About Us

Background

The AESA members are all Ethiopian immigrants living and working in different communities and different government and non-government institutions in the United States. Thus, on the one hand participating in the process of social and economic development of their respective communities, and on other sharing the challenges and striving to adapt and assimilate into the culture of their adopted society. As immigrants some of the challenges the AESA members face include but not limited to the following.
The AESA members' children are either born here or naturalized US citizens or on the way to being so. While these children are moving towards assimilation into the culture of their adopted country, the US, they, in contrast, have little or no knowledge of the culture of their country of origin or ancestry. We believe that this situation, if not addressed, is bound to lead to identity crisis and the question of roots will arise sooner or later in the genealogy. It is therefore essential to take appropriate and necessary measures in order to address such problems one step at a time.

Families are responsible for the community or neighborhood they live in. Their success and the success of their children greatly depends upon the free and unlimited, organized initiative and active collaboration of the members in that community. The social problems and challenges, such as youth violence, conflicts, improper behaviors, etc. can be stopped from happening or mitigated through organized efforts of community members. Thus, the AESA members and families believe that it is important to participate in and collaborate with the relevant institutions and communities to make sure that we live in a safe and secure environment.

The level of success and quality of a life of a person largely depends on his/her level of educational achievement. Therefore one has to make sure that children must not only have opportunities to education, but also get adequate support and appreciation ( through intervention by during and after-school programs ) from their communities in general and their families in particular to enable them achieve their full potential. In this regard, and in the areas mentioned above, the AESA has mandated itself to serve the Ethiopian community.