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                 THE REALIZATION OF THE AXUM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

First and foremost, let me express my deepest gratitude to our Denver branch for the role you’ve played leading up to this point in the realization of the Axum Alumni Association. Were it not for you, this association would be no more than fragments and mere ideas on the drawing board. And to all those who dedicated their time and money to make it to this special event from all corners of this vast country, thank you! Your passion highlighted every little inch of this event. You played a significant part in the undeniable quality of the event. I hope you got as much out of it as I did, but if all the joy, laughter, hugging and dancing were any indication, I am almost certain that you did. 
And to all those who weren’t fortunate enough to make it, although your presence was sorely missed, let me assure you that we did you very proud. The festivities weren’t scheduled to officially begin until 9 a.m. on September 3rd, but since most everyone arrived on September 2nd, the partying and socializing started a day sooner. It was a reunion of a kind for most us, reuniting with long lost friends and making new ones. Almost overwhelmed by the experience, most of us partied, chatted, and laughed with each other almost sleepless through the three day weekend, but if I may say so it was worth it. 

At 9 am on the 3rd, the gathering officially commenced with the very first all inclusive conference with Alums from many states in attendance. It approximately lasted about 3 hours during which many important issues were thoroughly discussed and ironed out to an impressive consensus. One of the main issues dealt with the difficulty in bridging the geographical gap since most of us live scattered in cities all over the U.S, and in the coming days will post an overview of the conference in greater detail. Following the conference most of us spent the day with friends and loved ones— enjoying the beautiful day in Denver. Towards the late evening it was time to polish and pamper our looks for the night, and if I may say once more, everyone looked radiant. It was one hell or rather heaven of a night: all the ladies looked and dressed to kill and the gentleman didn’t look half bad either. I think a few of us might’ve made a love connection, maybe????? Oh well what do I know, right? Anyway, the party was a blast. I was literally soaked in sweat by the end of the night, ewwwhhhhhhh!!! Right? Well at least I had fun, how about that? We were serenaded by three masterful musicians, namely Birhane Haile, Tesfasion, and Tadesse. How fortunate is that? They took turns driving the crowd wild. Think I am embellishing? Wait till you see the video for yourself. 

On the second and final day, we had a barbeque at the City of Axum Park. It was a joyous moment and bittersweet for some of us, since we had to part ways with everyone. But for the many of us that had one more day, we ate, mingled, took pictures, and just simply enjoyed countless hours at the park under a beautiful sun. Over the course of the festival the weather was truly a Godsend. It was a blessing.  After the park, we parted for a few hours to go freshen up o or what ever else we had to do, and reconnected around 10pm at Mesob restaurant for the last time, to yet again be entertained by Birhane and Tesfasion. We partied till about 3 a.m. and unfortunately brought the event to a close. In a perfect world, I would have loved to party, chat, have all of you be a part of my everyday life and me a part of yours, but since it isn’t a perfect world, I will settle for what I can get, and hopefully I have gotten enough to last me until our next gathering. NEXT YEAR, SAME TIME IN WASHINGTON D.C. Till then, may God keep you healthy, successful, happy and prosperous. I love every one of you, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for all the love you showed me, and I hope I was on some minor way able to make you feel as you all made me feel. I already miss you, and lets keep in touch, and purposeful, and most of all lets not forget what mainly brought us to Denver, “Axum”. We must stay strong do our best to make this Association a success. It is our
responsibility and we must not sleep on it. 

On that note, on behalf of all members that were in attendance at the very first annual gathering over this Labor Day weekend, I would like to say job well done Denver. It exceeded everyone’s expectations twice fold, and quite simply wasn’t an event to be missed, but lucky for those that did, next year’s gathering promises to be even better, so make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice. 

Alemshewit A. Araya
                                                            AXUMITES IN DENVER

Andrea Terence at one point said that Charity begins at home. If some one would not agree with this saying, I believe from the bottom of my heart, that these people in their life time neither have supported their family nor their country. As a human being we always have a different feeling to the place we grow up, we have a different feeling towards our family, friends, and neighbors. Therefore, it is a wise thing to do to support your locality as far as you did not deny your support to other part of the region when requested by fellow citizens of those area or locality.

The Axumites were supporting their city and its surroundings but was in a very scattered and unorganized way. It was not supported by a strong association like what the other Seven “Awrajas” were doing via their association.

September 3, 2006 became the birth of Axum Alumni Association-North America in Denver. As you know Denver has a sisterhood relationship with Axum. If you have visited Axum in the past three years, you may have seen “Denver Street” in the City of Axum. If you have visited Denver in recent time, you may also have come across “Axum Park” East of Colorado Boulevard on Martin Luther King Boulevard. So it is not surprising when the Axumites who live in Denver become the pioneers in establishing the association. Together with all other Tigreans and Mr. Daniel Yohannes, they were able to create the sisterhood relation. And now Axumites who reside in the United States came to Denver for a very historic event-to establish their own alumni in order to support the schools in Axum and its environs. They were all enthusiastic to be part of this historic event. I have the opportunity to converse with many of them. They all feel that they were late to organize themselves to support the needy students in their localities. However, they are all convinced that they were late to have such a strong organization to support Axum- it is okay to be late than never though!

On Saturday September 2, 2006 all Axumites who fly to Denver to attend the event had gathered for a small dinner type introduction. They all introduce themselves and tried to know each other.  After the brief introduction & discussion on how to proceed to establish the organization, each and every one who was in the evening event put forward their ideas and what they think should happen for the good of the students of Axum as well as its surroundings in a very brief manner.

On Sunday September 3, an official meeting has taken place. During this four hour meeting the purposes and objectives of the association were explained, by-laws were presented and discussed. Thereafter, election of board members took place. In a very democratic manner, all the states that were present in the meeting had elected representatives in the board. It was a very fruitful and peaceful election and discussion I have ever witnessed.

The night of Sunday September three, all Tigreans flooded to Hellenic center to support the causes of the association and also for an entertainment with the renowned Musician Berhane Haile. Berhane was sensational at most. He took the mind of each and everyone in the hall back in memories to their localities in Ethiopia. It was nice of him to support the association in the evening with no pay for his service.

Before the program of the evening begins Mr. Hailemariam Nebabi welcomed the Denver residents and the guest who flew from all over the states. After a brief introduction of himself and thanking the audience for coming to support the association, he introduced the guest speaker of the evening Dr. Tsehaye Tefera.

Dr. Tsehaye flew from Washington DC for the sole purpose of supporting the association. His speech was heart touching. He has tried to explain why supporting your community does not mount to “AWRAJAWINET” as some individuals might claim. However, he warned, if we exclude our selves from supporting other parts of Tigray in particular and Ethiopia in general then that will be a problem. He stressed that “charity begins at home”. So, there is no problem for individuals of the same locality to come together and support their city.

Everybody who came to the event had a good time. Dance as well as entertainment with brief pause for auctions took place until 1am in a very peaceful manner. I am proud to be part of this well disciplined community. Now, Axum Alumni is established and funds were raised, I cannot wait to hear the supports provided to Axum and its environs next year when we meet in Washington DC for the second reunion. Hope to see you all there Axumites!

ANONYMOUS