Zethiopia 5th year Anniversary Gala Dinner

Zethiopia 5th year Anniversary Gala Dinner

(You do not want to miss this event!)

Saturday, November 10, 2007

From 5:00 PM to Midnight

at the Holiday Inn Eisenhower Metro
2460 Eisenhower Avenue
Alexandria, Virginia 22314

for more information call - Zethiopia
202 518 0245

or e-mail dereje@zethiopia.com

Afewerk Tekle

Afewerk Tekle - http://www.maitreafewerktekle.com/

Afewerk Tekle (born 22 October 1932) is one of Ethiopia's most celebrated artists, particularly known for his paintings on African and Christian themes as well as his stained glass.

Born in Ankober to Feleketch Yamatawork and Tekle Mano, Afewerk grew up under the Italian occupation during the Second World War. Following the war, in 1947, Afewerk decided that he wanted to help rebuild Ethiopia and elected to travel to England to study mining engineering. Before departing, Afewerk, together with other students leaving to study overseas, was addressed by Emperor Haile Selassie. Afewerk recalls being told "you must work hard, and when you come back do not tell us what tall buildings you saw in Europe, or what wide streets they have, but make sure you return equipped with the skills and the mindset to rebuild Ethiopia".

Afewerk had already shown talent as an artist as a child, decorating several walls in his home town. Whilst at boarding school in England, this talent was recognised and encouraged by his teachers. As a result, Afewerk was persuaded to switch from engineering and enroll in Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. He then went on to become the first African student to enter the Slade School of Art where he studied painting, sculpture and architecture.

Returning to Ethiopia as a university graduate, Afewerk could have accepted an assigned ministerial post, but instead decided to spend time travelling around the provinces of Ethiopia to get more experience of his native country and culture, which he reflected in his paintings. In 1954 he held his first one man show in Addis Ababa, that gave him the funds to travel around Europe for two years where he learnt how to design and construct stained glass windows. He also made a special study on Ethiopian illustrated manuscripts in the British Library, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and the Vatican Library.

Back in Ethiopia, Afewerk opened a studio in the National Library of Ethiopia. His growing recognition lead to government commissions for murals and mosaics in Saint George's Cathedral, Addis Ababa, and several of his designs were used on the national stamps. He was also commissioned to produce sculptures of famous Ethiopians, although on the monumental statue of Ras Makonnen in Harrar was completed. Most notably, in 1958 he designed the stained glass windows in the Africa Hall of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa. The three windows cover an area of 150 square meters, and represent the sorrow of Africa's past, the struggle of the present, and hope for Africa's future.

In 1961 Afewerk held a major retrospective in Addis Ababa, which led to his painting Maskal Flower being shown at international exhibitions in Russia, the United States and Senegal. Increasing funds allowed Afewerk to travel around the continent of Africa. With much of Africa still emerging from colonialism, Afewerk became fired with black emancipation and the struggles for independence. This is reflected in his paintings of this time, with titles like Backbones of African Civilization and African Unity.

In 1964 he became the first laureate of the Haile Selassie I Prize for Fine Arts. As his reputation spread abroad, Afewerk was invited to put on an exhibition in Moscow following which he toured the Soviet Union giving lectures. The American government responded with an invitation for one man exhibitions in Washington and New York and a similar lecture tour of American universities. Additional international exhibitions followed in Senegal, Turkey, Zaire, the United Arab Republic, Bulgaria, Munich, Kenya and Algeria.

Through much of the 1970s Afewerk was engaged in producting murals and mosaics for many public and religious buildings around Ethiopia, including the murual Last Judgement in the Adigat Cathedral in Tigrai. In 1977, his painting Unity Triptych won the gold medal in the Algiers International Festival.

The early 1980s saw a second major exhibition in Moscow and an exhibition in Bonn. In 1981, his painting Self-portrait was the first work by an African artist to enter the permanent collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

In 1997 he exhibited at the Biennale of Aquitaine, France, winning first prize in the international competition. He was also nominated the Laureate of the Biennale which gave him membership of the French International Academy of Arts.

Today Afewerk continues to live and work in Addis Ababa, in his self designed 22-room 'Villa Alpha'.

Noah Samara

Noah A. Samara is an Ethiopian-born lawyer better known for being the founder and Chief Executive Officer of WorldSpace,the world's first to launch satellite radio. He also played a pivotal role in the foundation of XM Satellite Radio. He claimed in many instances that the driving motive for the foundation of WorldSpace is to give millions of people in Asia and Africa access to information, so as to facilitate the curbing of the spread of disease in those regions, particularly AIDS. Samara's effort to launch a third satellite over Latin America got him embroiled in a bitter fight with the U. S. Department of Defense and Boeing, which use the L-band for communication during flight tests.

Personal life
Noah Samara was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to a Sudanese father and an Ethiopian mother. He left his home country and went to the United States at the age of 17 in search of better education. Samara received his bachelor’s degree in English from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania in 1978, a master’s degree in international business from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and a doctor of jurisprudence from Georgetown University Law School. He is an attorney that has specialized in international communications satellite laws.

Earlier career
Before the foundation of WorldSpace, Samara was involved in the development of both geostationary and low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems since the mid-1980s. Samara's early career was in satellite telecommunications, first with Geostar Corporation and later with the Washington law firm of Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti.

WorldSpace
Samara, at the age of 34, became the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the internationally known company,WorldSpace Corporation. Samara once told the graduates of East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania at a commencement ceremony:

In the mid-1980s, I read something that changed my life. It was an article in the Washington Post about AIDS in Africa and how it was spreading because millions of people had no information or the wrong information.It became clear to me that people weren’t simply dying of disease; they were dying of ignorance.Something had to be done. I came up with the idea of launching a satellite over Africa that would broadcast digital radio across the continent to inexpensive portable receivers. n 1990, I quit my job and devoted my body, mind and spirit to a quest that required securing international regulatory approval from 127 countries, designing a new communications system, building and launching satellites, establishing a corporation, hiring staff and raising capital to pay for it all. We needed around $1.5 billion to make it happen.

Quotes - At the end of the day, life is somewhat digital. You have either done something, or you have not.

This biography was found on Wikipedia.

Take a Look at How far we have come - Zethiopia Issue ONE!

Millennium Timeline

What did take place during the thousand years since Ethiopians 'celebrated' a turn of millennium? Here is our attempt, feel free to add or improve it.
10th century - The rise of Zagwe Dynasty.
1119-1159 - The reign of King Lalibela who built the rock-hewn churches around the then capital, Roha.
1270 - The 'restoration' of the Solomonic Dynasty.
1530-31 - Muslim leader Ahmad Gragn conquers much of Ethiopia and was defeated and killed by the combined Ethiopian and Portuguese forces.
1632 - King Fasiledes forces out the increasingly dominant Portuguese Catholic missionaries and closes the door on the outside world, which culminated in what is called the Era of the Princes.
1818-68 - Lij Kassa conquers Amhara, Gojjam, Tigray and Shoa; thus putting an end to the Era of the Princes.
1855 - Kassa becomes Emperor Tewodros II.
1868 - Emperor Tewodros II opts to take his own life rather than surrender to British forces led by Robert Napier.
1872 - Another Kassa, this time from Tigray, becomes the emperor of Ethiopia assuming the throne name Yohannes IV.
1889 - Yohannes IV killed while fighting Mahdist forces and is succeeded by the king of Shoa, who becomes Emperor Menelik II.
1889 - Menelik signs a bilateral friendship treaty with Italy at Wuchale which Italy interprets as giving it a protectorate over Ethiopia.
1889 - Addis Ababa becomes Ethiopia's capital.
1895 - Italy invades Ethiopia.
1896 - The well drilled and well equipped Italian force suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of an untrained Ethiopian army that was severely short on arms but had an abundance of passionate patriotism, thus doing to European colonialism what the Haitian revolution did to slavery.
1913 - Menelik dies and is succeeded by his grandson, Lij Iyasu.
1916 - Lij Iyasu deposed and is succeeded by Menelik's daughter, Zawditu, who rules a regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen.
1930 - Zawditu dies and is succeeded by Ras Tafari Makonnen, who becomes Emperor Haile Selassie I.
1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia, again.
1936 - Italians capture Addis Ababa, king of Italy made emperor of Ethiopia. While Il Duce Mussolini and his cohorts were busy with their impossible dream of creating an Italian East Africa by merging Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia on paper, Ethiopian patriots were busy depriving their forces time to settle by mounting a resistance that was to prove fatal to the grand colonial fantasy. Emperor Haile Selassie fled to Europe and opened a diplomatic front against the invasion.
1941 - Patriots of the Ethiopian resistance - the arbegnoch - ,greatly aided by British and Commonwealth troops, defeat the Italians, and restore Haile Selassie to his throne.
1952 - United Nations federates Eritrea with Ethiopia.
1962 - Haile Selassie annexes Eritrea, which becomes an Ethiopian province.
1963 - First conference of the Organisation of African Unity held in Addis Ababa.
1973-74 - An estimated 200,000 people die in Wallo province as a result of famine.
1974 - Haile Selassie overthrown in military coup. General Aman Andom becomes head of state.
1975 - Haile Selassie dies in mysterious circumstances while in custody. General Aman was killed by the Derg and replaced by General Teferi Benti.
1977 - General Teferi killed and replaced by Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.
1977-79 - Thousands of government opponents die in "Red Terror" orchestrated by Mengistu; collectivization of agriculture begins; Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Party(EPRP) Tigrayan People's Liberation Front(TPLF) launch wars against the regime.
1977 - Somalia invades Ethiopia's Ogaden region.
1978 - Somali forces defeated with massive help from the Soviet Union and Cuba.
1984-85 - Worst famine in a decade strikes; Western food aid sent; thousands forcibly resettled from Eritrea and Tigre.
1987 - Mengistu elected president under a new constitution.
1988 - Ethiopia and Somalia sign a peace treaty.
1991 - Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front captures Addis Ababa after Mengistu fled the country; Eritrea establishes its own provisional government pending a referendum on independence.
1992 - Haile Selassie's remains discovered under a palace toilet.
1993 - Eritrea becomes independent following referendum.
1994 - New constitution divides Ethiopia into ethnically-based regions.
1995 - Negasso Gidada becomes titular president; Meles Zenawi assumes post of prime minister.
1998 - Ethiopian-Eritrean border dispute erupts into armed clashes.
1999 - Ethiopian- Eritrean border clashes turn into a full-scale war.
2000 June - Ethiopia and Eritrea sign a ceasefire agreement which provides for a UN observer force to monitor the truce and supervise the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Eritrean territory.
2000 November - Haile Selassie buried in Addis Ababa's Trinity Cathedral.
2000 December - Ethiopia and Eritrea sign a peace agreement in Algeria, ending two years of conflict. The agreement establishes commissions to delineate the disputed border and provides for the exchange of prisoners and the return of displaced people.
2001 24 February - Ethiopia says it has completed its troop withdrawal from Eritrea in accordance with UN-sponsored agreement.
2002 April - Ethiopia, Eritrea accept a new common border, drawn up by an independent commission, though both sides then lay claim to the town of Badme.
2003 April - Independent boundary commission rules that the disputed town of Badme lies in Eritrea. Ethiopia says the ruling is unacceptable.
2004 January-February - Nearly 200 killed in ethnic clashes in the western region of Gambella. Tens of thousands flee area.
2004 March - Start of resettlement program to move more than two million people away from parched, over-worked highlands.
2004 November - Ethiopia says it accepts "in principle" a boundary commission's ruling on its border with Eritrea. But a protracted stalemate over the disputed town of Badme continues.
2005 March - US-based Human Rights Watch accuses army of "widespread murder, rape and torture" against Gambella region's ethnic Anuak people. Military angrily rejects charge.
2005 April - First section of Axum obelisk, looted by Italy in 1937, is returned to Ethiopia from Rome.
2005 May - Third multi-party elections: Protests over alleged fraud precipitate violent protests in which around 40 people are shot dead.
2005 August-September - Election re-runs in more than 30 seats: Officials say the ruling party gains enough seats to form a government.
2005 November - 46 protesters die in fresh clashes over May's elections. Thousands of people, including opposition politicians and newspaper editors, are detained.
2005 December - International commission, based in The Hague, rules that Eritrea broke international law when it attacked Ethiopia in 1998.
More than 80 people, including journalists and many opposition leaders, are charged with treason and genocide over November's deadly clashes.
2006 May - Six political parties and armed groups form an opposition alliance, the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy, at a meeting in the Netherlands.
Several bomb blasts hit Addis Ababa. No organization claims responsibility.
2006 August - Several hundred people are feared to have died and thousands are left homeless as floods hits the north, south and east.
2006 September - Ethiopia denies that its troops have crossed into Somalia to support the transitional government in Baidoa.
2006 October - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urges Eritrea to pull back the troops it has moved into the buffer zone on the Ethiopian border. The UN says the incursion is a major ceasefire violation.
War of words between Ethiopia and Islamists controlling much of Somalia. Prime Minister Meles says Ethiopia was "technically" at war with the Islamists because they had declared holy war on his country.
2006 November - UN report says several countries - including Ethiopia - have been violating a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia by supplying arms to the interim government there. Ethiopia's arch enemy Eritrea is accused of supplying the rival Islamist administration.
Ethiopia and Eritrea reject a proposal put forward by an independent boundary commission as a way around a four-year impasse over the demarcation of their shared border.
2006 December - Exiled former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam is convicted, in absentia, of genocide at the end of a 12-year trial. In January 2007 he is sentenced to life in prison.
Ethiopia confirms it is battling Islamic militia in Somalia. In fierce fighting, Ethiopian aircraft, tanks and artillery support forces of the Somali transitional government. The Islamists are routed.
2007 February - Around 50,000 Somalis have crossed into Ethiopia in the past six months to flee instability at home, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports.
2007 March - A group of British embassy workers and their Ethiopian guides are kidnapped in the northern Afar region bordering on Eritrea. They are eventually released in Eritrea.
2007 April - Gunmen attack a Chinese-owned oil facility in the south-east Somali region, killing 74 people working there.
2007 June - Opposition leaders are given life sentences over mass protests that followed elections in 2005, but are later pardoned.