These slides give credit to Ethiopian allies or supporters from across the globe: Individuals and organizations

1. FRIENDS OF ETHIOPIA
FROM ACROSS THE
GLOBE
‘Ethiopian by Spirit’
Compiled by: Belachew Weldegebriel
E-mail: bellachew@gmail.com

2. Outline
1. Bob Marley and the Ras Tafarian Community
2. Marcus Garvey
3. Kwame Nkrumah
4. Sir Bob Geldof
5. John Charles Robinson
6. Hubert Julian
7. Richard Pankhurst
8. Sylvia Pankhurst
9. Caterin Hamlin
10. Mr. Karl Hienzboum

3. Introduction
◦ People in this list are foreigners by place of birth but they are actually
Ethiopians. Some of them have of course been given honorary citizenship.
◦ All of them have made significant contribution for Ethiopia in her good and
trying moments.
◦ I always feel they should be given proper credit for their far reaching
contribution for the country.
◦ I compiled this slide so as to pay my own regard to their wonderful service to my
country.
◦ The attempt is not to give full biographical information of the personnel but
highlight their service and connection to Ethiopia.

4. Bob Marley
◦ Bob Marley wasn’t just an iconic reggae
superstar from Jamaica.
◦ He was also a devout Rastafarian and,
without a doubt, the number one reason why
most people in the world know anything
about Rastafarianism.
◦ The green, yellow and red colors of Ethiopian
Flag are popularized by the Ras Tafarians and
Bob Marley.

5. Bob Marley
◦ Haile Selassie I, was not only Ethiopia’s emperor,
but also the Rastafarian’s God.
◦ The name he had before being crowned
emperor in 1916, Ras Tafari Makonnen, gave the
religion its name, and he is considered to be God
incarnate, descendant of King Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba.
◦ He ruled over Ethiopia until his death in 1974,
giving Rastafarians in Jamaica and all over the
world hope for a homeland, “Zion,” in Africa,
where a black man was king. Ethiopian Flag (during the reign of
Haile Selassie I)

6. John Charles Robinson
◦ John Charles Robinson, nicknamed the Brown
Condor, was an African American aviator who
fought with the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force
against Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy during
the Second Italian-Ethiopian War, 1935–1936.
www.blackpast.org

7. John Charles Robinson
◦ In early 1935, when much of the world realized Italy was gearing up for war
with Ethiopia, Robinson announced that he would help in the war efforts
against the Fascist Italian forces.
◦ Robinson noted that Ethiopia was the only African nation to have
successfully resisted colonial conquest by European imperial forces in the
late nineteenth century. Because of this, Robinson argued, the Italian
invasion posed a threat to more than just Ethiopia, but the greater idea of
independence in Africa.
www.blackpast.org

8. John Charles Robinson
◦ With the approval of the Ethiopian government
that at the time had only a handful of pilots and
planes, Robinson conducted crucial pilot training
near Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
◦ In late August 1935, he was named commander of
the Ethiopian Air Force. He commanded a fleet of
about twenty Potez 25 biplanes which were
however weaponless and used for
reconnaissance and supply.
www.blackpast.org

9. John Charles Robinson
◦ Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia in May 1941. He asked John C.
Robinson to join him in rebuilding the Ethiopian Air Force.
◦ In 1944, Robinson and five Black pilots and mechanics made their way across
war-torn seas to Addis Ababa where they established an aviation training
school.
◦ Robinson continued to draw on his Chicago aviation ties, helping Ethiopian
students attend school in the United States, recommending many to Janet
Waterford Bragg.

10. John Charles Robinson
◦ John C. Robinson died in 1954, when he crashed a Stinson L-5 outside of
Addis Ababa. His name survives in Ethiopia, including the John C. Robinson
American Center at the National Archives and Library Agency in Addis
Ababa.

11. Hubert Julian
◦ Hubert Fauntleroy Julian (21 September 1897 – 19
February 1983) was a Trinidad-born American aviation
pioneer and decorated war hero who fought during the
Second Italo-Ethiopian campaign on the side of Ethiopia.
◦ He was nicknamed "The Black Eagle".

12. Marcus Garvey
◦ Enter the scene Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican leader and thinker who introduced Rastafarianism to
the world and changed black thought forever.
◦ Garvey taught Jamaicans about their history: how Africa was a beautiful and rich continent before
the Europeans got there, how their ancestors were free and proud, and how there was nothing
wrong with being black.
◦ He taught them that, as black people, Africa was their real homeland, and that the only way they
would ever be free from slavery and racism would be to move back to Africa.
◦ One country in particular was the spiritual homeland of all black people, and that country was, of
course, Ethiopia, the one place that had never been colonized by Europe.

13. ◦ Elizabeth Borja. The Dream of Abyssinia: Two Black Aviators and Ethiopia. Feb
27, 2021. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/dream-abyssinia-two-black-aviators-and-
ethiopia?msclkid=3abc3360ce5d11ecb69d43b573375483
◦ Zoralis Pérez. November 1, 2017 The Weird Historical Connection Between Bob
Marley And An Italian Dictator. https://culturacolectiva.com/history/rastafarianism-
connection-between-bob-marley-mussolini/?msclkid=684c24d8ce6311ecb4fc26043307e1db

14. Dr. Catherine Hamlin
◦ Dr Catherine Hamlin was a pioneering Australian
surgeon whose work for women with obstetric
fistula in Ethiopia continued uninterrupted for
more than half a century.
◦ Treating obstetric fistulas - a preventable injury
sustained in childbirth that leaves women
incontinent and can lead to other infections -
would become her life’s work.
◦ Under Dr Catherine Hamlin’s pioneering
guidance, over 60,000 Ethiopian women with
obstetric fistula injuries have had their lives
transformed under the Hamlin Model of Care.

15. Dr. Hamlin
◦ The Hamlin College of Midwives in Ethiopia was
established to increase the number of qualified
birth attendants in rural areas, helping prevent
obstetric fistulas from occurring in the first place.
◦ Today, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia is a healthcare
network of over 550 Ethiopian staff servicing six
hospitals, Desta Mender rehabilitation centre, the
Hamlin College of Midwives and over 50 Hamlin-
supported midwifery clinics.

16. ◦ According to Alison Morgan, Hamlin's niece and an Associate Professor at the
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, the University of Melbourne,
Australia, “One of the classic things is that she would draw the women close to
develop a human connection. There was a real people-centredness to her work.”

17. Dr. Hamlin
◦ "These are the women most to be pitied in the world," Dr Hamlin told the
New York Times in 2003.
◦ "They're alone in the world, ashamed of their injuries. For people suffering
from leprosy or HIV/AIDS, there are organizations that help. But nobody
knows about these women or helps them.”
◦ Catherine was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and received
numerous international awards and acknowledgements for her dedication
and pioneering work.

18. Richard Pankhurst (Renowned Scholar of Ethiopian
Studies)
◦ Richard Keir Pethick Pankhurst OBE (3
December 1927 – 16 February 2017) was a
British-Ethiopian scholar, founding member
of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, and
former professor at the University of Addis
Ababa in Ethiopia.

19. ◦ His time spent writing about and studying
Ethiopian culture, politics and history
eventually sparked in him a passion for
activism.
◦ Pankhurst already had experience working for
his mother’s various publications, including the
Ethiopian Observer, and its predecessor the
New Times and Ethiopian News.
◦ Much of his time until the end of his life was
dedicated to campaigning for the return of
artifacts looted from Ethiopia during various
invasions, or being sold in market stalls to
tourists.

20. ◦ As for Pankhurst himself, his academic work brought him the most pride.
◦ “I am most proud of the books and articles I have written about Ethiopia,” he told
the BBC in 2016, having authored or co-authored 20 books on the country. “When I
came here there was no economic history of the country.”
◦ He remedied the situation by publishing the aptly named Economic History of
Ethiopia, 1800-1935 in 1968, a book that is still widely read today.
◦ Pankhurst was given a state funeral on February 21, 2017, at the Holy Trinity
Cathedral in Addis, where he was buried next to his mother, Sylvia Pankhurst, in
accordance with his last wishes. The monument over their graves holds only Sylvia’s
name although that will soon be changed.
◦ He is survived by his wife Rita, his two children, Alula and Helen, and his
grandchildren.

21. Sylvia Pankhurst
◦ Richard’s mother, Sylvia Pankhurst, was the daughter of a
liberal and forward-thinking family, that spawned not one, but
three renowned suffragettes, who eventually went on to
make their mark in all corners of the globe.
◦ During her post-suffragette days, Sylvia became interested in
the rise of fascism, convinced that, as it has in Italy, it would
spread across the globe. She became a champion of the
Abyssinian cause.
◦ Richard Pankhurst was seven when Italy officially invaded
Ethiopia. It was an act that would shape the rest of his life.
And when Sylvia moved to Ethiopia in 1956, she brought along
her son, and his then fiancée, Rita.

22. Sylvia Pankhurst
◦ Historians attest to this day that Emperor Haile Selassie‟s quest to free his
country from Italian occupation between 1936 and 1941 could not have
materialized without the aid of this amazing woman, Madam Sylvia
Pankhurst.
◦ The indomitable Madam Pankhurst was notorious for her tenacity.
Hounding tirelessly the occupants of 10 Downing Street at the time, she
emphatically stressed to the civilized world the anguish of the Ethiopian
people, their plight and their loss of freedom.
◦ For 20 years she published New Times & Ethiopian Times to keep interest
in the Ethiopian cause.

23. Bob Geldof
◦ Bob Geldof is an Irish singer-songwriter, actor
and political activist
◦ Geldof is widely recognized for his activism, especially
anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa.
◦ In 1984, he and Midge Ure founded the charity
supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief
in Ethiopia.

24. Bob Geldof
◦ Thirty years ago today Bob Geldof organised a star-
studded concert at Wembley stadium to raise funds for
Ethiopian famine victims.
◦ Live Aid reached 1.9 billion people across 150 countries,
and raised £40m.
◦ Generosity from the British public and kind hearted
people across the globe saved millions of lives.
www.theguardian.com

25. Bob Geldof
◦ Geldof also exerted efforts (as editor of Bild) to influence the G8 countries to
make poverty history in Africa and other parts of the world.
◦ Geldof play a key role in raising awareness of the people (of Ethiopia) he has
shared a deep connection with.
◦ Geldof was particularly concerned with the unfair poverty and hunger of
children.

26. Critique
◦ Three decades after Live Aid, it is clear that celebrity efforts to “save Africa” have
often done more to reinforce negative media stereotypes about the “dark
continent” and to portray its one billion citizens as helpless victims in a new
“white man’s burden”.
◦ The Economist, for example, depicted Africa as a “hopeless continent” in 2000,
with its then Africa editor, Richard Dowden, penning an equally prejudiced cover
story.

27. Other Musicians
◦ "We Are the World" is a charity single originally
recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985.
◦ It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson
for the album We Are the World.
◦ With sales in excess of 20 million copies, it is the
eighth best-selling physical single of all time.

28. Karlheinz Böhm (Austrian-German Actor
turned Humanitarian)
◦ Founder of Menschen für Menschen
◦ Menschen für Menschen has raised money for
emergency aid, including famine relief; for
improvements in agriculture, water supplies,
education and medical care, and for efforts to
abolish female genital mutilation, a tradition in
some cultures.

29. ◦ Mr. Böhm was made an honorary Ethiopian citizen in 2001.
◦ “I didn’t come as a stranger to show them what they have to
do to get out of their poverty,” he told The Guardian that year.
“I tried to find out what the people are missing, and how they
can help themselves. My heart has become deeply Ethiopian
in the deepest sense of the word. I don’t live only for myself
any more, but I live for other people.”
Mr. Böhm, with a child in Ethiopia, in
1993.Credit...Associated Press

30. Resort to Humanitarian Project
◦ In the middle of a highly successful career as an actor, Karlheinz Böhm decided
to break with his usual life and engage in a great humanitarian project in
Ethiopia, which he himself built up from scratch: Menschen für Menschen.
◦ Mr. Böhm proclaimed “filmmaking could wait”:
◦ “If you think how many lives you could save,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur quoted
him as saying, “a single one is more important than the greatest success you
could ever have on a stage.”

31. Karlheinz Böhm
◦ Thus he has established the foundations for humanitarian development that
include the construction of 173 schools, school hostels and training centers,
several infirmaries and 3 hospitals as well as agricultural and eco-agricultural
projects, the construction of hydraulic infrastructures, roads and bridges, sex
education programmes to prevent early marriages and genital mutilation
among young girls, training and small loan programmes aimed at improving the
predicament of women in Ethiopian society.

32. Karlheinz Böhm
◦ Mr. Böhm served for more than 30 years in the organization. Statues of him have been
erected in a number of different areas of Ethiopia, including in Addis Ababa, in honor
of his great contribution to philanthropic and development works here.
◦ Mr. Karl died at the age of 86 on Thursday (May 29, 2014) in Salzburg. The Prime
Minister Office issued a statement expressing the Government's condolences to his
family at the death of this great philanthropist and 'development patriot’.
◦ Karlheinz Böhm received numerous honors for his charitable work, including the
Balzan Prize in 2007 and the Essel Social Prize in 2011 as well as, in 2003, honorary
Ethiopian citizenship.
allafrica.com

33. Marcus Garvey and family
◦ Marcus Garvay was a Jamaican political activist,
publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator.
◦ The founder of the Universal Negro Improvement
Association (UNIA), a fraternal order of Black
nationalists, Garvey implored Black people to pride
themselves in their race and return to Africa.

34. Marcus Garvey
◦ Now, 81 years after his death, officials in Ethiopia plan to unveil a Bronze
Sculpture in Addis Ababa to honor the legacy of the Pan African independence
movement architect.
◦ According to a news release, the sculpture highlights Ethiopia as a focal point
for Pan-Africanists to engage in constructing a unifying African heritage and
destiny.
◦ “Our history began, in a sense, with Ethiopia,” Dr. Julius Garvey, Marcus
Garvey’s youngest son, told NNPA Newswire.

35. Marcus Garvey
◦ Garvey often used Ethiopia as a metonym for Africa and
the official anthem of the UNIA was entitled, “Ethiopia,
Thou Land of Our Fathers.”

36. Ethiopia the Promised Land
◦ The Rastafarians' adoration of Selassie stems from the words of black consciousness
leader Marcus Garvey, who said in 1920, "Look to Africa, when a black king shall be
crowned, for the day of deliverance is at hand". When Selassie was crowned emperor,
10 years later, many thought Garvey's words had come true.
◦ Another belief widely held by Rastafarians is that they will eventually return to Africa -
the continent their ancestors left in slave ships long ago. And quite often, according to
Erin MacLeod - author of Visions of Zion: Ethiopians and Rastafari in the Search for the
Promised Land - "back to Africa" is treated as synonymous with "back to Ethiopia".
bbc.com

37. Kwame Nkrumah
◦ President Kwame Nkrumah, the great, and
first president of Ghana once wrote a poem
on Ethiopia: “Ethiopia Shall Rise”
◦ He was the first Prime Minister and President
of Ghana, having led the ‘Gold Coast’ to independence from
Britain in 1957.
◦ Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrumah and Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie of
Ethiopia both played vital roles in the formation of the Organization of African
Unity (OAU).

38. Ethiopia shall rise
Ethiopia, Africa’s bright gem
Set high among the verdant hills
That gave birth to the unfailing
Waters of the Nile
Ethiopia shall rise
Ethiopia, land of the wise;
Ethiopia, bold cradle of Africa’s ancient rule
And fertile school
Of our African culture;
Ethiopia, the wise
Shall rise
And remould with us the full figure
Of Africa’s hopes
And destiny.
Kwame Nkrumah
dinkneshethiopia.com
Poem

39. Nkrumah
◦ According to Nkrumah the first encounter he had with Ethiopia was while walking the streets
of London and seeing the headline of a newspaper “MUSSOLINI INVADES ETHIOPIA.
◦ In his Autobiography he writes about this moment where he says that he felt that a spear has
just pierced his heart. He felt dizzy, sad and dejected. He also doubled his resolve to fight the
scrooge of Colonialism which has now encroached the only independent Black Country in the
world which has given pride to the entire black race when Menelik the Great scored brilliant
victory over the White Race (the same Italians) at the famous battle of Adwa.
◦ The generally accepted founding fathers of the OAU are Nkrumah, Haile Selassie (Emperor of
Ethiopia) and President of Egypt Gamel Abdel Nasser.
Worldhistoryedu.com

40. Nkrumah
◦ Nkrumah was the first African leader to visit Ethiopia and his presence was so high
profile, that for many years afterwards every African person (visitor or students) was
referred to as a “Ghanaian.”
◦ The next encounter with Nkrumah was when he came for the May 1963 OAU
Conference. The OAU was opened in the United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa (ECA)building which was a gift of Ethiopia to the UN.
◦ It is also the far-sightedness of the Emperor to bring that important regional
organization to Addis Ababa in 1958, which later became a magnet for bringing the
Headquarters of the OAU.

41. ◦ Nkrumah is credited with being one the brains behind the
creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), a precursor
to the African Union (AU).
◦ He led the so-called “progressive states”, a six-member
organisation called the Casablanca Group, founded in 1961.
The group later morphed into the OAU in 1963.
◦ Kwame Nkrumah’s Statue Unveiled In Addis Ababa, AU
headquarter, January 29, 2012.

42. References
◦ Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (A Pan African Perspective) By The New Pan Africanism 2020 | November 22, 2013.
https://unitedafricaby2020.org/dr-kwame-nkrumah-pan-african-perspective/
◦ Msmaku Asrat. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Visits Emperor Haile Selassie I. https://www.rastafari.tv/dr-kwame-
nkrumah-visits-emperor-haile-selassie/
◦ PEEBLES, GRAHAM Ethiopia: Historic Battle for the Mother of Africa.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/17/ethiopia-historic-battle-for-the-mother-of-africa/
◦ Kwame Nkrumah: History, Major Facts & 10 Memorable Achievements. Worldhistoryedu. APRIL 10, 2020.
https://www.worldhistoryedu.com/kwame-nkrumah-10-memorable-achievements/

43. References
◦ Catherine Hamlin: Grief in Ethiopia as Trailblazing Australian Doctor Dies. BBC.
Published19 March 2020 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51965688
◦ Plans to Unveil a Bust of Marcus Garvey in Ethiopia Revealed. News Observer.
February 23, 2021. https://ognsc.com/2021/02/23/plans-to-unveil-a-bust-of-marcus-
garvey-in-ethiopia-revealed/
◦ Ethiopia: Menschen Für Menschen Founder Karlheinz Böhm Dies. AllAfrica.
https://allafrica.com/stories/201406022534.html
◦ Karlheinz Böhm, Actor-Turned-Humanitarian, Dies at 86. New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/05/arts/karlheinz-bohm-actor-who-led-ethiopian-charity-dies-at-
86.html

44. References
◦ Karlheinz Böhm Austria/Germany. 2007 Balzan Prize for Humanity, Peace and Fraternity among
Peoples. International Balzan Prize Foundation.
https://www.balzan.org/en/prizewinners/karlheinz-bohm
◦ Professor Richard Pankhurst. https://www.africanidea.org/Professor_Richard_Pankhurst.pdf
◦ Celebrity efforts to 'save Africa' ha​​ve often only reinforced stereotypes
◦ Adekeye Adebajo. Celebrity efforts to 'save Africa' ha​​ve often only reinforced stereotypes. The
Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/commentisfree/2015/jul/13/celebrity-save-africa-stereotypes-bob-geldof-live-aid

45. References
◦ EPHREM YARED. JOHN CHARLES ROBINSON (1903-1954). Black Past. MARCH 21, 2016.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/robinson-john-charles-1903-1954/
◦ Bob Geldof. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Geldof#Musical_career/
◦ Richard Pankhurst (Ethiopianist) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pankhurst_(Ethiopianist)
◦ Richard Pankhurst, Renowned Scholar of Ethiopian Studies, Dies At 90. Addis Fortune.
https://addisfortune.net/richard-pankhurst-renowned-scholar-of-ethiopian-studies-dies-at-90/
◦ Elisabeth Borja. The Dream of Abyssinia: Two Black Aviators and Ethiopia.
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/dream-abyssinia-two-black-aviators-and-
ethiopia?msclkid=3abc3360ce5d11ecb69d43b573375483