Washington Post
April 8, 2005
D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams and Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley teamed up yesterday to send a shipment of computers, school supplies and children’s chairs to a new youth center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
After addressing a gathering of Ethiopian community leaders at the John A. Wilson Building in the District, the Democratic mayors led a procession of officials outside carrying a few final items to a loaded shipment container that included Post-it Notes, soccer shoes and boxes of felt-tip pens.
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Hermela Kebede, executive director of the Ethiopian Community Center on Georgia Avenue NW, said 4 million youths in Addis Ababa have been orphaned by war and HIV-AIDS. “It is very important to have a youth center in Addis Ababa,” she said. “I’m sure they will be very happy to receive these things.”
The youth center is one of six operated in war-torn cities in Africa, the West Bank and Afghanistan by the Glocal Forum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to linking cities to promote peace and economic development. Williams and O’Malley are active in the group. In February, Williams traveled to Baltimore to join O’Malley in sending a shipment of supplies to another youth center in Freetown, Sierra Leone.