哥伦布、匹兹堡及各地消息

浦瑛開講:在華盛頓DC參加非裔社區活動有感

Letter from the President:
   Welcome to all of you to the 30th Anniversary of SEED, The Society of Ethiopians Established in the Diaspora, SEED, (ማኅበረ ግዩራን ዘረ ኢትዮፐያ). ኢትዮ፟_ዘር, SEED]was officially established as a 501(c)(3) registered tax-exempted organization in October 1994.However, SEED has been in existence since 1992. SEED currently operates in Washington DC and DMV area, where an estimated over 300,000 Ethiopians are said toreside. SEEDserves as a national organization committed to empowering and encouragingchildrenof immigrantsand refugee youths of Ethiopian heritage to dream, achieve, succeed and be willing to give back to society. In an effort to support our youths in academic and professional successes, instill a spirit of service to their adopted homeland, the USA, their country of heritage, Ethiopia, and in the communities where they reside,SEED exposes the youths to excellent role models from within their own community.In the process. SEED has been able to popularize the idea of thankingsuch role models while they are still alive and not waiting till after they pass away. These role modelsare those that have excelled in their endeavor, given back to their communities,are exemplary and outstanding individualswith impeccable lifetime achievements.I believe that the Mighty Diasporawill continue to positively impact the future of the homeland.The word “Diaspora”
ግዩራን)has been popularizedin our communities after the establishment of SEED.
   SEED was established by a group of friends and professional EthiopianAmericans who frequently discussed what would inspire Ethiopians in the Diaspora and to try to answer questions such as:
* How do Ethiopian children of immigrants and refugees in the Diaspora get exposed to successful role models amongst their own people? Why don’t we celebrate the achievements of such role models while they are alive and are able to inspire the youths in our community?
* Are the immigrants and their children in our community taking full advantage of what is available to them wherever they may reside as immigrants, refugees, or naturalized citizens to succeed?
* How do we help ourselves in the assimilation process into our new homeland?
* How do our children and ourselves get involved in community services and give back to society to make the world a better place in which to live? * How do we help our children to define their identityand heritage, so that they know who they are and are not defined by others?
   These and other thoughts demanded answers; thus, SEED was born in an attempt to answer them. SEED’s primary objective is to promote and advance the interests of Ethiopian Americans and their children in the Diaspora. It is also to recognize and acknowledge the contributions of any individual, regardless of national origin, who has made significant contributions to Ethiopia and Ethiopians in such things as humanitarian, scientific, educational, cultural, business, musical, athletic, artistic, and other positive endeavors. SEED achieves these efforts through scholarships presented to exemplary students during annual banquets and other targeted community engagement opportunities. SEED’s mission is to empower the global Ethiopian community with knowledge and resources required to make a positive impact in society by connecting, recognizing, and serving all friends and peoples of Ethiopian heritage.
   In the last 30 years, SEED has honored 152 adults including 24 posthumously and 36 of them women, 138 outstanding students, 12 organizations, 11 Humanitarian causes, 11 Artists and models, 12 non-Ethiopians, and have given thousands in scholarship to our students and to humanitarian causes that our awardees founded or managed.
   Over the last three decades other organizations such as the Bikila Foundation Award in Canada, BEGO-SEW Award in Ethiopia, the Tayetu Center Award in Washington DC, the Menelik society Award and many other organizations have started to follow in the footsteps of SEED.Many families are now expressing their thanks to each other in some form or another. We believe that SEED’s vision and mission has influenced positive cultural changesby recognizing, thanking, inspiring, rewarding and connectingthose that stand outfrom among us by dreaming, achieving, succeeding, andgiving back to community.
In the years to come, SEED will be more focused on empowering the youths even more. To that end we will be inviting our past student honorees, their siblings, and essential others to come together to a get acquainted program, funded by your financial support of SEED. The idea is for our young people to network with each other, support each other and develop constructive relationships. We want to encourage our young people to run for local, state, or federal offices, judgeship, corporate leadership, be significantly present in the news media etc. To that end, we rely on your financial support to help us organize expert-led activities for our youth to inspire and inform them about the path to success in their futures.
Thank you very much for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Aklilu Demessie
President, SEED
   來自世界各地不同族裔不同層面的人都帶着夢想來到美國,埃塞俄比亞人民也一樣,深深植根于世界各地,包括美國,只有要同族裔人就會有協會來通過共同的語言文化讓子孫後代緊密相傳,就像根深蒂固的樹。
   勤奮的埃塞俄比亞人將站在世界之巔,如太陽的光芒所描繪的那樣,在這片土地服務耕耘。
   這次活動克利夫蘭去了8位,很榮幸我也是其中一位,我把活動的消息放在了Facebook上面,凌晨3:00我看到曾經是ICC- WIN到印度族裔的原來在CSU擔任國際敎育主席的Ali Soltanshahi給我留言,他現在是Everett Community College 感人國際敎育部主席,他也在華盛頓DC,問我有沒有時間喝一杯咖啡,第二天我們在Marriott Hotel一起共享早餐,一位衣着講究Petar Vukotic 他是英聯邦群島聖盧西亞 Primus St. Croix 聖克魯瓦勛章的海爾塞拉西敎會的一位硏究神論拉斯塔法里敎主敎,也是全球正義聯盟秘書:埃塞俄比亞事業 ( GAJEC) 代表埃塞俄比亞皇家委員會。他是一位作家、神學家和東非歷史學家,並且是解釋埃塞俄比亞帝國判例法的世界領先權威,出生克利夫蘭,我在28日活動時候他坐在我旁邊。
   眞的是太有緣分了,大家聊的最多是美國夢,Ali吿訴我華盛頓DC Convention Center舉辦全球75年敎育年會,入場券1000美金,也許你是媒體可以去採訪,就這樣我和Ali一起上車去了Convention Center,這是萬人大會,來世界各地的人他們以交流敎育爲主,這是世界的網絡交流活動…..
   華盛頓DC一行,打開我的眼界,人的命運是安排好的嗎?美國對各個族裔的接受….