The Dallas Morning News Reports on Ethiopian Tournament!

Festival to celebrate Ethiopians' contributions!!

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Ethiopian-Americans in Dallas quietly have helped keep the local economy advancing and are getting to proclaim their merits as Ethiopian immigrants gather here from around the country this week. The long-anticipated 24th annual Sports and Cultural Festival began Sunday and continues through Saturday at Homer Johnson Stadium, 1029 E. Centerville Road in Garland. The national festival attracts Ethiopian descendants from across the nation and will offer cultural, economic and social events, plus a soccer tournament featuring 27 teams, including two from Dallas, from 4 to 9 p.m. daily at the stadium.

The festival will allow national and local people to learn more about the estimated 30,000 Ethiopian descendants in Dallas County who include many first-generation immigrants as part of the local culture and workforce, said Ziggy Kagnew, who hosts an Ethiopian radio show from 3 to 4 p.m. each Sunday on KNON-FM (89.3). The public also is invited to the festival's Ethiopian Day at 6:30 p.m. Friday, which will feature cultural entertainment, information and greeting from dignitaries, he said.

An Ethiopian women's group will focus public attention on political and social issues that affect Ethiopians and Americans alike, said Yeharerwerk Gashaw, an Ethiopian immigrant who is recognized in Dallas and the nation for her work as a model, actress and civil rights activist. Ethiopian Women for Peace and Democracy, which she founded in Dallas in 1986, will lead a worldwide peace and prayer program at 7 p.m. Friday at the stadium. The program will highlight issues that include tributes to the late U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Houston, who advocated improving living conditions in Africa, and the late television news correspondent Ed Bradley, who also highlighted African needs. The women also will lead a tribute to the Ethiopian New Year, known as the Ethiopian Millennium, and a healing memorial for the people who died or were injured in the World Trade Center disaster in New York, which both happen on Sept. 11, Ms. Gashaw said.

Mean while, these are the results form day four soccer matches

Dallol beat Ethio-Dallas 3-1
Toronto over Minnesota 4-3

Seattle Baro beat San Francisco 3-1
Maryland tied Chicago 0-0
Atlanta beat Seattle Dashen 2-0
Abebe Bikila beat D.C. Unity 3-1