በተለይም ደግሞ የሚበዙት የሃይማኖት ድርሰቶቻችንና ሌሎች የምክር፣ የተግሳጽና የጥበብ መጻህፍቶቻችን የተፃፉት የግዕዝ ቋንቋ ስለነበር፣ የአማርኛ ቋንቋ የቤተ መንግስት ቋንቋ ከሆነ በኋላ የሚበዛው የህብረተሰባችን ክፍል እነዚህን መጻህፍት ሊረዳ ቀርቶ እስከ ደርግ ዘመነ መንግስት መባቻ ድረስ የሚበዛው የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ በመሃይምነት ጨለማ ውስጥ የሚማቅቅ ነበር፡፡ ለዚህም ይመስላል የህዝባቸው መሃይምነነትና ድንቁርና ያሳሰባቸው አፄ ቴዎድሮስ ህዝቡ ቅዱሳንን መጻህፍትን በሚረዳው ቋንቋ ማንበብ ይችል ዘንድ መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ በአማርኛ ቋንቋ ተተርጉሞ ለቤተክርስቲያን እንዲሰጥና ካህናቱም ኅብረተሰቡን በማስተማር የበኩላቸውን ድርሻ እንዲወጡ ለማድረግ ሲሉ እንግሊዛውያኑን ሚስዮናውያንና አማካሪዎቻቸውን በመወትወት አፄ ቴዎድሮስ ብዙ ጥረት አድርገው እንደነበር ከታሪክ ድርሳናት ይመሰክራሉ፡፡ ከእሳቸውም በኋላ የነገሱት አፄ ዮሐንስም ለተዋህዶ ሃይማኖት ከነበራቸው ፍቅርና ቅናት የተነሳ ካህናቶቻቸውና ህዝባቸው በመንፈሳዊ እውቀት የበረቱ እንዲሆኑ ብዙ ጥረት ከማድረግ አልፈው ሀገራቸውንና ሃይማኖታቸውን ላለማሰደፈር ክቡር ሕይወታቸውን ጭምር ለመሰዋት ወደኋላ ያሉ ንጉሥ እንዳልነበሩ ታሪካቸው ይመሰክራል፡፡

ከአፄ ዮሐንስም በኋላ ለዘመናት ህዝቡን በማስተማር ታላቁን ሚና የተጫወተቸውን የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋህዶ ቤተክርስቲያንን ትልቅ ኃላፊነት በመጋራት ከቤተክህነቱ ባህላዊ ትምህርት በሻገር ዘመናዊ ትምህርት በአገሪቱ እንዲስፋፋ ትልቁን ሚና በመጫወት ረገድ አፄ ምኒልክ በዋናነት የሚጠቀሱ ንጉስ ናቸው፡፡ ከእሳቸውም በኋላ ኢትዮጵያን ለረጅም ዘመን በንግሥና በመምራት የቆዩት አፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ ይሄን ጅምር ወደላቀ እድገት ደረጃ በማድረስ ትልቅ ሚናን ተጫውተዋል፡፡ በተጨማሪም መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ህዝቡ በሚግባባበት በአማርኛ ቋንቋ በየቤቱ እንዲዳረስና ሀገራቸው ኢትዮጵያም የዓለም የመጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ማህበር አባል እንድትሆን በማድረግ እንዲሁም ዛሬ በብዙዎቻችን እጅ የሚገኘውና የምንጠቀምበት መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ እንዲተረጎም በማድረግ ትልቅ ባለውለታም ናቸው፡፡

ቀዳማዊ አፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ በዓለም አቀፍ ደረጃ ከነበራቸው ትልቅ ተቀባይነትና ክብር የተነሳ ኢትዮጵያን በዓለም አቀፍ ደረጃ የራሷ የሆነ ቋንቋ፣ ባህል፣ ስልጣኔና አኩሪ ታሪክ ያላት ቀደምት የክርስቲያን ሀገር መሆኗን በውጩ ዓለማት ዘንድ በማሳወቅ ረገድ የተሳካለቸው ታላቅ ዲፕሎማት ሰው እንደነበሩ ብዙ የሀገር ውስጥና የውጭ ሀገር ታሪክ ጸሐፊዎች ይስማሙበታል፡፡ እኚህ ንጉስ በሚሄዱበት ሁሉ በኢትዮጵያውያን ሊቃውንት በእጅ የተፃፈ የብራና መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ጥራዝ ለዓለማችን ታላላቅ መሪዎች፣ ፖለቲከኞች፣ የታወቁ ሰዎች፣ ታላላቅ ዩኒቨርስቲዎችና የምርምር ማዕከላት በስጦታ መልኩ ያበረክቱ እንደነበር የታሪክ ጸሐፍት ይናገራሉ፡፡

የአፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴን ዓለም አቀፍ ስብእና፣ የተዋጣላቸው ዲፕሎማትና ከውጭ ሀገራት ጋር የነበራቸውን የዲፕሎማቲክ ግንኙነት በተለይም ደግሞ ከሀገራቸው ከአሜሪካ ጋር የነበራቸውን ወዳጅነትና ጉብኝታቸውን በሚጥም ቋንቋ ‹‹The Lion of Judah in the New World›› በሚል ርዕስ ይህን ድንቅዬ መጽሐፍ ስለንጉሱ በርካታ መረጃዎችን አቅርበውልናል፡፡ የዚህ መጽሐፍ ደራሲ ቲዮደር ኤም ቬስታል በስታንፎርድ ዩኒቨርስቲ ፕሮፌሰር፣ የኦክላህማ ስቴት ዩኒቨርስቲ በፖለቲካ ሳይንስ ኤምሬት ፕሮፌሰር ሲሆኑ በአፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ ዘመነ መንግስት አሜሪካውያን የሰላም ጓዶችን በማስተባበር በሀገራችን በቆዩበት ወቅት ኢትዮጵያንና የኢትዮጵያውያንን ታሪክና የንጉሱን ፖለቲካዊ ሰብእና እንዲሁም ዓለም አቀፍ ግንኙነት በቅርብ ለመረዳት እድሉን አግኝተው ነበር፡፡ ይህ መጽሐፋቸውም የዚሁ የኢትዮጵያ ቆይታቸው አንዱ ገጸ-በረከት ነው፡፡

እኚህ ምሁር ኃይለ ሥላሴ በተለያዩ ጊዜያት በአሜሪካ ያደረጓቸውን ጉብኝቶች በተመለከተ በዚሁ መጽሀፋቸው ብዙ ነገር ይነግሩናል፡፡ ፕሮፌሰር ቬስታል እንደሚነግሩን የመጀመሪያ ጉብኝታቸውን እ.ኤ.አ በ1954 ዓ.ም በፕሬዝዳንት አይዘንሀወር ጋባዥነት የአሜሪካ ጉብኝታቸውን የጀመሩት ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ የኮሎምቢያ ዩኒቨርስቲ ሴኔት በሕግ የክብር ዶክትሬት በሰጣቸው ጊዜ ለዚህ ክብር ያጯቸውን ዩኒቨርስቲውና የዩኒቨርስቲውን ማህበረሰብ ካመሰገኑ በኋላ ለዩኒቨርስቲው ፕሬዝዳንት በእጅ የተፃፈ የብራና የአዲስ ኪዳን መጽሐፍ በታላቅ አክብሮት ማበርከታቸውን ፕሮፌሰር ቬስታል በዚሁ መጽሐፋቸው ይነግሩናል፡፡

በተጨማሪም ንጉሱ እ.ኤ.አ በ1967 ዓ.ም በሦስተኛው የአሜሪካ ጉብኝታቸው የካሊፎረኒያ ዩኒቨርስቲ ቻንስለር ፍራንክሊን ዲ መርፊ አራት ሺ የሚሆኑ ዩኒቨርስቲው ማኅበረስብና ታዋቂ ሰዎችና እንግዶች በተገኙበት ለንጉስ አፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ በሕግ የክብር ዶክትሬት በሰጧቸው ጊዜ ለዚህ ክብር ለዩኒቨርስቲው ቤተ መጻህፍት በግዕዝ ቋንቋ የተጻፉ በርካታ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋህዶ ቤተክርስቲያን የተለያዩ ቅዱሳት መጻህፍትንና በብራና የተፃፉ የአዲስ ኪዳን መጻህፍትን አበርክተዋል፡፡

በሴሜቲክ ቋንቋ ጥናት የተከበሩ ፕሮፌሰር የነበሩትና እንግሊዘኛ አማርኛ መዝገበ ቃላት ያበረከቱልን እውቁ የአማርኛና ግዕዝ ቋንቋ ምሁር ፕሮፌሰር ዎልፍ ልስላው በዚሁ በካሊፎርኒያ ዩኒቨርሰቲ መምህርና የሴሜቲክ ቋንቋ ተመራማሪ በነበሩበት ዓመታት እነዚህን የንጉሱን ስጦታ የሆኑ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ቤተክርስቲያን መጻሕፍትን ለጥናትና ለምርምር እንደተጠቀሙባቸው በሕይወት በነበሩበት ጊዜ ገልጸዋል፡፡

እንዲሁም ከአሜሪካ ፕሬዝዳንቶች መካከል እጅግ ተወዳጅ የነበሩትና በሰው እጅ ሕይወታቸው ያለፈው በጆኔፍ ኬኔዲ ጋባዥነት እ.ኤ.አ በ1963 ዓ.ም አሜሪካን የጎበኙት አፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ በፕሬዝዳንት ጆኔፍ ኬኔዲ በነጩ ሳሎን በተደረገላቸው የክብር ግብዣና የስጦታ ልውውጥ ወቅት እጅግ ያከብሯቸው ለነበሩት ለጆኔፍ ኬኔዲ ካበረከቱላቸው ስጦታዎች መካከል ሁለት መቶ ዓመታት በላይ ያስቆጠረ በግዕዝ ቋንቋ የተፃፈ የብራና መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ጥራዝና የአዲስ ኪዳን መጽሐፍት እንደሚገኙበት ፕሮፌሰር ቬስታል በዚሁ መጽሐፋቸው ይገልጻሉ፡፡

በስድስት ዓመታት ውስጥ ለሁለት ጊዜ Man of the Year የዓመቱ ምርጥ ሰው በማለት የለንዶኑ ታይምስ መጽሔት የመረጣቸው አፄ ኃይለ ስላሴ ከፍ ያለ ሰብእና የነበራቸውና በዓለም አቀፍ ደረጃ እንደ ታላቅ መሪና አባት የሚታዩ የተዋጣለቸው ዲፕሎማቲክ፣ እንዲሁም በዓለማችን ከሚገኙ ታላላቅ መሪዎችና ፖለቲከኞች ዘንድ ትልቅ ከበሬታ የነበራቸው ኢትዮጵያዊ ንጉስ እንደነበሩ ብዙዎች ይመሰክራሉ፡፡ እኚህ ንጉስ በሄዱበት ሁሉ ቅዱሳት መጻህፍትን ከእጃቸው የማይለዩና ልዩ ፍቅርና ከበሬታ ለሚሰጧቸው ወዳጆቻቸው ከሚያበረክቷቸው መጻህፍት መካከል መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ዋንኛው እንደነበር የታሪክ ድርሳናት ያስረዳሉ፡፡

አዎን መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ከስጦታዎች ሁሉ በላይ የሆነ ታላቅ ስጦታ ነው! መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ለዓለማችን ነገሥታትና መሪዎች ህዝባቸውን የሚያስተዳድሩበትን መልካም ጥበብንና ማስተዋልን የሚለግስ ዘመን የማይሽረው ድንቅዬ መጽሐፍ ነው፡፡ ይህ ልዩ ቅዱስ መጽሐፍ በዘመናት ሁሉ እጅግ ተከብሮና ተወዶ የኖረ፣ የብዙዎችንም ልብና ኅሊና በመግዛት ወደር ያልተገኘለት መጽሐፍ ነው፡፡

በዚህ ዘመን ለወዳጆቻችን፣ ለትዳር አጋሮቻችን፣ ለሥራ ባልደረቦቻችን፣ ለምናፈቅራቸውና ለምናከብራቸው ሁሉ የምንሰጠው ክቡርና ወድ ስጦታ ምን ይሆን? የመጻሕፍት ስጦታ ከስጦታዎች ሁሉ በላይ የሆነ ስጦታ ነው፣ የመጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ስጦታ ደግሞ ከሁሉም ስጦታዎች በላይ የሚልቅ የሕይወት ብርሃንና የእውነተኛ ፍቅር ማሳያ ስጦታ ነው፡፡ ይህ ቅዱስ መጽሐፍ የሕይወት መመሪያ መጽሐፍ ነው፤ ስለሆነም ዘወትር በጸሎት ሊነበብና ሊጠና የሚገባው የእውቀትና የጥበብ ምንጭ የሆነ መጽሐፍ ነው፡፡ የአሜሪካ 16ኛው ፕሬዝዳንት የነበሩት አብርሃም ሊንከን መጽሐፍ ቅዱስን ማንበብን አስመልክተው የተናገሩትን ታላቅ ቁምነገር በመጥቀስ የዛሬውን ጹሁፍ በዚሁ እንቋጭ፡-

‹‹መጽሐፍ ቅዱስን በማንበቤ ብዙ አትርፌአለሁ፡፡ እስቲ አንተም በመንፈስና በእምነት ተሞልተህ አንብበው፡፡ በሕይወት ዘመንህ ሁሉ የተሻለ ሰው ሆነህ ትኖራለህ፡፡ እንደተከበርክም ታልፋለህ፡፡››
ቅዱሳት መጻሕፍትን ለመመርመር እንትጋ!

I am honored and humbled to be a White House Champion of Change. I arrived in the United States as an Ethiopian immigrant at the age of 17 and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Now I work as a patent examiner for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Still, one of my most important accomplishments is serving as the president of a dynamic non-profit organization called Wegene Ethiopian Foundation (WEF), which I founded with the help of my friends and family members in the year 2000.

I am extremely grateful for the security, opportunity for education, and better life my adoptive country, the United States, has provided me and my family. I believe it is my privilege and duty to give back to both my birth country and the U.S. in any way I can. As a result, it is especially rewarding to be part of a foundation that provides fundamental change to less fortunate families sustaining themselves at the price of one cup of coffee per day and to make a difference for these families and their communities. This is really the finest sort of empowerment, where we all can be partners and the ownership belongs to our partners who benefit from the program. As a partner of Wegene, I have the opportunity to make a difference at a personal level. This offers me fulfillment and civic satisfaction beyond imagination. Wegene’s vision and strategy is simple because the resources are deliverable and the overhead cost is near to nothing. Additionally, almost everyone involved is donating their time, money, and contacts in kind to this noble work.

Through a sustainable manner, Wegene’s mission is to improve the everyday lives of less fortunate and disadvantaged children and their families in Ethiopia. This mission is based on the philosophy that if hardworking, destitute families are given the opportunity, tools, and resources to improve their lives, they will have a stepping stone to emerge from the poverty cycle and give their children better educational opportunities in order to lead happier, healthier lives. Wegene creates opportunities for families to become self-sufficient through vocational training and small start-up grants.

The overall success of the foundation is primarily reflected in the long-term successes of the families and children it supports. Wegene has supported 28 families (of which 8 families are now self-sufficient) and enrolled over 75 homeless children in schools as a result of local fundraisers, including sales of baked goods, handmade clay figurines, jewelry, crafts, doll designs, and my personal poetry books. Wegene has also successfully recruited hundreds of members to the foundation who pay dues of $10 per month.

All Wegene board members are volunteers who are highly dedicated to the foundation’s mission. A significant portion of the foundation’s success can be attributed to their commitment and hard work. With various educational and professional backgrounds, each board member has been using his or her expertise in marketing, fundraising, management, etc., to contribute to the development and growth of the foundation. These board members have played an essential role in mobilizing Ethiopians in the Diaspora to give back to the homeland. The children of the board members have also established a sub-group called The Wegene Kids Club. The club raises funds through bake sales, movie nights, and crafting. The club also holds different activities to enhance the awareness of the Ethiopian American youth living in the U.S. In addition to helping the disadvantaged families in Ethiopia, the Wegene Kids Club has been involved in feeding and distributing clothing to the homeless in the Washington, D. C. area for the past 3 years.

Visiting a remote village, in Jimma area, of Ethiopia in 2006, I noticed that the only local school had been ruined and abandoned, forcing the area’s children to walk two hours each way to the nearest school. In response, I spearheaded a project to build an elementary school for the area, raising money by running the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D. C. Despite the fact that I was an amateur runner with a demanding schedule of work and raising three children, I joined a boot camp to get in shape, woke up at 5 a.m., and trained daily for 40 weeks. I was able to raise enough money to get the foundation of the school constructed. My efforts inspired others to participate in the 2007 and 2010 Marine Corps Marathon. My commitment to finishing the school continued by organizing other fund raising activities such as soliciting for raffle items, holding fundraiser dinners and Sponsor a Desk programs. Even though it took over four years, we were able to raise enough money to make the school building dream a reality. On February 26, 2011, the elementary school was inaugurated and presented to the local people to run and manage it.

I see our world as a generous place where we truly reach out to others as we move through life. I strongly believe that we each have a humanitarian equity with which we can make a difference. It does not matter if our contribution is large or small; doing what we can to positively affect the life of a single person will provide us with immense gratification. I think our legacy should be how much we gave not how much we made. Wegene poses the challenge of changing our hearts and lives through service by giving to and caring for our fellow neighbors of the world and I am fortunate to be a part of its success.

Nini Legesse is the president of a dynamic non-profit organization called Wegene Ethiopian Foundation (WEF) which she founded with the help of her friends and family members in the year 2000.

The Diaspora as an Intermediary

When I left Ethiopia for the United States at the age of 11, I promised that I would return and give back. What a tremendous honor today to be recognized as a Champion of Change alongside a dynamic group of leaders with roots in the Horn of Africa. For the Diaspora, our engagement in social change is inextricably wedded to our lived experiences and personal connections with Africa. One of the most valuable contributions we can make to our communities is to own and tell our stories in whole, placing our work in the context of our personal narratives.

Since I left Ethiopia, I have traveled to and/or worked in approximately 25 countries throughout Africa. I have lived in both disenfranchised inner city neighborhoods and middle class suburban towns across America. I have attended underfunded ESL programs as well as the most elite Universities. Through these encounters, my sense of identity has also expanded and contracted, occupying multiple “minority” statuses as a black woman, an African among Black Americans, and an Oromo, a historically marginalized ethnic group, among Ethiopians.

As I traversed these complex layers of identities, communities, and places, I grappled with questions about the nature and focus of my contribution. Where is community and home? What is the most appropriate and effective role for me in the US, Ethiopia, and Africa? Where do I add the most value and why?Over the past decade, I explored these questions through different academic and career lenses, working with grassroots, international, multilateral, advocacy, and philanthropic organizations.

What did I learn? Identity is fluid, dynamic, inclusive, and ever-evolving. Home and community are made over time and with experience and mine are found in and between many parts of Africa and North America. As Diaspora Africans, our lived and indigenous knowledge of Africa—coupled with our financial, intellectual, and human capital—gives us a unique perspective and platform in social change. We play critical roles as intermediaries of ideas, people, communities, and institutions that do not or cannot talk to one another.

We are intermediaries of access and opportunity.I spent over five years overseeing the Africa portfolio at The Global Fund for Children (GFC), a public foundation that invests in innovative grassroots organizations that work directly with vulnerable children and youth. Examples of these trailblazing organizations include: Horn Relief, a Somali-led organization, which has addressed environmental and sustainable development issues in the Horn of Africa region since 1991; Nia Foundation, which runs the first school for children with autism in Ethiopia; and Center for Domestic Training and Development, which is working to standardize and professionalize an unregulated domestic work industry in Kenya. In this role, I was able to facilitate access to funding for African organizations that are at the forefront of social change in their communities but limited in their financial reach and networks.

We are intermediaries of culture and representation.When news of the recent famine and drought in the Horn of Africa broke, many of us in the Diaspora cringed immediately at the disparaging ways in which the region was represented. The stories and images in the media often denied subjects their dignity and humanity and focused exclusively on lack and victimhood. In response, we created HornLight.org, an online platform that promotes nuanced, diverse, and dignified narratives on the Horn of Africa.

We are connectors that can transfer and translate knowledge, skills, and resources to and from the continent.The global African Diaspora sends over $40 billion in remittances each year. We are an indispensable stakeholder and partner in African development, though we are not always visible or integrated in conversations around development, philanthropy, and policy. On the other side, throughout Africa, there are a countless number of social change organizations and ventures that are tackling the most pressing challenges in their communities through innovative programming. Although they’re engaged in transformational work, they don’t always have access to resources.

Currently, I am working with a colleague, Zanele Sibanda, to establish an organization that connects the skills and resources of the Diaspora with the knowledge and innovation of Africa-based organizations. Once launched, Africans in the Diaspora (AiD) will provide a platform for the Diaspora community to invest in and volunteer with indigenous social change organizations and ventures, thereby unleashing the Diaspora’s collective intellectual and philanthropic capital to advance sustainable social and economic development in Africa.

What inspired an 11-year old to make a grand statement about giving back? I was leaving behind friends who were eager to receive a better education, relatives who were hungry for work, and a community that wanted sound leadership. With my newfound access and opportunity, I wanted to give back to the very people who gave to me. After all, development is personal.

Solome Lemma is a philanthropist, activist, and organizer and co-founder of HornLight. She currently serves as a grantmaking program advisor at The Global Fund for Children (GFC).

Use of the Telnet-only binary (PuTTYtel) is unrestricted by any cryptography laws.

Fundraising, fund raising, fund-raising, fundraiser, fund raiser, or fund-raiser? No matter how you spell it, this is the place to begin (and end) your search for fundraising ideas that are new, fun and profitable! We know that raising funds to support your programs and special projects is time consuming and hard work regardless of the size of your group or its interests. We try to make your fundraising efforts a little easier by providing a wide variety of fundraising ideas. One of them may be perfect for your next fundraiser.

I would generally advise against mimicking the look of another company that also shares the same name. Copyright is one thing, confusing people (as to what’s separate companies and what’s supposed to belong together) is another.

Ideology and Elite Conflicts: Autopsy of the Ethiopian Revolution is the best and most thorough analysis of the causes and implications of the Ethiopian Revolution to date, Theodore M. Vestal, professor emeritus of political science at Oklahoma State University, is quoted as saying on the website.

“Messay Kebede has written an enormously important book. He definitively places the Ethiopian revolution as one of the 20th century’s ‘great revolutions,’ on par with the Russian or Chinese in terms of scope of transformation,” said Terrence Lyons, co-director of the Center for Global Studies at George Mason University. “Everyone interested in contemporary Ethiopia or comparative revolutions will benefit from this book,” read the bulletin.

“There are books, and then there are Books. Messay Kebede has written a Book,” said Donald Dunham, a University of California-Davis anthropology professor and editor of American Ethnologist. “With sustained analytical brilliance, he demonstrates how understanding Ethiopia contributes to the understanding of the world. Ideology and Elite Conflicts represents a major achievement in combining comparative history with political and cultural analysis, all set within a philosophical frame.”

The notes on the back cover explains, Ideology and Elite Conflicts provides a theoretical explanation of the major outcomes of Ethiopia’s social revolution, namely the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and the implementation of a far-reaching Marxist-Leninist revolution by a military committee (the Deg) and its collapse in 1991. “Messay Kebede extensively discusses the question of whether existing theories of revolution shed light on the eruption of a radical revolution in Ethiopia and, most of all, whether they can accommodate the major anomaly of a socialist revolution being executed by a military committee that radicalized after the removal of the imperial regime,” it reads. Hence the central theses of the book: both the overthrow monarchial order and the radicalization of the Derg must be tied to social conditions that exacerbated elite conflicts for scarce resources, with the consequence that the espousal of radical ideologies (socialism and ethnonationalism) became the soul avenue for the exclusive control of state power, it was stated.

In 2009, Ethiopia’s largest newspaper, Addis Neger, named Messay among the 25 most-influential living Ethiopians for his studies and writing on the nation’s sociopolitical and cultural issues.

Messay taught at Addis Ababa University for 15 years before political turmoil landed him in jail for five months. He left the country in 1994 and joined the University of Dayton’s philosophy department in 1998, wrote the webpage.