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Guardian photo by Jim Day Danaiet Teame overcame a major language barrier and culture shock after moving to Canada from Ethiopia at the age of 14. On Saturday, she graduated with honours from the nursing program at UPEI.

Eritrea: Doing her father proud

Danaiet Teame moved to P.E.I. eight years ago unable to speak a word of English but the language barrier and culture shock did not keep her from UPEI nursing degree with honours

Her father would have been so proud.

Danaiet Teame, 22, of Charlottetown is sketchy on many details about her dad save one: he had a deep desire for the family to move to, and prosper in, Canada.

He wanted Danaiet and her brother, Sofonyas, to earn a good education and live well.

Teame was just in Grade 3 when her father, a native of Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa, was deported home while his family remained in Ethiopia. She would never see him again, but the pair kept in touch by telephone.

He took care of all the lengthy wrangling required to eventually win his family a pass to Canada. The plan was for him to be reunited with his wife,Tidge, and the couple’s two children.


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Teff Photo: truestarhealth.com

FOODS THAT HEAL: Food of the month: teff

Perhaps more common amongst ethnic groups, it's only a matter of time before teff gains the widespread notoriety it deserves for its slightly sweet, nutty taste and impressive nutritional profile.

Originating from Ethiopia, teff is considered the tiniest grain in the world. But don't let its size fool you - this small grain in rich in many essential nutrients, including dietary fibre, protein, iron, calcium and amino acids.

Eating foods that are high in fibre, like teff, will help maintain proper bowel health and functioning. Fibre also helps to control blood sugar as it slows the absorption of sugars into the bloodstream, meaning it's beneficial in the management of diabetes. This slower digestion also helps you feel full longer, thus aiding in weight maintenance.

Read full review from Inside Toronto

Ethiopian region to suffer food insecurity after poor rains

Source: PANA

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - The delay in long rains in North-Eastern Ethiopia is likely to affect food security in the region, which produces nearly half of the region’s food needs, according to an assessment carried out by UN agencies. Despite the improvement in mid February to May, rains in the second half of the season is supporting new agricultural activities – including preparation of land for the June to September crops – in parts of southern and north-eastern Ethiopia.

The Southern and Eastern Nationalities (SNNPR) and Oromia, southern Tigray, eastern Amhara and north-eastern Afar, the overall delay in the rains means that many farmers have opted to plant short-cycle crops, rather than longer-maturing crops in order to have two harvests within the year.

The harvest, which accounts for up to 40 per cent of annual production in some areas, is expected to be much reduced as a result, leading to growing food insecurity in dependent areas, the UN Humanitarian Office (UNOCHA) said.

“The situation in SNNPR is of particular concern: the near total failure of the harvest in sweet potato-dependent areas, including Kembata Tembaro, Gamo Gofa, Hadiya and Wolayita, has been compounded by the loss of a second consecutive crop failure, affecting a wider segment of the population,” UN OCHA said.

According to the Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU), admissions of severely malnourished children continue to increase, with earlier and greater increases than in 2011.

Admissions increased by 15.3 per cent from January to February and by a further 27 per cent from February to March.

In the southern and south-eastern pastoralist lowlands, the timely onset and good performance of the rains between April to June has improved water availability and pasture conditions in most areas.

Livestock producers are now able to buy more grain with the sale of their livestock. In April, the price of a goat increased 32 to 40 per cent on 2011 prices.

Over the past two weeks, ongoing water trucking activities have further decreased from 87 to 26 trucks currently deployed in two regions.

Following good rainfall in areas where water trucking was ongoing, all trucking activities have ceased in SNNPR (down from 18).

The Ethiopian government and humanitarian partners continue to review water trucking requirements nationwide and assess needs in areas that have received no or below-normal rainfall to date.

Second round (2012) relief food dispatches targeting 2.9 million people reached 66 per cent as of 7 May, including 74 per cent dispatched to other areas.

The third round relief food dispatch, which targets 3.2 million people nationwide, is also progressing in Afar, Gambella, and SNNPR, with 21 per cent of total allocations dispatched as of 7 May.

Ethiopian Airlines ignores turbulence to focus on growth

Source: Business Day

With no hope of a bail-out if it fails, it is capitalising on its position as a hub for fast-growing markets, writes Nicky Smith

IGNORING the furious winds buffeting the global aviation industry, 66-year-old Ethiopian Airlines is investing more than $2,6bn to ensure it capitalises on its location and the ever-increasing interest in Africa from emerging-market giants such as China, India and Brazil.

Ethiopian will be the first African carrier to bring the new-generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner into service in August.

The Dreamliner will be used on the Addis Ababa-Johannesburg route daily, while at night it will travel between Addis and Guangzhou, China’s third-largest city, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said in an interview in Debre-Zeit, Ethiopia, last week.

Ethiopian’s circumstances could not be more different from those of South African Airways (SAA), which is expected to report a net loss for the financial year to March 31.


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Diary: The Meles Zenawi show – World Economic Forum on Africa, 2012

By Magnus Taylor


Source: african Arguments

The World Economic Forum is best known for its annual meeting at Davos in the Swiss Alps where, recently, focus has been on the poor state of the world economy – particularly that of Europe. So, the annual Africa version of the event (held last week in the swanky surroundings of the Sheraton, Addis Ababa) must make a welcome change, as the atmosphere was robustly positive. African economies are on the rise, none more so than Ethiopia’s which, if you believe the numbers, (and most informed sources do) grew at between 5 and 10 percent over the past half a decade.

Sitting astride this economic growth, and taking pride of place at this year’s WEF, was Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. In an event that boasted such political heavyweights as former British PM Gordon Brown, and private sector luminaries like the Ivorian boss of The Prudential, Tidjane Thiam, whose $600 billion worth of assets makes Ethiopia look like a minnow, I was surprised by how much Meles came out as the dominant figure.

A fiercely intelligent man, with a grasp of figures redolent of Brown (whom Meles referred to as ‘Prime Minister’ throughout) he seemed totally in his element. Perhaps it was the nature of the audience. He was never going to have to field too many tricky questions about Ethiopia’s political space, (un)free press or tight government control over telecommunications and banking in front of a room full of CEOs and fellow technocrats.

One senses that in certain crowds his statement that “there is no direct relationship between economic growth and democracy” would have got him in to trouble – important players were gnashing their teeth at this but Meles, kingpin of Western policy in the Horn of Africa, knows exactly how much he can loosen his Marxist instincts without upsetting his donors. To this end, the above was quickly followed by the rider that “democracy is a good thing in and of itself, irrespective of its impact on economic growth.” When it was asserted that Africa’s post Cold War democratisation was a reason for more recent economic success, Meles scathingly referred to this as “old stuff”.

One of the bigger topics of debate across many panels was how public and private sectors can most effectively work together for both economic growth and development. During a discussion on developing African infrastructure, Meles asserted that government would have to lead in the construction of roads, railways, power systems etc because private sector investment in these areas was “miniscule” – the risks are simply too high. Gordon Brown, ever the flexible social democrat, championed the public-private partnership as a means to raise capital for the kind of infrastructure projects that the private sector won’t do, and the public sector can’t afford.

There were, however, complaints from a number of voices over how public agencies crowd out a stream of private money otherwise poised to flow in to African economies. Although Donald Kaberuka (President of the African Development Bank) countered that any small private investment that had taken place in infrastructure was because public agencies had brought it in.

Whilst Meles asserted that the Ethiopian government would continue to be vigilant over the commercial ‘whizzkids’ who “come in and use instruments that we don’t understand,” Jubril Tinubu, CEO of the Nigerian firm, Oando – an energy servicers provider – countered that African governments shouldn’t be scared of such people, and instead must realise that the private sector is much bigger and can do things more quickly and cheaply than government. In Nigeria, at least, it is government that is the problem.

Amid the bullishness about economic growth there was caution from, amongst others, Kofi Annan, who stressed the importance of not confusing economic growth with economic transformation. Much work still needs to be done to make African growth inclusive, and the GINI coefficient must be viewed as a central indicator of effective economic policy.

Aside from Meles, several other big names played a significant role in the forum. South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan did his international reputation no harm with his measured style, always keeping the most disadvantaged people as the focus of discussion. During a panel on market integration, whilst other panellists were distracted by the bluster of continental currencies and the Trans African Highway, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, displayed her characteristic good sense. She pointed out that organic integration, whether it be informal border trade, or the multinational African staff of South African universities, was already taking place outside of big, top-down projects.

Okonjo-Iweala is clearly a popular figure across the continent – this was shown by the near universal support her candidacy for President of the World Bank received from her African constituents. Like Gordhan, her instincts seem to be in support of the poor, whilst her keen economic brain seeks to facilitate the free movement of goods and people to unlock commercial potential. The World Bank’s loss is Nigeria’s gain.

So what was the prevailing feeling about this year’s WEF? Whilst Meles demonstrated his star quality (with a roguish tendency towards the autocratic and nationalistic) there were a number of other figures of real stature in attendance with claim to positions of continental leadership. Whilst it would be hard to identify a grand narrative, the technical discussion was frighteningly high, underlining the quality of African leadership now available in both the public and private sectors.

It’s difficult to think of a panel where a non-African speaker really stole the show, and the most high-profile Western politician in attendance, Gordon Brown, seems to be far better regarded in Africa than he is in the UK. Coming to the continent must be a relief, although it can only be a shock returning home, where it’s been 2 years since anyone referred to him as the PM. Maybe it tells us something about Meles, who can’t seem to fathom that a political heavyweight like Brown would ever allow himself to be removed from power.

Magnus Taylor is Managing Editor, African Arguments Online.