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This campaign on Bonfire.com benefits Ethiopia Reads and features a vibrant modern twist on an angel, from the Debre Birhan Selassie Church. It is blended with flowers and the motto “Those who read, bloom” in English and Amharic  የሚያነቡ ያብባሉ. Amharic is one of the main languages in Ethiopia. The artwork is designed by our creative volunteer and artist, Aaron Kim. This design is available is many sizes including youth. Sweatshirts are also available. ALL of the profits will go directly to Ethiopia Reads. Items will arrive early November. Inspire others and order extra for holiday gifts! Click here or use this URL: https://www.bonfire.com/ethiopia-reads-angel/

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Ten years ago in May 2010, Ethiopia Reads supporters in the Bay Area organized a sponsored 12k Run/Walk in tandem with the iconic, century-old foot race from the Financial District through Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach. The “Bay To Breakers” race has taken place every spring in San Francisco for over 100 years. Our own inspiration for Ethiopia Reads and Runs came from the success and reputation of all the world-renowned Ethiopian long-distance runners since the 1960s. Our initial goal was to raise $10,000 to support the work of Ethiopia Reads by recruiting 100 runners and walkers with each person raising $100 from family and friends. Our first Ethiopia Reads and Runs event took place on May 16, 2010 and was a brilliantly successful and fun event.

10 year ago in Golden Gate Park

During the past ten years, we have enjoyed the camaraderie and enthusiasm around the event, surrounded by funny & eccentric costumes (and sometimes absence of costumes!) with live music along the course. We were mostly walkers, with honorable exceptions. After a long walk together in good company, we got together at a breakfast picnic near the finish line in Golden Gate Park. It was organized by volunteers and sponsored by Cinderella’s Bakery and Peet’s Coffee. Everyone enjoyed being together outdoors, feeling healthy, enjoying delicious pastries and having done it all for a great cause.

In the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s sadly too risky to hold such an event in person, but to help continue this enjoyable event this year, we encourage YOU to create your own Ethiopia Reads and Runs event – big or small – on Sunday, September 20, 2020.

We are in it together!

As you all know, the coronavirus pandemic has brought a host of new problems on communities across the globe. Our operations are not immune from that, and we ask that you remain engaged with us as we go through this transition. While our offices and libraries remain closed and staff are working from home, we are exploring how to safely lend books from the library especially while schools and school libraries remain close. We are developing other options for outdoor distanced reading groups and online services.

Create YOUR own Ethiopia Reads & Runs/Walks event

We invite YOU and your family and friends to help maintain and build hope and vision for the children of Ethiopia with an organized Run/Walk in YOUR community all together across the country on Sunday, September 20. We have been encouraged by our supporters who have donated directly to us and/or purchased  our special anniversary t-shirts. Many have committed to lacing up their walking shoes and taking their family and friends, suitably masked and distanced, to create their own walk in a park or area closer to their homes. Please tag us  #EthiopiaReadsandRuns on social media with your Run/Walk. It doesn’t matter if it’s a short walk or a 12K run!

We have opened up the ordering for the special edition t-shirt with the Golden Gate Bridge and the number “10” in the ancient Ethiopian language of Ge’ez. Please order online before August 31st. Thank you for being a part of this milestone celebration! Please share with your friends, buy some t-shirts and see you online on September 20^th!

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Ethiopia Reads has great news! We are pleased to announce that we have appointed our first Goodwill Ambassador, Dr. Electron Kebebew, an eminent surgeon and scientist, book lover and longtime supporter of Ethiopia Reads.  Dr. Kebebew spent the first ten years of his life in Ethiopia before moving to California with his family. Today, he is a Professor of Surgery at Stanford University and Chief of General Surgery at Stanford Health Care. We are delighted and honored that he has agreed to represent Ethiopia Reads, and our work for literacy and education in Ethiopia.

Since childhood, Electron has loved reading and has helped to raise his own two children to be avid readers. He remembers very well the first Amharic storybook given to him by a 3rd grade teacher to read outside of school. The book described the life of a peasant boy who learned many important life lessons as a cattle herder. This book in his mother tongue made such a powerful impact on little Electron that he can still picture it in his mind today.

A Lifelong Reader Well Beyond Science

Many years later, while studying Chemical Engineering as an undergraduate at UCLA, Dr. Kebebew took English literature classes and fell in love with the books and poetry of Maya Angelou. Years later, despite a very busy professional and family life, reading still keeps Dr. Kebebew inspired and engaged in the world outside of medicine and science. “Whenever I have time, or when I am on vacation, I always read novels or biographies to explore and understand lives and worlds beyond surgery and cancer research papers.” His recent favorites are the autobiographies Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Born a Crime by  Trevor Noah, two different, brilliant writers describing their experiences of growing up in Baltimore, Maryland and Johannesburg, South Africa.

In December 2017, Dr. Kebebew visited Ethiopia Reads’ Gebeta Library with his family and was impressed with the number of Ethiopian language books in the library. He was delighted to see how many neighborhood children spent time in the library enjoying the books and received homework help. Since then he, his wife and Ethiopia Reads’ Board Member, Tida Violante, and both their children have been strong and active supporters of our work.

A Leader in Improving the Science and Treatment of Endocrine Cancer

Dr. Kebebew completed his medical studies at UCSF and today is a leading researcher and surgeon in endocrine oncology.  Dr. Kebebew is a Board Certified General Surgeon by the American Board of Surgery. He was the inaugural Chief of Endocrine Oncology Branch at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Currently, Dr. Kebebew is the Harry A. Oberhelman, Jr. and the Mark L. Welton Professor at Stanford University.  Additionally, he is the Editor-in-Chief for the scientific journal Thyroid.
 
He remains personally and professionally engaged with the country of his birth, having worked at Addis Ababa’s Black Lion Hospital during medical school and traveling in Ethiopia as an adult. In 2019, Dr. Kebebew returned to speak as an invited guest of the nonprofit People to People for World Cancer Day at the Black Lion Hospital.

Join Dr. Kebebew in reading a poem #EthiopiaReadsOutLoud

We would like to thank Dr. Kebebew for joining us to bring back the love of children’s books in Ethiopia. “I am pleased to be a champion for children’s literature and to represent the valuable work of Ethiopia Reads. If it wasn’t for the value that my family placed on education and reading, I would not be where I am today.”

Please enjoy a short video of Dr. Kebebew reading a children’s poem  by the well loved and humorous Shel Silverstein entitled “Instructions”; Send us a video of yourself reading a short poem or tag us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram #EthiopiaReadsOutLoud

Our Goodwill Ambassador Electron Kebebew is a great example of what we always say to young students in Ethiopia: Readers are Leaders!

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