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I just looked up Ethiopia on Wikipedia and thought it was a great, comprehensive source of information on my second favorite country! I recommend reading this link when you have some time on your hands.
This Thursday is celebrated as “Downfall of the Dergue” in Ethiopia. This is the youngest holiday in Ethiopia. The Dergue ruled Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. They were a communist government that overthrew the last of the Ethiopian Emperors. That time in Ethiopia was filled with famine, droughts and genocides. The Soviet Union stopped sending aid to the Dergue regime in 1990 and in 1991 the communist government fell. The first democratic elections were held in 1995 and are still under suspicion. The current leaders are: President, Girma Woldegiorgis and Prime minister,Meles Zenawi. The next set of elections are set for June 2010. A recent coup attempt is still making headlines.
This is a very brief outline, so please read up on the above link!
As I have mentioned before it is helpful to know some Ethiopian history to understand how and why Ethiopia is in need of help and is open to International Adoption. It is so important for us, as adoptive parents, to embrace our child’s homeland and know some history to help them deal with the life changes they have had to go through.
Ethiopian time can be seen on the following link to the Ethiopian Embassy in D.C.
Ethiopian Calendar Converter. Remember in the West we use the Gregorian Calendar and Ethiopia’s calendar is seven years behind us using the Coptic calendar. We traveled in 2008 and that was the year 2000 for them. Our tour bus had the following logo,”Be seven years younger in Ethiopia!”
An Amharic pronunciation guide.
Please share with us how you plan on celebrating this holiday? I encourage you to try and make some injera if you have not before. The kids will love that you tried, even if it doesn’t turn out quite like they are used to!
