Moderated by Dr Mekdem Tesfamichael Hassen, the leaders of KASHA welcomed 29 participants, including the KAAD Head of Africa Department, Dr Marko Kuhn, seven members of the KAAD Partner Committee in Ethiopia and numerous experienced professors and leaders in the public sphere and Ethiopia’s church sector. They met current and former KAAD scholars, who also were able to talk to Marko Kuhn on the side of the seminar about the progress of their studies and further professional steps. The venue was the new St. John Paul II TVET College in Addis Ababa, a vocational school that focuses not only on urban youth but also on migrant communities. An important part of the school concept is to provide young refugees with vocational training and to show them job prospects.
Under the title: “Refugees, Migration and Displaced People in Ethiopia – Political and Faith Based Perspectives, Improving Chances through Education”, the seminar mainly dealt with the topic of migration and refugees. Ethiopia was and is one of the global “hotspots” of refugee movements because there are many problems in the neighbouring countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia caused by war, violence, terrorism, oppression and persecution. In recent years, millions of internally displaced people were added to the host of refugees because also within Ethiopia people had to flee from conflicts, violence and human rights violations.
The main presentation on the topic of the seminar was given by KAAD alumnus Dr. Worku Yacob Kalore. He pointed out which challenges the refugee movements pose for the host communities in Ethiopia and which regions and population groups are particularly affected. The discussion that followed from his input dealt, among other things, with the question of the solidarity of the host society, the dimensions of Catholic social teaching and its implementation by church and state actors. The focus was on society's attitude to the reception of refugees, but also on the use of the potential of young refugees in particular for the economy in Ethiopia.
In the presentation that followed, the Dean of the John Paul II TVET College, Zekarias Gebregiorgis, explained the concept of the school, which is still under construction. The college is run by the Archdiocese of Addis Ababa and aims to meet the increasing demand for vocational training in the skilled trades and in the commercial sector. Creative professions such as design, video production, music and music production will also be part of the program. The conceptual management is in the hands of KAAD alumnus Dr Ephrem Tekle Yacob, who teaches full-time at the Kotebe University of Education and received a KAAD scholarship for his doctorate in education studies at the University of Heidelberg. The construction management of the buildings is also the responsibility of a KAAD alumnus: Eleyas Wolde Endashaw was sponsored by KAAD for a master's degree in geotechnical engineering at Addis Ababa University. Since then, he has worked for the local archdiocese.
In the afternoon of the seminar, the group moved to Mount Entoto, the "local mountain" above the capital, where various nature trails and viewpoints invited them to explore together.
In the days before and after the seminar, Marko Kuhn met with the local partners and the partner organizations of KAAD to exchange ideas with them in network discussions. These included discussions with those responsible at the University of Addis Ababa, but also with Jesuit priests who work in the education sector and with Catholic organizations that carry out humanitarian work in a country marked by many conflicts. This includes, for example, a study on trauma in the civil war-torn regions of Tigray, Amhara and Oromia, financed with funds from Misereor. The structures of the Catholic Church, which has personnel on the ground in even the most difficult areas, were used for this purpose.
The discussion partners also included the Archbishop of Addis Ababa, Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel, and the new Secretary General of the Ethiopian Bishops' Conference, Abba Asfaw Ketema. Both emphasized the important function of the KAAD as a support organization for young Ethiopians, whose capacity building provides important impulses for both society and the Church.
