PRESS RELEASE

EthioIndex to webcast a LIVE Internet audio call-in discussion in Amharic "Status & Performance of Ethiopian Community Associations in North America"

August 18, 2003 (EthioIndex.com) EthioIndex is proud to announce an upcoming webcast titled "Status and Development of the Ethiopian Community Association in North America" to be held Sunday August 24, 2003 at 3 PM Eastern Time (GMT – 4 Hours). The webcast will be transmitted live at http://www.ethioindex.com.

As immigrant communities develop across the Diaspora the need for providing services becomes more important than ever.  In recent decades, the number of Ethiopians living in North America has been on the rise.  Few come with skills necessary to compete in an industrial market and to become self-sufficient within a short period of time.  Community associations play an important role not only to provide services to overcome these shortcomings but also help to maintain our culture and identity. Despite hardship and lack of resources a great deal has been accomplished and a large amount of work still lies ahead.

In this program, EthioIndex has invited eleven community association leaders representing ten major metropolitan areas to come together and share issues they have confronted, challenges they have faced and their visions for the future.  This one and half-hour discussion will be conducted live and will be followed by questions from the public for 15 minutes.

Our guests include:

  • Dr. Erku Yimer, Executive Director, Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Ato Jalye Mengesha, Chairman, Ethiopian Association in Toronto, Toronto, Onatrio, Canada.
  • Dr. Tsehaye Teferra, President, Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc., Washington, D.C.
  • Wozero. Hermela Kebede, Executive Director, Ethiopian Community Center, Washington, D.C.
  • Ato Fasil Cherenet, Ethiopian Community Association in Atlanta, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Ato Ketsela Feyssa, Ethiopians in Minnesota, Inc. Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  • Ato Dawit Solomon, Secretary, Ethiopian Community Mutual Association, Seattle, Washington.
  • Ato Yilma Zerihun, Secretary, Mutual Assistance Association for the Ethiopian Community, Inc. Dallas/Fort Worth, Dallas, Texas.
  • Ato Aneteneh Girma, President, Ethiopian Community Association In Los Angeles (ECALA), Los Angeles, California.
  • Ato Yoseph Mengesha, Chairman, Ethiopian Mutual Association of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dawit Tadesse, Ph.D. will host the show and the program is a co-produced by Oluma Yoseph, M.D., Zecharias Getachew, Ayalkebet Shiferaw, Gerum Haile and Senait Loulou.

EthioIndex will start webcasting at 2:30 PM EST, 20 minutes before the official start of the program in order to give our listeners enough time to setup the audio software.  For technical help on how to listen to the webcast, please visit http://www.ethioindex.com/verifyaudio.html. The public is encouraged to provide feedback before and during the program by calling our voicemail or by sending us a fax at 1-978-285-8462. Archives of this live audio webcast will be available after the show.

* EthioIndex is an Ethiopian News and Information web service and has been providing its services for the public since 1999. For more information about EthioIndex, comments, suggestions and ideas, please contact us at webcast@ethioindex.com.