Phone: 1.800.775.1797

Despite our best efforts as caring and enlightened parents, occasionally, and perhaps more often, our kids experience unpleasant situations that other children around them do not. In the case of our children, these situations can come about due to several factors that come into play all at once – cross-cultural adoption, being part of a multi-racial family, being born in another country, having immigrant parents, being raised by a single parent. Our children could be, in one way or another, vulnerable to subtle discrimination or even outright bigotry.

NO SURPRISE. Life is NOT fair, nor does it always go the way we want our children to experience it.

As parents, we have the duty and responsibility to teach and prepare our children to face the world and manage situations to find their own success in life. Understood – success is defined in as many ways as there are individuals in this world. No matter how it is measured or defined, we as parents will always have the highest responsibility to shape their character, help build their resiliency and prepare them to manage difficulties that the world throws their way.

Parents have two primary ways that they can teach and inculcate behaviors that lead to success for our children. First and what most people identify is providing direct action – good schooling, active spiritual and moral life, and setting high expectations, etc. As important as these direct-action methods are, another critical, but under-appreciated way we influence children is by modeling behavior for our children. How do we as parents, and role models handle unfair, discriminatory situations or setbacks? Do we handle them with dignity, strength and patience? Or do we fly off the handle or react impulsively. THINK ABOUT THE LAST TME A DRIVER CUT YOU OFF ON THE ROAD. HOW DID YOU HANDLE IT? Our kids are always watching…

Our presenters will draw upon their personal life experiences and invite parents to consider new concepts and obtain additional tools to help their/our kids navigate this sometimes-difficult world we live in.

A middle child of three boys, Marcus was born in Oklahoma City, OK to a schoolteacher and self-employed paint contractor. His mother came from a small town in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, known for its all black communities settled by pioneering freed slaves. His father’s family came from a segregated community known as “The Elbow” in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Through childhood Marcus learned lessons from his mother and father regarding education, professional work, old-fashioned labor and the sometimes-complicated world of identity. It was these lessons along with the culture of the Oklahoma Bible-Belt and the remnants of segregation, which influenced and shaped Marcus through young adulthood.

Marcus completed his post high-school education at Oklahoma State University. He was able to join the university’s new Minority Engineering Program, which offered co-residing opportunities with other students from underrepresented populations. Marcus credits this program with setting him up for initial success in what was ultimately a very challenging college journey. Through this journey Marcus earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and met his best friend and love of his life, Martina. The same year of graduation Marcus and Martina were married and Marcus began his professional career as an engineer for the Department of Defense. In the 21 years since, Marcus and Martina have shared an adventure of identity development, learning, growing, grief, celebration, and reflection as an interracial couple.

Marcus and Martina currently reside in O’Fallon IL where Marcus continues his service with the DoD and Martina works for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a psychologist. In late 2010 Marcus and Martina grew their family and welcomed home Mihret and Tsion who were then 5 and 3 years old. Mihret is now preparing to enter sixth grade while Tsion will be going into the fourth. It is in this latest chapter as a partner parent where Marcus has found new challenges, new opportunities for growth, and a deeper sense of respect for his own personal and ethnic history.

In his leisure time Marcus enjoys movies, family activities, the outdoors and amateur astronomy.

BISRAT ABEBE is an Engineering and Management professional currently working at DC Water, the public utility responsible for distributing clean drinking water and collecting and treating wastewater for the more than 672,000 residents and nearly 18 million visitors to our nation’s capital. Bisrat serves as acting Program Manager for Condition Assessment, where he is responsible for the execution of a multi-million-dollar program to assess the well-being of buried pipeline infrastructure in the District of Columbia and neighboring jurisdictions. Bisrat attended Addis Ababa University’s Institute of Technology in Ethiopia and is a graduate of Civil, Infrastructure & Environmental Engineering from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. As an Ethiopian who immigrated to America only a month after his 19th birthday, Bisrat grew up navigating the cultural and social differences between his two countries. From a very young age, Bisrat’s parents instilled in him a love for Ethiopian, American and World history and he has often used the recitation of History as a bridge to keep connected to his Ethiopian roots and as a means of understanding and appreciating other cultures. Besides History, Bisrat’s interests include literature, poetry, Ethiopian cuisine and football (the one where they kick the ball with their feet ☺). His passion is FC Barcelona. Bisrat will be presenting sessions on Ethiopian History, focusing on its aristocratic background and highlighting some famous kings and queens of Ethiopia, their dynastic histories and their significance to the people of Ethiopia.

Our camp has a special focus on language, as we strongly believe language is key in connecting our kids to their heritage and culture. As such, we continue offer both children’s and adult’s language classes. As always, we have prepared the language session based on the level/interest we received as part of registration.

DEREJE DESTA is the Manager of Business, Africa, for AudioNow. Dereje was the founder and Publisher of Zethiopia, a Washington, D.C. based, bilingual (Amharic and English) newspaper where he currently serves as editor-at-large. He is a veteran journalist who has served as a television and radio host & producer, and editor for more than 20 years in the U.S. and Ethiopia. He reported and contributed to NPR’s “Latitude” show, and won an award for international affairs reporting from New America Media and the American University. Dereje graduated from Addis Ababa University, in 1991, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Ethiopian Languages & Literature. He has shared his experience in journalism at public forums in Washington for congressional staffers at the U.S. Capitol, the George Washington University, the American University, the U.S. Library of Congress, and National Public Radio.

The Natural Hair Care for Children is an instructive and informative discussion that will explain how to care for both girl and boys natural hair. This fun and easy workshop will take the guess work out of prod-uct selection, braiding and twisting techniques, detangling, beading, solutions for dealing with breakage and so much more. The goal is to protect, strengthen and nurture the natural beauty of your child’s hair so that he/she may wear it with pride and confidence.

APRIL REED is an expert in African hair care and recognizes that for most women our hair is every-thing. She believes that making the choice to go natural from relaxed hair or wearing our hair in its nat-ural state, is not just about styling and the aesthetic, but does have a lot to do with body image and self-esteem. However, most would agree that achieving and maintaining healthy hair is what’s most de-sired. April is a firm believer that your hair is beautiful no matter how it is, and we should be comforta-ble whether our hair is kinky, curly or straight. We should also teach our children, especially our daugh-ters the same. After much time spent researching which styles embraced both curls and kinks, what products work best, and what techniques worked in maintaining healthy hair, she made the decision to share her finding with others. Along the way she saw a need for a product that provides intense mois-ture. Her Daily Moisturizer is something she made out of necessity, then quickly realized the need to share it with others to help them avoid the frustration she experienced. It is great for both hair and skin. April currently lives in Gainesville, VA with her husband of 5 years, Justin.

An Intensive Dance Workshop and a performance by our own Heritage and Culture Camp Dance Group has become a unique feature of the camp. We have kids 9 years and older who have already registered for this special dance program, where they will be spending several hours a day learning Ethiopian Traditional Dance as well as words and phrases relating to dance. The dance troupe, featuring matching traditional costumes, will perform on the last day of the camp and provide the musical sendoff to conclude our program with high note

BILEN YOSEPH was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Although she came to the United States at the age of 11, she has kept in close touch with her Ethiopian roots. Bilen is also one of the lead volunteers for the Ethiopian Heritage and Culture Camp from day one. She not only spends many days and weeks in preparation for the Camp, she also takes time off from work to run the Camp with unmatched passion and dedication to kids at Camp.

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An Intensive Dance Workshop and a performance by our own Heritage and Culture Camp Dance Group has become a unique feature of the camp. We have kids 9 years and older who have already registered for this special dance program, where they will be spending several hours a day learning Ethiopian Traditional Dance as well as words and phrases relating to dance. The dance troupe, featuring matching traditional costumes, will perform on the last day of the camp and provide the musical sendoff to conclude our program with high note

Thomas Young grew up in Washington, DC. Though he is not Ethiopian himself, he became intrigued with Ethiopian dance and culture as a teenager. This led to his visiting Africa many times and training to be a professional Ethiopian Dancer. He has now been dancing for fifteen years. For the last 6 years, he has also been teaching dance and Ethiopian culture to children of all ages in a variety of settings. These include AIRFCarpe Diem Youth ArtBeat, in afterschool programs in highs in Montgomery County, MD, and at the Ethiopian Heritage and Culture Camp. Thomas has devoted his life to his passion for Ethiopian culture and dance, as it shows in the upbeat, positive energy he brings to his teaching.