Honourable Senator Oliver

        Excellency

        Members of the Diplomatic Corp

        Distinguished Guests

        Friends of Ahead

        Ladies and Gentlemen

 

        Welcome to Addis Bazaar.

 

On behalf of Ahead, I would like to thank all of you for being here

today and for the assistance you have given us during the year.  The support

and encouragement from our community and our friends have enabled us to

accomplish something in a way we could never have imagined. 

       

Let me start by saying that our Patron, the Honourable Senator Oliver, is

present to day and has been there for Ahead during the year. Senator Oliver

is not only always accessible to Ahead, but is ready to extend a helping

hand every time we need help.  Senator Oliver, on behalf of all the members

I thank you most sincerely and may I ask you all to join me in expressing

our appreciation for his support

 

 

Let me now give you a highlight of our accomplishments:

        

 Last year, Addis Bazaar, also held in this gracious church, raised

much needed funds to sponsor the first batch of 18 medical students from the

Jimma, Gondar and Addis Ababa medical faculties. These students will receive bursary for three years.

       

This year, again thanks to Addis Bazaar, we will double the number

of students by sponsoring another group of 18 students from the three

medical faculties for three years.  Let me say Ahead bursary is just a

modest support to outstanding medical students to help them with some of the

financial constraints that are likely to affect their academic performance.

 

Three years ago, Ahead started with five people. Today, Ahead has an

extended family of eight members and volunteers who were named  "Friends of Ahead" in recognition of their support to our association. 

 

I am proud to say that in such a short period we have become a model

for other Diaspora initiatives in Canada.  For example, earlier this year, a

group of  volunteers in Toronto have started a similar initiative to support

the Science faculty of the Addis Ababa University, So, you can see that the

Ahead mission of giving back to the community is spreading elsewhere.

      

 

 Earlier this year, we received a bequest of a medical library worth

nearly half a million dollars from Dr,  Mucha, the widow of the late

Dr Eric Peterson.  Ahead was unable to finance the shipment but I am proud to say that we worked with the South African High Commission to make sure that the books find a good home.  Thanks to the leadership of his Excellency Andre Jacquet and the facilitating role of Ahead friend Dr.Joseph Manyoni, the books are now at the Nelson Mandela Medical School in Durban, Natal.

 

Our Patron, the Honourable Donald Oliver has been working with us on

a number of activities.  He facilitated an important meeting between Ahead

and Senator Wilbert Joseph Keon who we hope to support us with leadership,

network and expertise.

 

In Ethiopia, we are working in partnership with the Getachew Bolodia

Foundation, the Canadian Embassy and the City of Jimma to open a resource centre in the city where medical students and others could have access to modern technology and provide some counselling and community services such as education against AIDS. Most of you may not know him, but H.E. John Schram, Canada's Ambassador to Ethiopia is someone we should all be proud of.  He has been one of our greatest supporters with this initiative.

 

Similarly, we received news the Addis Ababa University has made a

property available to us and our partners the GBF for a medical resource

centre. This resource centre is going to be the first of its kind in the

country.  Here, medical students will have access to internet and can use

other equipment to communicate with other professionals and get on-line

information about the latest invention in their profession.  Moreover,

interns could provide free services to the community. You will be hearing

more on this as this is going to be one of our priorities in the near future

and we will be calling on many of you for assistance. 

 

 

 Let me now share good news with you:  Ethiopian Airlines has become

another valuable partner of Ahead.  We have just received two free return

air tickets from Newark to Addis.  There will be a raffle of the tickets to raise

funds for Ahead projects.  In due course we will let you know where you can get the tickets.  Let me recognize the support of Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mr. Bisrat Negatu for his support to Ahead and our able member Haile Belai who has made this possible.

 

     

  Some of you might think we are big and rich. We are not. 

        Actually, Our slogan is A Book at A Time and A Student A Year.

 

        For example: 

        Books are stored in our basements. 

        We ship one box  of donated books at a time. 

        We use our own funds to finance some of the activities

        We are demanding as you have already heard how this day was made

possible. 

   

We started Ahead as a small, focused and modest initiative.  But, it

did not take us long to see that Ahead was making a small difference in

their education. And then we were fortunate that some of you were able to see

the merit of our cause and have extended your support. Two of those will be

honoured today. 

      

 In conclusion, I would like to say that ahead is still new, small

and lacks the resources.  But, it works.  It works not in a big and flashy

way.  But, in a meaningful way.  We at Ahead are excited because we see it

as an experiment that has shown encouraging results. 

 

Once more, thank you for coming and let's stay friends!!!