Local members of the Ethiopian World Federation recently helped to build a school in Ethiopia and are seeking to strengthen cultural and economic links with the African country.

About ten Bermudians are already living in the Shashemane area of Ethiopia and many more here are developing a strong connection with the country. Many have made visits to the country and others are planning to see what it has to offer.

“This long-standing tradition has been termed repatriation which is pretty much self explanatory, with people seeking to return to their place of origin,” explained local member Marc Bean.

“So not only is the desire to physically move to Africa important, but also the spiritual and mental awakening of one's consciousness to direct it towards Africa.

“When that occurs, regardless of where you are on the earth, you are always going to feel that genuine connection to the continent. Everything that interests Ethiopia and Africans we find to be of our own interest, too. When that occurs we, as a people will realise we have a common interest and that common interest is Ethiopia and Africa.”

Mr. Bean says the world is “based on global relationships which are defined on cultural and ethnic lines”. But he added there is vast potential in the continent of Africa for economic and investment opportunities.

“At the same time we enjoy the mutual benefit of getting the cultural stimulus that we lack being in a colonial environment like Bermuda,” said Mr. Bean. “What we're doing now in Shashemane is seeking to raise finances for the social development which goes hand in glove with economic development.

“We're actively developing schools and have plans and projects for different healthcare facilities with an emphasis from an economic perspective on agriculture and agro-industry, again to produce value-added products that are of the quality that can reach the global marketplace. Hence, again opening up more opportunities for people at home.”

Mr. Bean said the intention in Shashemane is to become an example of international cooperation between Africa and other countries.

“Since September 11 everybody has to ask themselves ‘what is the basis of my external relationships outside Bermuda',” he said.

“We know that the United States borders closed within a day as soon as the tragedies occurred in Washington D.C. and New York and that brought into stark reality the fact that we are dependent on the imports of food. A lot of people didn't have an answer on how we are to sustain ourselves over the short term.

“Because of our relationship with Africa, which we have developed over the last few years, we were comfortable that if push came to shove we would be able to bring food into the Island in spite of the fact that certain western economies being closed because of security reasons.”

A store run by the local group, Queen of Sheba Tradepost No. 4 on Angel Street, stocks countless items from Ethiopia.

“Ethiopia produces more food than any other country in the world,” Mr. Bean says.

“It's not really known but if you go there you will see for yourself that it has more fresh water resources, more livestock and more varieties of grains than you will find in any country.” Bean revealed that Ethiopia has ten to 20 varieties of bananas, seven types of grain, is the origin of coffee, has untapped reserves of gold and silver and other precious medals as well as natural stones and tiles for the building industry. The cost of living there is low and a dollar goes much further than in many other countries.

“The world economy is based “The world economy is based around Africa and it has since the advent of slavery,” said Mr. Bean.

“It's just that Africans themselves haven't come to that realisation. While every other country is utilising the resources of Africa to develop their people and their nations both socially and economically, we have been kept in the dark because of our own willingness not to seek that light as to the potential of Africa to sustain us over the long term.”

The Ethiopia World Federation has active locales in Birmingham, London, New York, Paris, Jamaica, Hartford, Bermuda and Dominica and are also developing locales in Ghana, Guadeloupe, Washington, Martinique, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Benin, West Africa.

“Our emphasis is to gather collectively to invest in the African continent, invest in productive enterprises and seek to create services and products that can be marketed in the west and that can be a long term path to international cooperation and independence,” said Mr. Bean.

“The Queen of Sheba Tradepost was created as part of the overall vision and the first step in that vision was being a vehicle for the distribution of African products. What we're doing now is we do have some West African and East African, specifically Ethiopian, products. The intention is to eventually be at a distribution level of bringing in commodities from the African continent, getting a good price for them, and repatriating some of that capital back into the continent for further development. That's the whole intention.”

Added Mr. Bean: “When we Added Mr. Bean: “When we went to Africa we realised that everything we have, the Africans at home, our brothers and sisters, require. And everything they have we require. What is required is a meeting of minds to realise how much we have in common. Ethiopia needs export earnings to strengthen its economy and we in the west need products to strengthen our own economy. Yes, we're going to look to that export orientation specifically for the international link, but eventually we want to turn more inward and start producing goods that we can trade within Africa to develop an inter-African economy.

“That will be over a long term.”.

Ethiopia has roughly 50 million people and is one of the largest countries in Africa.”

Members of the local Ethiopian World Federation can be contacted at ewflandgrantyahoo.com, infomenelik.bm or inirepatriationyahoo.com for those interested in investing in the country.