(A4O, 25 December 2013) A recent Southerner survey showed that a small, but significant, group of incoming freshmen speak Oromo, a language spoken mainly by an ethnic group in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. Junior Umar Hassan is working with others to start up a student group similar to Umoja or Unidos centered around Oromo culture. “[We want to] revive our culture,” said Hassan, emphasising the importance of “knowing your identity.”

One problem that he pointed out was that Oromo and Somali students are often grouped together by other members of the community. “I don’t want to be regarded as Somali when I’m not,” Hassan said. There seems to be a lack of awareness of Oromo culture in the school. He estimates that the number of Oromo students in the school has decreased, saying that there were about 200 Oromo students at South a few years ago, while only ten incoming freshmen this year say they speak Oromo.

Hassan outlined the path of Oromo people in the United States: they first came in the 1970’s, and the government began to send them to Minnesota in the 1990’s. More recently, many Oromo people have spread out into different neighborhoods of the Twin Cities and into the suburbs.

Along with South Students Hamdi Abdujalil, Abdi Wake, and Mubarak Hassan; Umar Hassan formed the activist group Oromo Young Generation. They have been involved in events at the University of Minnesota as part of the Books for Africa program, and an exhibit at the Traditions Institute.“[We’re] working on a citywide project now,” Hassan said. They are also working on organising a new exhibit for the Traditions Institute.

Overall, the group focuses on educational issues. Hassan says that they want to “help the community grow,” and have a particular focus on closing the achievement gap. “[Education] is the only way out,” he said. Oromo Young Generation wants to promote academic education for Oromo youth and also education about Oromo culture for others.

Hassan hopes to have a student group up and running soon, with the goal of being a resource and support system for Oromo students, while educating others about Oromo culture.

– See more at: http://www.shsoutherner.net/news/2013/11/22/6015/#sthash.MXvToo1s.dpuf

A shared concern among many immigrant groups is how to preserve their culture across generations. For many parents, passing on language and customs to their children is a huge concern. Like many first generation children, I remember my parents setting aside time for me to learn their languages, and my personal favorite, to hear my father tell stories about his own childhood growing up in the Wellega province of the Oromia region in Ethiopia. In the 1990s, there were few materials to assist my weekly lessons, and at the time, few additional stories about Wellega besides my father’s.

Unfortunately, my name is one of the few words that I understand in my father’s first language of Afaan Oromo. I took to my mother’s language of Amharic more easily since her language was better represented in our local community. When working as an educator in the diverse neighborhoods of Northwest Washington, D.C., I gained an appreciation for the challenges that my parents, and other immigrant families face in preserving language while supporting their children’s social integration. Afaan Publications is a new initiative dedicated to creating high quality educational tools for children in the Oromo language, which will be an invaluable tool for the many families — like mine — who can benefit from additional language and cultural resources.

“Afaan Oromo” roughly translates to “Oromo language.” It is the fourth most widely-spoken language in Africa, with over 40 million native speakers. The Oromo people mostly live in Ethiopia — where they comprise the majority of the population. There are also communities in neighboring Kenya and Somalia. Outside of the Horn of Africa, the Oromo people are not a widely known group, even though they are the largest ethnic group in the region. There are historical reasons for this relative anonymity.

The modern country of Ethiopia was created in the latter half of the 18th century. By the end of the century, the kingdom of Abyssinia (another name for ancient Ethiopia) expanded its power and territory beyond the northern highlands through sometimes brutal wars of conquest to gain control over a multi-ethnic state, twice the size of Texas.

This new state of Ethiopia, like many countries, tied its national and political identity to the ethnic group in power. It has to be transparently acknowledged that the governments in Ethiopia for the majority of the 20th century were highly discriminatory towards ethnic groups outside of the ruling Amhara ethnicity, which became the de facto national culture and language. There are many complexities in this history, but regardless, the Oromo language was especially repressed throughout this time period. Through the reign of Haile Selassie and the Communist Derg dictatorship, it was illegal to teach Afaan Oromo in schools, and remained so until the end of the dictatorship in 1991.

Afaan Publications was created by Toltu Tufa, an Oromo educator living in Melbourne, Australia. She has over 10 years of experience teaching the language in her local community, and has organized a team of 12 to develop a curriculum. I was able to speak with Toltu recently about the history of and goals of the project:

How did the Afaan Publications project start?

(Toltu): I actually didn’t set out to create a curriculum. It was a natural process, because I thought: “So many Africans are multi-lingual,” and it is common for many to speak two or three languages, so we should work to be multilingual in the Diaspora also.

I’m also working towards a PhD in Psychology, and know that in social psychology, it is accepted that language informs identity. I was working on the weekend teaching Afaan Oromo, and I found that there was such little instructional material for the language. So I understood that we had a huge need in our community for high quality teaching materials.

What are your goals for Afaan Publications?

We want to increase access to the Oromo language, but we also wanted to create something beautiful. We paid attention to not only the language content, but also brought in staff that specialized in graphics and printing to develop stand-out materials. I think that every culture has stories to tell, and this was our way of helping to share our stories as Oromos, and using our language.

We focused the textbooks and materials primarily on the family unit as instructors, but the materials can also be used in other settings. The Oromo language is currently taught through rote memorization, and I wanted to incorporate more contemporary learning strategies and curriculum.

How has the feedback been so far?

Our team was able to visit nine different Oromo communities around the world, including both the Oromia region and in the Diaspora in Europe, Australia and the Middle East. A big concern was that the books would not be relevant to our diverse communities, but the feedback from the trips has been positive. We were also able to develop relationships with organizations and individuals in the different countries to ensure that Afaan products are available locally in each of these areas.

For some of the older generations, the response has been emotional at times. I think they see it as tool to continue to keep the language fresh and for young people outside of Oromia to connect with their culture, and to begin to share their own stories in Afaan Oromo.

We also wanted to get an idea of the right cost for the textbooks and materials to make sure that this is something that is accessible for families. We currently have a crowdfunding drive through Pozible to cover production and shipping costs to ensure that it is affordable for families.

***The Afaan Publications project, in my opinion, shows some of the best qualities of the African Diaspora and what we can achieve. Toltu and her team have been able to leverage their skills and resources to provide a meaningful product that is not only a relevant to the Oromo community, but also serves as a positive example to anyone with an interest in revitalizing language and culture across generations and spatial separation. Furthermore, their work is focused on the family, which is the ultimately the main institution that defines our community.

For more information on Afaan Publications, visit, http://afaan.com.au

Follow Kumera Genet on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KumeraZekarias

(A4O, 10 December 2013) Sinke Wesho is an Oromo refugee who migrated to Australia at the end of 2007. Her story shows what can happen when young people from migrant backgrounds are given the support to overcome the barriers thrown up in front of them as they attempt to settle in Australia.

“My people come from the horn of Africa and their reason of migrating has been due to a brutal government regime. We have been driven out of our country because we are what we are, Oromos. Although we are about 45 million in Oromia, we have been forced to be called Ethiopians and refused the opportunity to call ourselves Oromo; we had our lands grabbed off us and our families, students and elites have been imprisoned for decades. Mind you, this is still happening!”

For more reading: https://advocacy4oromia.org/oromian-issues/being-recognised-sinkes-journey/

(A4O, 8 December 2013) Kaayyoo Oromo Women‘s Group held its end year cultural showcase and fundraiser at Flemington Community Centre.

According to Karima Mohamed, the Vice chairperson of the group, the aim of the group is to provide a space where people can gather together to meet people from the Oromo community and help make a difference in the community.

The group meets every two weeks from 10 till 12 on Wednesdays. The Kaayyoo Oromo Women’s Group is located at 12 Holand Court in Flemington, Victoria, Australia.

The group presents wonderful awareness raising program about Oromia as its clearly observed from the youtube video organised by Daandii Ragabaa production.

In addition to the meetings the group also offers the following services:
• Family support advice
• Programs to help people learn to drive
• Housing and accommodation advice
• General advice
• Employment advice
• Family activities, Children’s BBQs
The Kaayyoo Oromo Women’s Group was established in 2006 as a service for Oromo Women living in the Flemington area and the Oromo community in Australia.

(A4O, 4 December 2013) Madda Walaabuu Media Foundation announces its launching event through its new website; the foundation also  announces the commencement date of  new Afaan Oromo radio program for  Oromias.

According to the press release, the foundation will holds its lounching event on14th  December 2013from 3:00Pm-8:00Pm @ 1610 Columbia Rd. NW Washington, D.C. 20009

The Foundation states that on January 1, 2014, the Oromo Voice Radio (OVR) will commence broadcasting to Oromia at the frequency of 17850 KHz in the 16 meter band.

The new, independent broadcast will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. The broadcast service will be provided in two languages: Afaan Oromo (Oromo language) and English.

The OVR broadcast will include, not limited to, the  following major segments: news, news analysis, guest interviews, documentary, and cultural shows. In its English broadcast, OVR will reach out to Oromo neighbors for the purpose of exploring and identifying areas of common interests and common strategies, which are relevant to the survival of the peoples in the Horn of Africa during the 21st Century.

The Oromo Voice media website (www.oromovoice.org) will operate and function as the twin media outlet of this new critical and ambitious out each to the Oromo nation and its neighbors. The Oromo Voice website, in addition to posting all the contents of the Oromo Voice Radio broadcast, will post other relevant educational materials -in that sense, the website will have more expanded educational services.

OVR and Oromo Voice website are owned and operated by the Madda Walaabuu Media Foundation (MWMF), which was established in October 2013 by a collection of concerned community leaders, human rights activists, feminists, attorneys, journalists and intellectuals.

MWMF is a non-governmental, non-partisan, and non-profit organization, incorporated and registered in Washington, D. C., USA. It is operated by the board of directors and the administrative staff under the direction of the Executive Director.

The MWMF media outlets are run by experienced journalists. It is a membership based organization, which solicits the support and participation of all interested and committed Oromo and all persons of good will who have the desire to empower the Oromo and its neighbors so that that they can face the 21st Century in their own terms.

How can you support the new Oromo Voice media outlets?

You can support this new, important initiative in three major ways: First, we wish to invite you to listen to the Oromo voice Radio broadcast. You can also visit our website, http://oromovoice.org on a regular basis. Second, you can give us donations for seed money so that we can get this new media program of the ground. Third, you can become a member and support the success of this new media initiative on a sustained basis.

For further information about the Oromo voice media outlets and the MWMF, please visit our website: http://oromovoice.org.

(A4O, 19 November 2013) What you see is a pattern of Oromos becoming an endangered and muted human species in exile and in the homeland, Oromia. This path is a path of inevitable extinction.

Everybody should be hard pressed to think about the future of the stateless Oromo people and the dangers they face at home and abroad and come up with domestic solutions.

Please read and share the following with your friends.

https://advocacy4oromia.org/campaigns/oromosaving-the-endangered-species-at-home-and-abroad/

(A4O, 15 November 2013) This poem was adapted from “I have a Dream“, a public speech delivered by American civil rights
activist Martin Luther King on August 28, 1963 by one of the Oromo activist some years ago.

This great visionary activist speech was defining not only moment American Civil Rights movement in 1960s, but also it still defining the freedom movements of the people of the world, including the Oromo people’s freedom struggle as inspired by Oromo activists and presented by Jitu Dhabassa.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to be involved in a film shoot which captured an incredibly moving story around community/cultural ties and the power of language to support the development of this enduring community fabric.

I woke early to pick the film maker, Scott Baskett of Legitimate Films, up from Melbourne Airport. I was unaware of the details around the shoot other than the fact we were working with a community leader named Toltu Tufa. As soon as I met Toltu I was captured by her personal story and the grander story of the Oromo community in Australia and worldwide. Oromo is the 4th most spoken language in Africa, with a community of over 40 Million worldwide and to this day there are little to no educational tools available.

The Oromo language was been kept alive through the determination of a community holding Saturday Schools to verbally pass on the language and culture, I was lucky enough to visit five of these schools over the course on the day. The teachers that donated their time were truly inspiring but the real inspiration was the enthusiasm with which the young students connected with the teachers and the content.

Toltu has been instrumental in administering these schools but now Toltu is stepping up to pursue her dream to create educational text books, posters, flash cards and cartoons to help the language be passed on to future generations all over the globe.

Throughout the film shoot I was astounded by the complexities of the issue but was further interested in the power of film/design and well thought out artistic practices; and how they can impact emotionally to start a social movement.

This project has come from the community – but it is building a bigger community network which is strongly represented online and in-person. This passion for language feeds culture, community and individual expression allowing for the development of an enlightened generation that is in touch with the past and looks to the future.

Toltu has utilised many means to communicate her story including film, design and photography to develop a strong story to engage and mobilise a community. This was felt by the filmmaker Scott Baskett. “Having the opportunity to help tell Toltu’s Story has been an absolute privilege……. Film is a truly powerful medium and this is one project which reminds me of such power. It really shows what a well-timed clip, combined with a passionate leader can do.”

To learn more about the Afaan Publications project and the Oromo community visit http://www.afaan.com.au

To support Toltu’s campaign you can make a pledge through Pozible http://www.pozible.com/project/174432/0