| USA Millennium Tour!
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Ethiopian Airlines is excited and proud to once again sponsor the Mesgana Dancers for their 2007 USA Millennium Tour. Last year’s tour was very popular and the
demand was so great for the girls to return; that it was decided to have the girls do an encore tour for the summer of 2007. The Mesgana (which means ‘gratitude’ in Amharic) Dancers comprises of young girls, ages 7-12, who are sponsored by the Children of Ethiopia Education Fund (COEEF) program and all attend schools in the Addis Ababa area. They perform a stunning display of authentic cultural dancing and singing from several regions of Ethiopia including Amhara Wollo, Tigray, Oromo, Guragi, Wolita, and Konso regions of Ethiopia.
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COEEF is a nonprofit organization based in Murray, Utah, USA that provides quality education in over 20 private schools for 800+ girls in four regions of Ethiopia. They also support a community school for boys and girls in rural Koka, Ethiopia where 350 children are attending school for the first time. COEEF was founded in 2001 by Norm and Ruthann Perdue who traveled to Ethiopia in June of 2001 on a humanitarian mission. The children in all these schools are supported by generous donors in over 40 States in the U.S. and in Ethiopia, Switzerland, England, France, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia.
Last year the Mesgana Dancers performed before standing-room only crowds and rave reviews in Washington, DC, Utah, Oakland, and Los Angeles, California. This year the girls are busy practicing for the USA tour and have already performed in Addis Ababa for Ethiopia Book Week, the U.S. Embassy, and the African Union.
The message of the Mesgana Dancers is to spread the message of the importance of girl’s education in Ethiopia and all of Africa. Proceeds from the tour will benefit COEEF programs and bring the chance of education to more girls in Ethiopia. This year COEEF is partnering with Ethiopia Reads who place children’s libraries in many schools in the country and proceeds will help to place more libraries in more schools. Ethiopia Reads also will publish 8-12 dual-language books for children.
Ethiopian Airlines is providing air transportation for the entire group from Addis Ababa to Washington, DC and is the official sponsor of the tour. Honorary director of the Mesgana Dancers is Olympic Gold Medalist and world record holder runner Meseret Defar, who is proud to help with the tour.
For next year the Mesgana Dancers are planning another USA tour and are looking into a tour to Canada and to Europe. |
