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Mike O’Brien
Ethiopia 67-69

I will contact Berhane Daba of the Women With Disabilities to see if there is anything they can help us with. Thanks for the contact information.

Mental illnes in Ethiopia is almost entirely ignored, something that God gave the person and only God can cure. They often go to be treated with holy water. It is difficult to walk by a “crazy street person” and not do something to help them. If you know the story of the star fish, we help one at a time.

Could I get an e-mail address for you, and in case you have or know how I could get, addresses for:

Gary Barry
Fred Marquis
Harrison C. Bloom
Charles N. Caldwell
Mary J. Pelon Caldwell
John S. Cullison
Lonna Huntington Dole
Delbert Lyle Gilkerson
Lonna H. Dole Harkrader
Stephen O. Meyer
Mary J. Pelon
Jerry Martin Weissman
William Unger

… all RPCV’s who served in Ghimbi, Ethiopia. My purpose is to send them news about George Ebeyan … an Ethiopian who was very kind to all of us (I have tried through the RPCV site with no response).

Thank you,

John Hartung

PS: I think Harrison Bloom’s middle initial is ‘G’.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter, in his first day in office, fulfilled a campaign promise by granting unconditional pardons to hundreds of thousands of American men who had evaded the draft during the Vietnam War by fleeing the country.

All in all, about 500,000 Americans went abroad in the late 1960s and early 70s to avoid serving in the military. Some 90 percent went to Canada where, after some initial controversy, they were accepted as legal immigrants. In addition, about 1,000 military deserters found their way to Canada. For its part, the U.S. government continued to prosecute draft evaders after the Vietnam War ended. A total of 209,517 men were accused of violating draft laws, while another 360,000 were never formally charged.

Those who had fled to Canada faced prison sentences if they chose to return home. In the end, an estimated 50,000 draft dodgers settled permanently in Canada.

Say, for example, when California suffered a severe drought from 1985 to 1991, how many emaciated Californians do you know who crossed the border into Mexico ? Since when does drought equate with famine? For your information, droughts are natural phenomena, but famines are man-made.

Yes, there was a drought in Eritrea in 2011, but thanks to the government’s drought management plans the people of Eritrea were well-prepared to cope with drought events, in which thousands of dams, mini-dams and reservoirs were already built throughout the country to harvest rainwater and to boost irrigation, enabling Eritrean farmers to harvest crops three times a year. Unlike the farmers in neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya, Eritrean farmers no longer depend on rain-fed agriculture, and when a drought hit the region, the Eritrean people are unaffected. It’s also worth noting that Eritrea is the only country in Africa that does not receive foreign-aid. The country’s unique self-reliance program is what distinguishes Eritreans from other Africans who survive on food handouts from the “generous” West.

I’m an American of Eritrean origin and I’m thankful and forever indebted to the 5 million American men, members of The Civilian Conservation Corps that operated from 1933 to 1942 during the great depression in the United States, in which young men between the ages of 17 and 23 were put to work camps assigned to various conservation projects earning thirty dollars a month, twenty-five dollars of which was sent home to their families. The young men planted millions of trees, constructed more than 800 parks nationwide, took part in pest eradication projects, built a network of service buildings and public roadways in remote areas and assisted American families hard-hit by the depression. Any American who criticizes Eritrea’s nation building process most likely doesn’t know much about US history.

In 1991, when Eritreans earned their hard won independence from Ethiopia, they inherited a nation ravaged by three decades of devastating war, racked by poverty and unimaginable suffering. To make matters worse, 7 years later in 1998, Ethiopia invaded Eritrea with the aim of undoing its indepenence, and Eritreans once again found themselves in yet another devestating war. They however bravely foiled the three invasion attempts, killing over 170,000 invading Ethiopian hordes in the process, but the war did have a devastating effect on the Eritrean economy. Under such situation, the introduction of a Civilian Conservation Corps-like program in Eritrea was not an option, but it was the only way to build a nation from scratch while maintaining a strong national defence force to provide deterrence against Ethiopia’s unprovoked aggression. Can you blame them?

If you’re wondering why the poster child of famine and world’s second poorest country,Ethiopia, keeps invading Eritrea, all you have to do is read the following brief history.

After Second world war, the United Nations conducted a lengthy inquiry regarding the status of Eritrea, with the superpowers each vying for a stake in the state’s future. Britain, the last administrator at the time, put forth the suggestion to partition Eritrea between Sudan and Ethiopia, separating Christians and Muslims. The idea was instantly rejected by Eritreans. The United States point of view was expressed by its then chief foreign policy advisor John Foster Dulles who said:

“From the point of view of justice, the opinions of the Eritrean people must receive consideration. Nevertheless, the strategic interests of the United States in the Red Sea Basin and considerations of security and world peace make it necessary that the country [Eritrea] be linked with our ally, Ethiopia.” —John Foster Dulles, 1952

WikiLeaks Reveals US Twisted Ethiopia’s Arm to Invade Somalia
Link: http://original.antiwar.com/prince/2010/12/13/wikileaks-reveals-us-twisted-ethiopias-arm-to-invade-somalia/

If you would like to see peace in the Horn of Africa, Vote for Congressman Ron Paul in 2012.