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An
Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony Showcase Event of Socio-Cultural Significance
Staged
Tsehaye
Debalkew , March, 23, 2012, Washington DC/ |
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The colorful display highlighted Ethiopian traditional coffee ceremony, authentic,
organic raw and roasted Ethiopian coffee, gave the occasion an aura of festivity.
Welcoming the group of Americans to the traditional coffee ceremony program,
Ambassador Tesfaye Yilma, Deputy Chief of Mission and Head of Public Diplomacy
and Communications Department @ the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington D.C. hailed
the group for making it to the Embassy as esteemed guests and encouraged them
to visit Ethiopia by expressing his belief that their visit will certainly bolster
the already burgeoning People to People relations that currently exist between
Ethiopia and the USA.
Mr. Tibebu Assefa, Communications Director of the Takoma Park Community Action
Group, which sponsored the tour gave a robust impetus to the event by making
an extended narration as pertains to the significance and deep societal meaning
attached to traditional coffee ceremony in the vast milieu of Ethiopian culture,
emphasizing that Ethiopian Coffee roasting and sample drinking were only a miniscule
part of the wider picture in a country with a wealth of cultural milieu and exotic
fauna and flora.
Mr. Tibebu apprised the group of the huge role coffee plays at the multitude
of social, economic and cultural level by depicting the rich and diverse historical,
cultural, wildlife, and environmental heritage of Ethiopia with amicable people
and the country's changing image into a booming 21st century nation.
In this regard he cited that coffee is the mainstay of the Ethiopian economy
and is only second to oil in dominating the international market.
It is to be noted that Ethiopia is endowed with a wealth of natural attractions
coupled with a mix of nations, nationalities, languages and cultures.
Needless to underline that Ethiopia the birth place of coffee-it's gift
to the world, the land of the legendary Queen of Sheba, home to the biblical
Ark of the Covenant, the source of the Blue Nile/ the mighty and tumultuous
African river where the Grand Renaissance Dam is being built with a power-generating
capacity of 6,000MW, making it the continent's number one source of energy/
It may sound a bit surprising and quite baffling to learn that Ethiopia
is the first and perhaps the only pioneering country on Earth that has accepted
Islam as a religion and Faith without war and has been amicably accommodating
for centuries on end the three earliest great religions of humanity Judaism,
Christianity and Islam.
It is to be underscored that contemporary Ethiopia has opened a new vista
in its long and cherished past and the world is witnessing presently that
it is both a nation with solid history and an impeccable tradition with an
ever rising economy setting a new standard for Africa.
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