"We Will Make Addis Ababa a Flower that Flourishes, Like Her Name"

In my previous post, I posted the Facebook dancing fountains of PM Abiy's Addis Ababa Riverside Project.

The "translation" on this Abiy's Facebook page Amharic note:

አዲስ አበባን እንደ ስሟ የምታፈራ አበባ እናደርጋታለን::

is...

We will make Addis Ababa a flower that fears Addis Ababa like its name.

This is slightly wrong!

The actual translation is:

We will make Addis Ababa a flower that flourishes, like her name.

I suppose in some ways it is good to fear Addis Ababa, to prevent enemies and ill-wishers from getting on her streets.

And, Abiy's philosophy of peace, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Peace, and his persistent strategies to ward off war with malcontent ethnic groups, makes his wish ring true:

We will make Addis Ababa a flower that flourishes, like her name.

Mississauga Council

The Mississauga City Council opens it chamber to the public every two weeks. I attended about 45 minutes of its session yesterday. The councillors discussed issues such as how to manage pedestrian crossings along the very busy (quasi highway) Burnhamthorpe Road, and the various summer festivals taking place on Celebration Square.

It was all very intriguing to me: how protocol is managed, how issues are voted on (or against), how the minutes are recorded. And how in-camera sessions are held.

Civilization requires procedure. The Council provides that.

Here is the agenda for June 20, with an additonal agenda provded here.

Minutes are to follow.

Below are a couple of photos I took when the councillors receded to their in-camera session. It is a grand room where one feels the responsibility of civility, law and order. It was sparsely attended! I was one of four or five.




[Photos By: KPA]