Worancha ወራንቻ

Welcome back to our final installment of features from Ashton Goggans of  Sightglass Coffee , an independent roastery in San Francisco, about the company’s ongoing sourcing trips around Africa. There’s a lot of crazy shit that happens in order to get high-quality beans back into the States, so the next time you start bitching about your overpriced cup of java, check back in on this ongoing series to get an insider’s perspective about what it takes to source some of the best coffee in the world. We spent the next three days much the same way : staring at vast stretches of land through car windows. Packs of children threw fruit at our truck as we passed. They laughed hysterically, then shoved each other onto the ground. African wheat hung limp and heavy with morning dew all along the roadside. Droves of cattle clogged the streets and parted reluctantly. Men and women on the side of the road held bags of potatoes and corn out for sale. In rural villages, they wove wicker baskets and

3-D view of Bereket Tesfaye’s designs for the terminal of Hawassa airport which has facilities of VIP lounge, restaurant, roof terrace, kitchen, security check points and baggage make-up Over the next 30 days, the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise (EAE) will be looking for potential bidders to build the Hawassa Airport, with the design now complete. The bid document, which will be available from tomorrow, is based on an airfield design by the state owned consulting firm Transport Construction Design Enterprise (TCDE) and a terminal design by private consulting firm, Bereket Tesfaye Consulting Architects and Engineering, according to Wondeme Teklu, the enterprise’s communications head. The airport in the tourist city – 275kms south of Addis Abeba and the capital of the southern regional state – will be the 19th airport to  Ethiopia. The TCDE’s design for the airfield was completed last week, while the Enterprise is already considering three designs for the terminal. The TCDE has

By RENÉ LEFORT It may be that, in Ethiopia, history is so powerful that the past permeates the present, and it repeats itself. In this case, what we see today is simply another interregnum between two powerful men. “ Can you tell me who is in charge in the government?” , asks Tamrat Gebregiorgis, publisher of the reference weekly  Addis   Fortune , at the latest of the regular press conferences held by Prime Minister Hailmariam Dessalegn. He replies by first underlining the efforts being made to remedy a few small defects like corruption, then rounds off with a joke: the answer is probably in your “ gossip columns ”. The effrontery of the question was staggering. It would have been inconceivable during the reign of previous Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who died in August 2012. It would also have been groundless: he held sole sway at the summit of the Party/State pyramid. On the tier below, the key figures of the TPLF (Tigrean People’s Liberation Front) were in command, includin

    Development challenges in the age of climate change:the case of Sidama *   By Seyoum Yunkura Hameso † Abstract Today, developing countries face distinctive challenges of development such as to poverty reduction, growth and economic development. The growing concern with climatechange presents additional challenges and opportunities to these countries. The paper explores development possibilities/challenges in the age of climate change on the basis of selected review of the literature on mainstreaming climate change to development. Thethemes under discussion relate to on-going empirical research on vulnerability andadaptions to climate change in Ethiopia, the case of smallholder farmers in Sidama.  Read more @ http://www.scribd.com/doc/137042703/Seyoum-Climate-Change-Sidama 

በሲዳማ ቡና ስያሜ ላይ SPRUDGE COFFEE NEWS & CULTURE  ለተነሳው ክርክር የተሰጠ ምርጥ ምላሽ፦ Our favorite name in coffee commentary, Wondwossen Mezlekia, has recently weighed in with a fascinating contribution over on the Coffeed forums. Noted coffee gadabout Nick Cho posed a simple question: ''Sidamo or Sidama?'' የምንጭ ኮፊድ ዶትኮም When I shop, I ask for a bag of "Sidamo coffee" because that is how it is branded, notwithstanding the ongoing debate over the political history of the names. I recently read about the history behind the two terms and the complexity of the issue. The political side of this question is discussed here:  http://www.sidamaconcern.com/news2007/0810071.htm My understanding has always been that "Sidamo" is the name of the region inhabited by the Sidama people. Further, I used to think that "Sidamo coffee" was named after the region where it is grown much like Harar coffee, Yirgacheffe coffee. Apparently, this is not the case, a