They say Americans are good at celebrating their immigrant heritages.Proof to the saying, one of our man is an honoree this year.Moges Seyoum, a US-based Ethiopian church musician has been awarded the National Endowment for the Arts. Here is an extract of the story from the Washington Post. 

For more than 80 hours a week, Moges Seyoum works in the parking garage at the Kennedy Center and Lisner Auditorium.But that, he say, is only his job.

His profession is something more special: an ancient religious practice that has brought him the gratitude and respect of thousands of Ethiopians in the Washington area and in May earned him one of the most prestigious awards handed out by the National Endowment for the Arts.Read full story here

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Ethiopian flags are everywhere today.Not just in the usual places like government buidings.They are literally everywhere.They can be seen on cars, clothes, glassware.

It is a National Flag Day proposed by the government. People in Addis seem to be amused by the government’s new-found patriotism.They have no problem embracing it but still suspicious about the real motives. 

Two young merchants in Megenagna and Piassa offering flags for sale.

A shop assitant in Habtegiorgis area with her flag

It was thought Teddy Afro would be released this morning but the court postponed the decision again.The  case was adjourned until next week, July 11 due to the alleged date error in hospital document.So they need the correct version by then.

What a farce!

Tributes are flowing in to Dr. Berhanu, the internationally renowned acadamic and researcher who has died in Harare on Tuesday while on duty with an electoral observation mission of the African Union. According to ENA, French president Nicolay Sarkozy sent a letter to President Girma Wold Giorgis saying the death of Dr. Berhanu was a loss not only to Ethiopia but also to Africa.

A press release from the French Embassy in Addis Ababa also said “Professor Berhanu Abebe will be sorely missed”.

“An incredible mind and a wonderful scholar, Professor Berhanu Abebe was, all through his lifetime, a committed and outstanding proponent of the Ethiopian culture as well as of Francophony.”

 “A lawyer, historian and erudite , Professor Berhanu Abebe was entrusted with prestigious positions, which he owed to his great talent: an academic and researcher of great renown, he was also appointed Vice-president of the PanAfrican Congress and Deputy General Manager of the Ethio-French Railway Company.”

“Professor Berhanu Abebe authored a French-Amharic dictionary and an Amharic-French one and translated several pieces of work into Amharic (notably “le Bateau ivre”, by French poet Arthur Rimbaud). In 1998, he published a remarkable history of Ethiopia in French, a testimony of his love for both Ethiopia, his native country, and France, to which he was the greatest of friends.”

“France honored Professor Berhanu Abebe’s many achievements by bestowing upon him its greatest destinations: he was made a knight of l’Ordre National du Mérite, an Officer of the Palmes Académiques (for academic excellence), a knight of La Légion d’Honneour and a Commander of “Arts et Lettres”‘.

Funeral of Dr. Berhanu Abebe conducted ENA

(In the picture, Stéphane Gompertz, French ambassador to Ethiopia is handing out the knight to Dr. Berhanu.It is taken from Les novelles d’Addis, a Paris-based publication)

I’m saddened to announce that the distinguished Ethiopian historian and linguist Dr. Berhanu Abebe has passed away. He died suddenly today in Harare, Zimbabwe where he wentas the secretariat member the African Observer Mission.He was 75.

Dr. Berhanu begun his studies at the Lycée Franco-Ethiopian Guebre-Mariam school where he developed a lifelong association with the French language and culture.He left for France in the early 1960’s and did his PHD there on Showa’s land-ownership.He has worked there as an assistant professor in the l’école Nationale des Languaes Orientales.

Dr. Berhanu was very close to Emperor Haile Selassie and was director of the Haile Selassie I Prize Trust.He was also the first member of the Ethiopian languages Academy and has served as professor of history at the Addis Ababa University.

Dr. Berhanu is the author of a number of highly valued books, including his last one¨ Ethiopian History from Axum to the Revolution¨, which was written in French.He has been a cultural ambassador between Ethiopia and France and the French-Amharic dictionary that he has prepared with Ethiopian and French lexicographers is one of the most comprehensive and trusted works.

Elegant and a brilliant orator, Dr. Berhanu will be remembered for his outstanding contributions to Ethiopian history, for his lively and impassioned teaching and bringing the French and Ethiopian cultures together.He is survived by his wife and two children.

His body is expected to arrive in Addis tomorrow with his funeral to follow the next day.

Related -Zimbabwe’s Herald

It is going to be a week of fun and celebration for Ethiopans in North America, who constitute majority of my blog readers.Does that mean low visitors this week? I hope not.

May be I should gear up for more readers from home. Here is one.

Since opening her European-style Chez Hareg bakery in the District’s Shaw neighborhood last year, Haregewine Messert, an immigrant from Ethiopia, had neglected the little lot behind her shop, allowing it to become overrun with weeds.

But this week new gravel is on the ground. Patio tables have been arranged. And a fresh coat of paint covers a wooden fence that encloses the area. The reason for the renovation?

Twenty thousand soccer fans are expected in the Washington area this week to watch teams of Ethiopians from the United States and Canada compete. The annual tournament has become one of the largest gatherings of Ethiopians outside their homeland.

 Read full article in Washington Post.

Addis Ababa University is in the news again…This time for the loss of money.

An incident involving a cash robbery has become another fodder for gossip. The theft has occurred in Business and Economic Faculty’s fianance office on June 20.Ethiopicalink reported that the money amounting to 147,455 Birr was taken from a van during the night after thieves forced open a door.Two or three people might have been involved in carrying out the raid.

The theft was reported to local and campus law enforcement forces and guards who were on duty that night had been interviewed as part of the police probe.The Gulele Sub-City Police station is currently investigating the matter.No arrest have been made.

The loss of such amount of money is a massive shame to the heavily guarded university.

Here is a link to a story on Mandela’s 90th birthday celebration concert.Enjoy!

Nelson Mandela joined music stars on stage at a concert in London’s Hyde Park to celebrate his 90th birthday.

As well as marking the former South African president’s personal milestone, the concert raised funds for Mr Mandela’s HIV/Aids charity 46664.

Read full story here.

Meles Zenawi is in deep mourning over his father’s death. His father, Zenawi Asres died here on Wednesday, June 25.

Enbilta, an Amharic weekly, reported this morning that the 82-year-old-man has been going through treatment for the past six months until he passed away three days ago. His body was seen off from Arat Kilo palace to Adwa where a funeral is expected to be held today.

According to the paper, Aboy Zenawi was born in 1926 in Adawa town, where he had spent most of his life. He was from the lower Tigrayan nobility and was given the title of Dejazmatch during the Italian occupation.He married Alemush Gebreleul, who is also of noble birth but from Eritrea.They had thirteen children, all of them survived into adulthood but none provided them assistance, financial or other, he once said in an interview.Meles was the third and youngest boy in the family.

Zenawi once said he had always wanted Meles to be a medical doctor. But the father’s wish never transformed into reality as his son abandoned the study of medicine at Addis Ababa University in the 1970’s to take up an armed struggle. Aboy Zenawi once said he had helped his son and another friend, Abay Tsehay escape from arrest by sheltering them in his farmhouse during the armed struggle.

Mele’s ascension to the highest political power years later was said to have come as a great surprise and consolation for the disappointed father.

The paper didn’t say whether Meles will attend the funeral or not.