Seeds of Survival
Event to raise money for rural youth in Ethiopia.
In September 1994, renowned Ethiopian scientist Melaku Worede was invited to give a talk to a packed house at the Addis Café on Wellington Street, owned and managed by his compatriot, Solomon Dawit.
Worede was awarded the 1989 Right Livelihood Award (the alternative Nobel Prize) for bringing to light the role that farmers in Ethiopia and elsewhere have played for millennia in developing the thousands of food crop varieties that the rest of humanity depends on to this very day.
As Worede was speaking about farmers as true scientists and plant breeders, Dawit was busy in the kitchen, transforming the raw materials of centuries of farmer knowledge and skills into a tasty, nutritious meal for his gathered guests, including me.
For Dawit, it was a chance to share a deep part of his culture with Canadians: “Every spice that we use here comes from Ethiopia. You’re really eating a part of Ethiopia!”
Worede underscored this connection even further, noting how it had been Ethiopian barley genes — nurtured by generations of farmers — that had saved the Canadian barley (and beer) industry, seriously infected with barley leaf rust.
The exciting news is that Worede will be coming back to Ottawa, almost 20 years later, to deliver another talk. Sadly, Dawit will not be able to hear him this time, as he passed away in 2009.
Dawit’s incredible spirit and legacy do live on, however, as he has inspired many Canadian friends of Ethiopia including members of the Ethiopian diaspora to create the Solomon Dawit Foundation (SDF), and it is this foundation that has invited Worede to come and speak on April 27.
One of Dawit’s dreams was to give back to Ethiopia — to contribute toward environmentally sustainable community development by supporting youth and farmers in rural Ethiopia — and it is fitting indeed that SDF is raising funds to support USC Canada’s Seeds of Survival program in Ethiopia, with a specific focus on rural youth.
If you’d like to support this wonderful initiative of the Solomon Dawit Foundation, hear Worede speak about Seeds of Survival, and have a great evening of Ethiopian food, song and dance, the details are listed above.