The Long Story of Ethiopia: In English and Amharic

People have been curious for many centuries about Ethiopia’s stories left in stone. Recent archaeology is uncovering some fascinating answers. South of Axum, visitors can see the quarry where the tall stones that decorated Axum were carved—and can also see the form of a lioness that some human (or maybe, according to legend, the Archangel Michael) scratched onto the rock thousands of years ago. In 2012, a British archaeologist working in Ethiopia crawled under a stone carved with a sun and crescent moon, the and found a gold mine with an inscription in Sabaean, which, as she says, is “the language that the Queen of Sheba would have spoken.” She adds, “The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary." In this book, you can see a few glimpses into some of the long stories of Ethiopia that are revealed in its cities and rural areas. An early-reader book in both English and Amharic.Ready Set Go Books, an Open Hearts Big Dreams Project, is focused on increasing the literacy rate in Ethiopia through giving readers books with stories in their heart languages, full of colorful illustrations with Ethiopian settings and details. Profits from books sales will be used to create, print, and distribute more Ready Set Go Books to kids in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country. Ethiopia’s population is 44% children, ages 0-14 (43 million out of 97 million total). Only 5.5% of children attend pre-school or kindergarten, and the adult literacy rate is 49%. Our books are based on wise Ethiopian sayings that often rhyme in Amharic. If an adult says the first half, many children can chant the second half. Sometimes the meaning of these sayings is clear. Sometimes it has to be puzzled out and argued over. But sayings and idioms and proverbs help people express truths and beliefs in unusual ways. Open Hearts Big Dreams Fund (OHBD) is a 501(3)(c) not for profit organization that believes the chance to dream big dreams should not depend on where in the world you are born. Our focus is to support nonprofit organizations and their programs that provide literacy, K-12 education, and leadership as well as that support the parents and communities where the kids live, in Ethiopia.