· February, 2009

Stories about Ethiopia from February, 2009

Ethiopia: Baalu Girma Foundation Formed

  15 February 2009

Arefe announces the formation of the Baalu Girma Foundation. Baalu is the famous Ethiopian writer and journalist who was abducted 25 years ago by the Ethiopian military. He has not been heard since that time.

Video: Vlogging for the Blind

  3 February 2009

A Bolivian activist explains how Open Source Software designed for the visually impaired helps him communicate online with chatting, emailing and blogging. Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, an organization trains the blind and those with visual disabilities on how to use computers and communication technologies, and an employee and advocate of the ENOVIB network for the blind speaks to youth about how blindness can be an opportunity instead of a disability. In Spain, a designer comes up with videogames that visually impaired people can play, and in Nigeria and Canada, a young woman blogs and vlogs about life as a deaf person who is rapidly losing her sight.

Ethiopia: The Boy Without Arms

  2 February 2009

The Boy Without Arms is a fundraising drive to help the Ethiopian boy, Aschelew. Here is Aschelew's story: Several years ago Aschelew was depressed over his parents' AIDS, and his family chained him up to keep him from killing himself. The chains cut off the blood to his arms and he ended up losing both of them. Now his parents have died and Aschelew and his brother are alone. And the town is eager to see how to help them, and other orphans, sustainably.