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Ahmedin Nasser, Building Libraries in Ethiopia

Published

12 years ago

December 12, 2013

The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he’s able to receive, Albert Einstein said.

Entrepreneur Ahmedin Mohamed Nasser, a native of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, lives his life by this mantra.

After moving to the U.S. in 1985 and graduating from Cal State East Bay, Nasser had the idea to start a library for students in his homeland. He rallied friends and institutions together in support of his dream; Stanford University was the first to send 5000 new books to Addis Ababa University.

However, after looking to invest in more books and computers for students, Nasser says the challenge was logistics with expensive transportation costs. Yet, he persisted.

< p>“Sacrifice is necessary for my people,” Nasser said. “It was a full commitment to make sure my dream was fulfilled, my dream of helping my people transform their life.”

Nasser invested his money and his time to make sure that students in his country were afforded the opportunity to have a free public library, something he says people take for granted.

In 2007, he organized Yeewket Admas with a board of 12 friends committed to creating a culture of reading and self-improvement for the people of Ethiopia. Garnering support from businesses and individuals, including Congresswoman Barbara Lee, they raised $15,000 to send a 40-foot container of books, computers, and printers to fill libraries in each high school, college, and community center in Ethiopia.

“Here all of us, including Americans and those of us from the [African] Diaspora and other parts of the world, we take everything for granted,” he said.

“They don’t have the opportunity in Africa that we have the privilege of having here. But there are so many intelligent kids out there who need books and computers to excel in their studies.”

Now, Ethiopians have access to free public libraries at 21 locations throughout the country.

Nasser hopes to expand the project to elementary schools for students starting in Kindergarten and up, including the deaf, blind, and disabled.

“Everybody has a responsibility to pay back; any human should help other human beings. Ethiopians have more responsibility in helping their own in any way possible – in-kind donations, financial support, serving on the committee, grant writing, fundraising.”

“An ordinary person can make an extraordinary achievement,” he said.

Nasser thanks committee members DJ Ababa, Paul Cobb, Richard Knee, Carol Knee, Dr. Connie Potrero, Yusef Hassan, and the committee in Ethiopia.

For more info or to make a contribution, visit http://yeewketadmas.wordpress.com or call Ahmedin Nasser at 202-677-8458.

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

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1 week ago

March 2, 2026

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By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

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By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke