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The young Ethiopian musical sensation of the time, Tewodros Kassahun a.k.a Teddy Afro hosted a massive outdoor fundraising concert on October 11, 2009 after his one year and half jail term after he was accused of hit-and-run manslaughter. The concert is considered a success, with more than 35,000 turnouts and raised more than 1 million Ethiopian Birr (nearly USD 80,000). This is one of the big concerts ever happen in the metropolitan for the past one decade. The 60th birthday of Bob Marley celebrated in Addis in February 2005 where the late Marley family and most of the reggae popular celebrities attended didn't attract this much amount of crowd.
Resettling beggars who flooded into cities from drought prone and food insecure areas In search of better livelihood is the main aim of the concert. I want to give emphasis on two main points. The first one is the involvement of this popular musical icon in helping social problems which is rarely seen in Ethiopia. The other most important point that I want to note is that, when fundraising organized its either to construct a new hospital, school or responding to recurring droughts, and other problems. To my understanding it is emanated from the thinking that lies behind development believed to be building and construction. This type of long term sustainable way of supporting development programs is not seen. Of course there was other forms of fundraiser in the country seen raising much larger funds. But all of them targets addressing recurrent problems and or construction. In this regard his concert is a breakthrough in bring new paradigm in the sector. He paved the way for new way of thinking in addressing root causes of our long lasting development problems. This is one of the greater challenges for many of us engaged in soft skills of development. All of the time people want to see new building and construction outlets to attest the program achievement. The organizer Elshaday development organization has to be appreciated and applauded. This kind of raising funds will motivate others to behave in the same manner. Looking for outside sources of funds to all the development programs is hindering the successful undertaking of the many development programs. I think this would give insights and new ways of thinking and paradigm shift to our old way of fundraising skills!
vanessaaishacoleman
| 10/19/09 12:58 PM
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