About Us: Facts About Ethopia

• Full name: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
• Capital: Addis Ababa
• Language: Amharic (official), Oromiffa, Tigrigna, Somaligna, Sidamgna, Wolaitigna, Afarigna, Hadiyigna (among 80 other languages spoken)
• Some of the written languages use the Ge’ez alphabet, the language of the of the ancient Axumite kingdom. As a matter of fact, Ge’ez is the second indigenous written language of Africa.
• Major religions: Christianity, Islam
• Main exports: Coffee, hides, oilseeds, beeswax, sugarcane
• GNI per capita: US $160 (World Bank, 2006)

• Ethiopia is a country situated in the Horn of Africa and is the third-most populous nation in Africa (90 million as of 2007).  
• Christians first came to Ethiopia by 42 -52 AD and the country was a thriving Christian kingdom  by the third century.

• Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that was never colonized and therefore is unique in its history of continuous sovereignty. Map provided by ReliefWeb Source: UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia Date: March 2000
• Ethiopia has a diverse poulation with more than 70 distinct ethnic and linguistic groups.
• Ethiopia is home of the world’s fastest long distance runners.  
• The birthplace of coffee is in Ethiopia.
• Lake Tana is one of the sources of the Nile.
• Dingnesh, otherwise known as Lucy,  was the first female humanoid, who lived 3.2 million years ago in the Awash Valley in Hadar, Ethiopia.
• Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Sub Saharan Africa. The earliest evidence of Ethiopian history was in around 1000BC when the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon.
• The first recorded kingdom in Ethiopia grew around Axum during the 3rd century BC. Axum became the greatest ivory market in the north east.
• Axum conquered parts of Yemen and southern Arabia and remained a great power until the death of the Prophet Mohammed.
• Heath Professional/Population Ratio
  • Physician: 1:47836
  • Nurse: 1:8461
  • Health assistant: 1:8847

Here are some interesting data as of 2002:

Ethiopia is 27 times larger than Switzerland. It is the size of France and Spain put together.

(Sources: Population Reference Bureau, UNAIDS/WHO Working Group on Global HIV/AIDS and STI Surveillance, 2000 Ethiopia DHS)

Facts about the town Hosanna where h² Empower is initially focusing our work:

• Hosanna is a town of 60,000 people located in the Hadiya Zone.
• Hadiya is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) named after the Hadiya of the Hadiya kingdom.  Based on figures in 2005 this zone has an estimated total population of 1,506,623.
• Approximately 6% of the inhabitants of Hadiya have access to electricity.
• The majority of the population are subsistance farmers and pastorialists.
• This area has very limited access to clean water.
• About 74% of all eligible children are enrolled in primary school and 21% in secondary schools.
• Many of the schools serve orphans. (There are 5 million in Ethiopia).
• Most of the schools in Hossana and the outskirts serve from 2000-4000 children each.
• Classes are in shifts and teachers in secondary schools commonly teach 500 students a day.
• Most schools have no water, no electricity, no teaching materials and no libraries.