19 Feb Black History Month – Learning about Ethiopia
In honor of Black History Month we decided to share our trip to Ethiopia in discussion format with the students of FHC and members of the community. We invited Darye Henry, CTO of Developer Town, Founder of After School HQ and son of our founder Aster Bekele to facilitate our discussion.
One of our youth leaders Terrence films the event for us.
Darye started by asking the students: What comes to your mind when you think of Ethiopia?
Some of the students answered:
Strong culture
Poverty
Handmade items, jewelry
Music – drums
With all of those answers in mind Darye enlightened the students about what Ethiopia was like first hand. We talked about the rich history of Ethiopia specifically as being orthodox christian since the 4th century B.C. and how their faith manifests itself in all aspects of life such as clothing, food and cultural traditions.
As we shared pictures of our experiences visiting the Nile, monasteries, museums and churches, Darye made a point to focus on the line of the kings of Ethiopia.
Darye asked: Why is history important?
Some of the students answered:
History repeats itself
Know what people think and how people evolved
It helps to paint out your path. Helps you define where you want to go.
Darye shared that people in Ethiopia are very humble and very proud at the same time. This characteristic comes from knowing your history and being rooted. Having confidence in moving forward. When you know who you are people can’t knock you down. They can’t just say something define who you are.
Darye concluded with emphasizing the major accomplishments of each King of Ethiopia and how each king afterwards built on the accomplishments of the previous king. In the same way our job is to figure out what we want to focus on in this life and move the ball forward for the next generation.
Aster Bekele at the National Museum visiting Lucy the oldest hominid discovered ever.
Visiting Haile Selasse’s church in Addis Ababa
Falls on the Nile River
Aster visiting the orphanage that FHC sponsors in Addis Ababa
Celebrating Christmas at Lalebala in Northern Ethiopia
King Fasil’s castle in Gondor Ethiopia
