Posts

Report to the City of Hawassa on Street Women and Children

Image
Report to the City of Hawassa on Street Women and Children Martha A. Nathan MD Fulbright Specialist, Hawassa University Referral Hospital Assistant Professor of Medicine, Tufts University Baystate Campus    To: Mayor, Hawassa, Ethiopia and City Committee on Street People From: Martha Nathan MD Re: Preliminary report on Study of Hawassan Street Women and Children Date: May 24, 2012 Subject: Street Women and Children Preliminary Report This brief preliminary report summarizes my investigation of 19 street women and 26 children that I conducted from April to June in Hawassa town. I am a visiting physician acting as senior staff at the Referral Hospital Internal Medicine Department at Hawassa University since October 2011, teaching medical students and interns. My husband is a professor of anthropology in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the university. We are both United States Fulbright Scholars. We have collaborated on anthropological researc

Performance Evaluation and Situation Analysis of Stabilization Ponds: The Case for Hawassa University Referral Hospital Waste Stablization Pond; SNNPRS, Ethiopia

Image
This book presents a report on a study conducted in a wastewater treatment plant at Hawassa University Referral Hospital. It aims at reviewing the design, configuration, effectiveness & quality of effluent discharged into lake Hawassa. The concern was to ensure full protection of lake hawassa. Hawassa City is one of the largest tourist attraction cities in Ethiopia where the lake is used as the heart of the the city's tourism industry in the form of recreation, fishing and many other public uses by villages located downstream. The study pointed out an overall acceptable treatment potential of the system for organic fraction of wastes, however its performance for heavy metals and nutrients was inadequate. The book also tries to link the potential problems to medicinal products, by-products and hormones which might have very serious effects to the lake ecosystem, though this part remains uninvestigated. In addition to this the treatment pond has been suffering from poor mainte

''The Sidama Lunar New Year, Fichchee, is an Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of Urgent Safeguarding'' Dr. Wolassa

Image
Fichchee is a valuable and unique cultural heritage of the Sidama society, of Ethiopia, of Africa and the world. As provided in UNESCO's 2003 Convention on Intangible Cultural Assets, Fichchee, qualifies to be inscribed in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. As such it must be recognized and protected as national and world heritage. The Ethiopian government has indicated that it would send a request to UNESCO to register Fichchee and Meskel as two cultural world heritages in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, the onus is on the Sidama administration to take the lead to make sure that Fichchee is first recognized in the country as the national heritage and then proper documentation has been prepared by the Government of Ethiopia to submit to UNESCO to justify the demand for global recognition and protection. The Sidama people both at home and in Diaspora wish to express their support to the current movement in Ethiopia to ensure the international reco

Call For The Sidama Lunar New Year, Fichchee, To Be Recognized as The UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

Image
Dr.   Wolassa L. Kumo   1.  Background The Sidama people live in  South Ethiopia . They belong to the indigenous African Kushitic (also written as Cushitic) group of peoples that have inhabited north eastern Africa stretching from the current Southern Egypt and northern Sudan to Ethiopia, Northern Kenya and Tanzania for the past 7000 years. The Kushitic peoples living in various parts of north east Africa today include: the Beja in northern Sudan and Egypt, the Saho in Eritrea, the Sidama, Oromo, Agaw, Afar, Somali, Hadiya, and many others in Ethiopia, and the Rendile and the Sakuye in Kenya and parts of Tanzania. The Alaba, Xambaro and Qewena people who currently live in Kambata and Gurage administrative sub regions in Southern Ethiopia belong to the ethnic Sidama people. They had migrated from the current  Sidamaland  during the medieval period for search of better economic opportunities, particularly grazing land. Studies  indicate that the Kushitic peoples of north east Africa

ሥልጣን ማገልገያ እንጂ መገልገያ አይደለም

Image
የቀድሞ የአሜሪካ ፕሬዚዳንት የነበሩት ጆን ኦፍ ኬኔዲ ባንድ ወቅት እንዲህ ብለው ነበር፡፡ ‹‹መጠየቅ ያለብህ አገሬ ለእኔ ምን ሠራችልኝ ብለህ ሳይሆን እኔ ለአገሬ ምን ላደርግ እችላለሁ ብለህ መሆን አለበት፡፡›› ይህ የፕሬዚዳንቱ ንግግር በመላው ዓለማችን በበርካቶች የሚታወቅና ጥልቅ መልዕክት የያዘ ነው፡፡ ዛሬ የፕሬዚዳንት ኬኔዲን ንግግር ያነሳነው ስለእሳቸው ለማውራት ሳይሆን፣ ከዚህ ታዋቂ ንግግራቸው ጀርባ ያለውን ቁም ነገር ለመዳሰስ በማሰብ ነው፡፡ በርካቶች በሕይወት ዘመናቸው እንዲኖሩዋቸው ከሚፈልጉዋቸው ነገሮች መካከል አንደኛው ሥልጣን ነው፡፡ ሆኖም ግን በርካታ ሰዎች ሥልጣንን የሚፈልጉት በሥልጣን ውስጥ ያሉ ጥቅሞችን ለማግኘት ካላቸው ክፉኛ መሻት ነው እንጂ፣ በእውነት ሥልጣንን በሚገባ ተረድተውት ነው ለማለት ያስቸግራል፡፡ ምንም እንኳን ሥልጣን ይዞ የሚያመጣቸው በርካታ ጥቅሞች ቢኖሩትም፣ ዋነኛ ዓላማው ከዚያ የዘለለ ነው፡፡  ሥልጣን አንድን ነገር ለመግዛት የሚያገለግል ኃይል ቢሆንም፣ ትክክለኛው ትርጓሜው ግን ተገቢ የሆነ ተፅዕኖን በማሳደር ነገሮችን በሥርዓት ለማስጓዝ የሚጠቅም ዘዴ ነው፡፡ ታዲያ ዛሬ የምናነሳው ጉዳይ በአገራችን በርካቶች ሥልጣንን የሚጠቀሙት ከምን አንፃር መሆኑን ለመፈተሽ ነው፡፡ በርካቶች የሥልጣንን ትክክለኛ ትርጓሜ ካለማወቅ የተነሳ በአገር እንዲሁም በሕዝብ ላይ ከፍተኛ ጉዳት እያደረሱ ነው፡፡ በመሆኑም ይህ ጉዳይ በጊዜው ሃይ ካልተባለ፣ ለባሰ ችግር ማጋለጡ አይቀሬ መሆኑ ሊታሰብበት ይገባል፡፡  በአገራችን ያሉ አንዳንድ ባለሥልጣናትም ስለሥልጣን ምንነት ትክክለኛ ዕውቀት ስለሌላቸው ይህ ነው የማይባል ኪሳራ እያደረሱ ይገኛሉ፡፡ የመንግሥት ባለሥልጣናት ሲሾሙ ልዩ ትኩረት የሚሰጡት በሥልጣን አማካይነት ስለሚገኘው ቤት፣