The Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA) – an Ethiopian consortium of local Ethiopian societies working to advance women’s rights and status – in a celebratory way released a first of its kind book, featuring and celebrating the stories and photographs of 64 Ethiopian women they deemed “accomplished and phenomenal”.
The Temsalet (Amharic word for “exemplary) book, emerged from the work of Ethiopian Women Unleashed, a project that commenced with “the recognition that women, both historically and today, have achieved much, but few know of their achievements”. Thus, realizing the need to collect and document the stories of Ethiopian women “role models”, NEWA selected and interviewed 64 Ethiopian women they believe exemplify the spirit of accomplished, phenomenal women.
The Amharic edition [Ethiopia’s official language] of the book, is said to be distributed free of charge to organizations working on girls’ empowerment (including high schools, libraries, and both governmental and non-governmental groups). Later on the year, NEWA expects to publish the English edition and the second Amharic edition, for sale to the public.
During the book launch, the event inaugurated a weeklong exhibition entitled “Faces of Temsalet”, featuring photographs of 64 women by award-winning Ethiopian photographer, Aïda Muluneh. Here we feature some of the photos from the 64 women.
More information on this project along with collected stories of the nominated women can be found here.