Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Am Back
I am calling this month the "South Fever" Month. I have been and still plan to be in towns of south Ethiopia. Business and also pleasure trips with a whole bunch of friends.
It shouldn't have been quite a surprise, being familiar with the "13 months of Sunshine" concept,to find out that the huge blankets of clouds engulfing Addis are no where to be found a few kilometers out of it. Yes, the south is always warm....but not just warm, it was incredibly comfortable whether. I am not at all happy in the kind of whether we are having in Addis right now. it is just depressing....i think i have seasonal affective disorder ;-)i don't do well with many things cold except a bottle of beer:)
Any way,had a couple of beautiful warm days and looking for more of those very soon. South rocks!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Windows Vista in AMHARIC
Microsoft launched Windows Vista in Amharic, and this becomes the first windows operating system in our national language. Apparently, Microsoft covered the cost while Ethiopian scholars did the translation. How cool is that? J There are also plans to translate the product into the other local languages. The free downloadable application is said to provide a native language desktop user interface. So you install the Language Interface Pack (LIP) and the user interface for Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2007 and Windows Vista is translated to the desired language. This is going to be tremendously stimulating for people who do not use computers because of the language barrier. Obviously the whole thing has additional advantages not only for Ethiopian users, but also for the Amharic language and other local languages spoken in · You know how we actually didn't have Amharic words for many technological words or phrases and we use the English word itself, or as recently is the case, we use the funny sounding Geez like phrases created by I don't know who. Eg, metehate mesekot for television. Well, now that reportedly 830,000 words have been translated into Amharic for this product, that means Amharic has been given a chance to improve itself. · As a result of our ethnic federalism and the constitutional right of people to speak, write and develop their language, some regions have now resorted to having their own regional official language and many communities are now getting education in their mother tongues. This process by itself has contributed to the improvement of these languages into written languages. So, now that there is a plan to launch the operating system into other local languages, this will help these languages improve, be accommodating for technology. In addition, speakers of those languages that are still in the process of being written languages for regional official as well as educational purposes will have reasons for working harder to develop their languages. I am no professional in matters of language, but I see these as possibilities. http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Page=heads&NewsID=2033 Www.microsoft.com/industry/government/locallanguage.mspx. |
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Easy Sunday :)
When it rained I longed for many things...for a beautiful place, warmth and a tight embrace around me...and I was at peace with the fact that I had longings. And I did not have to be my barve confident self who was always on guard.We all know that some moments trembele us even if we present a strong facade.
Any way, this Sunday I realized that my Sunday habits have changed over the years. Till I was seven, sundays were early church going days with grandma. She does that to this day and I am nearing thirty :)Then, that habit followed me even when my parents moved. For several years to come, they only woke up form sleep when I came back form Sunday mass. Then the more I got close to the church the more it did not make sense. Now I no longer go there, not on Sundays, not on holidays, only when I feel like it. It was a slow process though.
Funny enough when I decided to spend Sunday mornings sleeping in, mom suddenly woke up to the importance of going to church on Sundays :)So now, we switched. She woke us up when she came back from mass. For several years more including college, Sunday mornings I never got up before 10 am. Till I moved out.
Because then Sundays became family visiting days. And if I am not there by 10 am, I would get several messages and calls threatning they will start the morning coffee with out me. I never failed because I love the coffee ceremony with my parents and sisters. Feels great to have made it even if I have not been there all week. Till today...
Today, I did not feel that bad for not making it by 10 am. It was a rainy Sunday morning and I was somewhere warm. This Sunday was made easy for me somewhere else. Not thier place, not my place, but his place....he made breakfast :) Well, not exactly....he set off with that mission but got lost somewhere between the kitchen and the dinning table where his laptop was sitting.....I had to help.Still....
Thursday, February 4, 2010
“No mother shall die while giving life”
We are in the middle of the month long campaign declared by the Ethiopian government to reduce maternal mortality rate. Low level of awareness on maternal health care services, and failure to seek prenatal and post natal medical services are said to be the major contributors to high maternal mortality rates in Ethiopia.
The reduction of maternal mortality rate, which is also one of the MDGs, is not an easy work in this country of around 80 million people/about half of that women/, country of poor infrastructure in general and poor health care infrastructure in particular and a country of rugged mountainous terrain on one hand and hostile lowlands on the other. Topping that, the rural population/mainly/ is still under the strong influence of traditional believes and ways of life which are as varied as the number of ethnic and religious groups the country is home to.
These factors make women’s predicament even worse since most are uneducated and economically completely dependent on their families or spouses. But most troublesome causes of maternal mortality are well understood by modern medicine and with proper actions and resources there are ways to eliminate almost all of them.
It goes without saying that the whole endeavor requires the concerted efforts of the government, NGOs CSOs, donors as well as individuals. However, I want us to think of easy measures we can take to contribute to the campaign, in our little ways. Not steps that require mobilization of other people or funds somehow, just actions we can take as an individual that can change the situation even if it is only for one woman.
So you can do any of the following, plus much more …
• Promote the campaign in your community, work place, family and other places to contribute to the creation and enhancement of awareness.
• Think of any family you know that is expecting a child, both in rural areas and the cities, and mention maternal health care/pre-natal and post-natal medical service/ to them. And when you do this talk not only to the women but also to the men, since many a time, they control the resources the mother- to- be needs to get the services.
• See if there is or are women who need financial support to get the services in your community, family, workplace etc, and make contributions according to your capacity. Know that there are some women in desperate situations have no money even to buy food daily let alone seek medical care.
Now these measures and many more you can think of may not change the situation significantly, but they do answer the question on what you have done to the cause in your own capacity as an individual.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Do Ethiopian men really know why they come to dance places?
My opinion, only very few do. I have danced Salsa for three years now. The culture in the salsa community of Some of the men in the other dance class that I am taking make me wonder about why they are there. You heard the saying, white man can't dance? By the way, white men do dance; they just do too many dances at the same time. Well, some of our men can't even do one dance properly at one time, not if it is ballroom stuff! So, this guy in my class is totally lost, no rhythm in his body! It's alright, so far as he picks up the steps and manages to do it. It does not have to be perfect. But he has to be able to lead the lady at least comfortably enough, so that she will be able to do her part. However, what happened is that even his previously aerobics looking like steps are messed up this time. He does not regularly attend class, he does not pay attention when the teacher shows the step again, he does not ask the teacher to repeat the step till he gets it, he does not count, and he does not try to visualize the step so he can figure it out with a lady partner, or he does not allow her to break it down for him, but he is paying good money to be there. He is also investing his time. Now why is this guy there? Why do I ask this question? That will be because many are similar to him and I suffer the inevitable consequence of dancing with them. And why does this bother me? Because I know exactly why I am there and he is contributing to making my experience less enjoyable. I am very passionate about dance, especially the Latin dances. One of the times when I am completely happy is when I am dancing. And I want to be a better dancer; I also want to know more dances. But if their perspective is stained with thoughts like dance is feminine, or if they feel they are doing something undignified, / it is told the last Emperor of Ethiopia did his routine physical exercise in secret because it was considered undignified for a man to jump up and down and stretch his limbs in funny ways/, if they think they are considered as guys who are there only for the chicks /i can't guarantee they are not/, why do they bother to come? If it is not going to help their confidence; if they are not going to ask the girls to dance, if they are going to feel so confused and almost look behind their back when the girls ask them to dance, if they don't even ask questions when they don't understand a step, why are they there? If they are not going to bother working on their physique, if thy are going to leave me feeling tiered even when my hands are on their shoulders, if they are not going to work on framing me and help me shine :), why do they bother to come? Why? |
Update- link
| Petition to request the Vatican to apologize for its complicity during 1935-1941 when Fascist Italian army used poisonous gas against Ethiopians. <a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/vatican-apology-for-ethiopian-holocaust.html"></a> |
