Friday, Dec 4, 2009

by Teddy Fikre (EA4C.org)

Want to hear a joke?  An Ethiopian couple drive by a car that is in the ditch, and the husband says to the wife, honey, call 911!  At which point, she says *mts*  Thus the joke, what is the Ethiopian 911? *mts*  Make that sound effect and you will hear what I am talking about.  At this point, you either laughed, or you got upset, either way, this little joke evoked an emotion in you.  Why?  Is it because it is true, because our concept of helping someone in need is to in fact say *mts*?  They say behind every joke, there is a kernel of truth aydel?  Now let me go on to why I talked about this joke, and why I am writing this article.

It’s Saturday, December 5^th, 2009.  It’s a beautiful late autumn day, you are trying to decide what you want to do.  Do you want to go hang out at the mall to do some Christmas shopping?  Do you want to go to your local Starbucks to drink some buna and talk about politics or sports with your friends?  Are you looking forward to going out to a club later on that night, drink some Johnny Walker, and eskesta your troubles away?  While you are thinking of what to get  into for the day, have you thought for a second about home?

Home?

No not the one you live in now, I am talking about the one you left behind . I am talking our home, our land of birth—I’m talking about Ethiopia.  At this point, you are probably telling yourself, of course I think of home, I think of home all the time!  I think of home when I am talking with my friends about politics while drinking some buna at Starbucks.  I think of home when I am eating some injera at my favorite Ethiopian restaurant.  I think of home when I am doing eskista or listening to my favorite Tilahun song.

Really?

Now before I go on further, this is not meant to put all folks in the same boat.  There are countless thousands of Ethiopians who sacrifice daily to make a difference in the lives of people back in Ethiopia.  Countless others send money to loved ones back home; in fact, one of Ethiopia’s biggest source of finance is money that is sent back to Ethiopia by Ethiopians living in America.  However, the sad truth is that for every person that does, there are a hundred who do nothing but talk.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia continues to languish, devastated by HIV/AIDS, poverty, malnutrition and the lack of the basic tenants of hope.  By some estimates, there are over 500,000 Ethiopians who live in the United States—FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND!  Imagine if only 10% of Ethiopians who live in the United States contributed $20 to a cause instead of spending that $20 on “Yohannes Arimadge”.  That would be 50,000 Ethiopians contributing $20, that would be $1,000,000 raised in one day.  Can you imagine the change that would make to the lives of impoverished children in Ethiopia.

Do you know that the number one source of donations that goes to Ethiopia comes from non-Ethiopians?  Organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Oprah, USAID, and countless NGOs spend millions of dollars in Ethiopia and Africa at large to give hope to those that have the least hope.  It is great that these organizations do this on a yearly basis, but as the saying goes, give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he will eat forever.  So how much longer does Ethiopia have to beg for fish, why can’t we do for ourselves and start learning how to fish and teach others along way to fish and give them access to a rod so they too can eat forever.

On my first article about Artists for Charity, I tried quoting the bible to inspire people to give.  Then my second article, I talked about Hebret to motivate our own to work for our own.  Then on my last article, I even tried to use pictures of Ethiopian children from google to guilt people into donating.  Over 10,000 people read those articles, that is TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE.  And at the end of each article, there was a link at the bottom of the article that asked people to donate to Artists for Charity.  So out of 10,000 people, do you know how many people donated to Artists for Charity, a 501 (3) C non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing care for double-orphaned children who themselves have HIV/AIDS?

No really, take a guess.  You are thinking maybe 100 people donated, if you are really hopeful, you are thinking 1,000 people donated.  Let me give you the answer, try closer to 0—that would be ZERO.  How is that possible, how is it possible that you read the article, you forward the article to hundreds of your friends, you might even talk about Artists for Charity over buna, and yet—ZERO.  I have been told by some that I am screaming at a wall, that I have to be happy with even one donation, because “it takes a while for our people to warm up”.

I refuse to believe that, Ethiopians across America “warmed up” to Barack Obama and gave money generously to the campaign.  In fact, over $300,000 was donated to the Obama campaign from the Ethiopian community.  And countless others worked arduously to get Obama elected.  And every day, there are people who march for freedom, who protest against this cause or the other, and who sip buna and bemoan the state of Ethiopia.  Yet, the most simple effective thing you can do is to stop talking and start acting.

So I ask you again, what are you doing Saturday, December 5^th.  Are you really going to go shopping?  Are you really going to sip buna at Starbucks?  Are you really going to drink some Johnny Walker and eskesta (dance) your troubles away?  Let me give you an alternate idea, how about you come out to the Artists for Charity fundraiser.

[click on pic to go to AFC Website]

Venue: WVSA’s Articulate Gallery

Address:  1100 16^th St. Washington DC

Time:7:00 PM through 11:00 PM.

There will be a live performance by Maritu Legesse, an art show, food and drinks.  Along the way, you will get a chance to hear about the wonderful work that Artists for Charity does back in Ethiopia and even get to meet a couple of the kids from the AFC Children’s Home in Ethiopia.

So I continue to “scream at the wall”.  I am asking you, if you are reading this article, do not forward this email unless you are either planning to come out to the AFC event on Saturday or plan on donating some money to this amazing organization.  I might sound a bit frustrated, but in the end, I know that one day we will come together as a people and do right by our country, do right by our home.  So I ask you to give abiding Charity to Artists for Charity.

After all, Charity Starts at home.

This blog submission was written by Teddy Fikre , an organizer with Ethiopian-Americans for Change and a guest blogger.  Teddy is an avid supporter and a believer in the vision of Artists for Charity and any other organization that strives to make a change in Ethiopia.  The views of guest bloggers are not the views of Ethiopian-Americans for Change.  Guest bloggers represent the broad dissection of views and outlooks within our community.