I just got back from a trip to Ethiopia during which I was honored to interview US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Patricia M. Haslach, on behalf of People To People Radio. Check out her advice to women and girls in the just-posted video. Thanks to my husband John Plocher for managing the recording and processing!
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under Home & Family, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
Ethiopian coffee is some of the best in the world. According to the displays in the delightful Ethnological Museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the original home of the Coffee Aribica plant, and the word coffee refers to the Ethiopian province of Kaffa. We enjoyed the coffee ceremony which formalizes the roasting, grinding, and serving of the beverage.
While in Ethiopia last week, John and I regularly ate meals on injera (a sourdough-risen flatbread with a unique, slightly spongy texture traditionally made out of indigenous teff flour), followed by wonderful coffee, sometimes accompanied by popcorn. Injera is served either in rolls or as the platter for a variety of wat or tsebhi (stew). We particularly liked the fasting (non-meat) wat – largely made from lentils or chickpeas. We often drank St. George beer with the meal (or Ambo sparkling water), with coffee after.
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under News & Reviews
15 years ago in California, I bought a silver cross inspired in design by Bet Giorgis, the Church of St. George, in Lalibela Ethiopia. A few days ago, John and I finally visited Lalibela and saw the inspiring medieval monolithic cave churches in this World Heritage Site for ourselves. Mostly built in the 12th century, Lalibela today is a major tourist and pilgrimage site, featuring good food (especially at the Mountain View Hotel, and the interestingly modern Ben Abeba restaurant) and comfortable hotels with lovely views.
John and I only had one day to visit Lalibela. After the early morning flight from Addis, we saw the cave church at Na’akueto La’ab, the northwestern church group, and Bet Giorgis. The building outsides are well maintained, and the churches themselves are in active use by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Inside are ancient painting and icons, worn rugs, big drums, and benches. Long curtains protect the holy space – inside of which is a replica of the tablets in the original Ark of the Covenant – itself said to be in the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion (in the town of Axum in the Tigray Province, Ethiopia). There are remains of frescoes on some church walls plus elaborate ceiling carvings. The churches vary in size and design but all are carved from red basalt below ground level – from the living rock.
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews
Last week, People to People was a host organization for the first-ever Pan-African Medical Doctors & Healthcare Conference, held in the African Union Hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The conference Keynote Speaker was Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Other remarkable dignitaries who attended included Mulatu Teshome Wirtu (President, Ethiopia) who addressed the conference after Dr. Zuma, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia). Former President of Ethiopia Girma Wolde-Giorgis joined the closing dinner for the conference. PAMDHC brought together leading professionals in their areas of expertise – including a People to People panel on Triangular Partnership, moderated by former US Ambassador to Ethiopia, David Shinn. Panelists included:
The conference was put on by US Doctors for Africa, People to People, and Zambian International and Investment Centre (ZITIC). I had to leave the conference during the first morning to interview US Ambassador to Ethiopia Patricia M. Haslach for People to People Radio – more about that in a later blog.
Internet access and wifi in the otherwise-excellent Capital Hotel and in the African Union building were not reliable – so this is my first opportunity to post to my blog since 19 May.
Here is what the African Union campus looks like from the air – on 22 May as we flew from Addis to Lalibela:
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson
19 October 2019: Links Updated.
Filed under News & Reviews
Last week, I sat with the Anita Borg Institute Advisory Board at a gala celebrating Women of Vision, and in particular, the well-deserved award for Leadership honoring Dr. Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College here in California. I am dating myself to write that I remember when Mudd was an all-male institution. Maria and her team have grown Mudd from 10% women in Computer Science to 40% – and have kept that 40% stable for years. This unique accomplishment deserves some celebration! Maria is amazing – she is also #17 on Fortune’s list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders.
The other inspiring winners were Tal Rabin (Research Staff Member and Manager cryptographic research, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center) for Innovation; and Kathrin Winkler (Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, EMC Corporation) for Social Impact. Bank of America won as the 2014 Top Company for Women in Computing. Also attending the event were many of my sister mentors who have served in the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen program for scientific and technical women in the Middle East and Africa, including: Jameeka Aaron (of Lockheed Martin), Larissa Shapiro (of Mozilla), Andrea Leszek (of Salesforce), and Rahima Mohammed (of Intel).
Yesterday, my husband John and I drove to Berkeley to see His Majesty, King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein of Jordan speak at International House on the University of California campus. I was pleased to see the slide saying that 30% of Jordan’s tech industry workers are women – better than the 26% in America as of 2013.
I have never seen the King in person before, although last year I was honored to meet his cousin, Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan. Also, when my daughter Jessica and I were on the bus to Petra in Jordan, we watched “The Royal Tour“, a video featuring King Abdullah riding his motorcycle to show off his country. Yesterday’s talk is yet-another event that entered my life because of TechWomen. Mentor Lucie Newcomb (of NewComm Global Group) posted information about the event – including how to get tickets.
TechWomen 2014 mentor sign ups open soon! Please consider expanding your mind, experience, and heart to join us!
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson
Today is America’s official celebration of motherhood – when flowers, candy, greeting cards, and brunch are practically required. John and Paul and I took my mother with her bouquet of roses to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, followed by Indian buffet at The Mynt Restaurant in Saratoga, CA. We squabbled over who got to eat the caramels out of the box of chocolates she gave me. We missed Jessica and her husband Matthew but hope to talk with them by phone later today.
One of the benefits of my being the keeper of the photo repository is that I have a pictorial record from birth for almost every member of the family, including those below. This is a beautiful day to celebrate my wonderful family, of whom I am very proud!
Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson and baby Katy Dickinson, 1958
Katy Dickinson and baby Jessica Dickinson Goodman, by Jeffrey Davila, 1988
Grandpa Wade Dickinson, Grandma Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, and baby Paul Dickinson Goodman, 1992
Katy Dickinson and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at Petra Jordan, 2013
Matthew Holmes and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at the Lair of the Golden Bear, Pinecrest CA, 2013
Katy Dickinson and Paul Dickinson Goodman 2014
Images Copyright 1992-2014 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
Tonight (1 May 2014), I will be on People To People Global Radio Show talking with US Doctors for Africa Founder and Chairman, Ted Alemayhu, about Triangular Partnership, and the Pan-Africa Medical Doctors and Healthcare Conference, to be held 21-23 May 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our segment of this weekly radio program will be hosted by Dr. Anteneh Habte, Chairman of People to People. Join us Thursdays at 9:00 pm Eastern Time (6 pm Pacific Time). Access the weekly show online http://www.blogtalkradio.com/p2pglobalradioshow/ or phone 646-595-4742 each Thursday evening.
I will be traveling to Africa later this month (3rd time this year – a personal best!), with my husband John Plocher (his first trip to Africa). I have been working on the Triangular Partnership panel (moderated by former US Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn), as well as with the very helpful staff of US Ambassador Patricia M. Haslach of the US Embassy in Addis to prepare for the conference.
I edited and contributed a chapter to the People to People book Triangular Partnership: the Power of the Diaspora (published in September 2013) so this is a topic of great interest for me. There has been much written and discussed about Twinning. I believe that adding the diaspora – people who have a past and a future in both developing countries and western institutions – is a stronger model for successful development.
19 October 2019: Links Updated.
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
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