what Media, Community and others saying?
KMG's Community Conversations:
"A Rare Glimpse of the Future"
While HIV/AIDS continues to imperil the world in general and Ethiopia in particular, we believe that our holistic programs, including Community Capacity Enhancement - Community Conversation, an initiative of UNDP, will enable the people of our region to achieve miracles. Stephen Lewis, U.N. Secretary-General Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, recently visited our program in the Muslim town of Alaba, perhaps our greatest challenge. The program, he said, in a press release issued June 4, 2004, "takes one's breath away." Here are some of his comments after witnessing conversations in Alaba:
“What are the subject matters, publicly discussed, without so much as a touch of embarrassment or shyness? How's this for a catalogue: female genital mutilation, bride sharing, early marriage, polygamy, child abduction, condoms, sexual violence, People Living with AIDS, and women's rights. And behavior actually changes! This community had lived with 100% FGM for centuries: it's down to 10-15% within just one year as a result of the conversations. We talked to the Islamic religious leader of the community, a man in his seventies, who told us everything had changed in the villages, and how he had led 130 men to be tested (for HIV/AIDS) in order to set an example for others...it was all quite extraordinary. We talk forever about countries where the level of awareness of HIV/AIDS is very high, but behavior change is negligible. These community conversations have resulted in huge behavior change. I've always believed that it would take generations even to show a willingness to address gender equality, and here it seems to have happened virtually overnight! Can the pattern be replicated elsewhere in Ethiopia? It's already begun to spread. Can it be replicated outside of Ethiopia? Who knows, but it's certainly worth a try...I don't want to get carried away into a world of unreality by extravagant praise for these "community conversations." The task facing Ethiopia is mammoth...but in terms of HIV/AIDS, I felt that I'd had a rare glimpse of the future, and it gave me hope.”
You may find his complete statement at: http://www.waltainfo.com/Conflict/BasicFacts/2004/June/state_01.htm
“This project has been evaluated three times – just recently it was evaluated by a team of experts from the European Union – and it has been regarded as the most successful project that we’ve ever funded in Ethiopia. So, don’t be surprised if we bring more people to visit this project, that we do everything we can to multiply the work of this project in other parts of Ethiopia and Africa”
-- Ambassador Timothy Clarke, European Union Ambassador to Ethiopia at the opening of KMG Center and Mother-Child Health Clinic, October 31, 2004.
The stadium was full to the brim with about 100,000 people; traditional horse-riding contest, which gave the Celebration a radiant atmosphere. Such a spectacular observation was held to celebrate the liberation of girls in the area from the shackles of circumcision. It was with a triumphant spirit that girls and women who were not circumcised were passing in the crowd singing in chorus. They were conspicuous among the crowd wearing yellow T-shirts bearing slogans: “I struggle for the rights of women; I condemn female circumcision; and I am remedy for AIDS---I have interviewed couples who came all the way from Oromiya Region who told me that they got married uncut, following the example of Kembatta women. This means the change that swept Kembatta is spreading to the rest part of the country and I believe it it would not be long before this harmful culture disappears from Ethiopia”
– Tafessa Jaara- The African Journal
“I have been an unwilling philanthropist for years and have given money for many organizations, but I have never seen an organization that has done so much with so little.”
– Susanna B. Dakin, a longtime supporter of KMG, Los Angeles, 2002
“When examples (of positive social change) are cited by our ministers, vice ministers, teachers, etc., all the countries of the world are listed, but never the success stories and change agents of Ethiopia itself…Behavioral change and transformation has been brought about in a nearby community by a concerned Ethiopian woman who loves her country named Bogaletch Gebre. She transformed customs and traditions by teaching others. We have not given due attention to this woman. However, if she were living in China, Japan, or America, she would have been cited as an example. If the Chinese, the Americans, the English or the Japanese had heard about her, they would have cited Kembatta as their example.” Translated from Amharic News Paper- Tobia
– Mussa Haron in Tobia newspaper in Addis Ababa
“The task facing Ethiopia is mammoth...but in terms of HIV/AIDS, I felt that I'd had a rare glimpse of the future (after seeing KMG’s Community Conversation Program), and it gave me hope…What are the subject matters, publicly discussed, without so much as a touch of embarrassment or shyness? How's this for a catalogue: female genital mutilation, bride sharing, early marriage, polygamy, child abduction, condoms, sexual violence, People Living with AIDS, and women's rights...We talked to the Islamic religious leader of the community, a man in his seventies, who told us everything had changed in the villages, and how he had led 130 men to be tested (for HIV/AIDS) in order to set an example for others...it was all quite extraordinary. We talk forever about countries where the level of awareness of HIV/AIDS is very high, but behavior change is negligible. These community conversations have resulted in huge behavior change. I've always believed that it would take generations even to show a willingness to address gender equality, and here it seems to have happened virtually overnight! Can the pattern be replicated elsewhere in Ethiopia? It's already begun to spread. Can it be replicated outside of Ethiopia? Who knows, but it's certainly worth a try.”
– Stephen Lewis, U.N. Secretary-General Special Envoy for
HIV/AIDS in Africa, press release June 4, 2004
“This very humble but visionary and committed woman does not follow where the path may lead. Instead, she went where there was no path and left a trail. She not only built the KMG Center, which is the first in its kind in the zone but ignited a real cultural revolution in the zone. Bogaletch has become a shinning symbol for commitment and hard work. She showed the general public that the price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that “whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand”.
– Solomon Kebede of European Commission–Eruaid News Letter
"A Rare Glimpse of the Future"
While HIV/AIDS continues to imperil the world in general and Ethiopia in particular, we believe that our holistic programs, including Community Capacity Enhancement - Community Conversation, an initiative of UNDP, will enable the people of our region to achieve miracles. Stephen Lewis, U.N. Secretary-General Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, recently visited our program in the Muslim town of Alaba, perhaps our greatest challenge. The program, he said, in a press release issued June 4, 2004, "takes one's breath away." Here are some of his comments after witnessing conversations in Alaba:
“What are the subject matters, publicly discussed, without so much as a touch of embarrassment or shyness? How's this for a catalogue: female genital mutilation, bride sharing, early marriage, polygamy, child abduction, condoms, sexual violence, People Living with AIDS, and women's rights. And behavior actually changes! This community had lived with 100% FGM for centuries: it's down to 10-15% within just one year as a result of the conversations. We talked to the Islamic religious leader of the community, a man in his seventies, who told us everything had changed in the villages, and how he had led 130 men to be tested (for HIV/AIDS) in order to set an example for others...it was all quite extraordinary. We talk forever about countries where the level of awareness of HIV/AIDS is very high, but behavior change is negligible. These community conversations have resulted in huge behavior change. I've always believed that it would take generations even to show a willingness to address gender equality, and here it seems to have happened virtually overnight! Can the pattern be replicated elsewhere in Ethiopia? It's already begun to spread. Can it be replicated outside of Ethiopia? Who knows, but it's certainly worth a try...I don't want to get carried away into a world of unreality by extravagant praise for these "community conversations." The task facing Ethiopia is mammoth...but in terms of HIV/AIDS, I felt that I'd had a rare glimpse of the future, and it gave me hope.”
You may find his complete statement at: http://www.waltainfo.com/Conflict/BasicFacts/2004/June/state_01.htm
Comments about KMG’s Work
“This project has been evaluated three times – just recently it was evaluated by a team of experts from the European Union – and it has been regarded as the most successful project that we’ve ever funded in Ethiopia. So, don’t be surprised if we bring more people to visit this project, that we do everything we can to multiply the work of this project in other parts of Ethiopia and Africa”
-- Ambassador Timothy Clarke, European Union Ambassador to Ethiopia at the opening of KMG Center and Mother-Child Health Clinic, October 31, 2004.
The stadium was full to the brim with about 100,000 people; traditional horse-riding contest, which gave the Celebration a radiant atmosphere. Such a spectacular observation was held to celebrate the liberation of girls in the area from the shackles of circumcision. It was with a triumphant spirit that girls and women who were not circumcised were passing in the crowd singing in chorus. They were conspicuous among the crowd wearing yellow T-shirts bearing slogans: “I struggle for the rights of women; I condemn female circumcision; and I am remedy for AIDS---I have interviewed couples who came all the way from Oromiya Region who told me that they got married uncut, following the example of Kembatta women. This means the change that swept Kembatta is spreading to the rest part of the country and I believe it it would not be long before this harmful culture disappears from Ethiopia”
– Tafessa Jaara- The African Journal
“I have been an unwilling philanthropist for years and have given money for many organizations, but I have never seen an organization that has done so much with so little.”
– Susanna B. Dakin, a longtime supporter of KMG, Los Angeles, 2002
“When examples (of positive social change) are cited by our ministers, vice ministers, teachers, etc., all the countries of the world are listed, but never the success stories and change agents of Ethiopia itself…Behavioral change and transformation has been brought about in a nearby community by a concerned Ethiopian woman who loves her country named Bogaletch Gebre. She transformed customs and traditions by teaching others. We have not given due attention to this woman. However, if she were living in China, Japan, or America, she would have been cited as an example. If the Chinese, the Americans, the English or the Japanese had heard about her, they would have cited Kembatta as their example.” Translated from Amharic News Paper- Tobia
– Mussa Haron in Tobia newspaper in Addis Ababa
“The task facing Ethiopia is mammoth...but in terms of HIV/AIDS, I felt that I'd had a rare glimpse of the future (after seeing KMG’s Community Conversation Program), and it gave me hope…What are the subject matters, publicly discussed, without so much as a touch of embarrassment or shyness? How's this for a catalogue: female genital mutilation, bride sharing, early marriage, polygamy, child abduction, condoms, sexual violence, People Living with AIDS, and women's rights...We talked to the Islamic religious leader of the community, a man in his seventies, who told us everything had changed in the villages, and how he had led 130 men to be tested (for HIV/AIDS) in order to set an example for others...it was all quite extraordinary. We talk forever about countries where the level of awareness of HIV/AIDS is very high, but behavior change is negligible. These community conversations have resulted in huge behavior change. I've always believed that it would take generations even to show a willingness to address gender equality, and here it seems to have happened virtually overnight! Can the pattern be replicated elsewhere in Ethiopia? It's already begun to spread. Can it be replicated outside of Ethiopia? Who knows, but it's certainly worth a try.”
– Stephen Lewis, U.N. Secretary-General Special Envoy for
HIV/AIDS in Africa, press release June 4, 2004
“This very humble but visionary and committed woman does not follow where the path may lead. Instead, she went where there was no path and left a trail. She not only built the KMG Center, which is the first in its kind in the zone but ignited a real cultural revolution in the zone. Bogaletch has become a shinning symbol for commitment and hard work. She showed the general public that the price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that “whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand”.
– Solomon Kebede of European Commission–Eruaid News Letter