Ethiopia / en łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ oral and maxillofacial surgeons save lives while training future doctors in Ethiopia /news/u-t-oral-and-maxillofacial-surgeons-save-lives-while-training-future-doctors-ethiopia <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ oral and maxillofacial surgeons save lives while training future doctors in Ethiopia</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/ethiopia.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=IaTXaD5V 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/ethiopia.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=-0u7oB1r 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/ethiopia.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=W05m5WXM 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/ethiopia.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=IaTXaD5V" alt="łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ faculty Karl Cuddy and Marco Caminiti with Ethiopian doctor"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-01-08T13:48:04-05:00" title="Wednesday, January 8, 2020 - 13:48" class="datetime">Wed, 01/08/2020 - 13:48</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Drs. Karl Cuddy (left) and Marco Caminiti (right), both of łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ's Faculty of Dentistry, pictured with Dr. Demerew of Addis Ababa University (photo courtesy of Marco Caminiti)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/erin-vollick" hreflang="en">Erin Vollick</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/toronto-addis-ababa-academic-collaboration" hreflang="en">Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ethiopia" hreflang="en">Ethiopia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-dentistry" hreflang="en">Faculty of Dentistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Inside St. Peter's Specialized Hospital in Addis Ababa, patients&nbsp;lined the halls with ailments including head and neck tumours, kerosene burns, cleft lips and hyena bites.</p> <p>They were waiting to be assessed by the first group of maxillofacial surgery residents at Addis Ababa University&nbsp;–&nbsp;and by a trio of oral and maxillofacial surgeons from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Dentistry.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ group took part in the first shared initiative between the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC) and the surgical non-profit, Face the Future, which was founded by Canadian surgeon Dr. <strong>Peter Adamson</strong>. <a href="/news/transforming-health-care-ethiopia-u-t-s-collaboration-addis-ababa-university-takes-centre-stage">TAAAC is a partnership between łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ and Addis Ababa University</a> that aims to promote academic training, teaching support and research collaboration in many different fields, including dentistry.</p> <p>The universities and Face the Future had&nbsp;shared goals: to provide ongoing training for residents of the newly formed maxillofacial surgery program and to treat complex cases.</p> <p>Faculty of Dentistry Assistant Professor <strong>Marco Caminiti </strong>gave lectures during the two-week stay while&nbsp;the AAU residents and attending surgeons received specialized hands-on training and worked&nbsp;alongside their łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ colleagues.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The planning, surgeries and post-operative procedures were our way of training the residents in the essential practical skills they need,” said Caminiti, who is also the graduate specialty program director in oral and maxillofacial surgery at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ.</p> <p>Over the course of their visit, the team, which&nbsp;included łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ Assistant Professor <strong>Karl Cuddy </strong>and graduate resident <strong>Michael Laschuk</strong>, operated on dozens of patients and assessed many more.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The team faced challenges that included a lack of critical resources and surgical tools to language barriers.</p> <p>Sometimes the surgeries were high-risk, complex procedures that lasted a full day. One such operation involved a total maxillectomy, requiring the removal of a patient's jaw, part of the nose and skin to cut out a large tumour.&nbsp;</p> <p>Caminiti remains in touch with Dr. Demerew,&nbsp;his AAU colleague and director of the Addis Ababa University oral surgery program, via WhatsApp. “The relationships we forged there are very strong,” Caminiti says.&nbsp;</p> <p>While the Addis Ababa maxillofacial surgery residents improved their core knowledge and surgical techniques, they weren’t the only ones to gain from the exchange.&nbsp;</p> <p>“It was very humbling,” Cuddy says of his first trip to Addis Ababa. “I learned a lot about how to deal with resource limitations and challenges that we face on a completely different scale.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Both Cuddy and Caminiti plan to return to Ethiopia&nbsp;for another teaching opportunity. Next time, though, they don’t want to arrive empty-handed. They want to put the word out that they’re looking for donations of specialized surgical equipment such as surgical drills, saws&nbsp;and facial plating systems.&nbsp;</p> <p>“For every person we helped, there were five or six we wished we could have,” says Caminiti.</p> <p>Next spring, when the first cohort of the maxillofacial surgery program graduates – only the second such program to be established in the country of 109 million people – their colleagues and friends in Canada will be cheering for them.</p> <p>“It’s a wonderful collaboration between our two universities,” Cuddy says. “We have a lot to offer and we’ve really just scratched the surface.”&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 08 Jan 2020 18:48:04 +0000 geoff.vendeville 161635 at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ, Addis Ababa University strengthen partnership, launch new programs in Ethiopia /news/u-t-addis-ababa-university-strengthen-partnership-launch-new-programs-ethiopia <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ, Addis Ababa University strengthen partnership, launch new programs in Ethiopia</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/AAU-1140-x-760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=x0jupoAz 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/AAU-1140-x-760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=s8HP8-_5 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/AAU-1140-x-760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=gibdf9bb 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/AAU-1140-x-760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=x0jupoAz" alt="Photo of Addis Ababa University"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Romi Levine</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2018-12-03T00:00:00-05:00" title="Monday, December 3, 2018 - 00:00" class="datetime">Mon, 12/03/2018 - 00:00</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ and Addis Ababa University (pictured) work together to build graduate programs for students in Ethiopia (photo by Giorgio Cosulich/Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/romi-levine" hreflang="en">Romi Levine</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cheryl-regehr" hreflang="en">Cheryl Regehr</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ethiopia" hreflang="en">Ethiopia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychiatry" hreflang="en">Psychiatry</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Marci Rose </strong>remembers hearing an ambulance siren for the first time in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city.</p> <p>“It almost took my breath away,” she says.</p> <p>A noise, taken for granted – or seen as an inconvenience – in a city like Toronto, was a joyous occasion in Ethiopia. It marked the first time emergency medical services were offered in the east African country.</p> <p>The first cohort of ER doctors graduated from Addis Ababa University in 2013. Before that, there was none.</p> <p>This pioneering group of life-saving physicians is one of the many successes of the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC), a partnership between the University of Toronto and Addis Ababa University (AAU) where experts in both countries work to build robust graduate programs in Ethiopia’s capital.</p> <p><img alt="Emergency medicine students in Ethiopia" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__9702 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/ER-docs-750-x-500.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Emergency medicine students in Addis Ababa with TAAAC&nbsp;volunteers&nbsp;(photo courtesy of Marci Rose)</em></p> <p>TAAAC&nbsp;grew out of a collaborative psychiatry program that began in 2003, led by Dr. <strong>Clare Pain</strong>, an associate professor of psychiatry at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ and clinical director of the Psychological Trauma Assessment Clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital, and psychiatrists at AAU.</p> <p>It has since expanded to include 24 disciplines – from family medicine to engineering and library science – with approximately 80 faculty members travelling to Ethiopia every year to participate in the program as volunteers who provide training, teaching, supervision and support.</p> <p>“It's exciting to see the multiplier effect the program has had,” says Rose, who is the TAAAC program manager and the occupational therapy lead, and has been a part of the initiative since 2010.</p> <p>A number of spinoff initiatives have also launched as a result of TAAAC, says Rose, including cervical cancer screenings.&nbsp;“In Ethiopia, the greatest killer of women is cervical cancer,” she says.</p> <p>Previously, when a patient was diagnosed with cervical cancer, it was often discovered at stage four and already deadly, says Rose. But through a collaboration with family medicine at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ, Ethiopian health professionals now offer screening services to catch the disease earlier&nbsp;on.</p> <h3><a href="/news/transforming-health-care-ethiopia-u-t-s-collaboration-addis-ababa-university-takes-centre-stage">Read more about the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration&nbsp;</a></h3> <p>In October, łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ Vice-President and Provost <strong>Cheryl Regehr</strong>&nbsp;travelled to Addis Ababa to renew the&nbsp;memorandum of understanding between the two universities – a pledge to keep working together, with the intention of continuing and expanding the partnership for years to come.</p> <p>“It's the strength of the commitment and strength of relationships that have been developed that have really made this a tremendous success,” says Regehr.&nbsp;</p> <p>The expansion of the TAAAC&nbsp;program has been “remarkable,” AAU president Tassew Woldehanna told&nbsp;<em>łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ</em>&nbsp;earlier this year during a trip to Toronto.&nbsp;“The two institutes are dedicated to this partnership and to it being sustainable and based on what the AAU needs to grow.”&nbsp;</p> <p>While łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ faculty members and researchers come to Ethiopia to teach and train, the learning that takes place through the partnership is reciprocal, says Regehr.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Whenever we provide education to others, we learn ourselves,”&nbsp;she says. “When you think about Toronto as a global city, learning about how people conceptualize health and well-being in other countries, learning something about what the contexts of their lives might have been before they came to Canada, and learning a little bit about what their expectations might be of health care helps us provide far better services to people here in Canada and in Toronto.”</p> <p><img alt="łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ Provost and AAU president shake hands" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__9703 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Cheryl-MOU-750-x-500.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Regehr and Woldehanna shake hands after signing an MOU between the two universities (photo courtesy of Marci Rose)</em></p> <p>Ethiopia will see its first graduating class of speech language pathologists in January. The class of eight will be the first group to be certified in the country. Previously, only one person was practising speech pathology but was not technically certified, says <strong>Hillary Ganek</strong>, a research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children who taught a course at AAU in May through the TAAAC program.</p> <p>“Even here in Canada, not a lot of people know what speech language pathologists do and don't think about how devastating it could be if you or a close family member can't communicate and what that means for your day-to-day, for your job and for your personal relationships,” says Ganek, who completed her PhD in rehabilitation sciences at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ in 2017 in the Faculty of Medicine.</p> <p>Now, there will be speech language pathologists&nbsp;in Ethiopia who will be able to assist families with a range of services from speech therapy after cleft palate surgery to helping stroke patients and those with degenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig's disease.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__9704 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/SLPs-750-x-500.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Ganek with speech language pathology students, who gave her this painting as a gift before she went back to Canada (photo courtesy of Hillary Ganek)&nbsp;</em></p> <p>Ganek’s course was on aural rehabilitation, teaching AAU students how to work with children who have hearing loss and need to learn to listen and talk with hearing aids or a cochlear implant.</p> <p>“We were able to bring in some families with children and create lesson plans and go through therapy with them,” she says.</p> <p>Even in the limited number of sessions with the children, there were improvements in their speech, language and listening abilities, says Ganek.</p> <p>“I think that was powerful for the students to see,” she says.</p> <p>All graduates of the speech language pathology program intend to stay and practice in the country – echoing TAAAC’s high graduate retention rate of over 90 per cent.</p> <p>“If you can get the training you need in the country, you don't have to leave and you can stay and build services in the country,” says Rose of TAAAC’s retention strategy. “It's small magic but it's magic.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 03 Dec 2018 05:00:00 +0000 Romi Levine 147696 at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ launches class on ancient Ethiopic language with a donation from The Weeknd /news/u-t-launches-class-ancient-ethiopian-language-very-nature-university <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ launches class on ancient Ethiopic language with a donation from The Weeknd</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Gervers%20learning%20Ge%27ez%20resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Lu_yd76f 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Gervers%20learning%20Ge%27ez%20resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=BUZQhur4 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Gervers%20learning%20Ge%27ez%20resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=aaHUqJjk 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Gervers%20learning%20Ge%27ez%20resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Lu_yd76f" alt="Photo of Professor Michael Gervers"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-01-10T10:14:44-05:00" title="Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 10:14" class="datetime">Tue, 01/10/2017 - 10:14</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Professor Michael Gervers (right) also donated $50,000 for the course. He sat in on the first class and got pointers from classmates Gelila Tilahun (centre) and her daughter Tseday Drudge, 16 (photos by Geoffrey Vendeville)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Geoffrey Vendeville</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/language" hreflang="en">Language</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ethiopia" hreflang="en">Ethiopia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/near-and-middle-eastern-civilizations" hreflang="en">Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medieval-studies" hreflang="en">Medieval Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">The university is now one of the only places in the world where students can learn Ge’ez</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Tens of thousands of ancient Ethiopic&nbsp;manuscripts –&nbsp;maybe more – have collected dust for over a&nbsp;century because they are written in what is now a rarely studied&nbsp;language, Ge’ez.&nbsp;</p> <p>But a new course at the University of Toronto is teaching a new generation of students to understand the ancient Semitic language so that one day they can access this long-lost trove of knowledge.&nbsp;</p> <p>This week, Professor <strong>Robert Holmstedt</strong>&nbsp;of the department of Near and Middle Eastern civilizations&nbsp;welcomed 25 students and members of Toronto’s Ethiopian community&nbsp;to&nbsp;the first day of an introductory course on Ge’ez, which like Latin, is only used in religious services, in this case for the Ethiopian Orthodox and Catholic churches.</p> <h3><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/the-weeknd-ethiopian-1.3938158">Read more about the Ge'ez course at </a><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/programs/metromorning/ge-ez-course-1.3924012">CBC</a><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/the-weeknd-ethiopian-1.3938158">&nbsp;News</a></h3> <p>With this&nbsp;course, łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ becomes one of the only places in the world where students can learn the fundamentals of Ge'ez. The program came about through several significant donations, including from The Weeknd, the Ethiopian community and the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</p> <p>Department chair Professor <strong>Tim Harrison</strong> has said that&nbsp;he hopes, with continued support, łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ will eventually add more courses and be positioned to launch the first Ethiopian&nbsp;studies program in North America.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3082 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/Holmstedt%20writing%20alphabet%20resized.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Professor Robert Holmstedt, a specialist in&nbsp;Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic languages, introduces&nbsp;students to orders of the alphabet in the first class on Ge'ez.&nbsp;</em></p> <p>Since the subject is so rarely taught, Holmstedt had to invent course materials and revise one of the only Ge’ez textbooks in English, the 40-year-old <em>Introduction to Classical Ethiopic: Ge'ez</em> by Thomas O. Lambdin. Ge’ez is a window into an ancient culture and offers insights into other Semitic languages, he said.</p> <p>“I like giving students access to things that 99.5 per cent of the world doesn’t have access to,” he said. “It’s part of advancing our knowledge and the pursuit of truth. This is the very nature of the university. We can’t leave this behind.”&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/programs/metromorning/ge-ez-course-1.3924012">Hear CBC Metro Morning talk about the course on Ge'ez</a></h3> <p><strong>Michael Gervers</strong>, a history professor at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ Scarborough, helped launch the course with a $50,000 donation and a call to Toronto's Ethiopian community to contribute.</p> <p>The call was answered and the donation matched by none other than Toronto native and Grammy-award winning artist Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd.</p> <h3><a href="/news/weeknd-backs-u-t-s-bid-launch-north-america-s-first-ethiopian-studies-program">Read about The Weeknd’s donation</a></h3> <p>The campaign for the language course has a&nbsp;$200,000 goal and has received support from the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and&nbsp;the Bikila Awards organization, a local Ethiopian community group named after Olympic marathoner Adebe Bikila.&nbsp;</p> <p>On Monday, just as he had promised, Gervers sat in on the class, hoping to be one of the first to learn the language at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ.&nbsp;</p> <p>Although he has been studying ancient Ethiopia for 40 years – he has swung from ropes to explore rock-cut monasteries in Ethiopia and created a database of tens of thousands of photographs&nbsp;of Ethiopian art and culture –&nbsp;Gervers&nbsp;does not know the language.</p> <p>Amharic-speaking students helped him with his pronunciation when he was asked to recite a letter of the alphabet.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3081 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/Michael%20Gervers%20staircase%20resized.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Professor Michael Gervers has studied Ethiopian history and culture for four decades and helped start the Ge'ez course at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ&nbsp;</em></p> <p>The&nbsp;course's first students included members of the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities, students with an interest in Ethiopian culture, medievalists and students in comparative linguistics.&nbsp;</p> <p>Before any of the students can uncover the secrets of ancient Ethiopic texts, they must learn the basics. In their first class, they were introduced to Ethiopic letters and to the present tense of verbs like “to sit.”</p> <p>Hours of memorization come next. Holmstedt urged his students to carry a ringlet of flashcards so they can learn the alphabet on the go.</p> <p>“Walk around campus memorizing words instead of looking at your phone,”&nbsp;Holmstedt&nbsp;said.&nbsp;</p> <p>Gervers said he hoped the Ge’ez course would be the first of many classes that would form the basis of an Ethiopian&nbsp;studies program at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ. He has proposed a graduate-level course in the history of Ethiopia.</p> <p>“Ethiopia is usually left out of the curriculum because it’s so different,” he said. “There is no point of entry through European languages like English, French, Spanish or Italian.”&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="/news/swinging-ropes-matching-funds">Read more about Professor Gervers' research on Ethiopia</a></h3> <p>The campaign will need&nbsp;additional funding&nbsp;to add further courses in Ge'ez – and even more to kickstart Ethiopian&nbsp;studies.</p> <p>For many students in the course, the subject isn’t only academic.</p> <p><strong>Sahlegebriel Belay Gebreselassie</strong>, a third-year undergrad&nbsp;in international relations and political science, has an “intimate personal connection” with the class.&nbsp;</p> <p>“It’s a part of learning my history, my language,” he said.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 10 Jan 2017 15:14:44 +0000 geoff.vendeville 103246 at From swinging ropes to matching funds: Michael Gervers’ passion for Ethiopian studies /news/swinging-ropes-matching-funds <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">From swinging ropes to matching funds: Michael Gervers’ passion for Ethiopian studies</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/gervers.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7fcEuc_b 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/gervers.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=MTy74WJB 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/gervers.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3a3nH6ep 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/gervers.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7fcEuc_b" alt="Michael Gervers in Ethiopia"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lavende4</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-08-15T15:08:55-04:00" title="Monday, August 15, 2016 - 15:08" class="datetime">Mon, 08/15/2016 - 15:08</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Michael Gervers in Ethiopia</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/noreen-ahmed-ullah" hreflang="en">Noreen Ahmed-Ullah</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Noreen Ahmed-Ullah</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ethiopia" hreflang="en">Ethiopia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/near-and-middle-eastern-civilizations" hreflang="en">Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Long before Grammy-award winning artist The Weeknd donated $50,000 to help launch Ethiopian studies at the University of Toronto, <strong>Michael Gervers</strong> was busy exploring, preserving and promoting a largely unknown ancient culture.</p> <p>A professor in the department of history, Gervers has swung from ropes to get into rock-cut monasteries in Ethiopia. He’s created a database of tens of thousands of photographs– mostly his own – of Ethiopian art and culture.</p> <p>And for decades, he’s taught one of only a handful of classes in Ethiopian culture and history in North America.</p> <p>At a local event honouring him for his work on&nbsp;Ethiopian culture 11 months ago, Gervers came up with a novel concept.</p> <p>He called on the Ethiopian community to raise money for Ethiopian studies at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ and announced he’d kickstart the cause by matching their donation up to $50,000.</p> <p>“I thought this was a perfect moment to try and make something happen,” Gervers said. “I gave them a challenge. I said that I would contribute $50,000 of my own money if they could match it. They accepted the challenge.”</p> <p>Since then, the Ethiopian community group, named the Bikila Award organization after Olympian Abebe Bikila, has been raising funds in earnest. The Faculty of Arts and Science has contributed $50,000. With The Weeknd’s gift, łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s department of Near and Middle Eastern civilizations has reached about $170,000 of its $200,000 goal in endowment funds to start a course in Ge’ez, the liturgical language of Ethiopia, in spring 2017.</p> <p>Department chair Professor <strong>Tim Harrison</strong> says he hopes that, with continued support, łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ will eventually add more courses and be positioned to launch the first Ethiopian studies program in North America.</p> <p>Like Latin, Ge’ez is now only used in religious services, in this case for the Ethiopian Orthodox and Catholic Churches. It would be a foundational language for Ethiopian studies, cross-listed with the Centre for Medieval Studies, allowing students in other programs to compare it to other Semitic languages.</p> <p>"Michael Gervers started out as a historian of medieval England, but has developed into one of the most important scholars in the world today working on the history and culture of medieval Ethiopia," said Professor <strong>Suzanne Conklin Akbari</strong>, director of the Centre for Medieval Studies.</p> <p>"His initial gift – and, even more, his posing of a fundraising challenge to the Bikila Award and the wider Ethiopian community – was transformative. It created a dynamic partnership that brings together the diasporic Ethiopian community with university partners in medieval studies and Near and Middle Eastern civilizations, exploring how we can work together to allow students – both undergraduate and graduate – to delve more deeply into the history of East Africa, and to understand the contributions of the peoples of Ethiopia to the world we inhabit today."</p> <p>Gervers fell into Ethiopian studies almost by accident.</p> <p>A graduate of łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ, he has been researching and teaching medieval history and art history at the university for 40 years. It was his fascination with rock-cut architecture that led him to France, Turkey, Italy and eventually Ethiopia for the first time in 1982.</p> <p>He was hooked.</p> <p>Since 2000, he’s been leading international expeditions to Ethiopia annually.</p> <p>Part of the draw for him has been exploring an ancient culture that pretty much remains intact.</p> <p>“I get off the plane in Ethiopia, and I drive 50 km outside the city and in a way I’m in the Middle Ages,” Gervers said. “Rural life in Ethiopia has remained largely unchanged for thousands of years… It’s almost like looking at the other side of the moon. It’s all there, but very few people are aware of it.”</p> <p>Modern-day northern Ethiopia and Eritrea were the seat of The Kingdom of Aksum, a major naval and trading power from the first to the seventh centuries AD. One of the world’s first Christian kingdoms, it was a contemporary of Greek and Roman civilizations, controlling many of the trade routes between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean world. Religious writings from 2000 years ago, long since disappeared from the modern world may still exist in Ethiopia translated centuries ago by monks there, but still undiscovered in old monasteries.</p> <p>Part of the reason why few researchers delved into Ethiopia is because, unlike much of&nbsp;Africa which faced colonization by Europeans, Ethiopia did not. That meant most scholars were unable to use their native tongues to conduct research and very few, if any, institutions offered Ge’ez.</p> <p>“Sometimes the only source of this literature from the early period comes to us through Ethiopic text, but it’s a major gap that has not been filled because we don’t teach the language,” Gervers said. “There are tens of thousands of manuscripts in Ethiopia in Ge’ez and no one is reading them.”</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__1704 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" height="453" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/ge%27ez3.jpg?itok=p4hKdmKl" style="line-height: 20.8px;" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>In addition to pushing for Ge’ez to be taught at the university level, Gervers has also been working with łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ Scarborough on a library project to make the entire manuscript collection of the 15th century Ethiopian monastery at Gunda Gunde available online, a total of 35,000 pages of Ge’ez text.</p> <p>Concerned that Ethiopian manuscripts were under threat after the government seized all church lands, Gervers began digitizing them. His<a href="http://ethiopia.deeds.utoronto.ca/doCmd.jsp"> online database</a>&nbsp;(login and password: student)&nbsp;of Ethiopian art and culture now contains 65,000 images.&nbsp;</p> <p>Thanks to a significant grant from the Arcadia Fund, he is also documenting through video interviews with craftsmen, monks and parishioners how Ethiopia’s rock-cut churches (see below), which are carved out of stone – 20 metres<sup>2</sup>&nbsp;underground, 6 m high – are created. For much of the world, it’s a lost art. So far, he’s gathered 40 hours of video recordings, and now is seeking help from the Ethiopian community to transcribe and translate the video interviews, which will then be made available online.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__1705 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" height="453" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/rockcut.jpg?itok=CnmWvXVE" style="line-height: 20.8px;" typeof="foaf:Image" width="680" loading="lazy"></p> <p>Gervers said The Weeknd’s gift has helped shine a light on the study of ancient Ethiopian culture. For now, he’s just looking forward to seeing Ge’ez offered at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ.</p> <p>“I’m one of the first people who’s going to sign up,” he said.&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://spark.adobe.com/page/ODPLq/">Contribute to the fundraising campaign here</a></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 15 Aug 2016 19:08:55 +0000 lavende4 99972 at The Weeknd backs łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ's bid to launch Ethiopian studies /news/weeknd-backs-u-t-s-bid-launch-north-america-s-first-ethiopian-studies-program <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Weeknd backs łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ's bid to launch Ethiopian studies </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/20126-08-08-Weeknd-533141116.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=s9Wo1BJL 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/20126-08-08-Weeknd-533141116.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=r46EqeYw 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/20126-08-08-Weeknd-533141116.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=C5wpXwII 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/20126-08-08-Weeknd-533141116.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=s9Wo1BJL" alt="concert photo of The Weeknd"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-08-08T16:52:29-04:00" title="Monday, August 8, 2016 - 16:52" class="datetime">Mon, 08/08/2016 - 16:52</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The Weeknd performs during the 2016 Hangout Music Festival on May 20, 2016 in Gulf Shores, Alabama (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images for Hangout Music Festival)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/noreen-ahmed-ullah" hreflang="en">Noreen Ahmed-Ullah</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Noreen Ahmed-Ullah</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/weeknd" hreflang="en">The Weeknd</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ethiopia" hreflang="en">Ethiopia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ethiopian-studies" hreflang="en">Ethiopian Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A $50,000 donation from Grammy-award winning star The Weeknd will help the University of Toronto launch&nbsp;Ethiopian studies.&nbsp;</p> <p>Starting in spring 2017 with a course in the ancient – and now largely extinct –&nbsp;language of Ge’ez,&nbsp;the department of Near and Middle Eastern civilizations is working to build the foremost curriculum for Ethiopian studies here at the University of Toronto.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Ethiopian studies is a great way to enrich our curriculum in African studies because it is one of the great civilizational cultures of Africa and the world,” said Professor <strong>Tim Harrison</strong>, chair of the department of Near and Middle Eastern civilizations. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>As part of that goal to raise endowment funds, Toronto native Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd, whose parents emigrated from Ethiopia, responded to the call from local Ethiopian leaders to help raise money for the university’s efforts to create Ethiopian studies.&nbsp;</p> <p>The donation was made as part of Bikila Award’s <a href="https://spark.adobe.com/page/GdH6e/">fundraising initiative at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ's Varsity stadium: Bikila Barefoot Challenge</a>.&nbsp;On Saturday, The Weeknd announced his support for the effort and linked to further information on the initiative and where to make donations. &nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/06/the-weeknd-donates-50000-to-the-university-of-toronto-to-kick-start-an-ethiopic-studies-program.html">Read the <em>Toronto Star </em>story</a></h2> <p>“He’s our community’s hero,” said Tessema Mulegata, president of the Bikila Award organization.“We’re really surprised. We’re grateful for what he’s done.</p> <p>“This was a unique opportunity for the community to partner with this prestigious institution, the University of Toronto, and he responded to our call.”</p> <p>Harrison says with The Weeknd’s gift, the university will be close to reaching its goal of raising $200,000 in endowment funds to start the curriculum, which will begin with a course in Ge’ez. Like Latin, Ge’ez is used in liturgical services&nbsp;–&nbsp;in this case for the Ethiopian Orthodox and Catholic churches.&nbsp;</p> <p>Besides being a foundational language for Ethiopian studies, the Ge’ez course, which will be cross-listed with the Centre for Medieval Studies, will allow students in other programs to compare the language with other Semitic languages.&nbsp;</p> <p>The fundraising began in 2015 with a $50,000 donation from <a href="https://soundcloud.com/planetartsci/episode-9-medieval-chivalry-rock-cut-churches-and-the-ancient-language-of-geez">Professor <strong>Michael Gervers</strong></a>&nbsp;of łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ's history department,&nbsp;who has taught courses in Ethiopian history at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ&nbsp;Scarborough.</p> <p>Gervers said The Weeknd's gift has really helped Ethiopian studies at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ get closer to reality.</p> <p>“Practically everyone in the world under the age of 30 knows about The Weeknd,”&nbsp;Gervers said. “That single donation has raised the visibility of the whole project enormously.”</p> <h2><a href="/news/famous-lomax-recordings-ethiopias-stone-cutters-and-their-rock-hewn-churches">Read more about Gervers</a></h2> <p>The Faculty of Arts &amp; Science has also contributed $50,000, and Bikila, named for Ethiopian Olympic hero Abebe Bikila, helped raise the remaining funds.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n7XVoTJfVvs" width="560"></iframe></p> <p>With the Kingdom of Aksum, considered a contemporary of the Greek and Roman civilizations, the ancient African nation had its own script and coins. It ruled modern-day northern Ethiopia and Eritrea as a major naval and trading power from the 1st to the 7th centuries AD.&nbsp;</p> <p>Already, the university’s libraries have acquired extensive source materials, and Gervers has helped to digitally capture images of the contents of numerous ancient manuscripts and books. Many of the literature remains undiscovered in caves and old monasteries throughout Ethiopia.&nbsp;</p> <p>“It’s an untold story,” said Mulegata. “There’s more to be discovered. There’s lessons for today’s world: we can learn a lot about how this ancient civilization was able to have different religions live together in harmony.”</p> <p><img alt="image of text" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__1656 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-08-08-ethiopian-embed2.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 431px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 08 Aug 2016 20:52:29 +0000 lanthierj 99930 at