tells how Alemayehu's wise sister traps the rich man by the same cunning tactic in which the man will be forced to admit his fault and give the boy his just reward.

Selam had not planned to have the translation of "Fire on the Mountain" printed. There was recently a "Book Week" at the Children's Library during which all children were encouraged to read and listen to stories. Since most of the books in the library were in English, Selam had to sit in the midst of the children and translate the stories for them to Amharic orally. She had read for the children "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Hen and the Woman", and "The Ugly Duckling" and two other stories by Christian Anderson when she stumbled upon "Fire on the Mountain" by Jane Krutz.

The children enjoyed hearing the Anderson stories but even more "Fire on the Mountain" because it was about Ethiopian boys and girls with whom they could identify.

The illustrated book was printed bilingual by the permission of the English edition's publisher, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and donations from the people of Tippery, Ireland, coordinated by Piers Elrington who also did the designing.

Over 40 percent of the 5,000 copies of the book will be distributed to children in rural areas around Addis Ababa for free. It has been a week since the book was published and Selam says the free distribution has already started in Dukem and Sululta.

By Yelibenwork Ayele

Zethiopia Distribution Services

Zethiopia Distribution Services

Does your organization have flyers or brochures that need to be distributed?

For more information or a copy of the distribution contract, please contact Dereje at dereje@zethiopia.com.

Ze Ethiopia Corporation
Zethiopia Newspaper & Radio
P.O. Box 2049
Fairfax, Virginia
22031