Ethiopia woman tells of sex slavery in Saudi Arabia

ADDIS ABABA: An Ethiopia woman revealed that she was the victim of sex slavery after she attempted to find work as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia.

For H, who asked that her identity remain anonymous, her ordeal began after she took a boat to Yemen, where after two months she was able to cross into Saudi Arabia and was hired by what she told Bikyamasr.com was a “nice couple” for a “decent salary.”

But that is when her horrific experience began. She continues to look down at her hands, ever moving, as she retells what she was forced to endure at the hands of her Saudi bosses.

“I don’t think the wife knew anything that was going on,” she is quick to point out. “But if she did hear my screams and did nothing, I hope she doesn’t sleep well.”

After three weeks of relative calm, H was finding life in southern Saudi Arabia comfortable and she was hoping that much of her first paycheck would be sent back to her family in Addis Ababa. Instead, no money came.

In East Africa, bag the safaris and head for the cities

By Bert Archer,

Don’t carry any valuables when you walk the city streets. Leave your wallet in your hotel room. And watch out for pickpockets and scammers; they’re everywhere.

Such were the endless warnings I’d heard before setting out on a recent trip to Africa with my boyfriend, Ryan. And now, sitting in a thatch-roofed, grass-walled building in Addis Ababa, drinking peanut tea with Danny and William, two locals who’d approached us as we strolled through the city on our first night in town, they were coming back at me with a vengeance.
Details, Ethiopia and Tanzania

As William talked about how his mother would always make him some of the tea, known as lowse chai, whenever he was sick, I suddenly realized that we were smack in the middle of a classic Addis Ababa scam scenario that I’d seen several times online while preparing for the trip. Two or three young men approach you, act friendly, walk and talk and lead you into a bar or cafe, where you buy them a couple of drinks and then get dinged with an outrageous bill that you’re threatened with violence into paying.

The tea was good, though — it’s just peanut butter and hot water — and filling enough to make up for the breakfast I’d missed that morning. So I asked for the bill and waited for the hammer to fall.

The charge came to 36 birr — roughly $2.

Zambia and Their Manager Herve Renard concerned by Ethiopian striker Saladin Said

CHIPOLOPOLO coach Herve Renard says Zambia needs to be wary of the threat posed by Ethiopian striker, Saladin Said when the two sides clash in the opening 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group C match.

And the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has announced that Southampton striker, Emmanuel Mayuka is expected to be the last player to join Zambia’s pre-2013 Africa Cup camp in January.

FAZ spokesperson, Erick Mwanza said the association was expecting almost a full house after December 26 when the Chipolopolo head to South Africa for pre-AFCON camping.

Nile Water Not Helping Farmers, Report Says

ANALYSIS

The Nile Basin has enough water for agriculture but water management policies in its 11 countries risk locking out small-scale farmers, a new research has found out.

The research, which has been published in a new book, The Nile River Basin: Water, Agriculture, Governance and Livelihoods, calls on governments to invest in agricultural water management initiatives like irrigation and rain water harvesting to help small-scale farmers grow food throughout the year.

"Agriculture, the economic bedrock of all eleven Nile countries and the most important source of income for the majority of the region's people, is under increased pressure to feed the basin's burgeoning population--already 180 million people, half of which live below the poverty line," the book says.

Climate change threatens sweet smell of morning coffee

“The extinction of arabica coffee is a startling and worrying prospect,” said Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, who led the study (photograph by jirisykora83, Fotolia.com).

LONDON – Rising temperatures due to climate change could mean wild arabica coffee is extinct in 70 years, posing a risk to the genetic sustainability of one of the world’s basic commodities, scientists said.

Although commercial coffee growers would still be able to cultivate crops in plantations designed with the right conditions, experts say the loss of wild arabica, which has greater genetic diversity, would make it harder for plantations to survive long-term and beat threats like pests and disease.

A study by researchers at Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in collaboration with scientists in Ethiopia found that 38 to 99.7 per cent of the areas suitable for wild arabica will disappear by 2080 if predictions of rising temperatures pan out.

Ethiopian immigrant Battered wife found not guilty of attempted murder after stabbbing husband

A Fort St. John woman who repeatedly stabbed her husband after suffering from battered-wife syndrome was Thursday found not guilty of attempted murder.

Ayelech Ejigu, 42, who faces a separate charge that she murdered a community worker in Burnaby, was also acquitted of the aggravated assault and use of a weapon in the assault of her husband, Yadeta Kareba.

In reasons for judgment, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elliott Myers concluded that Ejigu was acting in self-defence during the incident involving Kareba at the family home in June 2010.

Samuel Yirga Ushers In A Golden Age Of Ethiopian Music

Samuel Yirga plays Ethiopian standards with a voracious talent that helps him savor each musical flavor.

Ethiopia enjoys a rich tradition of enticing music, filled with asymmetric rhythms set to a haunting, five-note scale and sly double-entendre lyrics in the Amharic language. It's a shame that, for Western listeners, a full, clear picture of Ethiopian music has been elusive.