Ethiopia
URGENT APPEAL FOR BONE MARROW DONOR
Nathaniel (Natnael) is a boy from Ethiopia who was adopted by a family in Tacoma, Washington state after losing both his parents.
He lived in an orphanage for 3 years until 2010 when he was adopted and moved to the U.S.
In 2012 Nathaniel was diagnosed with Philadelphia Chromosome Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a very and high risk type of Leukemia. He had typing (genetic testing) done to check his bone marrow type for a possible bone marrow transplant in 2012 and there were no 10 out of 10 matches.
Transplant is risky even with a 10 out of 10 match, but without a 10 out of 10 match it is even riskier.
The best bone marrow match for Nathaniel in the worldwide database was an 8 out of 10 from an unrelated donor (which would increase the risk that his body would reject the transplant and that it would fail).
At that time it was decided that Nathaniel should have chemotherapy treatment instead of a transplant. He had high dose chemo for about 2 1/2 years and his Leukemia went into remission after the first couple months of treatment.
Unfortunately, his cancer came back last week. As a result, he likely will need a bone marrow transplant.
Bone marrow typing is based mostly on ethnicity.
Nathaniel’s family is looking and appealing to people of African origin who are willing to be tested to see if they are a match for Nathaniel and donate if needed.
Testing is very simple, free, non-invasive and can be done at home. Request a testing kit from www.Bethematch.org, fill out the simple paperwork, swab your cheek, and send it to Be the Match.
Donorship is fairly non-invasive and requires a physical exam as well as some blood draws. That is all! The cost is paid for by the person receiving the transplant.
Please, please consider looking into being typed and being a donor if needed. Nathaniel’s or another African person’s life may depend on it.
Pleas contact us to donate. Give a gift of life to someone.
Open Doors Co-production Lab Will Focus on Sub-Saharan African Cinema This Year
BY
With support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Open Doors section aims to support directors and producers from countries where independent film-making is vulnerable. This initiative focuses on a different region every year and operates in two modes.
On the one hand, the Open Doors Co-production Lab selects 12 film projects from the chosen region, and offers the directors and producers involved, an opportunity to work on their pitching techniques, and to meet with potential partners, mostly from Europe, to foster support for their projects, which would otherwise be difficult to complete.
On the other hand, in order to introduce the Festival audience to the cinematographic and cultural landscape of the chosen region, a number of films are selected each year to be part of the Open Doors Screenings.
Pop-up Ethiopian Cafe Finds Permanent Spot In Brooklyn
More than two years ago, New Yorkers Liyuw Ayalew and Sam Saverance hosted a party in Brooklyn to launch their pop-up Ethiopian Vegan restaurant named Bunna Cafe. Their mobile restaurant could be found at street fairs and at Smorgasburg — Brooklyn’s Flea Food Market — and dozens of other locations in the city.
As the popularity of their Ethiopian dinners, layered fruit smoothies (Espris) and traditional coffee ceremonies grew strong the duo decided to scout for a permanent location and found a place on Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn.
They have revamped the bar top, storefront as well as furniture, and built a stage surrounded by a half-hut to host Ethiopian coffee ceremony and live music.
Follow Bunna Cafe on Twitter, like them on Facebook for updates and specials.
Visit their website for more details
– Adapted from TADIAS
Meklit Hadero Brings Down The House In Seattle
Ethiopian singer and songwriter Meklit Hadero, simply known as Meklit, came to The Triple Door Monday night as part of her “We Are Alive” CD launch tour and brought the house down with her performance of Afro soul laced with bits of Africa.
Meklit, who played a number of musical instruments during the show, spent much of the concert singing and dancing, even invited the audience to the stage to dance along, a pretty impressive move.
Seattle based Kenyan singer Naomi Wachira was also in the house
Her band delivered delicious beats throughout the show and was quite awesome when they all at one time crowded around her and led her on to the closing song of the night.
It would be hard to single out any one moment that the audience was not dancing to Meklit’s music.
ABOUT MEKLIT HADERO
Meklit Hadero is a very talented and enchanting Bay Area–based Ethiopian-born singer who in 2010 dropped an excellent solo album, “On a Day Like This”, and in 2012 dropped an equally excellent hiphop album, “Colored People’s Time Machine”, with local rapper and activist Gabriel Teodros.
Hadero moves between folk, traditional, indie rock, jazz and hiphop with the ease that a water spider skips across a sunny pond, and she has a voice that is both powerful and dreamy. Hadero has also worked with local jazzers Evan Flory-Barnes and D’Vonne Lewis, who happen to be half of the band Industrial Revelation.
– Courtesy of CHARLES MUDEDE
Singer/Songwriter Meklit Hadero in Concert at The Triple Door, Seattle
A sheer joy to experience, San Francisco based Ethiopian artist Meklit Hadero erupted to national notice with her 2010 release “On a Day Like this,” a combination of west coast jazz and African flourishes, bound by her beguiling voice.
This amazing artist, who is “on the verge of worldwide stardom” performs in Seattle on March 31st, 2014 from 7.30 pm at the Triple Door Restaurant. This promises to be a night of soulful world/folk/jazz and cocktails.
GET TICKETS
7:30pm Show – 6:00pm Doors open and dinner service begins in the theater {All Ages}
$16 advance
$19 day of show
Visit Meklit’s website to learn more about her.
The Expats: An Album By Wayna
“The Expats is sensational Ethiopian singer and songwriter Wayna’s third studio album which she just recently released. The Grammy-nominated star has crossed every barrier to make her project a success. Her sound in the album reflects all of her influences and observations over the last few years.
The album covers diverse genres of world music ranging from Sade to Radiohead. It is a unique blend of Rock, Afro, world, Reggae, and soul sounds. “The Expats” Full Length Album Preview is available to listen here.
“I Don’t Wanna Wait” is a song that describes urgency, taking life into your hand and living it to the fullest.
This album incorporates her Ethiopian heritage, view of the world and the influences of the band members. The motive behind it is to live her best and show the world who she is.
Elias Sime – “Art Is My Life”
International acclaim and recognition is growing for the humble artist Elias Sime, whose Santa Monica Museum of Art exhibition brought strong emotion to those who saw it, offering him a deep satisfaction. “All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you,” goes the saying, something that resonates with the artist and describes his effect.
Tibebeselassie Tigabu – The Reporter
His life and work have inspired many, including the people behind Oscar winning film Little Miss Sunshine who made a documentary on him, and numerous curators describe him as the greatest artist of the time. His freshness and unconventional outlook is reflected in his work, using mediums such as threads, buttons, plastic, mud, straw, goat skin and animal horn. He has exhibited his work in many countries, under different titles including Eye of the Needle Eye of the Heart, Ants and Ceramics, Oedipus Rex Opera (a tale of the goddesses), What is Love and Gota tarat tarat. Recently he opened an exhibition entitled ‘Tightrope’, with pieces made from motherboards (the main circuit boards found in computers). Exhibiting at the Italian and German cultural institutions, Alliance Ethio-Francaise and the British council, the artists suggests that he is still excited about collecting motherboards. The huge pieces are composed of many colors and forms, with the patterns resembling cities as if you were looking from high above. The largest work is in the British Council, measuring four-and-a-half by 16 meters. Related to this exhibition and his career, Tibebeselassie Tigabu of The Reporter caught up with Elias Sime , to talk about his odyssey and the philosophy behind his work. Excerpts:
The Reporter: Where did this exhibition start and what is the thinking behind these pieces?
Elias Sime: Before doing a work there should be an initial point to start, but for all this to happen there should be passion and love.
The most pertinent thing in my work is touch; I want my work to touch people. Touch has its own effect and power; unfortunately we are losing it.
With all this technology, computers have an elusive effect – creating fake relationships. Within communication the anger, the passion, the resentment are lost in a way; it’s in vain.
There is definitely a gap. If I have to decode my motherboard pieces, they are like unknown cities, and at the same time cities that one is familiar with.
The technology has that effect, creating closeness at the same time as alienation and detachment.
The history in itself is interesting. When everything is consumed it has its own danger, and technology is somehow killing humanity as we know it. TVs and computers are taking over our lives, and that mysterious feeling of touch does not exist anymore. The family ties are breaking up. We are losing it; it is at the expense of humanity that we are gaining things. One size fits all is not a good strategy. So this piece passes on that message. This can be any city, and the plastic in the middle shows how life becomes routine. And the plastic shapes change, symbolizing the mood swings. It is like an image on a cloud, different for everyone.
What do the motherboards represent?
Motherboards look like cities – there are tales behind a city. Looking at the details of the motherboard, it is like the city or technology that we accept. When I first saw one piece of a motherboard 13 years ago, I experienced a shivering feeling that I cannot explain, and a special connection was created.
Over time I started collecting them, and it required patience, to get the same colors, to create the composition. It was not an easy process to collect them, and I rented an office to do it.
Getting a mobile phone or TV for the first time, the newness creates a feeling, and these have been used and it shows the touching. When I collect it was with an idea of a hope of tomorrow.
My life is art, there is no social life for me. The exhibition is not the last path, and when I find a new board I still get excited like the first time.
In my studio I have bigger pieces and a huge collection. It is very difficult that one day this will be trash; I get a shocking feeling. Even when they ask me what will happen to the artwork after the exhibition, I can’t imagine that day.
I give all my energy and love to my work, there is no half love. There might be hurt but it is OK to be vulnerable. I don’t think about what will happen to them at the end, I just do my work. And whenever exhibitions come around it becomes a headache. This work is about touching people.
This is not only my work; so many people contributed their energy. This is also the work of my sister/friend, the curator Meskerem Assegued, who gave me all the love and support I needed. It is a blessing for me to have her in my life. You cannot clap with one hand and she filled the void that existed. She sacrificed a lot for the art.
I believe in taking knowledge from everyone. I take knowledge in every step. Now we are researching on each board. It took years to collect and compose them, it needs passion, persistence and patience. This is what I took and put it in a form.
How was the collection process?
In many places, whenever I travel I collect. There are unwanted computers that are sent to Addis Ababa and sold per kilo. There are those who want the motherboards of mobile phones. It is usually on Sundays, especially when I get back from a field trip, that I go to places to see what I can find, I just get excited. Even though I don’t have any money, I borrow from Meskerem to buy them.
All my works are love work. Every piece I collect is new for me. It became an obsession; it is not good when you have this uncontrollable love, I think it is sickness. I am created for these.
How many computers do you think there are?
I can’t say. It is a lot. This exhibition is not only computers, but also collected mobile phone motherboards. It is open, you can have your own interpretation about anything, politics, life, it just becomes part of your soul. I like the touching and love part.
My family considers the materials I collect as trash; it only has a life for me, but I assumed it has a life for everyone. I just piled it in the house like it is normal, but it was not normal. My father supported me unconditionally, and he loved me unconditionally.
Years ago I was in a dilemma about what I wanted to do for a living. I told him that I was not doing what I wanted, and he made me promise to do what I wanted.
It is difficult to find this kind of father. I sold my car and it took me eight years to show my first exhibition. And also meeting Meskerem was a privilege. With my every development I show my father. I never think about money, if I don’t have it, I don’t have it.
I used to think borrowing from my family is normal, but I learned that it is not. My art sells rarely but I survive through miracles. When you break into the international market it has its own privileges.
Did you think the final result would turn out like it does in this specific exhibition?
I actually sketch, and what I truly understand is that I can’t actually sketch. They are not artistic; they are some kind of form.
It needs a talent that I guess I do not have, but I have a lot of sketches. I follow those; the patterns might not be conventional. I know what I want to do but I don’t know the exact form. There is nothing I throw away; I love my work so I see it through to perfection.
There is no display venue so you cannot stop to preview them. The piece is hung and wired onto a wood board. This is a puzzle, as is life. It just shows our daily life, interaction.
It is been a couple of years since you exhibited in this country, what was your previous exhibition?
‘Ants and Ceramics’ was my last show, which was also exhibited in the four cultural institutions. I think that was interesting. It’s very difficult to compare and contrast, but yeah, that was interesting.
It has anthropological research. The ants know communal life, which is amazing; they are small but the concept is big. They are very sharp, they support each other. Their power is amazing, and it’s the same with the ceramicists, they work in a communal way. Living that way is a must, and at the end they produce the most beautiful art work. Doing things communally is better.
It was tiresome, as everything had to be sewn. It was done with thread, clay mud and also wire.
Some of the works were memorable, like the ant that is looking in the mirror, which reflects on the people viewing.
You are renowned for your work with mud, especially the house that you repeatedly demolished. Are you still working with mud?
It is going good. I went Austria to do Gota, which is based around the people who live on the riverside of Abay, and their storage spaces for grain.
The storage area protects the grain from beetles and even rain…it is a very sophisticated technology, coming from ancient knowledge. It is mixed with animal dung and ash, so is completely natural.
Sadly we transformed it into plastic, which does not even protect it from grain beetles. The first ten pieces of Gota are in the Harla Art Center in Dire Dawa.
The mud house I was making actually changed ten times, by demolishing it and doing it all over again. It is all about love. It changes every day. When I see it I feel like modifying it, but when I give it to the Zoma Contemporary Art Center I stopped modifying it.
I was planning to make it into a studio. I am still homeless and travel between family members and friends to sleep. It became my home, and it was nice. All the stones are carved with different animals, which make you want to play with them. It gives you different feelings; it has meditation and soothing qualities. I didn’t think it would turn out like this.
Using a new medium, did it give you freedom?
Yeah very much, without doubt! I graduated in graphics but did not work with any of those, never getting a job in that field like I was supposed to. I have not done much painting; I was not created for that. My work is about touching people. I like to experiment with things. My art is like a wave, which is why water is not boring. I am created for this. Wisdom comes also through age. You get to think and contemplate.
When you practice things it gets better. If you don’t let out your ideas, it does not have any meaning. I understood this through my life. You get to learn things. I started with clothes, then moved on to woods, plastic, button, metal and pad locks. I don’t want to repeat things. There are so many new things that I want to do.
Now you have a very good reputation internationally, how is that for you?
I started doing exhibitions at the Dak’Art Biennale in 2004, and it went from there. I have an overwhelming feeling about it. In 2009 I did an exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, California, entitled ‘Eye of the Needle, Eye of the Heart’, which made me question if it was for me. After seeing my work one guy actually cried, and many told me it had a healing feeling from all the chaos. It represents many people.
Do you think your art is understood?
Whether you like it or not, it gets to people. One time I did an exhibition involving a parade of tiny monkeys, frogs and TV sets made out of mud; the monkey representing human beings, the frog the water world, and the TV all that we consume, and all that consumes us. I want everyone to love my art.
I was born in Cherkos, where the neighborhoods are connected. You get to learn, there is no choice but to love, you live on how to tolerate each other. If kids fight, it only stays that way for three minutes. The touching comes from that, villages raising children, passing everyone is related. This is also what the Little Miss Sunshine people did, they followed my life, my birth place, my daily routine. In many of the places I was overwhelmed; my works are perfection for me.
You don’t sell many of your artworks, how is it financially viable to live?
This is the thing that amazes me, it is a miracle for me to live. Money has never been an issue for me. Whenever my art sells it’s a good price, but I don’t want to hear about selling. Selling just kills some part of me. I deeply love them, but I have to sell them sometimes to survive.
What is the way forward?
Doing what I do with love. Until my last breath I want to do this. My dream is to see a big museum as an art center; I wish to see that.
Reeyot Alemu: Ethiopia’s Jailed Truth Teller
The winner of UNESCO’s press freedom prize has been jailed for speaking out against her government—but even behind bars, her name has not been forgotten.
Reeyot Alemu
She is languishing behind the bars of a notoriously brutal prison, but Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu has not been forgotten. This year, she was honored with the 2013 UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. In announcing the prize, the jury hailed her “exceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression.” But no amount of international awards and public outcry have succeeded in gaining her freedom—and her medical condition is reportedly deteriorating. After recently undergoing surgery for a breast tumor, she was immediately sent back to the Kality Prison with no downtime for recovery, according to reports.
Last year, the International Women’s Media Foundation bestowed a Courage in Journalism Award on Alemu in absentia for her “refusal to self-censor in a place where that practice in standard, and her unwillingness to apologize for truth-telling, even though contrition could win her freedom.” At the ceremony, the presenters read a note from Alemu that had been smuggled out of prison. “For EPRDF [Ethiopia’s ruling party], journalists must be propaganda machines,” she wrote.
Alemu worked, among other roles, as a columnist for the weekly independent paper Feteh, which was later shuttered by the government. Four days before her arrest, Alemu had written a scathing critique of the ruling political party’s fundraising methods for a national dam project, and had apparently drawn parallels between late Libyan despot Muammar Gaddafi and Ethiopia’s then-Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi.
On June 21, 2011, Alemu was seized from the high-school English class she taught, and placed under arrest, with reportedly no information about why she was being detained alongside another journalist and two politicians.
Her outspoken criticism on political and social issues was not viewed lightly by the government, which has been notoriously suppressive of the press for decades. In 2012, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Ethiopia as one of the ten countries where press freedom suffered most.
“The group was caught while plotting to sabotage electricity and telephone lines in an attempt to wreak havoc in the country,” the assistant commissioner police chief claimed.
“Further investigation has also revealed that they acted to recruit others to carry out terrorist activities with support from the Eritrean government and other anti-peace groups.”
The government reportedly used Alemu’s articles and a recorded phone call about a peaceful protest as evidence to charge her under a vague 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. She was sentenced to 14 years behind bars. A year later, the sentence was commuted to five years, and an appeals court dropped two of three charges, with the promotion of “terrorist activity” as the last charge standing.
Similar charges have been used against multiple journalists in Ethiopia over the past few years, including two Swedes sentenced to 11 years (but later released) for reporting on rebel groups. During three months of pretrial detention, Alemu reportedly had no access to legal counsel.
“She looked fragile but she is a survivor,” said one of the Swedish journalists, of the last time he saw Alemu, in August. She is being held alongside blogger Eskinder Nega and young politicians Andualem Aragie and Natinael Mekonnen. Many other journalists have passed through the notorious prison.
Alemu, refusing offers of clemency in exchange for providing information on other journalists, was punished with nearly two weeks in solitary confinement. On January 8th, an Ethiopian court upheld her five-year conviction. A few days earlier, renowned American journalists Christiane Amanpour and Cynthia McFadden wrote an open letter condemning her treatment and pleading for Alemu’s release.
But Alemu is still being threatened. In early April, prison officials accused her of “disrespecting prison policies” and “planning to share information on human rights violations in Kaliti prison with the media.” They are apparently considering punishing her with solitary confinement and denying family visits, legal counsel, and medical care. In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote: “Prison authorities have threatened Reeyot with solitary confinement for two months as punishment for alleged bad behavior toward them and threatening to publicize human rights violations by prison guards.”
Despite rumors of deteriorating health, Alemu continues to bravely serve her time, to the reverence of supporters ranging from the international community to her own family. Reeyot’s father, Ato Alemu, told reporters last year he supports his daughter’s refusal to bend to government pressure. “I would rather have her not plead for clemency,” he said, “for she has not committed any crime.”
Article adapted from Daily Beast
More news oh Reeyot Alemu
Do you know who Reeyot Alemu is? By Abigail Arunga
Popular Ethiopian artist Eyob Mekonnen Passes Away
The popular Ethiopian singer Eyob Mekonnen passed away on Sunday. Due to health complications, which led to a stroke, Eyob had been in a coma for days.
According to his close friends, Eyob’s illness was sudden, showing no signs of sickness for the past couple of years.
The renowned musician was known for his reggae style; with his glamorous stage performances and lyrics he won the hearts of many.
May his soul rest in peace.
Artist you need to know: Wayna
By Ndeta
Wayna is an Ethiopian-born American R&B singer. Her single “My Love” reached the Billboard R&B charts in 2008, peaking at #99. Wayna was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the song “Lovin You” at the 2009 Grammy Awards.
Listen to her new tune “I Don’t Wanna Wait”
Follow her on Twitter for updates.
Read complete bio here.
Mashariki 