CHORA, INC.

The National UN Volunteer Scheme recently set up by UNDP and the government of Ethiopia will prove instrumental in controlling brain drain, which was undermining the country's capacity building endeavors.

This [Brain drain] is a complex problem; there are no simple answers. Although Ethiopia can not control the “pull” factors that contribute to the brain drain, it can do something about the “push” factors. For the sake of Ethiopia’s economic development, the brain drain merits high level attention. As Mekelle University law student Abeba Tadesse commented in her paper, the government of Ethiopia needs to take responsibility for addressing the problem. At the same time, she emphasized that too many Ethiopians expect the government to do everything. It is time Ethiopians start taking some responsibility themselves. I would urge that this include those Ethiopians living in the diaspora.

Of course, the poor must seek their fortune where they can. There is a global shortage of nurses and the UK is not the only rich country raiding the developing world to shore up its tottering health system. But the consequence is that the world's most vulnerable countries are being cynically and deliberately hobbled, their hopes of solving their own problems shattered and their dependence on handouts from the developed world rendered inevitable for decades to come.

IOM country representative, Dr. Meera Sethi, told Walta that with only 485 specialists and 33 sub-specialists in the country, Ethiopia has already lost more than a 3rd of its doctors. According to Dr. Sethi, between 1968-1996, every year 238 skilled individuals sent for scholarship did not return with 49 per cent of the total Ethiopian immigrants to the USA being employed in professional or technical capacity.

In 1998 an estimated 700 Ghanaian physicians are said to have been practicing in the USA alone, which makes a considerable percentage of the population of doctors in the country. It is estimated that about 20,000 Nigerian academics are now employed in USA alone and more than 300 Ethiopian physicians are working in Chicago, USA alone. Here, one can emagine how much it means in the whole of the United States. According to research reports prsented on an international conference concerning the issue of Brain Drain, Africa generally looses over 20,000 intelectuals yearly. This is undoubtfully one of the main constraints of under development in the continent. How long should Africa tolerate this?

We believe, in [this] the noble endeavour of increasing educational opportunities for fellow brothers and sisters, every able Ethiopian and friend of Ethiopia (living in Ethiopia or abroad) must be given the chance to contribute. It is with this intention that this note is circulated Participating in teaching on campus or through correspondence Participating in research programs; Facilitating links with higher learning or research institutions Transferring appropriate technology to the University; Facilitating donations/ free subscriptions of new books and current journals and more. Addis Ababa University will facilitate administrative requirements.

How may the brain drain be reversed? I would start with the earliest groups of retirees. It would be unrealistic to expect well established professionals who are in the middle of their career progressions, have young families, and not yet comfortable with their levels of wealth accumulation to all of sudden pack it up and return to the country of their birth. But those who have already gone through those life and career cycles may be enticed to do so. No matter how rich one may be, western societies have no respect for old age, and promise of comfortable retirements in a society that accords respect to chronological maturity could be natural enticement.

According to the United States Bureau of Census, migrants born in Africa have the highest level of educational attainment in the United States when compared to other migrant groups like Asians, Europeans and Latin Americans. Census figures for 1997 show that 48.9 percent of African migrants in the 25 years and over age bracket have a Bachelor's Degree or higher compared to Europeans, 28.7 percent, Asians, 44.6 percent and Latin Americans, 5.6 percent (Bureau of Census, 1997).

What at the moment could be out of the control limit of the Ministry of Education is the human resource. Quality professors, highly trained and experienced researchers and consultants have been leaving their positions in higher learning institutions. Also, staff members of peripheral colleges do show a tendency to move to those situated closer to the centre. Furthermore a significant proportion of the staff in most institutions has been targeting positions out of the country. ...[ ]those that move out of the country are the ones that can compete in the international market and succeed in securing positions.

Some specific figures may probably tell the story even better. In Addis Ababa University, Ethiopiaówhere the author worked for over 10 years ó, of about 20 faculty members of the physics department who left for Ph. D. studiesóalmost all to the United states none returned (Teferra, 1997). The same holds true for Mathematics department at the same university where the extent of non-returnees continues to force the department to employ fresh graduates regularly.

It is therefore crucial that the doctrine of human capital circulation dominated by physical movement of skilled personnel be dutifully reformulated to accommodate and mobilize the growing potential of immigrant African scholars to participate in nation building virtually as well. Virtual in this particular context is used to signify skilled immigrant participation in nation building without physically relocating them into their native countries where their expertise is sought.

There is no right or wrong in the part of those of us who left and immigrated to a foreign land. At this point I am not defending myself from those who might criticize me. It is true, as Helina put it, that the best and the brightest are leaving the country. This is clearly a Brain Drain. I would like to state my understanding of the problem and offer several pointers how to change this Brain Drain into a Brain Gain.

The computerized tracking system -- called Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS -- is aimed at ensuring that the more than half-million foreign students in the United States take the courses they were approved to take and attend the schools they told the government they would attend.

Interior Minister Eli Yeshai asked the Cabinet this past week to agree to bring the 17,000 remaining members of the Falashmura in Ethiopia to Israel. The Cabinet rejected the idea, but may reconsider it after the elections.

The immigration of Falashmura from Ethiopia will resume Tuesday through a third country, Avigdor Yitzhaki, the director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, told representatives of the community yesterday. Yitzhaki reached basis an agreement with the Jewish Agency, which is responsible for bringing the Falashmura to Israel.

All Pennsylvania driver's licenses or photo identification cards issued to foreigners will be stamped "noncitizen" and will be timed to expire with entry visas, according to antiterrorism provisions of a law signed yesterday by Gov. Schweiker.

Justice officials said the department added Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen to its list for non-immigrant aliens to be fingerprinted prior to entering the United States as part of beefed up efforts to stop attacks on American soil.

...[A]few other Websites may try to mislead customers and members of the public into thinking they are official INS Websites. These Websites may attempt to charge you for services (such as for INS forms and information on immigration procedures) that are otherwise free on the INS or another government Website or for services that you do not receive.

More people have come to the Bay Area from Ethiopia than from any other African nation and now number 4,396 in the nine counties, according to the latest data. Since the 1990 census, the local Ethiopian foreign-born population has grown by 24 percent, with the largest concentrations appearing in Santa Clara County (1,950) and Alameda County (1,444).

Early this year the [Israeli] ministry established a committee to examine requests for refugee status but since the committee was set up, not a single approval has been given to any of the applicants.

Ethiopia's government is helping launch a campaign to warn women about possible dangers of taking jobs outside the country. The campaign is run by the International Organization for Migration in conjunction with Ethiopia's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Women's Affairs Office.

The Immigration and Nationality Affair Department disclosed that it has to date issued 102 ID cards to foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin.

As large as the African communities in New York City are, there has not yet been a large-scale meeting of leaders from these communities that crosses boundaries of nationality, ethnicity and religion. Several professors the Institute for African Studies at Columbia University, in conjunction with he African Services Committee of NY, one of the largest providers of social services specifically for African immigrants, are thus organizing a meeting that will fulfill this purpose...

Germany is trying to market itself as an attractive home for the world's finest scholars -- even as it struggles to shed its reputation as a rigid, unfriendly place.

Twelve Ethiopian refugees have been arrested on the Isiolo - Wajir [Ethiopia-Kenya] border as they attempted to sneak into the country.

The New York State Legislature has passed legislation that would allow certain immigrants living in the United States illegally to pay in-state tuition rates at the City University of New York and the State University of New York. The bill, which the governor had requested and is expected to sign, would reverse policies at both institutions.

The Security and Immigration Authority disclosed that the distribution of Identification cards to Foreign Nationals of Ethiopian Origin has begun in accordance with the proclamation providing them with certain Rights to be exercised in their country of origin.

Ethiopia: 5,562

Starting next month, some schools will be able to use the computerized program, known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or Sevis. This will eventually put thousands of colleges and trade schools in communication with the I.N.S. and embassies.

The United States set a cap of 22,000 African refugees for this fiscal year. But after the first seven months, only 651 had made it in. Even the Middle East and South Asia, also areas of post-Sept. 11 security concerns, have produced about 50 percent more refugees.

Refugees were only allowed to live in camps, where they could receive humanitarian assistance, he [Simon Kipkeu, the police Officer Commanding Station (OCS) in the Kasarani area of Nairobi ] said. Kenyan laws only permit refugees to stay out of camps under special circumstances, and only at the request of UNHCR..."Refugees are not supposed to be in Nairobi," he said. "They should be in camps; they are not authorised to be on the streets. The law is very clear. Who will take care of their needs if they are not in the refugee camps? It means they will be forced to steal for their survival. I don't like that."

"A number of refugees,students, Asians and others have been detained for more than a year with no provisions of bail or clear explanations of why they have to be deported." Two detainees who have been held at the center for nearly two years are Ethiopians Gezahgne Seyoum Abebe and his wife, Yewubdar Tsegaye Sailedingel, both of whom are trying to get refugee status.

NB: Nationals or citizens of Ethiopia not included

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