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Archive for July, 2009

The Mystery of Ethiopia and Ethiopianness

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 30, 2009

SevenAngels____________________________________________________________________

Ethiopianness / Ethiopiawinnet: When Myth Becomes Reality

Ask: Could Ethiopia serve as the birthplace of a new theological age? The location where the physical and spiritual meet? The mystical beliefs of Ethiopiawinnet (Ethiopian Identity), described as Ethiopianness by non-Ethiopians, are widely unheard of and misunderstood. Now revived through science, this evolving legend could change the way hundreds of millions of people perceive this ancient African country and revive their faith in God.

Ethiopia: The Garden of Eden

Ethiopia is mentioned as being near or surrounding the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:13. Since 1974 Paleontologists have excavated six million years of life and conclude that Ethiopia is the scientific location of human origin, true Garden of Eden.

Ethiopia: Sanctuary to Moses

The Bible asserts in Exodus 2:16-22 and Numbers 12:1, and Hebrew legend suggests that Moses first fled to Ethiopia where he found his Ethiopian wife. Moses would free the Israelites from slavery but would never go onto Canaan because of a disagreement between him and the high priests with regard to his becoming an Ethiopian and remaining on the African continent.

Ethiopia: The purest Jews of All

Ethiopians, from the beginning of their existence, worshiped the Biblical God. Then, consistent with the Divine Will and Plan, they adapted and practiced Judaism easily and conveniently after the advent of the Ark of the Covenant into their land for their custody. As such, they continued to identify themselves as Bete-Israel or the True Israelites. They confirmed their stature when the majority of the population accepted Christianity, as related in Acts 8:26-39. The minority who chose to remain attached to Judaism came to be known as “Felashas”, referred to by the West as “Black Jews of Ethiopia”.

Isolated from the rest of the community, this faction turned out to be the most unique of all the world’s Jewry. They avoided slavery and, around the tenth century A.D., surprisinglyand violently usurped power and ruled the country -the second largest Jewish empire outside of Jerusalem- for a period of 40 years headed by a queen known popularly in Ethiopia by the name of “Gudith”. Because they retained practices other world Jewry abandoned, it is compelling to give merit to the claim that they may be the purest of all Jews.

Ethiopia: Location of the Ten Commandments

According to Ethiopian tradition, Menelik, son of King Solomon and Queen Makeda (Queen of Sheba) together with the first-born sons and daughters of the Israelites, under the will and guidance of God, brought the Ark of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments to Ethiopia where it rested and worshiped, initially on an island of Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile and finally in Axum.

Ethiopia: The Solomonic Dynasty

Although some foreigners dispute, it is only in Ethiopia where its kings and queens officially and historically trace their origin to the Old Testament through the courtship of King Solomon and Queen Makeda (Queen of Sheba), shifting the Zion from Canaan to Ethiopia, and continuing the seed of King David until the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary.

This was the crucial turning point in the Divine Plan. For, the entitlement and legitimacy of succession for the eligible Ethiopian to be anointed for the Throne of David as Elect of God switched from the dynastic line of physical birth to that of the spiritual birth from God through the Christian Sacrament of Baptism, as clearly stipulated in John 1:12-13.

Ethiopia: Christianity

Ethiopian Christianity is considered the oldest in the world, observing many Jewish practices other Christians abandoned, and embracing a deep belief in animist spiritualism, regarded by some as the most authentic form of Christianity to exist.

Ethiopia: Refuge of the Muslims

The earliest Muslims escaped persecution in Arabia coming to Ethiopia where the Axumite Christian Atsie (Elect of God to lead the people, the state and Church) provided them with sanctuary to practice their Islamic beliefs. Mohammad hailed the Ethiopians as the most tolerant, and warned his followers never to bring harm against these people.

Many pre-Islamic practices of the Muslims are believed to have actually come out of Ethiopia through the Sabeans (Yemenites and tribes inhabiting the coastal region of the Arabian peninsula on the Red Sea side).

Ethiopia: Divinely protected

Located in one of the most hostile regions in human history, Ethiopia maintains an honorable record repelling Egyptian, Persian, Roman, Arabian, Turkish and European invasions and colonizations in its legendary 7498 years of history. Ethiopians believe Ethiopia is divinely protected.

Ethiopia: The curse against those who intend to bring harm upon her

The Jewish prophet Moses and that of the Muslims Mohammad warned people against bringing harm upon the Ethiopians. When Moses’ sister condemned Moses for marrying an Ethiopian wife, she was struck with leprosy. Bad luck has fallen on many of Ethiopia’s past invaders.

Ethiopia: Judges of Humanity

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 12:24 and Luke 11:31 that it would be Queen of Sheba and her Lambs, the representatives of Ethiopia, that would judge humanity. In Revelations 5:1- 6 it describes that non-Ethiopians, would overlook the true nation, the Lion of Judah, and its people, the great descendants of David, who would be worthy and became the Lambs. But it details that when those non-Ethiopians finally see this truth, this nation would appear “half dead,” brought on by the sin of man. Are the peoples of the world witnessing this in today’s Ethiopia?

Ethiopia: The Truth Presents itself?

The Day is near when the World Powers and the International Community would say: In the name of Ethiopianness or Ethiopiawinnet, let us today embrace Ethiopia as the true Garden of Eden, location of the Tree of Life, where original sin occurred, and where we must go to seek redemption for our sins and those of our ancestors. Let us unite all nations of the Earth and defeat the demonic forces plaguing the Garden and guarantee our names in the Book of Life by fighting against the criminality and corruption in Ethiopia and restore the reign of the Kingdom of God to these humble people.


Source: http://ethkogserv.org/

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Posted in Ethiopia | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Mysterious Myrrh & Frankincense

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 30, 2009

FrankincenseOriginMyrrh and Frankincense have had spiritual significance since ancient times and they also were adopted as medicines for physical ailments. When referring to this pair of herbs, many people might immediately think of their historic importance in religion.

The herbs are best known through the story of the Three Wise Men (Magi) delivering gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the baby Jesus; myrrh was also used to anoint Jesus’ body after the crucifixion.

These herbs, valued like gold, were mentioned repeatedly in the Old Testament, in instructions to Moses about making incense and anointing oil, and in the Song of Solomon, where, among other references, are these:

Who is this coming up from the wilderness

Like palm-trees of smoke,

Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,

From every powder of the merchant?”

Till the day doth break forth,

And the shadows have fled away,

I will get me unto the mountain of myrrh,

And unto the hill of frankincense.

Frankincense (Boswellia) and Myrrh (Commiphora) species are economically and ecologically important plant species found mainly in the horn of Africa particularly in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. They are the source of aromatic gum resins, frankincense and myrrh.

Frankincense and myrrh have been valued for their sacred and ceremonial uses as well as in medicinal contexts since several millennia. Still today, they are widely used as raw materials in several industries such as pharmacology, food, beverage, flavoring, liqueurs, cosmetics, detergents, creams and perfumery, paints, adhesive and dye manufacturing.

Ethiopia is one of tropical African countries with large potentials of frankincense and myrrh resources and has been known as one of the major producers. Nevertheless, little efforts have been made at national level to explore the vegetation resources that provide these valuable products.

Both myrrh and frankincense grow as small trees or shrubs; they are of the botanical family Burseraceae. Their natural growing range is limited, but this has been extended by cultivation, and the current supplies are adequate to meet worldwide demand.

Today, most of the internationally-traded myrrh and frankincense are produced in the southern Arabian peninsula (Oman, Yemen) and in northeast Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia). The primary species relied upon today are Commiphora myrrha for myrrh and Boswellia caraterii for frankincense.

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Posted in Ethiopia | Tagged: , , , | 12 Comments »

Top 10 Economic History Books?

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 30, 2009

Economics

Top Ten Books of International Economic History: Dan Drezner, at his blog at the Foreign Policy blog site, lists his selections for the top ten books of international economic history. Let me raid his list:

1. Gregory Clark, A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (2007)

    “The Sixteen-Page Economic History of the World” – actually matches the audacity of the title. As I said, I don’t completely buy Clark’s explanation of Malthus + genetics = Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. His attempt to explain away the irrelevance of institutions doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Still, I will say I better appreciated the heyday of mercantilism after reading Clark.

    2. Nathan Rosenberg and L.E. Birdzell, Jr., How the West Grew Rich (1986)

    Perfect when paired with Clark, because Rosenberg and Birdzell present the classical argument for why Western Europe was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

    3. Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997)

    The third leg in the triad of “why did Europe dominate the globe?” explanations. If Clark focuses on genetics/culture, and Rosenberg and Birdzell focus on institutions, Diamond proffers a geographical determinism. Simply put, he thinks the temperate climate of Eurasia was bound to produce the most sophisticated societies with the most advanced animals, germs, and technologies. Diamond’s argument compliments rather substitutes for the institutions and culture arguments. If nothing else, it is impossible to read this book and ever buy the ending to War of the Worlds.

    4. John Nye, War, Wine and Taxes (2007).

    David Ricardo’s classic example of comparative advantage was English wool for Portuguese wine. Nye explodes the “natural” aspect of this trade, demonstrating how high tariffs against French wine proved a boon to both the Portuguese and English beer distillers. Nye stretches his argument too far at times, but the interrelationship between war, protectionism, and statebuilding is pretty damn fascinating.

    5. Douglas Irwin, Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade (1996).

    Irwin’s book is more a history of economic thought than economic history, but nevertheless tells a remarkable story: how did the idea of free trade knock off mercantilism, protectionism, strategic trade theory, and other doctrines?

    6. Kevin O’Rourke and Jeffrey Williamson, Globalization and History (1999).

    A lucid, detailed and fascinating study of how the nineteenth century of globalization went down. When anyone argues that the current (fast fading?) era of globalization is historically unique, take the hardcover version of this book and whack them on the head with it.

    7. Jeffry Frieden, Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century(2006)

    This book is to the twentieth centiury as Williamson and O’Rourke’s book is to the nineteenth – except it’s written for a wider audience, so it’s a more accessible read. Accessible doesn’t mean simple, however – this book is chock full of interesting arguments, cases, and counterarguments.

    8. Barry Eichengreen, Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System, second edition (2008).

    A more narrow work than Frieden’s, Eichengreen’s book is the starting point for understanding the classical gold standard, the Bretton Woods regime, and whatever the hell system we have now the Bretton Woods II regime.

    9. Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw, The Commanding Heights (1997)

    Yergin and Stanislaw tell a cheerleader’s tale of how the Washington Consensus displaced the old quasi-Keynesian, quasi-socialist economic order that had its apogee and downfall in the 1970s. What’s particularly interesting is their argument that what mattered was the content and spread of the ideas themselves, and not some coercive power, that led to the re-embrace of markets.

    10. Paul Blustein, The Chastening (2001)

    Blustein, a reporter for the Washington Post, tells the you-are-there version of the Asian financial crisis and the reaction from the U.S. Treasury Department. If you want to know why Pacific Rim economies started hoarding foreign exchange reserves beginning in 1999, read this book.

What would you add to this list?

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Faith-Offending Movies

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 22, 2009


UnHollywood

Hollywood and organized religion seem to be in a perpetual game of whack-a-mole. Just when the ire generated by one film has died down, anger from a different denomination flames up for a different studio.

Here are 13 of the most „Faith-Offending“ films

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Posted in Faith, Infotainment | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Real-life Russian ‘Mowgli’ Girl Cared for by Dogs

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 22, 2009

R

PD*27210542A Russian toddler has been cared for by dogs after being left to fend for herself by her mother.

Madina, now aged three, was reportedy raised by animals like Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli character after her alcoholic mother Anna was incapable of caring for her.

Now taken into care by authorities in Ufa, in central Russia, she is recovering from her unusual upbringing. She was discovered by social workers at her mother’s home on all fours and gnawing on bones with dogs.

Continue reading…

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Funerals Denied to Ethiopian Christians in Yemen

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 18, 2009

EthioCrossMillions of Ethiopian Christian immigrants are living under difficult social, cultural and economic conditions in Yemen.

Famine, starvation, unemployment, torture, abuse, and lack of freedom and democracy in their birth country force them to migrate to Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world. In order to survive, a Christian in Yemen has to convert to Islam or be alienated.

The consequences of not converting can be felt in both life — and death. If an Ethiopian Christian maintains their religion, after death the Yemeni government will not permit them to be buried in Sana’a. The deceased’s name has to be changed (for a fee) to an Islam name by a known Muslim Ethiopian who has good contact with Yemeni officials.

Mr. Imran and Hajji Ahmed are Muslim Ethiopians who have been living in Yemen for more than 20 years. Both are married to half cast Yemenis (in Arabic they are known as Muweleds). They earn a living from Ethiopian refugees in Yemen by processing documents and getting licenses for burial.

Since they have lived in Yemen for many years, they say they understand the behavior of Yemenis when it comes to money. They are also close relatives of Tofick Abdullahi Ahemed, the Ambassador of the Ethiopian Embassy in Yemen. The Ambassador believes that Christianity should not be acknowledged in Yemen.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church and two Ethiopian Protestant Churches in Yemen are now claiming the Embassy and the ruling faction in Ethiopia do nothing to solve the violence they are experiencing in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Embassy says its main objective is promoting trade, investment and tourism.

Continue reading…

Naturally, it is disheartening to see that Ethiopians in Yemen have unequal status and are denied their human dignity for whatever reason. They are not seeking amnesty, they are just seeking to live in peace and establish an address and an identity at this time and age.

For centuries, Ethiopians have welcomed Yemeni refugees fleeing, for various reasons, to Ethiopia. Political oppression and economic hardships have been the driving forces for migration from Yemen to Ethiopia. These two factors and the hospitality of the Ethiopian peoples have created the cultural bridges between Ethiopia and Yemen.

Even today, Yemenis live and work in Ethiopia, and many of the first and second generations of immigrant Yemenis have been granted Ethiopian citizenship for centuries. They are free to live and practice their Islamic religion freely.

In the 7th Century, Islam had a chance to learn its history and respect for fundamental human rights outside Arabia by moving to Ethiopia rather than anywhere else. This is a distinction given to this great nation by the Muslim Prophet – who invoked the name of Ethiopia as “the land of justice where no-one would be oppressed.” How would an Ethiopian who is proud of his history as the “Land of the just” be denied living his/her Christian faith?

Yemen and South Arabia were once part of the mighty Ethiopian Axumite Empire. The blood of Yemeni and Ethiopian nations are already mixed, their culture is identical and their affinity goes back into thousand years of history from the Queen of Sheba on and down to today. Very few Yemenis dare to draw the line between these two peoples. Even the Red Sea loses its meaning and international marks when it comes to the historical and familial connections between the Ethiopians and Yemenis.

Despite the current hardship and mighty challenges Ethiopia face, it is still a great nation, and its people deserve better treatment. Justice for the Ethiopian refuges in Yemen is overdue. Any cover-up reason to deny peaceful people the right to live among the Yemenis is unacceptable and it is only right to be grateful for the Ethiopian people who gave much to Yemen at its time of need. Much is expected from those who receive.

For the Ethiopians, it is a matter of choice and their fundamental human rights to live and practice their Christian faith as free as possible on God’s earth. The lack of ideological will and gratitude to the Ethiopian people who are denied recognition and protection at the time of their needs, shows that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat its past mistakes.

Guaranteeing refugees the right to live freeing as human beings and the right to practice their preferred faith is a higher moral obligation than any other act of charity, and gratitude is an important cultural and religious quality. History will judge, God will judge the Yemenis and the whole Arab nation by what they do now to the people of Ethiopia.

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Posted in Ethiopia | Tagged: , , , , | 9 Comments »

Dangerous Vehicular Emission in Addis Abeba

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 17, 2009


AddisGoteraJunc2Coupled with the increasing activity in key social and economic sectors, vehicular emission becoming number one cause for pollution in Addis Abeba and contributing significantly to health hazard which has gradually grown into a major environmental concern for policy makers, environmental experts disclosed on Tuesday.

“Today, the single largest source of urban air pollution in Ethiopia is the emission from motor vehicles which needs to carry out evaluation of vehicles and assessment of health impacts of air pollution in the metropolis,” Tibebu Salehu , an environmental activist working for Forum for Environment (FfE) said in a high profile briefing organised by FfE at Hilton Hotel.

Continue reading…

Of course, this is a very worrisome development for the Addis City-Dwellers. Worrisome, because, the health hazards for Addis’ population in particular living at elevation ( 7000-8500 feet or 2200-2600 meters) with low oxygen content, and being exposed to a strong ultraviolet light, could be far more devastating than in places like Cairo, Tehran, Lagos or Beijing.

Living in a town with serious pollution is like living under a death sentence

It’s known that one of the most worrisome vehicle emissions is carbon dioxide. While carbon dioxide is not toxic to humans, it contributes to global warming. Carbon monoxide is another vehicle emission that actually is toxic to humans. Formed from incomplete combustion, carbon monoxide is especially dangerous for people with heart disease because it cuts down the blood’s ability to carry oxygen to the lungs and throughout the body.

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Posted in Ethiopia | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Inhuman Middle East

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 15, 2009

EvilArabia

Last week, Somalia’s hardline Islamist rebels beheaded seven people for being “Christians”. In less than two weeks, Muslim mobs carried out collective punishment on Copts in three villages stretching from Upper Egypt to the Nile Delta. These attacks included assaults, torching, and looting of Coptic Churches homes and shops, forcing the terrorized villagers to abandon their possessions and flee to safety. In Iraq Islamic extremists did the same by bombing five Baghdad churches in less than 24 hours. 4 Christians were killed.

Now, another sad, very sad story is in the air. It’s reported in the UAE, that 8 Ethiopian girls were found dead in their tiny apartment. We will closely monitor the ongoing investigations.

Meanwhile, last week, an Ethiopian woman who came to Dubai to work as a housemaid has told a court how she was subjected to a four-month ordeal of sexual violence by her employer.

The woman said that she even called the recruitment firm that placed her in the home for help. But, she says, the company didn’t believe her, said that she was making it up to get out of working and hung up.

Her employer, a 48-year-old Palestinian, went on trial yesterday at Dubai Court of First Instance accused of raping the 22-year-old woman.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty and the trial has been adjourned until next month to prepare the defence case.

In 2006, we all remember, that two Palestinian Muslims brutally murdered an Ethiopian teenager in Israel. Ahmed Abu Mussa (24) and Muhammad Abed Alazziz el-Huzeil (27) from the town of Rahat picked up 15 year old Mika Dabab Tagapao, an Ethiopian girl from Kiryat Gat, from a nightclub in Ashdod, Israel. She had apparently been ‘dating’ both of them with both of their knowledge. She had gone that night to the club and apparently told them she didn’t want to see them anymore. She was taken to a field outside Rahat. She was handcuffed, beaten and gasoline was poured on her. She was burned to death. A few days later boys found her remains. Police were unable to identify the body, given its state and only when the girl was reported missing did they figure out the truth. It took two months to bring the Bedouin Arab Muslims to justice. Given the state of the justice system in Israel, which models itself on a liberal western democracy, they will receive a few years in prison.


The way these two grown men treated this teenage girl is beyond any human nature. In Somalia in October of 2008 a 13 year old girl who had been raped was taken to a field, buried up to her neck and stoned to death by grown men. The judge, Sheikh Hayakallah stressed that this was Sharia law. The immorality inherent in all this is clear. The Muslim man rapes a teenage girl in Somalia. In Israel the men trade a girl back and forth using her like a sex toy. When the society is done with this woman it disposes of her in a brutal manner. That is the evil that is practiced by one part of the world.


No. The West is as brutal a machine to women as in the Islamic World . Let us analyze, for instance, the tale of the Ethiopian girl mentioned above. She was eleven when she came to Israel. She didn’t know, then, that she had just four years to live before being handcuffed, beaten and burned to death. I guess if she had known this perhaps she would not have wanted to ‘live the dream’ of coming to Israel from Africa, coming to what is basically a Western country from an African one. But like those western women in Moldova and Ukraine her choices determined her destiny. Liberalism determined her destiny. Liberalism took her from a reasonably simple, traditional society (although not an Islamic one where they stone rape victims to death), and provided her with the feminist rhetoric of ‘empowerment’ and ‘live your life freely’. Liberalism told the male members of her family not to keep their daughters home or protect them or guard their honor.


Liberalism said: women must be free at all costs, send them out alone at 15 to night clubs to drink in some other town. Don’t bother to care if they come home at all hours of the night. Don’t discipline them. Don’t care what they wear around town. Women are free. And free she was. She was free for four years. She was free and her freedom took her to the handcuffs and the field and the gasoline and the agonizing death.


And one wonders, in those moments of death, did she wonder if liberalism had been the correct path in life. Did her parents ever wonder if following the liberal model was the correct path? Where was the community? Where were the brothers and uncles and cousins to seek revenge, to kidnap an Arab and handcuff him to a fence and set him on fire. I guess if it had been a black girl in the U.S tortured and burned to death by two white men then the entire African American community and Jesse Jackson would be marching.


But liberalism brainwashed and destroyed these Ethiopian generation, and the sad thing is, it took only four years to destroy it. Four years. Not generations. Recall liberalism and its message: no judging, no racism, no stereotypes. That’s right. So the next women to meet Mr. Ahmed Abu Mussa and Muhammad Abed Alazziz el-Huzeil would also date them and let herself be turned into a sex toy for their pleasure and then be taken by them in a car and handcuffed and burned to death. But that is the West. That is what it does to women. That is what has happened to women. It is why women are bought and sold throughout the world and why western men themselves engage in the purchasing of women and in fact go on ‘sex tours’. Why not. That is the western message.

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Genuine Kindness

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 10, 2009

JulyWalnut

So, when was the last time you were genuinely kind or nice to someone, without expecting anything in return for your kindness?

Those moments when you are not thinking about anything in particular and act on your inner most kindness, without a single thought of reciprocity is, I think, called Altruism.

I am as guilty as many other folks, but when I am not under a great deal of stress these occurrences of altruism happen much more frequently. Principally, I appreciate this quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others, and I believe that we all should practice this quality on a daily basis.

A few months back I was having a really bad time, it seemed that no matter what I did more crap was piling up. I was even feeling like life was a worthless thing and everything was challenging me to consume and paralyze my being.

A beautiful July day I was walking at the nearby park, surrounded by trees, nature, people, there in my own pity, self doubt, state of ill-being and everything else negative that I could bring together. Out of nowhere, a little girl, that was playing walked up to me, with not a care in the world, and handed me an unripe two-lobed walnut seed/fruit she had found from the nearby Walnut tree. She couldn’t have been more than 4 years old, she said to me don’t be sad mister, look at this pretty fruit, I found, here you can have it, it will make you really happy.

She saw right through me, a 4 year old, saw that I was in a state and was able to bring me into the moment.

I didn’t know what to say, tears started to pool up in my eyes. Her mother watched on as she handed me the fruit. I knew right then that kindness, wisdom, sensitivity does not come with age, but with being conscious, having appreciation, and looking at the true beauty of the world.

I took that fruit with me as a reminder and have placed it underneath a beautiful picture in my room. Now, I have been much more focused on the beauty of life and extending the usual kindness to others wherever possible, it does not cause a negative consequence for them, and at best improves things for everyone.

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Posted in Life | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Ethiopian Americans

Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 8, 2009

According to the official Census from the year 2000, there were less than 300,000 Americans of Ethiopian origin living in The United States of America

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General Characteristics

Selected Population Group

Total Population

Total population

86918

281,421,91

Male

43645

137916186

Female

43273

143505720

Median age (years)

30

35

Under 5 years

7371

19046754

18 years and over

63628

209279149

65 years and over

1693

34978972

Household population

85340

273637396

Group quarters population

1578

7784510

Average household size

3

3

Average family size

3

3

Occupied housing units

31082

105480101

Owner-occupied housing units

7817

69816513

Renter-occupied housing units

23265

35663588

Social Characteristics

Selected Population Group

Total Population

Population 25 years and over

53947

182211639

High school graduate or higher

44142

146496014

Bachelor’s degree or higher

14938

44462605

Civilian veterans (civilian population 18 years and over)

1117

26403703

Disability status (population 5 years and over)

15803

49746248

Foreign born

66912

31107889

Male

Now married

except separated (population 15 years and over)

16492

60720716

Female

Now married

except separated (population 15 years and over)

15752

59510557

Speak a language other than English at home (population 5 years and over)

68308

46951595

Economic Characteristics

Selected Population Group

Total Population

In labor force (population 16 years and over)

47502

138820935

Mean travel time to work in minutes (workers 16 years and over)

27

26

Median household income in 1999 (dollars)

32426

41994

Median family income in 1999 (dollars)

37404

50046

Per capita income in 1999 (dollars)

15572

21587

Families below poverty level

3015

6620945

Individuals below poverty level

15132

33899812

Housing Characteristics

Selected Population Group

Total Population

Single-family owner-occupied homes

6357

55212108

Median value (dollars)

144900

119600

Median of selected monthly owner costs

0

0

With a mortgage (dollars)

Not mortgaged (dollars)

1248

339

1088

295

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Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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