Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I am a very old friend of Dr Berhanou Abebe (From Jean Salomon)

Hello,

I am a very old friend of Dr Berhanou Abebe. I read your tribute to his passing of life and have appreciated its content.

Even if I am not part of his family, we have always considered ourselves as real brothers since 1945 (1935 e.c.) when I joined the Catholic Mission at the age of eight. We then went together to the Alliance Française and the Lycée. We have always stayed in touch, except for the period of the Derg. His mother and mine were friends and he has always taken care of my mother as a son and she feels now that she lost a son.

Whenever I had a problem, Berhanou was the first person to whom I would talk it over to have his precious advise. So, it is ounce again on his advise that I went to Ethiopia with my wife from last May 28 to June 11 to see my mother but also to see him. This has been the case each time I went to my mother land. He proposed to pick us at the airport at 6:50 in the morning and I had to insist so we could wait until the afternoon to see each other. Naturally, he came to our hotel to fetch us and take us to his house at the Piaza. He would stop any activity, God knows he had a lot on his agenda, if I happened to call him for any insignifiant subject. When I learned his death, I felt I lost my legs.

I appreciate all the projects you are planning to put on foot to perpetuate Dr Berhanou's memory and wish to be informed on their developments. I am most willing to bring testimonies about my big brother. I still hear his voice telling me stories in a restaurant in Paris in June 2007 where I went to see him.

With best regards,
Jean Salomon

3 comments:

Abebe Kebede said...

Dear Mr. Salomon

Thank you for the heart warming tribute to my friend and my uncle, Dr. Berhanou Abebe. Yes, I am going ahead to do whatever I can to keep his memory alive. Specially his stories are important to the future generations. I appreciate any information about his work, his life and his surroundings, pictures, books, literary works, etc.. For now we have a small blog where people can share ideas and memories. He was active in many academic undertakings as well as exhibitions and films. Eventually I or someone else may write his biography, and these resources are absolutely important. Please help as much as you can. Also I plan to set up scholarship funds for history students. In this case also students can do research on specific issues of Ethiopian history. It goes a long way to of his works and display then in libraries universities and colleges in Ethiopia. In the future a traveling exhibition of his works might also be good to provide informal education to the public. I discovered that he made exhibitions. I am not sure where these works are. I believe one of them was at "Jeu De Paume" (Bédros Boyadjian et Haigaz Boyadjian Collection Abebe Berhanu, Addis-Abeba)
[Note: I have to make sure if this is not the same name. It is most likely our own Dr. Berhanu.] I also need help in this kind of information.

Thank you again Mr. Salomon. Let's keep in touch

Abebe

attila said...

Dear Mr. Abebe Kebede

Today is the first anniversary of Dr. Berhanou Abebe's death. I still have hard time to beleive that he left us.

Attached are 4 photos taken at the Paris Exhibition during my visit on June 21-22, 2007 to see him and have dinner with his daughter who came from Toulouse where she studied.

Best Regards,
Jean Salomon

Abebe Kebede said...

I don't see the photos. Can you email me to the following address
abkebede @ gmail . com

thanks