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UN International Day of Families 2012
Day of Families Observed in Addis Ababa
Written by UPF - Ethiopia
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - UPF-Ethiopia organized a celebration of the UN Day of Families on May 27 in partnership with Ambassador for Peace Ato Getachew Wolde Hanna, founder of the Ethiopian’s Family Association and owner of Tesfa (Hope) primary school in Addis Ababa. The director of a high school who is a friend of his offered the use of his hall.
The 22 students in his school sang a welcoming song. Then Ato Getachew spoke about the importance of observing the UN Day of Families and the mission of his organization: "The UN is composed of nations that are themselves composed of societies, and societies are composed of families. The UN was founded in order to bring peace throughout the world. We believe peace starts from the family, and we founded our association in order to build peaceful families. We reconcile divorced or separated husbands and wives, mentor families, prepare youth for marriage, counsel young people, and promote abstinence before marriage. We are convinced this is the way to raise up true families and change society."
After reading the UPF's remarks on this day, UPF-Ethiopia Secretary General Simon Amare compared creating balance in a family to cooking a balanced dish for a meal. "Everything must be balanced in the family. Indeed, work sustains the family. We need to be aware there is a danger of losing the taste of our family’s life if we pay too much attention to our work. When the love of children, siblings, husband and wife, and father and mother meet at the central point in the family, everything is balanced, and the family starts developing and expanding with love. If we are not talented in cooking, we may fail the first time we prepare a dish because we may add too much or too little of an ingredient; but after the second, third, or fourth time, we can succeed or even become an expert because we have learned the quantity and the quality of the ingredients to put in. That is the balance needed to make food tasty and delicious. Likewise, we need all constituents of the family to make it complete and flavorful."
Then an Orthodox Christian teacher, Yared Yohannes, presented the ideal family intended by God at the creation. He mentioned the Bible teaching that it is not good for man to be alone so God gave him a helper. Also, divorce and conflicts within family are not planned by the creator but instead are results of human misdeeds.
After the closing prayer, Ato Getachew offered his sincere gratitude to the UN, guests, participants and also to UPF for sponsoring this program.
The program ended with the distribution of refreshments and T-shirts to the 72 people present.
To read more about UPF observances of the International Day of Families 2012, click here.
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