Couple from Ethiopia begin new life in Dubuque

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — In a tiny, tidy Main Street apartment in Dubuque, the joy is palpable.

Argaw Oremo is living the American dream, and now, he can share it with his wife. Oremo and Workensh Egoye grin and giggle like newlyweds, which, in a way, they are.

In their four years of marriage, they have lived together for only a few months. Sitting on a curving couch together in a room brightened by colorful African accents, the two chatted about the next chapter of their lives.

The Telegraph Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1htBOPE ) Oremo and Egoye arrived in the U.S. last week from their homeland of Ethiopia, where the temperature was 85 degrees. Oremo hopes his wife's journey to U.S. citizenship will be easier than his own. After all, he can help her now that he understands the process.
Six years ago, Oremo's name was drawn from the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, or the "Green Card Lottery," which randomly picks names from a pool of millions of applicants from countries with low immigration rates. His parents sold their thatched-roof house to raise money for him to come to the U.S. He arrived in Dubuque jobless and penniless and lived in a homeless shelter for a year. To learn English, he signed up for classes at Presentation Lantern Center. There, he met tutor Don Koppes, who took Oremo under his wing.

A Calculation: The 'Orphan Crisis' in Ethiopia

A Unicef report states that in Ethiopia there are at this moment 4.5 million orphans on a population of some 90 million. The 4.5 million means that 5 percent of the total population is an orphan. Orphans are in Ethiopia defined as children under 18 whose both parents died. They died of AIDS, untreated illnesses, hunger, draught and war.

Ethiopia is one example of the many countries where a newly formed US Foreign Affairs agency will work if the Children in Families First (CHIFF) legislation is passed in congress. The law aims to connect these orphans through family reunification, domestic, kinship or inter country adoption. A great idea, because it stresses the importance of child welfare in dealing with what is called the world orphan crisis.

L.A. Marathon winner Amane Gobena of Ethiopia is prize-possessed

Intent on winning not just women's race but also gender challenge bonus, she does both to earn $75,000. Countryman Gebo Burka is men's winner.


Amane Gobena glanced over her shoulder several times as she approached the final stretch of Sunday's L.A. Marathon.

Gobena, of Ethiopia, wanted to make sure that no one could threaten her shot at a $75,000 payday.

She had no need to worry.

Gobena won the women's race in 2 hours 27 minutes 37 seconds to earn $25,000.

Countryman Gebo Burka won the men's race in 2:10:37, but his time was not fast enough to overcome the 17-minute 41-second head start afforded the women as part of the event's $50,000 gender challenge.

Gobena crossed the finish line 41 seconds ahead of Burka to collect the bonus.

"I'm building a house," Gobena said through an interpreter, "and definitely that house will be paid off."

It was the second time in the 29-year history of the L.A. Marathon that Ethiopians swept the men's and women's races. In 2011, Markos Geneti won the men's race, Buzunesh Deba the women's.

Unilever Plans Ethiopia Manufacturing Plant as Growth Surges

Unilever (UNA), the world’s second-biggest consumer-products maker, plans to open a manufacturing plant in Ethiopia during the next year in a bid to emulate its expansion into Vietnam, a company official said.

The London- and Rotterdam-based company is renting premises for a plant in the Chinese-built Eastern Industry Zone in Dukem, 31 kilometers (19 miles) southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, Dougie Brew, head of corporate affairs in Africa, said in a phone interview on March 4. Unilever, which already imports Knorr stock cubes and Omo detergent into Ethiopia, may initially make fabric-cleaning soaps before moving into food, he said from London.

“The plans are ambitious for Ethiopia because we see it as a growing market,” Brew said. “We’ve taken a long-term investment decision in Ethiopia because of the demography, broad-based growth and opportunity to create a genuinely inclusive and sustainable business model from scratch.”

የ40/60 ቤቶች ዲዛይን ተለወጠ

መንግሥት የዜጐችን የመኖሪያ ቤት እጥረት ለመቅረፍ ከጀመራቸው ፕሮግራሞች አንዱ የሆነው የ40/60 ቤቶች ፕሮግራም የቤት ዲዛይን ተለወጠ፡፡

የኢትዮጵያ ንግድ ባንክ የ40/60 ቤቶች ፕሮግራም ምዝገባ ካካሄደ በኋላ የቤቶች ዲዛይን እንዲከለስ ተወስኖ ነበር፡፡ ለ40/60 ቤቶች የተሠሩት አዳዲሶቹ ዲዛይኖች ከፍታቸው ከ18 እስከ 24 ፎቅ ይደርሳል፡፡ የቀድሞው ዲዛይን ባለ 12 ፎቅ ሲሆን ግንባታቸው በተጀመሩ ቦታዎች ይኼው ዲዛይን ይቀጥላል ተብሏል፡፡

የአዲስ አበባ ከተማ አስተዳደር ኮሙዩኒኬሽን ጉዳዮች ቢሮ ባወጣው መግለጫ፣ አዳዲሶቹ ዲዛይኖች በየደረጃው ለአስተያየት ይቀርባሉ፡፡ ይህ የቅድመ ዝግጅት ሥራ እንደተጠናቀቀ አዳዲሶቹ ዲዛይኖች ተግባራዊ እንደሚደረጉ ታውቋል፡፡

የኢትዮጵያ ንግድ ባንክ ለ40/60 ቤቶች ፕሮግራም ባካሄደው ምዝገባ 164 ሺሕ ነዋሪዎች ተመዝግበዋል፡፡ ከዚህ ውስጥ ሰባት ሺሕ ተመዝጋቢዎች ባለአንድ መኝታ፣ 72 ሺሕ ተመዝጋቢዎች ባለሁለት መኝታ፣ 85 ሺሕ ተመዝጋቢዎች ባለሦስት መኝታ መኖሪያ ቤት ለማግኘት ተመዝግበዋል፡፡

መንግሥት ለቀድሞው ፕሬዚዳንት ግርማ ወልደ ጊዮርጊስ መኖርያ ቤት ሊገነባ ነው

መንግሥት ለተሰናባቹ ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ ግርማ ወልደ ጊዮርጊስ መኖርያ ቤት እንዲገነባላቸው ውሳኔ አሳለፈ፡፡ የቀድሞውን ፕሬዚዳንት መኖርያ ቤት የመገንባቱን ኃላፊነት የመንግሥት ቤቶች ኤጀንሲ ተረክቧል፡፡

የመንግሥት ቤቶች ኤጀንሲ የቀድሞውን ፕሬዚዳንት መኖርያ ቤት በንፋሰ ስልክ ላፍቶ ክፍለ ከተማ በተለምዶ ሦስት ቁጥር ማዞሪያ አካባቢ ለመገንባት መዘጋጀቱን ምንጮች ገልጸዋል፡፡

ኤጀንሲው የራሱ ይዞታ የሆነ ቪላ ቤት አፍርሶ ለአቶ ግርማ እንደሚመች አድርጎ ለመገንባት ዲዛይኑን ለማሠራት ዝግጅት እያደረገ መሆኑ ታውቋል፡፡ የመኖርያ ቤቱን ግንባታም ለግል ሥራ ተቋራጭ እንደሚሰጥ ታውቋል፡፡

በአምስት ሺሕ ካሬ ሜትር ቦታ ላይ ያርፋል ተብሎ የሚጠበቀው የአቶ ግርማ የወደፊት መኖርያ ቤት፣ ሁሉንም ዓይነት አገልግሎቶች መስጫ እንዲኖረው ተደርጎ ይገነባል ሲሉ ምንጮች ገልጸዋል፡፡

‹‹በገጠመኝ ችግር ምክንያት አዕምሮዬ በቀላሉ ያገግማል ብዬ አላስብም›› ወ/ሮ ዘነቡ ታደሰ፣ የሴቶች፣ ሕፃናትና ወጣቶች ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር

ባለፈው ሳምንት በትዊተር ገጻቸው የኡጋንዳ መንግሥት በቅርቡ በፀረ ግብረ ሰዶማዊነት ላይ ያወጣውን ጠንካራ ሕግ የሚፃረር መልዕክት የሰፈረባቸው የሴቶች፣ ሕፃናትና ወጣቶች ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር ወ/ሮ ዘነቡ ታደሰ፣ ሰሞኑን ከዋልታ ጋር ባደረጉት ቃለ ምልልስ በጣም መጐዳታቸውን አስታወቁ፡፡ በቀላሉ አዕምሮአቸው እንደማያገግም ተናግረዋል፡፡

ሚኒስትሯ በትዊተር ገጻቸው ላይ የሠፈረው መልዕክት ከመጡበት ማኅበረሰብና ከዕምነታቸው አንፃር እሳቸውን ፈጽሞ የማይገልጽ መሆኑን አስታውቀው፣ የተፈጸመው ድርጊት ሰብዕናቸውን መንካቱን ገልጸዋል፡፡ ‹‹ከኑሮዬ፣ ከባህሌ፣ ከአስተዳደጌና ከሥራዬ አንፃር የሰፈረው መልዕክት አይገልጸኝም፤›› ብለዋል፡፡

ተጠለፈ በተባለው የትዊተር ገጽ ላይ የሠፈረው መልዕክት ፈጽሞ የእሳቸውንና የመንግሥትን አቋም እንደማይወክል አስረድተው፣ ‹‹ዘነብ በግል ብቻዋን አትታይም፡፡ እንደ መንግሥት ነው የምትታየው፡፡ አገርን ወክዬ ነው ያለሁት፡፡ የሴቶች፣ ሕፃናትና ወጣቶችን ጉዳይ ነው ይዤ ያለሁት፡፡ ሕገ መንግሥቱ ላይ በግልጽ ተቀምጧል፡፡ የወንጀለኞች መቅጫ ሕግ ላይ በግልጽ ተቀምጧል፡፡ ስለዚህ እንደ መንግሥትም ሆነ በግል አቋማችን አይደለም፡፡ በመሆኑም ሰብዕናንና ሞራልን የሚፈታተን ነው፡፡ ሰብዕናዬ በእጅጉ ተነክቷል፡፡ በተፈጠረው ነገር ከልብ ነው ያዘንኩት፤›› ሲሉ አስረድተዋል፡፡

ወ/ሮ ዘነቡ ግብረ ሰዶማዊነትን በተመለከተ ግልጽ አቋም እንዳላቸው ሲያብራሩ፣ እ.ኤ.አ. በ2013 በ57ኛው ‹‹ኮሚሽን ስታተስ ኦፍ ውሜን›› የተባበሩት መንግሥታት ድርጅት ስብሰባ ላይ ተገኝተው የአፍሪካንና የአገራቸውን አቋም በግልጽ ማንፀባረቃቸውን አውስተዋል፡፡ አሁንም በዚህ ጉዳይ ላይ የፀና አቋም እንዳላቸው ገልጸው፣ ተጠለፈ በተባለው የትዊተር ገጻቸው ላይ የሠፈረው በጭራሽ የእሳቸውን አቋም የማያንፀባርቅ፣ ይልቁንም በእሳቸውና በቤተሰቦቻቸው ላይ ከፍተኛ ማኅበራዊ ጫና ያሳደረ አሳዛኝ ድርጊት መሆኑን አስታውቀዋል፡፡