It is to be recalled that the 50^th anniversary (Golden Jubilee) of Ambo Comprehensive High School is going to be celebrated in February 2006. Former students of the school have started all-round efforts to construct a multi-purpose building that will house a modern library, computer center and laboratory in the school’s compound. These facilities have been specifically selected and focused on in order to solve some of the major problems of the school. The idea is to complete the construction of the building, fulfill its internal facilities and to hand it over to the school’s administration as a gift from former students during the 50^th anniversary.

It is obvious that successful completion of such a project requires the financial, material as well as moral support of all concerned individuals that believe in the importance of modern education for all-round development of a given country. Particularly, the alumni of this school living in different western countries should be in the forefront in supporting this wonderful project through all possible means. It is based on this belief that some of the former students of Ambo Comprehensive High School currently residing in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania have conducted series of meetings and formed a committee that will coordinate the efforts of obtaining financial and material support from former Ambo students currently residing in North America and Canada. The Committee has secured legal status from the Sate of Maryland under the name "Ambo Educational Assistant Trust" and started undertaking its activities in well-planned manner.

So far the Committee has performed some meaningful activities. It fulfilled all the requirements and secured legal status as a non-profit organization; prepared basic documents in order to perform its activities in transparent system; collected financial contributions from limited number of former students and also contacted a number of former students of Ambo High School residing in different parts of the USA and Canada. We learned that some of the people we contacted have already formed their own committees and start collecting financial contributions. The committee has also tried to communicate with different individuals and organizations that believed to be possible supporters of this project. It is hoped that these efforts will produce fruitful results in the near/far future.

The fund raising event that was held on October 22, 2005 in Washington, DC was one of the efforts made to collect financial contributions in well-organized conduct. Even if the number of people participated on this particular event was much less than what was expected, substantial amount of money has been contributed/pledged by almost all participants.

Therefore, the Committee would like to thank all individuals who have taken the time to participate on this fund raising event and contributed money to help the already started Ambo High School project.

We would like to express out heartfelt thanks to the guest of honor of the day, Bilate Geta Laureate Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin who willingly accepted our request and came from New York City. Laureate Tsegaye made an informative historical speech and presented a very interesting and unique poem that reminded every participant the past good days in Ambo and its surroundings. The way the poem was presented in two languages (in Afan Oromo and Amharic) made it very lovely. Without any exaggeration, Laureate Tsegaye’s speech that was full of fatherly advice and his wonderful poem made our fund raising event an unforgettable one.

The Committee is also very grateful to our three panelists, Mr. Nigussie Biratu, Chairman of Oromo Community Organization of Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, Mr. Alemayehu Dhaba former Minster of the Ethiopian Government’s Ministry of Finance and Vice Chairman of the Oromo Community Organization of Washington, DC Metropolitan Area and Dr. Samuel Birhanu former President of Student Council at Ambo High School for making very useful and important presentations under the following topics:

·        The decisive role of Education for development activities in the developed and developing countries (by Mr. Alemayehu Daba)

·        The importance of community support for the advancement and improvement of educational activities (by Mr. Nigussie Biratu) 

·        Ambo students’ movement and its role in the movement of Ethiopian students (by Dr. Samuel Birhanu) 

It is obvious that the products of Ambo are all over the world and have key positions in their respective areas of qualification. In this regard, this particular event was meaningful not only for raising significant amount of money but also for enabling us to meet and/or hear about a number of former students of our historical school who are currently holding different professional positions not only back home but also in different countries of the world. Thus, it was a real pleasure to see and/or hear about different generation of Ambo students (from the most seniors to relatively juniors) who were students of that school at one time, served and still serving their country, their people as well as the world community at different capacities. The Honorable Tesfaye Dinka, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia and one of the outstanding students of our school was among the alumni of Ambo who made financial contributions by positively accepting our call. The Committee is very grateful to Honorable Tesfaye Dinka not only for the financial contributions he made but also for the valuable idea and advice he gave us at different times on how we should proceed in order to produce fruitful results in our efforts of supporting Ambo High School. We do hope that other prominent former students of the school will draw useful lesson from what he did and join us in our future efforts of supporting Ambo Comprehensive High School. 

It is impossible to mention names of all the people who helped us in one-way or the other. However, we would like to mention names of individuals who played exemplary role.  Mr. Gonfa Seta Mr. Leoul Kidane, Mr. Nigussie Desta, Mr. Girma Desta, Dr. Tolessa Deksissa Mr.Beyene Megeresa, Mr. Iyasu Tesema Negeri Mr. Jima Tufa and Ms. Bekelu Taressa deserve our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the all-round supports they gave us in the process of organizing this fund raising event. Their heartfelt efforts, we believe, initiated large number of former students of our school to take active part in the event and make financial, material and moral contributions. We do hope that these hardworking friends will be with us in our future efforts of supporting Ambo Comprehensive High School and other phase of our project.

As it has been clearly indicated on that particular event and also as we repeatedly stated on different occasions, we believe that the Ambo High School project will be a pilot project as far as supporting development activities is concerned. In other words, we do hope that this project will be taken as a beginning and we will continue supporting all community-based development efforts that are going to take place in different parts of our country.

  To Finalize on behalf Ambo Educational Assistant Trust, I would like to say thank you the committee members Mr.Abebe Birri, Dr. Kefeni Kejela, Mr. Gelana Chimdi and Mr. Zewdie Gudeta for your outstanding commitments, for managing our event with very special guests on Oct 22,2005 & up to final report. All through the event, the entire our staffs were very cooperative, teamwork and detailed jobs have made this event a memorable and successful one. Your efforts show how great work is to be done. It was a great experience and pleasure working with you and our society to educate new generation. Again we would like to say thank you to all our fund-raisers and supporters. "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a gift and not giving It." -- William Arthur Ward

                                                                        Thank !!!

                                                          Diriba Worku

                                                         Chairman

                                  Ambo educational Assistance Trust. USA

Below is list of individuals that contributed and/or pledged money with the amount each individual has contributed.

List of Individuals Contributed (Pledged) Money to Support

Ambo High School Project

October 22, 2005 Washington, DC

No.	NAME	Amount in USD		Remarks
		Paid	Pledged
1.	Abate Desta	400.00
2.	Abebe Birri	500.00*
3.	Abebe G/Wold & Mulushewa's Family C/o Hirut G/Wold)	400.00
4.	Abebech Bedane	300.00
5.	Alemayehu Dhaba & Family	300.00
6.	Amelework Teferi	100.00
7.	Asefa Wondimu (Dr.)	200.00
8.	Ashenafi Yadeta	100.00
9.	Asmamaw Sahile	100.00
10.	Bekelu Taressa	200.00*
11.	Bekuma Terefe	100.00
12.	Dereje Befekadu Tesema	500.00
13.	Diriba Worku	500.00
14.	Feyera Negera	285.00*
15.	Gelana Chimdi	300.00
16.	Gen. Hailu G/Michael's Family (C/o Girum Hailu)	500.00
17.	Genet Gurmessa	200.00*
18.	Girma Desta	500.00
19.	Girma HIrphasa Ifa	200.00
20.	Gizate Addis	100.00
21.	Gonfa Seta	705.00
22.	Iyasu Tesema Negeri	100.00
23.	Jima Tufa	200.00
24.	Kasaye Mutal	300.00
25.	Kebede Tadese	300.00
26.	Kefeni Kejela (Dr.)	300.00*
27.	Kinfemichael Hunde	50.00
28.	Leoul Kidane	200.00
29.	Lomi Debele	300.00
30.	Mammo Tesema	150.00
31.	Muluemebet W/Giorgis	100.00*
32.	Nigussie Biratu	100.00
33.	Nigussie Desta	500.00
34.	Samuel Birhanu (Dr.)	200.00
35.	Seifu Kebede Boku	50.00
36.	Seifu Zewdie	100.00
37.	Sertse G/Medhin	300.00
38.	Solomon Kebede Muleta	50.00
39.	Tefera W/Giorgis	300.00
40.	Tesfaye Dinka	300.00
41.	Teshome Tesfaye	500.00
42.	Wakbulcha Deressa	100.00
43.	Workie Ejeta	300.00
44.	Worku Legesse	100.00
45.	Zeleke Delessa	100.00
46.	Zewdie Gudeta	300.00*
47	Gelana Kejela	100.00
48.  To be collected from ten individuals                                                    1500.00
From Entrance Tickets                                 1370.00
From T-Shirts Sale                                           220.00
Total Paid                                                    13480.00
Overall Total (Paid + Pledge)                               15,080.00
Miscellaneous Expenses                           2397.67
Amount sent to Finfinnee                      10, 000.00
Remaining balance                                                  1082.33

* In addition to what he/she has contributed on the fund-raising music show of August 5, 2005.

      We support and initiate each other for our common goal with concerned individuals; groups

        and organization to bring development and changes in our society. “We appreciate”!!!