እግዚአብሄር ሆይ! ለአብይ ጾም ያደረስከን ንጉስ ምስጋና ይግባህ።
የኢትዮጵያ የጋራ መረዳጃ ማህበር በዳላስ ፎርት ወርዝና ችግሮቹ።
ይህ ብሎግ በዳላስ ፎርት ወርዝ ንዋሪ የኢትዮጵያ ሕብረተሰብ ጥያቄና ማሳሰብ መሰረት የተከፈተ የሕዝብ ድምጽ ብሎግ ነው። በዚህ ድህረ ገጽ አናት ላይ ያስቀመጥነውን ይመልከቱ የዚህ ብሎግ አላማን አስመልክቶ። ይህ ብሎግ ሃቅን በማስረጃ ብቻ ለሕዝብ ጥቅም የሚረዱና የሚጎዱትን ሁሉ አስመልክቶ በግልጽ የሚያቀርብ ለኢትዮጵያ ሕብረተሰብ መብትና ጥቅም የቆመ ነው። ሕዝቡም የራሱ ምድረክ ስለሆነ በማስርጃ በግልጽ ስለሚደርስበት ሁሉ ለወገኑ የሚጠቅመውንም ጭምር የሚያካፍልበት ነጋሪቱ ነው። ስልሆነም ዛሬ ለመጀመሪያ ጊዜ ከዳላስ ንዋሪ ስማቸውን በግልጽ አስቀምጠው ለሕዝብ ከዚህ በታች ኢሜልያቀረቡትን የአቶ መሰለን መልእክት እናቀርባለን። የመጀመሪያው ኢትዮጵያዊ ወንድ ስለሆኑም በሕገወጦችን በግልጽ ብዚህ መልኩ የተቁዋቁዋሙ "መሰለ አንበሳ" ብለናቸዋል።
E-mailed: On Fri, Mar, 2011 at 2: 18 PM
I am not Christy Tefera
Through out my lifetime, I have had much experience in speaking with important officials. As a young boy, I had the opportunity to receive a dollar each time that I spoke when the Emperor Hale Selassie, who use to come to see his farm animals nearby, visited my childhood Elementary school located right outside of the Jubilee Palace. My childhood experiences in personally speaking with significant leaders evolved especially when I had a phone conversation with the Dictator Colonel Mengistu Haylemariam in 1989. The few times that I had called the Colonel’s office to reach him, I heard first from his personal assistant Lieutenant Mangiest Gemechu. My heart jumped when I received the call from the office, and I was so nervous I sometimes mixed up the names and had difficulty collecting my thoughts. I also had the opportunity to speak with the Leader of the Regime, who that I runaway for my own safety. My attempt to converse with the regime was in order to accommodate the metric tons of food that was to come from the U.S government, an urgent necessity to the Ethiopian people. At the time, the U.S Congress was debating how to send the food because of previous accusations of the communist government for misuse of the assistance it received. Specifically, the TPLF and ELF were accusing the Government and represent themselves as a means. I worked behind the scenes with the Senate and Congress to convince that it was best to send the aid through the Djibouti and Assab sea port. Though a fraction of the donation was given to the Rebel group, most was delivered directly to Ethiopian government and shared through the Government relief office, Unicef, FAO and other none Government agencies , such as foreign NGO, that were working in Ethiopia. I thank all the players during this massive aid: the Regime, the Foreign Minister and his representatives the American Desk, the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington DC, particularly the first secretary who was in Charge'D affair and the congressional Staff who had gave me the opportunity to voice my opinion. This experience gave me the chance to know and build good relations with Mr. Gideon and Mr. Negash during their service period at the Ethiopian Embassy in DC.
Since I moved to Dallas, I have become a member for the congregation of the St. Michael Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and member of Edir that was organized by Late Mr. Assefa, and I have been an established member and elected officer for other Edir organizations, mostly organized by Taxi Cab Operators. I was part of many civil liberty and democracy campaigns before and my living here in Dallas and I am a member of a trade and professional organization on the National, State and County level. I also write articles for the trade profession and am actively involved and participate in advocating for new rule and legislation on the National and State level.
I have also been member of the DFW Mutual Assistance Association For Ethiopian Community (MAAEC) for many years.
I had noticed that on every occurrence of death of an individual in our community, the community collects money by displaying the deceased individual’s pictures at all Ethiopian businesses and churches in order to help cover funeral costs. Several of these displayed photos were of individuals that I knew while they were alive and well, therefore, when I was informed the new, then Edir, burial program, I became one the first one hundred paid and registered Edir members under the MAAEC. I joined this organization not to benefit personally, but to give and contribute what I can to the Ethiopian community. Before I have joined the organization, I was informed that the Edir establishment under the MAAEC was a legitimate organization that resolves the issue that I have concern with in our community. Yet, after seeing first hand how the organization is run, I have become doubtful of the legitimacy of Edir and I find that this must be addressed to the members before renewal.
It is coming time to renew my membership with this entity, and the same MAAEC board members are in the process of establishing a supreme council of Trustees to govern. I object this idea, and thus, have become involved and am expressing my views.
There was a general meeting called on February 27th, 2011 by MAAEC to all concerned, and as a concerned member of the community, I attended. At the meeting, I spoke to board members in order to address the matters at hand. There was no unusual announcement for this meeting than the previous, but after I signed and sat in the meeting hall, I noticed that everyone was holding a ballot paper. I made inquiry about this, informing that I was not given a ballot at the registry desk, and went back to pick mine up. Yet, I was told that I could not vote due to my past due of Edir. I asked what the Edir late payment has to do with the MAAEC meeting, and questioned as to where in the bylaws did it bar me not to participate? No one was able to provide me with the bylaw or any answer. A woman that was seated at the register table between two board members, Abraham Tessema and Tariku Tola, presented herself to me as if she was a spokes person to MAAEC , yet failed to make a relation between the Edir and the MAAEC. It did not take me long to recognize her voice as the same woman who had been harassing me by phone, the tone of her voice and unprofessional use of language made it easy to recognize. This woman had been harassing me by phone, presenting herself as the due collector and demanding me to make payments to the so called “Edir due”. When her verbal harassment had crossed the line, I told her not to call me any more and said that I would take care of the payment when I was able. I also recall this woman’s e-mail announcement, which I did not accept due to the lack of verbal skill she displayed in the e-mail. She showed herself unfit to be in such a representative position for our community. I replied her by pointing out her mistakes and she redistributed a corrected e-mail. I recently came to find that she is the wife of one of Edir's Officials. She does not have the professional manner fit for the position she is in, does not have the character or academic background to fill the role she has been given, nor has she been directly hired to embody our community.
While trying to figure out what I was asking and repeatedly saying that she could not understand, her husband, Daniel Gizaw, jumped into the conversation, interfering as if he understood and was ready to answer my question. Him, an officer of Edir, alongside his wife, an employee of the MAAEC, a non-profit organization with 501 (3)(C), I might add, are evidence of a great conflict of interest. She must go. Daniel himself could not answer my question or explain to me why I was at fault. He passed me over to Yonas Liben, a former MAAEC vice president, now the Chairperson for the Edir committee. Despite his high ranking position, I could not get any explanation from him ether, I only received the same refusal of the ballot from him just the same as everyone else. I informed him that I have acquaintances which have the same status as me that were given the same ballot I was requesting, so why was I rejected?
I took the issue further and spoke with the MAAEC chair person Ylima Feleke, and others such as Ameha Tameru, and Solomon Hamelemalal, the vice president who had later been revealed at the meeting in his attempt to compromise the ballot. The MAAEC bylaw clearly stated that any member of the community has the right to the ballot without paying the $140 due to be a member of the so called Edir organization, or the $60 due to the MAAEC. We have been witnesses of the past, and present MAAEC chairmen as well as the Edir chair, who have been elected in without being active members of either the MAAEC or the “Edir”.
After all of my efforts to simply obtain a ballot to attend and cast my vote failed, it become clear to me that the collaboration of effort of the above mentioned individuals (Edir and MAAEC officials) and their act to stop me from participating, which had nothing to do with the past due, but was all to do with personal issues, I left. I feel that these officials are violating my civil rights of assembling, participating, and voting as a member of the community and are harming my constitutional right of the pursuit of happiness which I am entitled to, depriving my voting right as if I am not of Ethiopian origin or part of the Ethiopian Community at large. As I stated from the beginning, my record speaks for itself of my Ethiopian blood, but I have not been allowed that birth right that has been taken from me by those who fear of me. As far as I am concerned, I had not lost my legal right or had not been revoked, so no one had the right to take the expression of my opinion away from me. Firstly, I have to stand up for my rights and defend them. As I stated my subject line, “Christy Tefera” passed away, and if all that I know of her story is true, we all as a community are responsible for her death. She was a victim of the tyranny of the elected officials of MAAEC, not only for what they have been accused for, but for hiding all they do from the Ethiopian Community as a whole. They are known only for helping themselves. We all know and read a lot about what is going on in the MAAEC, yet we let it pass by and remain ignorant. We do not want be part of the struggle, and always leave someone else to do the fighting for us. The officials who have been, or in some cases not, elected observe that no one ever questions what they do in the name of the community, and become greatly ignorant and violate numerous grand State and Federal laws.
I have attached a letter that I received, which I assume is from Edir, which addresses me correctly by name on the envelope but on the actually letter says another name. It looks as if it is an official letter, but has no seal, nor is it signed or does it have any officially contact names or information. I had no idea that this is the way that official business has been conducted, and as far as I am concerned this letter is not intended for me, but I will keep it for the record. I am officially a member of the Edir and the MAAEC, and from now on all I receive will be part of a record that shows that my legal rights in the organization have been violated by these few individuals and how they tried to isolate me as they did to Christy, bless her soul.
Whom was the architecture of the so called Edir idea, never sold a genuinely. There is no legal cooperation between the MAAEC and there is no 501 (3)(C) rule that allows such practice. We have been misguided, mislead, and deceived by the the past and the actual officials at MAAEC. According to their recent announcement, they fraudulently gauge over 500 innocent members of our community.
It will now become everyone’s question as to how we can over come this and what kind of organized method can we utilize to minimize the damage in our community. How can we remain united and remove these bad apples, and how can we make sure to not to repeat such act on their own community for their personal gain in the expanse of others. Some of us we may overcome from the financial loss, but for others cannot afford it.
I myself have no problem in taking legal action, but the implication may harm the image of our community at large. I do not want the same people to elect again, but instead I advise seeking legal council. These individuals grouped against me without a probable cause and deprived me of my civil rights. After they acknowledged that no active members of the MAAEC casted their ballots at the meeting after I had been refused and left, they did not communicate with me even until as I write this letter to this blog dfwethiopiancommunicy.blogspot.com. One thing I promise is that will hold my legal case until the Eastern Fasting is over. My case will not cost me a dime, and I will prevail in the Court of Law.
Messele Kelel
Dallas, Texas.
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ልኡል እግዚአብሄር ሆይ! ወገናቸውን በማጭበርበር የሚነግዱትንና ሞያ አድርገው የሚኖሩትን ወገኖች ከዚህ አስከፊ ተግባር ነጻ የሚወጡበትንና በሃቅ እየሰሩ እንደሰላማዊ ኢትዮጵያውያን እንዲኖሩ ልቦናቸው አንተን እንዲያስብ አድርጋቸው ባንተም ትእዛዝ የሚኖሩና እራሳቸውን የሚገስጹም አድርግጋቸው ስለ ውነት የሚኖሩበት ልብ ስጣቸው በቸርነትህ አሜን።
