Working together to understand , bring awareness and help to those victims of Earth’s Natural Dynamic of Change and Cleansing in her eternal voyage though the galaxy and prepare ourselves for the coming events…
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Australian circus star teaches her skills in birth country Ethiopia
Australian circus star teaches her skills in birth country Ethiopia
Australian circus star Sosina Wogayehu's Ethiopian circus school might be free for her students but she insists it's not charity.
"We don't really want to be an aid organisation, we want to build a career for these young people," says the former Circus Oz contortionist.
Earlier this year Wogayehu, 35, pursued her dream to train the next generation of Ethiopian acrobats and opened the Gamo Circus School of Ethiopia in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Australian circus star Sosina Wogayehu at her Gamo Circus School of Ethiopia in the capital, Addis Ababa. Photo: Colin Cosier
Wogayehu's students learn juggling, acrobatics and other classic circus skills but a lack of safety mats and a dedicated space limits what can be taught. The school is allowed the free use a government-owned community hall because Wogayehu doesn't charge her students, but it means her class is often displaced when the hall is double-booked.
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Wogayehu hopes to one day have her own space where she can rig a trapeze. She provides free classes in the hope that her students find success in international circus acts, at which point she'll take an agent's fee.
"So by building this career and getting them employment around the world, we can support our school," she says.
Ethiopian circus students Azalech Sino (right), Kidist Kashemo (left) and Wintana Geberemeskel from Sosina Wogayehu's circus school have received a month-long dance scholarship in Australia. Photo: Jay Court
After almost a year in operation, Wogayehu helped secure two-year jobs for four of her students with the UniverSoul Circus in Atlanta, US. Three of the girls needed to polish their dancing, so Wogayehu arranged for Australian visas and secured them a month-long scholarship at the Lee Academy dance and performing arts school on the Central Coast where they'll be taught by dance directors Jasmine George and Jo Cotterill.
The three young women: Wintana Geberemeskel, 16, Azalech Sino, 19, and Kidist Kashemo, 21, say they're excited about seeing the beach on their first trip away from their land-locked country.
The 35-year-old's own journey from Ethiopia to Australia and from performer to teacher is as dramatic as her acts. Born in Addis Ababa, Wogayehu was a street cigarette vender before becoming a national child gymnastics champion at the age of nine. Later, and as a member of Ethiopia's first childrens' circus act, she sought asylum in Australia with 15 others in her company while on a world tour in 1998.
Australian circus star Sosina Wogayehu offers free classes at her Gamo Circus School of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.Photo: Colin Cosier
She was later a pioneering graduate from the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne before she was picked up by the famed company Circus Oz.
Wogayehu spent seven and a half years touring the world with Circus Oz, specialising in contortion but also performing juggling, trapeze and tightrope walking.
She was a 2004 Young Australian of the Year finalist. Wogayehu brought her two young children to live with her in Addis Ababa while her husband supports her from Melbourne.
M4.6 - 27km ESE of Asaita, Ethiopia 2014-12-13 22:37:18 UTC
Event Time
- 2014-12-13 22:37:18 UTC
- 2014-12-14 01:37:18 UTC+03:00 at epicenter
- 2014-12-13 23:37:18 UTC+01:00 system time
Location
11.451°N 41.669°E depth=12.6km (7.8mi)
Nearby Cities
- 27km (17mi) ESE of Asaita, Ethiopia
- 71km (44mi) ESE of Dubti, Ethiopia
- 85km (53mi) WNW of Dikhil, Djibouti
- 118km (73mi) WNW of `Ali Sabieh, Djibouti
- 161km (100mi) W of Djibouti, Djibouti
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
A Sign of Things to Come: Examining Four Major Climate Related Disasters and their Impacts on Food Security in the Horn- Oxfam
This report analyses impacts of four extreme weather events (a heat wave in Russia, flooding in Pakistan, drought in East Africa, and a typhoon in the Philippines) on food security. For each case, the nature of the extreme weather is characterized, and its impact on vulnerable people is assessed by considering when and why threats emerge, and the role of governance in the state and non-state responses to the emergency. Scenarios of the plausible impacts of increased extreme weather severity on food security and other socioeconomic parameters are presented for each case.
East Africa drought
Ethiopia was best prepared, with pre-positioned state-sponsored safety nets. Kenya experienced political distractions. Somalia had no effective governance structures, responded too late, and entered famine.
Across the region a six-month delay in the large-scale international and domestic aid effort due to a general culture of risk aversion and in central/southern Somalia, wariness of the political situation and risks posed by armed groups.
Regional early warning signs were not heeded as required. Significant pressure on large refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Food prices reached record levels in several markets. Each country had a symbol of the crisis: wheat in Ethiopia, maize in Kenya, and red sorghum in Somalia.
Children under five years of age were disproportionately affected, accounting for over half of all deaths in Somalia. Women and pastoralists were also impacted. There was huge swelling in already cramped refugee camps.
Philippines typhoon
Central government issued warnings and local governments are prepared for typhoons but not on this scale, and storm surges were new and not understood. A lack of support for the resumption of government services. Insufficient human resources hampered nutritional goals.
Distribution of assistance to affected farmers in more remote areas either limited or absent. Loss of citizen’s records and documents. Resettlement of fishing communities inland risks depriving them of livelihoods.
Only 17 percent of total (international + national) recovery projects aim to restore livelihoods.
The government made an urgent plea to the international community to combat climate change in response.
Extensive damage to two consecutive farming seasons led to higher rice prices.
Farming and fishing communities. Women, children and some ethnic minorities faced discrimination with aid distribution.
Climate Change
The four case studies analysed in Section 2 illustrate how extreme weather events can lead to widespread disturbances in food security. This section will consider how climate change might complicate this situation, by asking:
- How has the frequency and magnitude of such extreme weather events changed in the recent past and how might it change in future?
- Has climate change altered the risk of these extreme events occurring?
- If there are more intense extreme weather events more often, how might this affect food security?
First, we will discuss the association between human greenhouse gas emissions and extreme events, including a summary of the evidence about the potential role of climate change in each of the four extreme weather events focused on in this report. Then, we will consider illustrative scenario analyses of potential future risks including the potential implications of such changes for food security.
All extreme events have unique causes, in the sense that a combination of natural variability and external climate drivers lead to a specific event. Therefore it is not possible to say exactly how climate change will affect specific events such as heat waves in Russia, flooding in Pakistan, droughts in East Africa, or typhoons in the Philippines. However, it is possible to say how the likelihood of the types of events we understand and can model reliably – heat waves, floods, certain droughts – have changed due to climate change. But because of the fact that specific extreme events are caused by multiple local factors, as detailed in Section 2, statements attributing changes in the risk of an event to climate change have to be done on a case-by-case basis. On a global scale it can furthermore be said that the magnitude and frequency of heat waves and extreme precipitation events will increase, simply because of the increasing global temperatures and the ability of warmer air to hold more water vapour. However, as the global atmospheric circulation is expected to change as well only the increased risk of heat waves can be transferred from global to local and regional scales.
Against this background the scenarios explored at the end of this section are purely illustrative and cannot be assessed with respect to their likelihood of occurring in the future. However, from a climate scientific point of view all scenarios are plausible.
The Link
The influence of greenhouse gases on the climate system is unequivocal. We know that global temperatures rose during the 20th century due to human emissions, and are very likely to rise in future.137 Understanding the influence of greenhouse gases and global warming on extreme weather events is more difficult. This is partly because extreme events are, by definition, rare, and so data are limited, and partly because of natural variability in the climate system. Extreme weather has always occurred, and natural variability will continue to influence weather in future. However, scientists expect that emissions from fossil fuels will alter the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and there is an increasing amount of evidence to support this.
East Africa drought
Ethiopia was best prepared, with pre-positioned state-sponsored safety nets. Kenya experienced political distractions. Somalia had no effective governance structures, responded too late, and entered famine.
Across the region a six-month delay in the large-scale international and domestic aid effort due to a general culture of risk aversion and in central/southern Somalia, wariness of the political situation and risks posed by armed groups.
Regional early warning signs were not heeded as required. Significant pressure on large refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Food prices reached record levels in several markets. Each country had a symbol of the crisis: wheat in Ethiopia, maize in Kenya, and red sorghum in Somalia.
Children under five years of age were disproportionately affected, accounting for over half of all deaths in Somalia. Women and pastoralists were also impacted. There was huge swelling in already cramped refugee camps.
Philippines typhoon
Central government issued warnings and local governments are prepared for typhoons but not on this scale, and storm surges were new and not understood. A lack of support for the resumption of government services. Insufficient human resources hampered nutritional goals.
Distribution of assistance to affected farmers in more remote areas either limited or absent. Loss of citizen’s records and documents. Resettlement of fishing communities inland risks depriving them of livelihoods.
Only 17 percent of total (international + national) recovery projects aim to restore livelihoods.
The government made an urgent plea to the international community to combat climate change in response.
Extensive damage to two consecutive farming seasons led to higher rice prices.
Farming and fishing communities. Women, children and some ethnic minorities faced discrimination with aid distribution.
Climate Change
The four case studies analysed in Section 2 illustrate how extreme weather events can lead to widespread disturbances in food security. This section will consider how climate change might complicate this situation, by asking:
- How has the frequency and magnitude of such extreme weather events changed in the recent past and how might it change in future?
- Has climate change altered the risk of these extreme events occurring?
- If there are more intense extreme weather events more often, how might this affect food security?
First, we will discuss the association between human greenhouse gas emissions and extreme events, including a summary of the evidence about the potential role of climate change in each of the four extreme weather events focused on in this report. Then, we will consider illustrative scenario analyses of potential future risks including the potential implications of such changes for food security.
All extreme events have unique causes, in the sense that a combination of natural variability and external climate drivers lead to a specific event. Therefore it is not possible to say exactly how climate change will affect specific events such as heat waves in Russia, flooding in Pakistan, droughts in East Africa, or typhoons in the Philippines. However, it is possible to say how the likelihood of the types of events we understand and can model reliably – heat waves, floods, certain droughts – have changed due to climate change. But because of the fact that specific extreme events are caused by multiple local factors, as detailed in Section 2, statements attributing changes in the risk of an event to climate change have to be done on a case-by-case basis. On a global scale it can furthermore be said that the magnitude and frequency of heat waves and extreme precipitation events will increase, simply because of the increasing global temperatures and the ability of warmer air to hold more water vapour. However, as the global atmospheric circulation is expected to change as well only the increased risk of heat waves can be transferred from global to local and regional scales.
Against this background the scenarios explored at the end of this section are purely illustrative and cannot be assessed with respect to their likelihood of occurring in the future. However, from a climate scientific point of view all scenarios are plausible.
The Link
The influence of greenhouse gases on the climate system is unequivocal. We know that global temperatures rose during the 20th century due to human emissions, and are very likely to rise in future.137 Understanding the influence of greenhouse gases and global warming on extreme weather events is more difficult. This is partly because extreme events are, by definition, rare, and so data are limited, and partly because of natural variability in the climate system. Extreme weather has always occurred, and natural variability will continue to influence weather in future. However, scientists expect that emissions from fossil fuels will alter the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and there is an increasing amount of evidence to support this.
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