ETHIOPIAN FOOD APPEAL

YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS AT WORK

JO BUTLER, UNCTAD

Much of the jewellery on sale was designed by Brigitte Benaissa, who worked tirelessly during her free time to design more than 100 pieces of original necklaces featuring beads from Ghana and silver from Ethiopia. Carmeluz created beautiful paintings in honour of the bazaar. It was her first time exhibiting to the public and her work was highly appreciated. The Awash restaurant offered a beautiful Ethiopian painting as a prize. It was won by a young Kenyan lady working at WHO. Rahel Zewdie and her daughter, Helina, travelled at their own expense from Ethiopia to attend the bazaar.Rahel owns a company in Ethiopia employing 100 weavers. She has supported the EFA since its inception by providing all the textiles on sale at the bazaars.

The EFA stand at the WHO Solidarity Fund held in early December was also a great success. WHO staffers showed their generosity of spirit by buying their Christmas gifts at our stand rather than in town. Funds were also raised by the Gymnasium «Am Burgwall », a small German grammar school in Treuenbrietzen (60km from Berlin) and the Holy Trinity Anglican Church of Geneva.

6,000 kilos of wheat was personally delivered by me and friends to more than 250 students and their families to the Melka Oba School, in the Oromo region of Ethiopia. It is a very poor rural school with 250 students located about three hours away from the capital of Ethiopia. The students help their parents to farm and to herd cattle and attend school in the mornings only. The school is without electricity, running water facilities and other amenities. Last year the EFA delivered more than 2,000 pieces of clothing as well as school books and supplies and Christmas treats to this school and to the Sodorre school. This year, given the three crises, economic, energy and food, it was decided to provide each child with 25 kilos of wheat flour to help their parents make the local dabo or bread. The food crisis has hit rural Ethiopia very hard. Prices for the local grain, teff, have risen from 300 birr for one hundred kilos to 1,000 birr. Consequently, peasants can no longer afford to eat one of their staple foods, enjera, which is made from teff.

Mrs. Lalla Ben Barka, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, had once again arranged for the goods to be transported with ECA trucks and drivers. We were 24 people in all travelling to make the delivery. Four had joined me from abroad: Brigitte and Kiki from Geneva, Stuart, a university student from London; and Axel, a musician from Berlin who had accompanied me last year. Since our son, Hiruy, was getting married in Ethiopia the following week, relatives and friends visiting from the Ethiopian Diaspora in the United States and England were eager to go with us. Most had not lived in Ethiopia for 20 years or more and had no idea what to expect.

Our first challenge was to get the trucks carrying 6,000 kilos of flour and several thousand kilos of books and supplies as close to the school as possible. The truck had to drive over several bramble bushes and acacia trees in order to get about 500 metres from the school’s compound. It was a brand new truck and its rear bumper was quickly dented and damaged. A monkey jumped on the side mirror and broke that off. We were not off to a stellar start. However, we were greeted at the gate of the compound by a gaggle of young male students dancing and chanting local songs. They accompanied us to the school where 250 students were standing awaiting us with flowers and songs. Once again, it was a very emotional moment. Students then returned to their respective classrooms and we distributed individual packages of school supplies, including math and writing exercise books, pens and pencils and Christmas treats to each child. Axel then gave a concert in the courtyard of the school and the students remembering the songs he had sang last year, sang along.

Parents were patiently waiting outside the school compound with donkeys and wheelbarrows, eager to help carry the sacks of flour home since the sacks often weighed more than the children. As the trucks could not enter the compound, the children lined up outside the school. This attracted the attention of all the villagers and before we knew it, we had scores of peasants imploring us to give them flour as well. We had a limited supply but we were keenly aware of how dire the need was. Finally we decided to give all of the remaining flour to the villagers. We were covered in flour by the end of the distribution and our backs were sore and aching, but we felt a great sense of fulfilment that we had been able to help so many and not just the schoolchildren and their families.

We hurriedly left for the Sodorre School located about thirty minutes away We worked feverishly to distribute 650 packets of school supplies and goods to the students. Axel played the guitar and we all danced and sang till we were told that it was soon going to be dark and the children needed to tend to their cattle.

On Orthodox Christmas, 7 January, friends and relatives accompanied me to the Artists for Charity home of 16 HIV/AIDS orphans. Axel, disguised as Santa Claus, was laden with gifts that the children had drawn up on their wish list and that I had spent two days in Addis combing stores and markets to purchase. The children performed a poignant play written just for us about hungry and bedraggled street children living in Addis. It was very touching since many of them had been destitute and living on those very streets.

The children explained that they needed more multi-vitamins to boost their compromised immune systems as well as cold and cough medicines. They receive their daily retroviral drugs free courtesy of the Ethiopian government. Consequently, the EFA wishes to request colleagues and friends to donate vitamins and over the counter cold remedies for the home. The EFA will oversee the delivery.

The Melka Oba School needs two additional classrooms to reduce overcrowding. They also need toilet facilities and a well for drinking water as well as a library. The construction will commence this Spring. Of course, more funds are needed to complete these projects.

I wish to thank those who contributed to my 2008 fundraisers. Special thanks to Minako, Tiese, Kiki, Maya, Brigitte, Helen, Diana, Nancy, Andrew, Paulette, David, Catherine, Stephanie, Maria, Tahir and Kebret. The next fundraiser will be on 9 and 10 May from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Awash restaurant. On sale: beautiful handmade silk and cotton Ethiopian dresses and scarves; baskets, table decorations, Coptic crosses, and unique silver jewellery. Brigitte is also designing necklaces using semi-precious stones from India mixed with Ethiopian silver.

Consult the website for more details: www.ethiopianfoodappeal.org