PRESS RELEASE: February 5, 2018

EHSNA to Commemorate the 122nd Anniversary of the Battle of Adwa – Historic African Victory.

Ethiopian Heritage Society of North America (EHSNA) to commemorate the 122nd Anniversary of the Victory of the Battle of Adwa – regarded as “Ethiopia’s Symbol of Struggle for Freedom”. This anniversary will be celebrated along with Black History Month on March 3, 2018, from 12:00 p.m.- 6:00 pm., at the Silver Spring Civic Center,1 Veteran Place, Silver Spring, MD 20910. This was a mementos history where a black African nation Ethiopia, for the first time defeated a European white nation. Historian will be invited to enlighten the audience on the decisive leadership of Emperor Menelik, nicknamed “The General” by many African leaders, and his right arm Empress Taitu.

On this occasion of Black History Month, the Ethiopian Heritage Society of North America will honor the late Colonel John Charles Robinson “The Brown Condor” who fought the Italian invaders on the side of Ethiopia. We will learn about him from this year’s guest the President of the John Robinson Brown Condor Association, how this brave African American hero, not only fought the Italians but, also trained eighty Ethiopian pilots. These men he trained who came from the Ethiopian Air Force later on became the original pilots of the Ethiopian Air Lines. He was buried in Ethiopia following his death due to severe wounds he sustained when the plane he was flying to deliver secret message to soldiers and blood to the wounded crushed.

There will be invited guests form the local government offices of Washington DC and Montgomery County, MD and elsewhere. Since our program includes celebration of the Black History Month, we expect to see more African Americans in the audience.
This year’s program will also include the historical Ethiopian flag raising program, poem reading, traditional Ethiopian music and dance, art exhibit and more. Since this will be a family oriented program, we will encourage our guests to bring the entire family to the event.

Entrance fee $20. Free for children 12 and under.

FREE PARKING.

EHSNA – Public Relations Committee

Nov 27, 2017

Dr. Aberra Molla, a scientist and an inventor is also known as the father of Ethiopic. Inspired by the creator of the Amharic typewriter, Ethiopian engineer Ayana Birru of Horo Gudru, Wellega, Dr. Aberra computerized Ethiopic/Geez more than 29 years ago. However, replacing the Latin characters with Ethiopic character parts of the Amharic typewriter was not a viable option for Dr. Aberra because there were more Ethiopic characters than the Latin alphabet keys.

Therefore, he invented a method for computerizing Ethiopic, its layout and character entry. That for the first time enabled Ethiopians to use their alphabet and languages on computers. He was unable to protect his technology in Ethiopia as patenting was alien there at the time, though his primary interest was to share the royalty with Ethiopians while encouraging respect for intellectual property.

More recently, he invented a method of rendering the more than 564 Ethiopic Unicode glyphs on computers utilizing at most two keystrokes each and he has pending United States and Ethiopian patents. He made his novel technology freely available on the Internet so that Ethiopic users search and type in Amharic for free. Dr. Aberra also holds several patents in his professional field of Agriculture and in computerizing Geez/Ethiopic.

Dr. Aberra Molla was the 2017 honoree at the 7th Annual Festival of the Ethiopian Heritage Society in North America (EHSNA). The festival took place at One Veteran Place, Silver Springs, MD 20910 on November 19, 2017.

The Award of Recognition reads as follows: “ETHIOPIAN HERITAGE SOCIETY IN NORTH AMERICA “EHSNA” Hereby Recognizes & Presents This Prestigious Award of Excellence to DR. ABERRA MOLLA in recognition for inventing the Ethiopian Geez script of one set screen and printer. This innovation, the first Ethiopian word processor of its kind, has enabled Ethiopians to effectively communicate in Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, on computers and other similar devices. Furthermore, we proudly recognize your overall contribution as a scientist, a researcher and an entrepreneur.

THEREFORE, on behalf of the Board of Directors of EHSNA, and all Ethiopians we hereby express our boundless gratitude, love and admiration.

For and on behalf of the Board of Directors, Yeshitla Araya, President”

November 19, 2017.

Dr. Aberra and his wife Senait Ketema are residents of Colorado since 1975. They own a software company, Ethiopian Computers & Software.

The Ethiopian Heritage Society in North America (EHSNA) will be holding its 7th annual cultural and inheritance event in Washington, DC. Our festival will take place Sunday November 19^th at Silver Spring Civic Center, 1 Veterans Place in Silver Spring, MD.

Obviously, this year’s summer festival has been postponed from summer to winter due to uncontrollable circumstances to unable to reserve places that suits our event. However, we still would like to maintain our annual event with similar goals the same to preserving our culture, celebrating our identity, strengthening our community, and connecting Ethiopians from all walks of life irrespective of their religious or political backgrounds.

In our past six events, our purpose has always been to create a familial event where both parents and children and everyone can participate together. This year we have made sure to particularly focus on youngsters, and we will continue to keep it the same way in order to maintain our promise and empower the youth with a motto “Your Roots Produce Your Fruits.”

This year’s festival them will be “the Ethiopian Learning Culture” which will be panel discussion regarding the Education in Ethiopia. We will honor Dr. Abera Molla, the veteran Ethiopian who acclaimed recognition for inventing one set screen and printer fonts of the Ethiopian scripts of Geeze, which became the Ethiopian word processor. There will also be traditional Ethiopian Live cultural dance group young high school students of Ethio-American “Eskista” Association (EAEA).

Please either visit our website www.ehsna.org   or email us at pr@ehsna.org.

EHSNA PR

Press release: 3/5/17

The 121st Anniversary of the Victory of the Battle of Adwa Celebration

For the sixth time since its insception, Ethiopian Heritage Society in North America (EHSNA) has celebrated the great victory Ethiopia achieved against the invading Italian forces. This event which was held on March 4, 2017 at the Civic Center in downtown Silver Spring, MD was attended by over 600 peoples

Read moreThe 121st Anniversary of the Victory of the Battle of Adwa Celebration – EHSNA PR

For Immediate Release – June 23, 2016

Mark Your Calendar! (Meet us Sunday July 31th 2016 @ Georgetown University Cooper Field)

It is with great pleasure we announce the sixth Ethiopian Heritage Society in North America (EHSNA) venue and the return of North American’s largest Ethiopian annual cultural and inheritance festival to the Washington, DC Metropolitan area on Sunday July 31th, 2016 at Georgetown University Cooper Field (Multi-purpose Stadium).

For the last few years in a row, EHSNA has proven itself as the bed rock that unwaveringly cares for Ethiopian culture and heritage. Aside from celebrating the victory of Adwa, EHSNA also establishes a magnificent platform to introduce the Ethiopian richness in diversity, culture, tradition and exceptional heritage by being a central pillar for Ethiopians, irrespective of their religions, ethnicity and political backgrounds.

EHSNA is also connecting all Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopians by enriching our culture and traditions and strengthening our community. This celebration is for all Ethiopians and the friends of Ethiopia where ever they may be.

This year, after tireless work of EHSNA members and the community along with the collaboration of Montgomery County Executive Honorable Isaiah Leggett office members, the Montgomery County proclaims month of March is recognized as a Victory of Adwa in Montgomery County that includes the Washington DC metro area of Silver Spring.

After this effective achievement in the history of Ethiopians in North America; EHSNA is ready to provide another memorable festival this summer, which will have a unique, family oriented, unparalleled event. The coming festival will showcase Ethiopian heritage, history and culture.

The all day long festival hosts a variety of events and activities that are both entertaining and educational. Attendees can enjoy folkloric and contemporary dance performances, traditional and modern day live music showcases, sports fair and many more exciting representations of Ethiopian excellence.

We continue to look for volunteers to join one of our subcommittees in areas of their interest or expertise. We are also seeking additional corporate sponsors as well.

Stay tuned and keep visiting our website for further announcements of the event. We will make a public declaration sooner to introduce 2016 nominated honorees in various categories. The members of EHSNA are already hard at work to make this festival memorable and elegant. We would like to invite all Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopians to join us Sunday July 31th @ Georgetown University to make another memorable and sensational event.

For more information, questions and suggestions, please email us at pr@ehsna.org or visit our website www.ehsna.org

EHSNA PR

For immediate release: 2/25/16

Ethiopian Heritage Society in North America (EHSNA) is proud to announce that on this 120th Anniversary of the Victory of the Battle of Adwa, the Honorable Isiah Leggett, Executive, Montgomery County, MD has proclaimed:

“MARCH 2016 AS ADWA VICTORY MONTH”

EHSNA believes this may be the first time such an honor has ever been bestowed on this historical Victory. This has happened despite the apparent presence of documented facts that, the great victory Ethiopia achieved against the invading Italian forces, with outstanding leadership of Emperor Menilik II and his right arm Queen Taitu, was a major world historical event not only to Ethiopians but to black people worldwide. We hope this recognition by the Executive of Montgomery County will set an example for others to follow.

Finally, in behalf of EHSNA and those millions Ethiopians who are proud admirers of the Victory of the Battle of Adwa, we express our heartfelt gratitude to the Honorable Isiah Leggett for this historical proclamation he passed. We encourage the Ethiopian community to join EHSNA and celebrate the 120th Anniversary of the Victory of Adwa, on February 27, ( 6-10 pm) and on the 28, 2016 (2-6 pm) ,where we will take the opportunity to formally thank and recognize Mr. Leggett for his support.

The event will be held at the Civic Building, One Veteran Place, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910.

For more information, please visit: www.ehsna.org

For immediate release: 2/25/16

Ethiopian Heritage Society in North America (EHSNA) is proud to announce that on this 120th Anniversary of the Victory of the Battle of Adwa, the Honorable Isiah Leggett, Executive, Montgomery County, MD has proclaimed:

“MARCH 2016 AS ADWA VICTORY MONTH”

EHSNA believes this may be the first time such an honor has ever been bestowed on this historical Victory. This has happened despite the apparent presence of documented facts that, the great victory Ethiopia achieved against the invading Italian forces, with outstanding leadership of Emperor Menilik II and his right arm Queen Taitu, was a major world historical event not only to Ethiopians but to black people worldwide. We hope this recognition by the Executive of Montgomery County will set an example for others to follow.

Finally, in behalf of EHSNA and those millions Ethiopians who are proud admirers of the Victory of the Battle of Adwa, we express our heartfelt gratitude to the Honorable Isiah Leggett for this historical proclamation he passed. We encourage the Ethiopian community to join EHSNA and celebrate the 120th Anniversary of the Victory of Adwa, on February 27, ( 6-10 pm) and on the 28, 2016 (2-6 pm) ,where we will take the opportunity to formally thank and recognize Mr. Leggett for his support.

The event will be held at the Civic Building, One Veteran Place, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910.

For more information, please visit: www.ehsna.org