Muse’s Ethiopian menu back by popular demand

African heritage: Sosina Mekonnen, co-owner of Muse Restaurant and Sky Bar and creator of the Ethiopian buffet, wearing her native attire

Muse restaurant has reintroduced its traditional Ethiopian cuisine after a taking a break over the holidays.

The menu was created five years ago when Sosina Mekonnen, who is the co-owner of the Front Street eatery, introduced foods from her native Ethiopia to Bermuda.

“It all started when a few customers found out that I was from Ethiopia and they asked me if I could do an Ethiopian dinner for a group of five individuals. Once they had tasted the food they asked me to do it again every month,” Ms Mekonnen said.

She mentioned that it was for fun and for the love of cooking, not realising the menu could eventually soar and take off and become as popular as it did.

“It became a monthly big buffet and moved from one sitting to two. I stopped it for a little bit and started back up every Saturday, cooking a few items. Once I put out the menu people on social media, people call in to place an order and we are always sold out on Saturdays,” she added.

Ms Mekonnen was overwhelmed with the positive feedback from locals.

People would see her on the street and ask when the Ethiopian menu was coming back, she said.

“It is very interesting because the cuisine kind of grew itself,” she said. “It was not planned, I started to do private parties and different events.”

Ms Mekonnen believes there is no other restaurant on island serving the menu.

“At first I was reluctant to start serving it to the wider population because I didn’t know what to expect or what response I would get back,” she added.

Before she introduced the menu, she experimented with spices and customised them for everyone’s pallets.

Not only have locals enjoyed the menu but visitors from across the globe are enjoying the authentic taste.

“A lot of people who travel to Bermuda from overseas are used to the menu and when they find out we do it here on the island they are happy,” Ms Mekonnen said.

It’s more than just business for Ms Mekonnen. “I am very passionate about it, I just want to bring a piece of my tradition to share with people,” she said.

Muse has started marketing the Ethiopian menu through its social media outlets and has noticed different groups and chats being formed by locals inspired by the dish.

“People get excited because its something different,” she said. All the food besides the chicken and lamb dishes are vegan and free of genetically modified products.

“All my spices come straight from Ethiopia and that makes all the difference,” she said.

In addition to takeout and dining, Muse also offers catering to events and parties.

The buffet takes place on Saturdays, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

For more information visit http://www.muse.bm/ or facebook @muse restaurant skybar and instagram @museskybar

Ethiopian-Israeli teen wins ‘X-Factor’

Eden Alene, 17, of Jerusalem, supports coexistence with Arabs and hopes for greater acceptance of her community

An Ethiopian-Israeli teenager who went viral for a performance of pop star Demi Lovato’s song “Stone Cold” won Israel’s “X-Factor 2018.”

Eden Alene, 17, of Jerusalem, an Israel native who was raised by her Orthodox Jewish single mother, began sobbing and hugging her professional mentor Ivri Lider when she was announced the winner of the competition. As the winner of “X-Factor,” she gets a recording contract.

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Alene, who received the most votes from the viewing audience, sang “Human” by Christina Perri for her final performance.

עדן אלנה היא הזוכה הגדולה של אקס פקטור

קבלו את הזוכה הגדולה של The X Factor Israel אקס פקטור ישראל – עדן אלנה!

Posted by ‎The X Factor Israel אקס פקטור ישראל‎ on Tuesday, 30 January 2018

She also sang “Hall of Fame” in a duet with the Israel rapper Subliminal.

עדן אלנה וסאבלימינל – Hall of Fame

עוד לא מתאוששים מהגמר? גם אנחנו! קבלו את הדואט של הזוכה הגדולה, Eden Alene – עדן אלנה עם מלך ההיפ הופ, סאבלימינל – Subliminal!

Posted by ‎The X Factor Israel אקס פקטור ישראל‎ on Wednesday, 31 January 2018

During her audition broadcast in October, Alene’s version of “Stone Cold” left the show’s judges in shock. At the time, the teen said her dream was to sing a duet with her idol, Beyonce.

Alene wears numerous rubber bracelets that she says represent different happy memories. Her favorite comes from a workshop at Yale University, where she performed with a mixed Jewish and Arab choir she’s a part of that promotes coexistence.

The rising star left behind religious observance in middle school and switched to a prestigious secular school for high school. She said she respects Shabbat when she is at home with her mother, and that her mother respects her decisions.

Alene told Israel Hayom in an interview early in the competition that she hopes her participation in the competition will help make people think more favorably about the Ethiopian community.

“Every Ethiopian represents the Ethiopian community,” she said. Read more here

Ethiopian scientist praised by Bill Gates for impacting lives of small-scale farmers

World’s richest man and CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates, has hailed the efforts of an Ethiopian plant pathologist working to positively impact the lives of small-scale farmers across the world.

Dr. Segenet Kelemu according to Gates, having witnessed the damage locusts wreak in rural Ethiopia, aspired to study agriculture and today “used the power of science to find ways to help farmers grow more food and earn more income.”

In the latest installment of his ‘Heroes in the Field’ series, Gates said of Dr. Kelemu, “She decided to study agriculture, becoming the first woman from her region to get a college degree.

After working abroad for 25 years, she returned to Africa to lead a new generation of scientists dedicated to helping the world's small holder farmers grow more food and lift themselves out of poverty.

“After working abroad for 25 years, she returned to Africa to lead a new generation of scientists dedicated to helping the world’s small holder farmers grow more food and lift themselves out of poverty,” he added.

She is currently based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where she serves as Director General of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe). She has been back in Africa for a decade now after over two and half decades working abroad.

Dr. Kelemu said there has been a lot of progress. “Food security is not just an African challenge, it is a global challenge. As population grows significantly, by 2050, the estimate is that we’ll have to produce 70 percent more – more fee, more grains for our animals.

“So Africa can provide a dramatic and significant solution to the rest of the world. Investment in African agriculture, investment in African research is actually investment for mankind as a whole,” she stressed.

Dr Kelemu (a native of Ethiopia), is a molecular plant pathologist with emphasis on elucidation of molecular determinants of host-pathogen interactions, development of novel plant disease control strategies including genetic engineering, biopesticides, pathogen population genetics and dynamics, endophytic microbes and their role in plant development.

She has experienced the challenges and successes associated with African agriculture first-hand, from tending the field to directing a world-class laboratories, the icipe website wrote about its first female head. Read more here

Car accident kills 11 in central Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) — A car accident in Ethiopia’s central Oromia regional state has killed 11 people, an official said on Friday.

Aschalew Alemu, Public Relations Chief at East Shoa Zone Police Department of Oromia regional state, said the accident happened when a bus carrying 40 passengers collided with a heavy-duty truck on Thursday evening.

He added that 31 other people who suffered light and heavy injuries have been taken to nearby health stations for treatment. Police has not yet determined the cause of the accident.

Alemu warned the public to avoid night time travel and overcrowded buses to lessen traffic accidents.

Despite having one of the lowest per capita car ownerships in the world, deadly traffic accidents in Ethiopia are common with blames put on bad roads, flawed driving license issuance system and lax enforcement of road safety.

Traffic accidents during the Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2016/17 that ended on July 8 have led to the deaths of 4,500 people, according to Ethiopia Federal Transport Authority (FTA).

The authority is toughening driving license regulations and is digitizing Ethiopia’s transport regulation system at a cost of 95 million U.S. dollars in a bid to reduce the high accident rate on Ethiopia’s roads.

With a growing economy and a rising middle class, the East African nation has for the past several years recorded an average of 11 percent growth in vehicle numbers.

Source: Xinhua

Ethiopia activists stage online campaign for ‘Prisoners of Conscience’

Activists in Ethiopia are making use of social media platforms – Twitter/Facebook in a campaign for the release of persons under detention or in jail for supposedly political reasons.

With the hashtag #FreeAllPrisonersOfConscience different Twitter users shared photos of persons ranging from journalists, politicians, religious preachers and activists.

The forum also offered a number of people who had faced detention to share their experiences as was the case with one Nagessa Dube, whose Twitter bio describes him as a human rights activist and member of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress.

“I was prisoner of conscience: arrested 5 times between 2000- 2012 in #Ethiopia. The longest is from 2004-2007. I suffered severe torture but I am still alive, thank God.

“My friends Gadisa Hirphasa and Alemayehu Gerba were killed in the prison,” he alleged.

Free all prisoners of conscience. They are innocent journalists, opposition party leaders, religious preachers and activists unjustly charged for demanding the gov’t to respect the constitution and basic human rights!

 

 

Ethiopia’s human rights record has over the years been slammed by activists and political watchers. Issues of prolonged detention and prison abuse have been reported especially by persons who have been back from the facilities.

The country made mass arrests 2016 spreading anti-government protests in mainly the Oromia region. Even though mass releases were announced, it is believed that hundreds remain behind bars.

Political opponents are also locked behind bars as their cases move at snail pace. Leading opposition figures Bekele Gerba and Merera Gudina remain behind bars with painfully slow and protracted trials. Gerbe – who is reported to be sick was granted bail last month.

His daughter said the family remained skeptical of his release because prison authorities have often acted above the law. Barely 24 hours later, the courts overturned the bail and Bekele remains in jail. Read more here

Student bake sale helps kids in Ethiopia

The Similkameen Elementary Secondary School student council held a holiday bake sale last Thursday and Friday to benefit Ethiopia.

The council is working with the WE movement, an organization that enables schools to help countries in need. The money will be sent to Ethiopia, a country in dire need of healthcare. It will be used to build hospitals, and provide medicine and first aid.

Students at SESS had a wide variety of baked goods to choose from: cupcakes, cookies, and mini donuts. The bake sale was a hit in both the elementary and secondary sides, and all the treats sold out by the second day.

Brittni Foisy, the student council’s teacher administrator, has big goals for the local students, as well as for people abroad.

“I believe that it provides awareness for students in the school, having them create that sense of awareness that people need help beyond the school walls, and exposing students to bigger concerns around the world.” Foisy said. “Having them think of other people before themselves, it creates that empathy.”

The students are hoping to raise more money, and more awareness for their chosen cause throughout the remainder of the school year.

Naomi Antler is a Grade 11 student at SESS who writes stories for the Review about school happenings and other events in the community. Read more here

'Every Day Africa' Project Aims to Undermine Stereotypes

WASHINGTON — 

When schoolchildren in Washington, D.C. are asked to say the first thing that comes to mind about Africa, they use words like hot, desert, sand, poverty, hunger, war and Ebola.

These are all accurate things to say about that part or the world — but they reflect an "incomplete" picture, says writer Austin Merrill, who together with photojournalist Peter DiCampo has set out to document African reality beyond common stereotypes.

They are the founders of Every Day Africa, an Instagram community of photographers who strive to capture ordinary moments of life, such as children picking flowers in a field, or girlfriends chatting at a coffee shop. Their Instagram following has topped 370,000.

Ricci Shryock: An accountant gets his shoes shined on his way to work in Conakry, Guinea.

In addition to the Instagram feed, the book "Every Day Africa, 30 Photographers Re-Picturing the Continent," recently hit bookstores in Europe, the United States and certain countries on the African continent. The book is filled with images documenting life in Africa that aim to shatter misconceptions often found in Western media.

Readers see a teenager rollerblading in the streets of Dakar, a DJ playing music in Lagos, a couple looking at the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Town. The book displays the full diversity and visual richness of African life.

Both DiCampo and Merrill invited a diverse “community of photographers” from all over the continent to contribute to the Instagram project and the book. Some are professionals, while others are skilled amateurs.

Jane Hahn: Riding over the Niger River in Bamako, Mali. @janehahn from the book “Everyday Africa: 30 Photographers Re-Picturing a Continent”

Ethiopian-American writer Maaza Mengiste prologues the book in an essay focusing on the power of the ordinary. “We sometimes forget that no matter what is happening in our lives, ordinary moments find a way to move forward," Mengiste writes.

Normality

Peter DiCampo and Austin Merrill, both Americans, met while serving with the Peace Corps in Ivory Coast. In 2012, they received a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington to cover the aftermath of Ivory Coast's civil war.

Andrew Esiebo: Two women and their cell phones in Lagos, Nigeria. @andrewesiebo from the book "Everyday Africa: 30 Photographers Re-Picturing a Continent"

While they were interviewing refugees and soldiers, Merrill remembers that around them “the vast majority of life was pretty normal, but that wasn't coming through in the story that we were trying to put together.”

“We were seeing all these other moments, that were much sort of truer to our daily life experience in that part of the world,” says DiCampo.

So, they took their cellphones and started to photograph what was around them. They felt, says Merrill, that the normal, everyday scenes of life “might be the most important thing we had to tell about that place, about that moment, instead of the crisis story.”

Media organizations tend to focus on breaking news, often triggered by an evolving crisis. Africa has many of those; but, as Di Campo puts it, “It's quite difficult to have a global understanding when all you see of other parts of the world are really extreme stories.”

Tom Saater: On her way to join thousands of Nigerian law graduates called to bar in Abuja, Nigeria

This is the gap that the "Everyday Africa" book is trying to fill; to look at the continent from the inside and from different perspectives.

DiCampo and Merrill, with the support of the Pulitzer Center, have also created media workshops that train elementary school students in the United States on how to document their lives and recognize stereotypes.

“We use the story of how we we created Every Day Africa,” said DiCampo, “to engage the students in a discussion of how media representation affects them, their lives and their communities and we use our photography to teach basic photography lessons, so that by the end of the workshop, they have an everyday project for their own school or community.” Read more here

A gift that endures: He helps those who have made the same journey

Students from the Institute for East African Councils on Higher Education listen during a workshop. (Hermela Welday)

Matheos Mesfin traveled to the United States in 2007, coming from Ethiopia to reunite with his mother, who had lived here for some time. He enrolled in a D.C. public school, an educational transition that was a real culture shock. It was a school with a metal detector, something he hadn’t encountered in his homeland.

“It was a time where I had to sort of navigate by myself, find my niche, get involved,” he said.

That led to a nomination for a scholarship, which led to Grinnell College, a liberal arts school in Iowa. It was an unfamiliar place. He met a hipster there, he said, a dude who had “said no to shoes.” So, that was a shock, too.

“Academically, it was one of the most intense places I’ve ever been,” he said. “It was just full of erudites, full of intellect. So I had a lot of catching up to do.”

All of this is to say that the 25-year-old Mesfin gets it. He knows how it feels to be a young student in an immigrant family, trying to wade through the American higher education system. He knows the challenges. He understands the concerns.

Now, Mesfin is trying to make things a little better for other students. He is founder and executive director of the Institute for East African Councils on Higher Education, a nonprofit that works with high school students of East African heritage who are immigrants or the children of immigrants. The nonprofit — known as IEA Councils — helps students navigate the dizzying admissions process and makes sure they understand what it means to be a college student.

“We jump in at that critical moment and say these are the schools you can consider, these are the benefits of going to this school,” Mesfin said. “This is why we believe you’re worth this institution. You have every credential that they are listing. Why in the world do you not see yourself going — what’s holding you back?”

[She had been in the U.S. for hours when an explosion changed everything]

Among the students the IEA Councils has helped: Bitseat Getaneh, an 18-year-old who came to the United States from Ethiopia in 2016. Just hours after Getaneh arrived in the country, a massive explosion ripped through the Silver Spring apartment building where she was staying, killing seven people. Getaneh suffered burns and a fractured collar bone. She spent weeks in the hospital. Read more here

Ethiopian Airlines operated all-female international flight again

Ethiopian Airlines operated its first female flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Lagos, Nigeria this week.

Captain Amsale Gualu piloted The Boeing 777 flight which took five and half hours to land in Lagos. She is quoted as saying:

“This flight shows us that if women get equal opportunities and work hard, I’m sure they can achieve whatever they want in all fields including the aviation industry.”

This is for the second time for the Airlines to operate all female crew international flight. In 2015, Ethiopian Airlines female crew flew from Addis Ababa to Bangkok, Thailand.
It seems the move to use all female crew flight is intended to encourage African women to consider a career in aviation.
Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson is quoted as saying:
“An Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson said: “This is an ample opportunity to inspire young African female students to believe in their dreams and embark to fill the skill gap for Aviation professionals. Women are the continent’s greatest untapped resources, and hereby fully dedicated to ensuring the increased number of women in decision-making positions on top of key operational areas by consistently grooming and mentoring successor female employees for top managerial, technical and operational positions.”
Ethiopian Airlines trains pilots in is own aviation academy which was commissioned in 1964 and trains mostly aviation students from Africa and Middle East countries. Based on information of Ethiopian Airlines website, currently the pilot training school offers programs for Commercial Pilot Licensing.
The Aviation Academy also provides simulator trainings on aircraft simulators.
As much as the seventy years old airlines is a remarkable success story not just in Ethiopia, but in Africa as well, its management in the last ten years is criticized as ethno-centric and biased in favor of Tigraeans, a perception common in other sectors in Ethiopia which gave rise to a resilient and persistent movement against Tigray People’s Liberation Front government. Some in the opposition call Ethiopian Airlines as Tigrean Airlines to denote that it is dominated by Tigreans, they constitute only 5 % of Ethiopia’s 100 million population. Read more here

Traffic Accident Kills Five Ethiopians in South Africa

December 20, 2017 - Five Ethiopian nationals traveling in Delareyville, South Africa, died when their car collided with a Land Cruiser along the N14, reports African News Agency. The Land Cruiser caught alight after the fatal collision. 

"Four occupants in the Polo died instantly at the accident scene and the fifth one died on Sunday at the Joe Morolong Hospital at Vryburg," said the department in a statement.

The deceased, all foreign nationals from Ethiopia, were aged between 31 and 54. Three occupants of the Land Cruiser, who are from Namibia sustained serious injuries. They have been hospitalised in Vryburg at the Joe Morolong Hospital.

"A case of culpable homicide is being investigated by the police," said the department.

The North West MEC for the community safety and transport management department, Dr. Mpho Motlhabane, said he was saddened by the loss of lives and sends "his heartfelt condolences" to the bereaved families and their loved ones.

Yvonne Maqoboza, the department's acting director communications services, said: "The Department also wishes them all the strength during this difficult time and a speedy recovery to those who sustained serious injuries. The Department urges road users to be cautious when overtaking, adhere to the speed limit and to be vigilant at all times".

Source: Africa News Agency

15 oromo civilians killed in Chelenko town

Addis Abeba — Two students were also killed last night at Shambu campus of Wolega university as student protests continued in several universities

The number of civilians killed by security forces in Chelenko town, Meta woreda in east Haraghe zone of the oromia regional state has risen to 15; more than a dozen were also wounded, many of whom are in critical condition.

According to Addisu Arega Kitessa, head of the Oromia region communication bureau, authorities at the highest level in Oromia region were investigating why and how these killings were "taken against peaceful civilians". But the locals say the killings were committed by members of the Liyu Police operating in Ethio-Somali regional state and is accused of committing perpetual violence against civilians. According to Abdulatif, a nurse in Dire Dawa hospital who only wanted to be identified by his first name, many of the wounded who are currently being treated at the hospital have "are being treated for gun shots, some of which were from a close range," he told Addis Standard by phone.

According to Addisu Arega, the protesters in the city have went out to the streets yesterday to denounce the killing of an individual called Ahimaddinnn Ahimad Asaasaa, by members of the Liyu Police. Ahimaddinnn died on the way to a hospital, which led the town's people to come out to the streets to protest.

Abdulatif told Addis Standard quoting "some of" the family members of the victims that the "protests were happening with the people of the town chanting 'enough with the killings by [the] Liyu police' when all of a sudden shots began to be fired." According to him, protesters in other parts of the city have then begun blocking roads "to prevent the security forces access to protest areas, but the security forces have dismantled the road blocks using heavy military vehicles while at the same time shooting at the protesting civilians."

Six people killed on the spot yesterday, according to Addisu. But that number has now risen to fifteen. Abdulatif said many of the wounded admitted at the hospital "may not survive due to the severity of their wounds." Among them were women and children. Abdulatif couldn't tell the exact number of civilians admitted to the hospital, but Addisu said yesterday that 14 people were wounded, six of whom seriously. On December 09/2017 residents of Babile and Moyale towns in east Hararghe and southern Ethiopia respectively have told the VOA Amharic that there were everyday killings committed by members of the Liyu police. Several pictures showing wounds of gun shots and dead bodies are circulating in Ethiopia's social media space.

The burial of those who were killed yesterday is expected to take place today and security in the area remain tense.Read more here