Ethiopia is situated in North Eastern Africa bordering Sudan to the north and northwest, Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti to the east, Somalia to the east and southeast and Kenya is in the south.

History and Language

Ethiopia is the oldest independent African country and has never been colonized. It was occupied by Italy from 1936 to 1941. There are multiple tribes with different subcultures and over 80 languages in Ethiopia. The Amharic language is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia and is the official working language for Ethiopia. It is written using a writing system called fidel or abugida, adapted from the one used for the now near-extinct Ge'ez language (as Latin is to English, Ge'ez is to Amharic).

Family Culture

Family in Ethiopia includes immediate and extended relatives, neighbors, and friends. Faith and family are the foundation of the Ethiopian culture. Ethiopians are very respectful and loving. The elderly are considered very knowledgeable and as a very important part of the family structure. Children are usually raised in a large community that includes extended family and neighbors, and siblings are expected to help take care of each other.

Food and Calendar

Traditional Ethiopian food consists of various vegetable or meat dishes, usually a wat or thick stew, served atop injera, a large crepe-like sourdough flatbread made from fermented teff flour. One does not eat with utensils, but instead uses a piece of the injera (always with the right hand) to scoop up the sauces.

The Ethiopian calendar is very similar to the Egyptian Coptic calendar - each have 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and the 13th month at the end of the year with 5 or 6 days, depending on whether it is a leap year. The year starts on September 11th (12th in a leap year). The Ethiopian calendar is 7 years behind the Gregorian calendar, so Ethiopia recently celebrated their millennium on September 12, 2007.