AfricaWorld Newspaper 16-31 October 2014

“MY INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE” -IVY UKAGA Before I got married to my husband, Dunstan Ukaga, a Nigerian, I was often asked by both my folks and friends from Taiwan: why I got hooked up with a black guy? What made me feel especially uncomfortable is that, the tone with which they articulated this question, together with their facial expressions, gestures and body language, I knew what they really wanted to say was: with all the disadvantages of marrying a person from an underdeveloped country, why on earth did you build up this kind of relationship in the first place for goodness' sake? Page 16 HURRY NOW! FARM PRODUCE FOR SALE To place an order contact Fungai 0861050802 africafarmfoods@ gmail.com

Produced in Ireland, African farm produce. White and Yellow Maize (NOT SWEET CORN), vegetables leap such as chomolia, Spinach, Rape, and Pumpkins leaves freshly harvested just before delivery to you.

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SUMMARY A CANADIAN ABROAD

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KENYA DEFENCE FORCE LAUNCH WAR

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IRELAND AND O’SHEA’S 100 CAPS

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ISLAMIC STATE (ISIS) BATTLE FOR KOBANI

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ROD OF CORRECTION

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH IRELAND

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WATER CHARGE PROTEST IN PHOTOS

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EZINNE MAMA DORA UGBOME

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IVY UKAGA AND FAMILY

AFRO-IRSH HIPHOP JAM IN PICTURES

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News/Column

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Editorial 100 CAPS AND Editorial tiTHE tleddddd INSPIRATION FOR A NATION Common Ireland! And they did it. The draw against World Champions Germany away from home is magical and refreshing for us.

We definitely cannot ask for more.

The absence of the Irish Republic in soccer tournament have not been funny in recent times. Hence, there is the feel good factor in the current run of the team.

A John O’Shea 94th minute goal in his 100 caps took their Group D tally to seven points from a possible nine with an improbable 1-1 draw with world cup winners Germany in Gelsenkirchen.

This remarkable result gives Ireland an excellent platform from which to launch their qualification bid.

O’Shea the unlikely hero of the day finally earns his dues from buoyant Irish fans who over the years has expected much from him because was outstanding in Manchester United.

Kudos to John O’Shea in his service to Ireland and more strength to Martin O’neil, beaded Roy Keane and the lads.

We are fully in support of this match to France. Common Ireland!

Come in.

Uka

A Canadian Abroad By Lisa Bank Being “a Canadian Abroad” is often an adventurous, challenging experience and since moving away, I’ve had the privilege of travelling to many places that I always dreamed of going. But interestingly, one of the most comforting, and happiest holidays that I’ve taken has been retuning home to Canada. I recently visited my hometown, which is situated near Ontario’s capital of Toronto. At this time of year, Canada is at its most beautiful, as Autumn brings trees with changing leaves of many colours all

across the country.

One of my long-term best friends was getting married, and so I saw it as an ideal time to head back for a visit, and a guarantee of seeing friends from my school days.

Chatting to some of my Irish seat-mates on the seven hour plane ride over, it seemed that many had fallen in love with Canada and its people.

Although internationally we may be known simply for our maple syrup and our ice hockey skills, Canada is a vast and beautiful country that proudly supports multicultur-

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alism and providing new opportunities for people the world over.

I usually forget how lucky I am to come from such a safe and prosperous country until someone asks where I am from, and upon learning that it’s Canada, always has something wonderful to say about it.

I think I also often underestimate how much fun it is to catch up with old friends and family that we are completely comfortable with whose time we might otherwise take for granted when seeing them on a regular basis. When visiting home after some time away, you realize that usually little has changed in appearance. Your friends and

family generally look the same, as does the city you grew up in. However, people’s lives move forward just as your own does abroad and sometimes you return to find your loved ones have new jobs, partners, homes, hobbies, and especially new priorities.

While living in Ireland, there’s always things about Canada that I miss. However, when visiting home, there were some things from Ireland that I missed! It’s funny how that works! Going back to Canada was a learning experience in itself, and I can’t wait until my next visit to home, sweet, home.

in each one of us.

Their example lights the way for us, and reassures us that we too are capable of the feats they achieved. I commend KDF on the exceptional conduct of “Operation Linda Nchi”, which culminated in the liberation of Kismayu from Al Shabaab, and which has been rewarded with other significant advances in recent months. These ex-

periences, the heroic toil of our young men and women in uniform, should not be lost to us, or to our children. I have nothing but praise for the KDF for choosing to document, for the first time in our history, their experiences in war. I am grateful that the book we have launched today will be read for generations to come.”

KENYA DEFENCE FORCE LAUNCH WAR MEMOIRS President Uhuru Kenya tta statement: “It was a pleasure and a privilege today to recognize and honour our gallant officers of the Kenya Defence Forces who have devoted their lives to defending this nation. Kenya’s men and women in uniform have always inspired a sense of dedication to duty, pride and professionalism in their rank and file. In an age

when many military forces in Africa and in many other parts of the developing world sank into fruitless politicking, the Kenya Armed forces remained professional, steadfast and loyal to the Government of the day. Today we also commemorate our fallen heroes in the knowledge that although they are departed, their spirit lives on with us, and

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News

Islamic State (ISIS) Battle for Kobani in Photos

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Editorial

For weeks now, ISIS militants in northern Syria have been attacking the Kurdish city of Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobani, attempting to seize the city and solidify control of the territory. In the past few days, U.S.-led airstrikes on ISIS have included many targets around Kobani, and appear to have at least slowed their advance for the moment.

Kobani is situated on a hillside right on the Syria-Turkey border, a border crossed by tens of thousands of Kurds fleeing their besieged city.

Now, some of these refugees and fellow Kurds from southern Turkey have gathered on the border to watch the battles in Kobani through binoculars and cameras.

Poems

By Ukachukwu Okorie THE HOOD It’s all about where you belong Not just the thing on the head But the stuff in the head And the grabbing in the heart He claims it belongs to him She wants to be in the confraternity Clicking the fellanges And jamming the side shoulder We are all in it Because man is different in thought People look same but not Hood is all but not

CROCK PARK Shrine of History Being part of the struggle To emancipate a people Turf lashed with blood Spilled that freedom may come You shelter generations Men and women alike That relishes their energies Throne of Sam Maguire A nation shed tears But you comforted Perching in Atta Cliath And overlooking Eireann

REMEMBERING ARMAGGEDON

Some Kurdish forces remain in the city, defending against invading militants, supported by Western aircraft and missiles, while ISIS continues to attack with artillery, mortars, suicide bombings, and small arms. CNN reports that senior U.S. administration officials conceded that Kobani will likely soon fall to ISIS, but downplayed the importance of the loss.

Sapped of energy Clad in black sash Bound in a servitude steel Hardship on the great one In the fonts of Sepulcher Recession they said The bully wore a goggle Flaunting a fetish trench coat Walks like a serial killer Piercing a sword through the chest A journey of high hopes Ending on a cremator’s table However it may be There must be a new beginning

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Rod of Correction : The Encyclopaedia Aethiopica under scrutiny The crowds kept pouring in until a multitude took shape.

Above them stood this modern day Joshua who promised to uplift them from poverty. At long last, deliverance was at hand.

The year was 1972 and Jamaicans had had enough. A decade after independence, standards of life had not only failed to improve, many felt they turned for the worse.

The mood caught the airwaves. Top hits like “Everything Crash”,

by The Ethiopians, got the ball rolling as early as 1968 and by the early seventies Delroy Wilson’s song “Better Must Come” hinted at a final, even desperate, attempt at remaining hopeful.

There were reasons to be optimistic: the upcoming national election would pit the incumbent Hugh Shearer against a former trade unionist by the name of Michael Manley.

His soaring popularity was not unlike Barack Obama’s meteoric rise. For one thing, there was his charisma and oratory skills, which his no-nonsense promise of Democratic Socialism made all the more appealing to the disenfranchised masses. It was Yes We Can with a sprinkle of Now Is The Time.

But words were not enough, this much he knew. So the crowds were treated to a mesmerizing display: Manley would wave his wooden baton, at times like a stern headmaster, minutes later like frenzied prophet of Scripture.

His was no ordinary

stick, at least not for the masses sweating in the stuffy heat. It was dubbed “The Rod of Correction” and sympathizers from his People’s National Party would sing its mystical properties.

The fortunate were allowed to kneel under it, even kiss it. Such was its appeal that it earned Michael Manley the sobriquet of Joshua, who with one mighty strike would once and for all set things straight. The show went beyond carnival politics. As frontrunner opposition figure, Manley had flown to Ethiopia to visit his brother, an employee at the local UN headquarters.

But he was keenly aware that a journey to this ancient African empire would boost his popularity beyond measure. In the Jubilee Palace of Addis Ababa he met with the Emperor Haile-Selassie, who recalled with him his 1966 visit to Jamaica. On that occasion, tens of thousands had turned out to receive the monarch at the airport and the crowds ran amuck wherever he went. Golden medallions were publically awarded to the outcasts of the day: the fierce-looking Rastafarians who worshipped him as a divine figure.

It was a staggering reversal of fortunes.

Fresh in their memories were the words spoken on national radio by Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante in 1963, when he had called on citizens to “Bring all the Rastas dead or alive! If the jail can’t hold them

we will dig trenches in Bogue cemetery and bury them.” As for his handpicked successor Donald Sangster, the Ethiopian emperor gave him not a medallion but a more practical gold-coated cigarrette case. Sangster died of lung cancer twelve months later. Mystery was in the air.

When the audience was over in the palace of Addis Ababa, the opposition leader Michael Manley also received a gift from Haile-Selassie: a wooden staff from the Imperial Ethiopian Navy which back in Jamaica became the saintly Rod of Correction. The Ethiopian halo was such that as the polling day got closer, the Prime Minister Hugh Shearer decided he was not going to be outwitted, so he too made a flash trip to Ethiopia –but crucially failed to come back with any gift. Michael Manley was swept into power.

The case of the Rod of Correction is an example of Ethiopia’s aura in the Americas –a 20th Century twist on the Prester John fables of medieval times.

At long last, scholars and those interested in this East African country can rely on a monumental categorization of the so-called Orbis Aethiopicus – the field of Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa to which it belongs and the greater regions with which it has been in contact –Jerusalem being a case in hand, as well as parts of

the Arabian Peninsula.

But because the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica (EAE) is a first of its kind, those responsible for coordinating and editing the five volumes have had to deal with the challenge of deciding who and what deserved an entry in the first place.

A clear-cut answer is tricky. From a historical perspective, the answer would consider any influential Ethiopian and any other prominent actor who had an impact on the country. In cultural terms, anyone who has made a worthy contribution to the country’s heritage, be they locals or foreigners, be they culture-makers or scholars engaged in its study. And so to the hundred and one corners of the Humanities, from archeology to linguistics, anthropology to geography –the list of topics piles up. Still for others, the sensitive issue of what constitutes “Ethiopian” can lead to discontent, as it seems inevitable that not everyone will be pleased in cases of modern nationalisms redefining historical narratives.

chiefs and warriors of little-known Somali clans –and the great infinite that lies in between– all share space in this towering monument to Ethiopian studies.

That’s not to say, however, that all is well in academia land, since there are a number of absences in the EAE that call for a reflexion. These absences deserve criticism in as much as they undermine the overall magisterial scope of the Encyclopaedia, but also because of the possibility –however slight– that they are due to something more than a simple lapse. If forgotten under the thousands of entries and submissions, a future correction seems relatively straightforward, but if their omission follows a deliberate decision, then a deeper introspection is required.

In the EAE we find full entries for the likes of Roy Clive Abraham, a British Orientalist who took an interest in Amharic and Somali between the 1940’s and 1960’s. His entry makes it clear that his overall contribution to the field of linguistics was, at best, questionable, citing as For the most part, an example his comthe contributions plete disregard for to the Encyclopaethe Amharic script, dia Aethiopica succeed in providing an among other limitations. His appearance open, inclusive and far-reaching account in the Encyclopaedia is not without merit, of this vast region in as much as he was and its place in the world. Languages and a scholar who, for socio-cultural entries better or for worse, from a remote com- studied and wrote munity in the Western about things-Ethiopian, in this case the lowlands to obscure

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pivotal discipline of language. Yet given that his overall influence is somewhat limited, I cannot help but compare his inclusion with the omission of a few other writers of the same century for whom Ethiopia was also the cornerstone of their work. Their exclusion is even more striking given their considerable influence –their books were read, studied and recited by the thousands. I am referring to such Caribbeans as Rev. Fitz Balentine, Leonard Percival Howell and Robert Aathlyi Rogers, the latter a native of tiny Anguilla. These were not academics, far from it: they wrote fantastically bizarre and yet magically poetic books which earned a higher status for Ethiopia, and their cryptic epiphanies suggest some familiarity with Medieval Ethiopian esoteric along the lines of The Book of Mysteries of Heaven and Earth. Their Ethiopia was as much a biblically inspired pan-African concept as it was a bright spotlight on the modern Empire –after all, these were the post-Battle of Adwa years and the West Indies were electrified by this this East African nation’s prowess. In this regard their legacy was notable, and in matters related to the field of Ethiopian studies they deserve some recognition: after all, they opened to an ever wider public the link between an emerging pan-African interest in the Empire of Ethiopia and their own civil rights as African-Americans. Th bond would strengthen even more during Mussolini’s

invasion a decade or so later, when African-Americans petitioned Washington to be allowed to join the fight against Italy based on racial solidarity. And once the one plus one made two, the math could no longer be undone: Ethiopia’s prestige within the emerging post-colonial Africa would allow her to make a stance on the international scene as she had never before.

A superficial look at the Ethiopian-inspired flags of many African countries bears witness to that trend.

It is academically misguided to assume that these Caribbean firebrands are removed from the field of Ethiopian history: titanic figures they were not, but they did contribute their bit as passionate propagandists. Their torch was passed on to the likes of Joseph Nathaniel Hibberts, also absent from the Encyclopaedia, whose Ministry of the Ethiopian Coptic Faith was devoutly bent on Ethiopian spirituality –he even had the Ethiopian version of the Teachings of the Apostles, or Didascalia, printed and distributed en masse, for his followers to study.

From Ge’ez prayers to long-night vigils studying the works of Ethiopian saints in the alleyways of smalltown Jamaica, his peculiar evangelism was even acknowledged by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the Americas, LaikeMaryam Mandefro. I will return to this missionary later.

Abraham or Ludovico de Varthema –an Italian who barely set foot in the country and wrote only a few pages about it– is unfortunate. In all truth, none of the mentioned West Indians ever set foot in the country, although this didn’t stop them from using Ethiopia as a conceptual narrative for their own philosophical mission. In this regard, they are the tropical equivalents of the acclaimed Samuel Johnson, author of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia –who despite never visiting Ethiopia is indeed awarded a much justified entry.

The issue of a consistent criteria is further evident in the entry of Nikolai Ashinov, a Russian cossack whose adventures in the Red Sea coast went hand in hand with the failed plans for a Russian colony in what is now Djibouti. His entry contrasts with the omission of Eloi Pino, the French-Catalan merchant who around the same time actually established a remote trading post which would soon grow into the port and ville of Djibouti, and henceforth the modern Republic. It seems the unlucky Russian has beaten the successful Frenchman to the post of early founder of Djibouti, or so indicates the who’s who of the Encyclopaedia.

I turn to another case, that of Raffaele Alfiere. The Encyclopaedia presents him as one of many foreigners who was swallowed into Abyssinian highlands by To have been left out the twists and turns in favour of Roy Clive of military fate, and

2014 October 16 - 31 | 05

from where he rose to positions of relative notoriety –in his case, as physician to Emperor Menelik II and sometime traveller of the Nile. Such a character rightfully claims a foothold in the Encyclopaedia, but not so Captain John Robinson, who barely gets a passing line with no entry of his own. His omission borders on the scandalous. For one thing, he was the chief founder of the Ethiopian Air Force –no small institution in the country. His pedigree was considerable: the first black pilot in the United States, the founder of the first non-segregated aviation school in the Americas, and a pilot for Ethiopia during the Italian invasion. Nevermind his military contributions –his airforce standing at three civilian planes, he led important reconnaissance missions of the advancing Fascist army, at great risk, and was personal courier to Emperor Haile-Selassie. He achieved national acclaim back home, with particular uproar in Chicago and Harlem, only to return after liberation in order to train the first ever batch of Ethiopian pilots –and die in the process, the result of an accident. He rests in peace in Gullele cemetery, Addis Ababa. His achievements include detailed aeronautical surveys of the country. Given the long list of European travellers who have been granted a place in the Encyclopaedia, it is all the more striking that an African-American of his standing should be relegated to a sentence with no entry of his own.

In similar vein, we find an entry for Orazio Antinori, whose high claims are a few trips around the Red Sea as a keen naturalist and, later, having received a plot of land from the Ethiopian government, where he opened a geographical station and where he eventually died. Once again, his entry is certainly deserved, but stands in poor contrast to the absence of Arnold Josiah Ford: the Barbadian rabbi of an African-American Jewish community who penned the highly significant Ethiopian Universal Anthem of Marcus Garvey’s UNIA, an anthem with few rivals in pan-African symbolism. His relation to Ethiopia goes a lot further: he was the first leader of an African-American organization bent on settling colonialists in Ethiopia, for which he too obtained a land-grant. Once in Ethiopia, he established close –and sometimes difficult– relations with Abyssinian aristocrats and the Beta Israel Jews of the country. He died in Addis Ababa just before the Italian invasion. Nonetheless, his wife Mignon Ford established the prestigious Princess Zenebe-Worq Girl’s School in Addis Ababa, and would carry the torch of Caribbean solidarity as a prominent educator in Ethiopia. Both husband and wife do not appear in the Encyclopaedia –surely not for of lack of credentials.

In fairness, some notable West Indians are mentioned, such as David Abner Talbot, the Guyanese advisor to Emperor

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Haile-Selassie and chief editor of The Ethiopian Herald, or the Guadelopean doctor Joseph Vitalien, another close hand to Emperor Menelik II. This raises an uncomfortable question: did they surpass a particular threshold of influence to deserve an entry in the Encyclopaedia, and if so, is the same threshold applied to Europeans and African-Americans alike? After all, there seem to be many entries dedicated to Europeans with considerably less dazzling roles than the Fords or Captain John Robinson, for instance.

And so to diplomacy, where the relations between Ethiopia and an array of nations are superbly summarized. Relations with Italy and France, Portugal and Egypt, the Vatican and the United States, India and Japan, even with Iran. I feel sorry for Cuba, out in the cold despite having established the most palpable military ties with Ethiopia in recent history. It’s almost as if the thousands of Cubans who risked their life fighting on Ethiopian soil have been forgotten, and how their contribution shaped the very end of the Somalia-Ethiopia War of 1978. In truth, the Encyclopaedia’s initial aim was stay clear from events after 1974, but a cursory glance at many of its entries reveals how this has been applied with generous flexibility. A notable example would be the inclusion of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose career began around 1974. A question of status, perhaps, but we also find

references to minor archeological surveys from the 1990’s in Lebanese monateries, for instance. All things considered, I do wonder how Switzerland managed to outshine this Caribbean island in terms of engagements with Ethiopia.

It was not the first time Cubans had signed up for Ethiopia’s cause. The island had already been a hotbed of Garveyism in the 1920’s. Unfortunately, Marcus Garvey’s UNIA suffered dearly during the 1930’s –economic depression, leadership controversies– and the need for a pan-Africanist militant association was left in limbo. Soon, however, came news of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, and in came the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) – founded by the exiled Emperor Haile-Selassie himself and managed by his cousin Malaku Bayen. It tried to steer the dozens of pro-Ethiopia groups in the Americas under one centralized umbrella, and in this sense many dissafected Garveyites rallied to the EWF. It must have seemed a natural continuation of an interrupted aspiration. Such was the buzz that unauthorized branches sprang up around Caribbean, from Cuba to Jamaica, only to be officially incorporated later. That such an organization would not be considered for the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica warrants attention: it was Ethiopian founded, Ethiopian aimed, and at least partially Ethiopian driven. It’s legacy is the famous land grant in Shashamane, but that is only

a small testimony to a much broader and dynamic movement.

Which brings us to the world of maps.

Perhaps it is time to reconsider where the scope of the Orbis Aethiopicus ends.

Despite some inevitable grumbles, it is common understanding that Eritrea should be included, and so too other neighbouring countries whose history and current populations often overlap: the Sudans, Yemen, Kenya and Djibouti, of course, as well as Somalia. It is in the Somali web that the entry selection once again gets tangled. Indeed, a commendable array of things-Somali are presented, with particular praise to detail in clans and linguistics.

In EAE’s defence, one could argue that not all its topics can be covered in their volumes –this would be more appropriate for an equally fascinating future Encyclopaedia Somalica. If we accept this line of thought, then surely relatively obscure figures who do appear, such as Adam Kawsan (I am surprised to learn that he was the chief cultivator of the Somali Garri tribe in the 19th Century) could give way to more influential entries like Shire Jama Ahmed – perhaps one of the most important Somali linguists, born in Wardeer, Ethiopia (see Historical Dictionary of Somalia, New Edition, Mohammed Haji Mukhatar). His proposal for a Latin script in spelling Somali was officially adopted as the national writing in 1971. Another absent Somali with an obvious connection to

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Ethiopia is Mohammed Abdillahi Ogsadey –an unrivalled business tycoon who was for decades the richest man in Ethiopia; he is also remembered for being the first African to export its coffee to the international market.

On the other hand, the selection of worldwide Ethiopian footprints which have been recorded in the Encyclopaedia seems all the more random when we consider such inclusions as Tesfa-Tsion (nicknamed Peter the Indian) but such omissions as Abu al-Misk Kafur or Malik Ambar. Make no mistake, Tesfa-Tsion was an esteemed character in the corridors of the Vatican, but little is known about him before he left his native Ethiopia. He is therefore remembered by the Encyclopaedia in consideration for his achievements in the Holy See around the 16th Century.

Of course, had this priest left his mark in India itself, he would have probably been forgotten. Ask Malik Ambar, the Ethiopian-born leader of the Ahmednagar Sultanate in 16th Century India.

Rising from imported slave-soldier to ruling Regent, he founded a new capital city in Aurangabad and distinguished himself as an able military commander, a keen politician and a cutting-edge urbanist –he is credited with establishing the city’s notable canal system.

The omissions of Malik Ambar and the Ethiopian World Federation seem indicative. When an Ethiopian storm gathers abroad, the real question is where

the thunder claps. I am left in little doubt that had these deeds taken place in more northern latitudes they would have been granted a page or two in the Encyclopaedia. After all, there’s no shortage of historians and published works on them.

Religious entries were up for grabs too, and competition must have been fierce.

Lazarists and other Western missionaries of only limited scope have been far more successful at securing an entry than a few remarkable Ethiopian Orthodox missionaries abroad. This would explain the absence the Abuna Athanasius (born Gebre-Yesus Meshesha) and Abuna Yesehaq (born LaikeMaryam Mandefro). As pioneering representatives of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the Western Hemisphere, they established churches in places as far apart as New York, Bermuda and Guyana. In fairness, their peer is indeed granted an entry in the Encyclopaedia: the highly acclaimed Abuna Samuel (born Gebre-Egziabeher Degu), who almost single-handedly cleared the path for what would ten years later materialize into the Caribbean tour of Emperor Haile-Selassie and the opening of the Medhane Alem Church in Arouca, Trinidad. He pioneered, and championed, the connection between black Africans and the Ethiopian church, promoting a pan-Africanist orientation in his sermons that struck a cord with thousands. He successfully built on that unshakable asso-

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ciation with Ethiopia, as passed on from Marcus Garvey’s UNIA to Malaku Bayen’s EWF and then to the establishment of the Orthodox church in the Americas. It is a pity than none of this is mentioned in the Encyclopaedia. Again I insist: had these events taken place in other continents, I suspect they would have been seen in a more positive light.

As for his successor, the Abuna Yesehaq, he can easily claim to have been one of the most mediatically prolific representatives of the Ethiopian church abroad. If biased is too strong a word, how else do we consider that the likes of Giuseppe Sapeto (an unremarkable Lazarist missionary, amateur diplomat and

part-time traveller with a taste for carnal pleasures) have been granted an entry over these Ethiopian evangelists?

If anything, an entry is deserved for all, whatsoever their reputation and creed.

that Ethiopian fevers from a Caribbean island do not warrant an entry in the EAE, but rather in its West

It is obvious Indian equivalent. that the Encyclopae- They are not altoFor a historically dia Aethiopica is a gether wrong, in the in-looking institution work in progress and same way that Samlike the Ethiopian that these shortcom- uel Johnson belongs Orthodox Tewahedo ings give faith to chiefly to the EncycloChurch, their expanthis very human en- paedia Britannica, but sion in the Americas treprise, where perthat doesn’t invalidate stands as a monufection is an illusion. his claim to the Encymental achievement, But try we must. The clopaedia Aethiopica, and the fact that Encyclopaedia’s hun- either. they managed to dreds of contributors baptize locals in their have already shown Above all, it is a thousands only adds mastery and proficien- question of impartial to their credit. Othcy in their respective consistency: if we er Ethiopian priests entries. In this regard are going to include abroad –in Egypt, it is my sincere deprominent Somalis for instance– have sire that any future with a relation to the also been forgotten, editions will considcore topic of Ethiopia, such as Abdelmeer that West Indian then we include all of sih al-Habashi (born spiritualists fuelled them, not just some.

Gebre-Tsadik), whose by Ethiopian visions The same goes for legacy is such that are part of Ethiopireligious missionaries, a written tribute has an studies –however local or foreign. If the been published by the partial and removed. dilemma is where we Saint Shenouda Coptic There are those who draw the line, then Orthodox Monastery. will disagree, arguing surely it is academi-

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cally more useful to err on the side of generosity. Wherever and in whichever field an Ethiopian left an imprint, they belong to the pages of the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. The same goes for foreigners: if their works involved Ethiopia, they should also be acknowledged.

The 5 volume Encyclopaedia Aethiopica can be ordered from Harrassowitz Verlag Publishing House. http://www1. uni-hamburg.de/EAE/ Gregory Norris September 2014 Harrassowitz Verlag Publishing House. http://www1. uni-hamburg.de/EAE/ Gregory Norris September 2014

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08 | 2014 October 16 - 31

Black History Month Ireland Celebrations 2014 PROJECT PLAN 2014 Theme: Civil Rights: A focus on Ethnic Diversity, Intercultural Education & Development Black History Month (BHM), also known as African History Month (AHM) is an annual event in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland for the remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is used to recognise, learn, honour and celebrate the achievements and contributions of generations of black & African men, women and children in their communities throughout history with a Theme.

The theme of this year’s Black & African History Month celebrations will focus on civil rights, a case of intercultural education and development on Africans. This will focus on literary educational works on Africa in arts, drama, literatures, film making, photography, poets, music media etc.

Over 5o years, Americans have celebrated Black History Month

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men, women and children throughout history.

• Celebrated annually in October as a national project, and officially recognised as a beacon of liber- by the Irish society.

• To heighten the ty and opportunity.

Through centuries of confidence and awarestruggle, and through ness of Irish society in relation to Black & the toil of generAfrican cultural heriations, Blacks and L-R: Imma Ndey, Cllr Mags Murray - mayor Fingal Africans have claimed tage. county council and organizer Zeph Ikeh • To focus on rights long denied. celebrating Africa and During the Black & African history month, Irish culture and heritages together and to we honour men and disseminate positive women at the heart of these celebrations, contributions made to our communities. from patriots who proved that valour Expected Outcomes knows no colour to • BHMI is develdemonstrators who gathered on the fields oping intercultural learning and dialogue of justice and have to harness diversity marched our societies toward a brighter advantage.

Dr. Magnus Amajirionwu today. The time has • Help in developing a cultural and come when black & African history will be social networking with events towards build- holders as a means of ing a strong multicul- learning and unity in so integrated into all other organisations, cultural development tural Ireland. institutions and stakeculture to be studied • BHMI is helping and education. along with every other holders to influence in developing strong in matters affecting culture, hence breakThe project will be cultural exchange Blacks & Africans. ing the stereotypes managed and executrelationship profiles • To develop a seen in the mainstream media of what Pan African communi- through the promotion ed by a team of highly experienced comit meant to be black ty with other stake- of festival of Arts, travel and tours, film mittee on a voluntary holders that shall or African. basis. (Please see apinfluence issues con- making and photography, literary works, pendix on volunteers cerning Africans.

Objectives music, drama, sports CV). This project will • BHMI project is • Black History be coordinated by Mr. Month Ireland (BHMI) employed to manage etc.

Zephrynus Ikeh (aka • BHMI has been racism through sharing is to recognise the Zeph), the initiator stories of civil rights seen as a source of generations of Afriwho is highly experipositive communicato educate next gencans who overcame enced in community adversity to achieve eration of African-Irish tion channel for the and rural developBlack & African-Irish about our history, success in our sociment, innovation and arts, heritage and cul- children, teachers, ety. entrepreneurship. parents, NGOs, the ture.

• To learn, honour and celebrate the • Embrace diversi- community, instituty by positively show- tions, commercial achievements and enterprises and stakecontributions of black casing intercultural

Guests at the Black History month 2014 Launch

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Photo News

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WATER CHARGE METR

Protest against Irish water charges was held in Dublin. Coalition of Groups and Speak thereafter. Capture moments, speeches, inspirational markings on placards and the

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RE PROTEST IN PHOTOS

kers spoke and protested against installation of water metre and payment of charges march proper on AfricaWorld TV. See our Facebook page for video clips and more.

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Ezinne Mama Dora Ugbome Celebrate ‘Iri Ji’

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Ezinne Mama Dora Ugbome celebrate ‘Iri Ji’ with her children in Ireland. See video clips on AfricaWorld TV Facebook page. www.africaworldnewspaper.com

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Dinner with Ambassador Editor, Ukachukwu Okorie and Kim Hwan pose with Nigeria Ambassador Dr. Bolere Ketebu at the Nigeria Residence in Daltry Dublin.

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AFRO-IRSH HIPHOP LAUNCHED IN DUBLIN

Hailuu Netsiyanwa and his friends, music associates and fans gathered for an evening of different rendition of Afro-Irish Hiphop @ the Twisted Pepper. See AfricaWorld TV Facebook page for clips of performances and more.

Bundle of Talent: Hailuu Netsiyanwa

Music

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People

PRIDE OF AFRICA Vera Ojukwu Nnatah

Pretty Vera is a textile artist, and hails from Ohanku village in Ndoki, Ukwa east, Abia state of Nigeria.

She loves making fabric designs, cooking and craft. Vera also loves listening to worship songs and singing. “Textile art is an applied art, other things like craft comes in too, It is versatile�, the pride of Africa said. Vera Ojukwu Nnatah is a member of YOWAMCA (Young Women & Men Creative Association), a non governmental organization in which creativity knows no border.

Beauty and Brains: Vera speaks to the press.

Her craft works below:

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News

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Uganda Star Comedian Celebrate with Hubby

Uganda Comedian Kansiime Anne & hubby Ojok celebrate one year in marriage. Asked if she can fight for her man by an interviewer - “I will go to war for my Ojok”, she replied.

My Interracial marriage-Ivy Ukaga

By Ivy Ukaga What made me feel especially uncomfortable is that, the tone with which they articulated this question, together with their facial expressions, gestures and body language, I knew what they really wanted to say was: with all the disadvantages of marrying a person from an underdeveloped country, why on earth did you build up this kind of relationship in the first place for goodness’ sake?

10 years into this marriage, I have come to agree with such wisdom anyone who has been wearing the same shoes as I do-and, have learned to be wise--would say: interracial marriage is like any other marriage. It must go through hardship and pains. But it surely will work out well like any genuine marriage with both parties in this marriage relationship believing in the importance of their marriage and working hard to make their marriage work.

The day when I made the announcement to my Mom that I wanted to come to Nigeria to marry my Nigerian boyfriend my mom said: “you are

not going there! Yes, you won’t go, over my dead body!” And while I was booking my plane ticket to Nigeria, a group of my school colleagues tried to scare me out of my plan by telling me the “facts” they got from the Internet about some ladies going to Nigeria, like me, planning to marry their Nigerian boyfriends, only ended up with their body organs being cut out for sale….

Was I ever scared? I was, somehow, I have to admit. But a driving force inside me would not allow any cancellation. It was a force, ascertaining me that “I would either build up my future with Dunstan, or I go back to my plan of staying single all my life.”

Why was I so sure, even back then? I grew up and witnessed a society where male children of a family are generally over pampered and as a result, spoilt, to the point of refusing to apply themselves to jobs, but would rather stay at home or go to cyber cafe to play online games or hang out with friends, enjoying having those luxuries which their friends also have, or

showing off whatever their pals don’t have and become their envy.

Right from when I started to know right from wrong. I told myself that I would never fall into the kind of good-for-nothing marriage where the husband is more a burden than help to their women in raising their family. If I ever get into marriage, I secretly made a vow to myself, I must build up my family with someone who is a square family man--responsible, careful with spending and making money, and really know the meaning of love.

The reason that I started my love relationship with Dunstan was that, I didn’t look at him as being a person of difference race, a Nigerian, whose country is far from being rich as my own country, Taiwan.

I looked at him as a man-should-be, a man who is career-conscious, a man of his word, a man that can stand on his own and be responsible for his own actions and behaviors, and a man who is willing to learn and fulfill the meaning of love with a woman who he is sure he loves and who loves him back.

Such is the driving force that pushed me to continue my plan to go to Nigeria to

marry Dunstan.

Ten years have passed, did I ever regret giving up my lucrative teaching job and all the conveniences that I enjoyed having when I was in Taiwan in order to join my husband in Nigeria? I did, so many times that I lost count, especially when I am lost in moments of doubt, when transporting out of where I live simply to buy something which sometimes is not even as expensive as the transport fee, when power and water shortage create so much pressure in everyday life, and when I miss all the well-lit, clean, safe environment, well-paved roads in Taiwan.

But none of the above moments can be as devastating as when I and Dunstan were fighting and having difficulty assuring that love was still there. It took me quite a while to learn that Nigerian men in general are indeed the head of the family, which means that their authority definitely has to be respected and, even held in awe. In Taiwan the father can be like a friend to his kids.

He can play around with his children while maintaining the role of being a father. Kids do not have to say “thank you daddy” or “thank you ma”

or “thank you aunty” after finishing their meal, for example.

In fact, the room for kids (and the mother) in Taiwan to complain about things in the house can be “large” compared to the family in Nigeria. For quite a long time, (probably even till now,) I have to tolerate with what I deem as a fact: that Nigeria is not as democratic as Taiwan.

But it is here that I learn the importance of remaining silent, which I have come to realize to be really like “gold”. The saying “silence is gold” I have been told ever since I was a kid, but it is here in Nigeria, that I really know it is true. Not that I have to repress my ideas or opinions, but that I have learn to wait silently in prayer, for God to answer me.

It is to learn to communicate with God, like my husband has long learned, that is the most important value which backs up our love relationship so well. And I bet this is not something that I could genuinely pick up if my original plan of relocating our family in Taiwan came true. If Nigeria can ever beat up Taiwan, it is because more of them turn to God for help.

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IT news

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Press Release

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IGBO WORLD ASSEMBLY (IWA) ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) COMMUNIQUE 10-02-14

On the 27th September 2014, before the commencement of the 8th Igbo World Assembly Convention at Awka, Anambra State, in the presence of the attendees, IWA conducted their AGM and the following resolutions were agreed as the Communique of the convention: .

1.

Igbo World Assembly Registration in Nigeria.

2.

Igbo World Assembly Nigerian Account to be established.

3.

Igbo World Assembly website to be upgraded.

4.

Igbo World Assembly reaffirms Ohanaeze Ndigbo as the supreme body of Ndigbo Worldwide.

5.

Igbo World Assembly re-affirms their commitment to have the IWA Convention in Nigeria in Collaboration with Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

6.

Igbo World Assembly re-affirms their commitment to be present and support Ohanaeze Ndigbo at every Igbo Day Commemoration.

7.

Igbo World Assembly urges Ndigbo Home and Abroad especially, especially the business community to increase/re-establish the investment interests to Igbo Land.

8.

Igbo World Assembly to further strengthen and working closely with Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

9.

Igbo World Assembly agrees to work/network closely with all organization that has common interest of IWA in achieving the Igbo agenda.

10. Igbo World Assembly agrees to collaborate and co-operate with other ethnic groups in SE, SS, SW & NC particularly the Northern and Southern minority.

11. Igbo World Assembly condemns the installation of Eze Igbo or Igwe of Ndigbo outside Nigeria.

12. Igbo World Assembly re-affirms and endorses the Re-election of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2015 presidential election.

13. Igbo World Assembly agrees to pursue the empowerment of the youth in Igbo land.

14. Igbo World Assembly commends the role Ohanaeze Ndigbo played in the just concluded National Conference 2014.

The just concluded Igbo World Assembly Convention and presence at the AGM were delegates from 37 countries of the Globe.

Signed: Dr. Nwachukwu Anakwenze Chairman Igbo World Assembly(IWA) Chief Oliver Nwankwor Secretary General Igbo World Assembly (IWA) IMPORTANT IWA CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS AND EMAIL ADDRESSES •

Dr Nwachukwu Anakwenze E-mail:nanakwenze@yahoo.com Ph: 310-993-8053/310-544-2711 (USA) IWA Chairman, Ex CISA President Chairman Ohanaeze Diaspora Committee • Chief Christian Onuorah E-mail: enyianam@yahoo.co.uk Ph: +447931268905 (UK) 1st Vice Chairman Igbo World Assembly, Ex CIC Leader • Dr Osadebe Anam Email: oanam@executivecommunication.net Ph: 305-332-9024 Igbo World Assembly 2nd Vice Chairman(USA) Region 1, Ex CISA President • Chief Oliver Nwankwor E-mail: olinwankwor@yahoo.com Ph: +31 622450443 (Netherland) Sec. Gen, Igbo World Assembly (IWA). Current President Ohanaeze Netherland, President of Nigerians in Netherland • Chief Ike Ude-Chime E-mail: udechime@gmail.com Ph: +358 465723922 (Finland) DSG, IWA Igbo Media and Public Relation Institute. Ex-Chairman Igbo Union Finland • Rev Francis Ukwamedua E-mail: Rev_francisukwamedua@yahoo.com PH: 8184193291 (USA) IWA/CISA Chair Board of Trustee

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ASYLUM SYSTEM DIRECT PROVISION (DP) CRISIS CONTINUE IN IRELAND Atlantic House Hostel in Tramore Strike with demands.

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Irish Writers’ Centre 19 Parnell Square N, Dublin, Co. Dublin City 22 November 2014 1pm