davis four years ago in ethiopia and i decided in addis ababa at the harmony hotel and it was for a conference that was being held on the bible and its african roots and that was my first time coming  here since then this is my third time and when i met him it was at the conference and he offered me a book he had heard i had helped out hope i helped to give a little information about colonel john robinson and in a presentation i was actually given by julius garvey that was marcus garvey sun he was there at the conference in giving a presentation about his you want to come up when i give my presentation and say a little bit about robinson so i did and then after day yeah he gave me a biography of john robinson so i was the first time that i met when to me out i was before i was a master's student and so since then i've been studying ethiopian and african american relations and i've been working with davis on different events different or initiatives to his organization pan african technical association so could you tell us your relationship between davis please yes i said i met him four years ago and we became friends also colleagues currently i am working with his organization the pan african technical association and i am the university affairs liaison essentially that is to build partnerships with different universities and the first project that we're working on is trying to connect our university in washington d c with addis ababa university here in this and so that's that would be for i'm hard language study abroad program so i'm kind of like the pilot student i came out are my own values volunteer you know putting myself out there to china connected to entities and you know so far we've been able to connect them at least via email and virtually and so we just want to get something official and something they're part of could also be a part of so i'm also work with brother yeah i felt him organize a fundraiser in d c for potter and also we had  some of us who went on the bible conference in ethiopia we formed a group called african americans for sustainable african development and we've been able to raise funds to support different initiatives in ethiopia defers one was can come to them and pay so that was one thing we did and then we also supported jamaican roster foreign development school and shot her money we gave them a financial contribution and so more efforts like that are what we're trying to do robinson american center you know he was one of the people who was lifting robinson's name when nobody knew him he kind of dug him from the grave if you were i don't know if that's the best if that's the best analogy seven boeing plane after john c robinson i was another major accomplishment but besides that i would say the number one accomplishment would be the stem classes data that potter has offered to various organizations and schools in this such as the salaam to family project and also st joseph school and other entities i know they've been able to do some workshops here at the robinson center are raising schools gathering school supplies for students and just building their relationship between those of us in the diaspora and those of us on the continent  so could you tell us a little about kind of the obvious and his his contribution for ethiopians here i would be very happy to tell you the story of colonel robinson i won't tell you the whole story  is a long story but i can give you the abridged version so colonel john c robinson from the beginning he's either recently from gulfport i'm sorry he's originally from mississippi i forget the exact city but i know he's really from mississippi but he was a graduate of university and he studied auto mechanics and engineering and so he used he used his knowledge of auto mechanics engineering and he transferred it to become a pilot to being becoming a pilot he originally the school that he was the flight school that he wanted to get into which was in chicago it was named after the wright brothers and at this time in the one nine hundred twenty s it was segregation a lot of discrimination against african americans so he was not allowed to come into the school so the way he learned how to become a pilot was he became a janitor and he used to sweep up in the back of the classroom extra extra slow i mean did a teacher started noticing that is where he was doing and say oh wow this he's studying and he allowed him to stay and study but not to enter into the school and so the way he got into the school was he he organized a group of african americans who were interested or interested in flying like him and they actually built the plane and they are they invited the instructor to come out and look at the plane they didn't think he was going to actually test it but the instructor he actually tested the plane and flew the plane and it worked and so after that they said ok we're we're allow you to come into the school that's how he got accepted into the searching for support and they heard today we're getting a lot of support from the african american community and they wanted to make this support more than just protests more didn't just rallies more than just raising funds they wanted to see if they can get some technical support and so they were looking for pilots because they knew that they had no pilots there i mean they had they only had a few planes an italian had a four air corps so there was something where they were lacking and so they came across a gentleman named john robinson and he reached out to him and he actually came to ethiopia and flew during the time invasion he was here in one thousand thirty five and possibly one nine hundred thirty six but don't quote me on it so he was here and he and he also he flew the planes that ethiopia had they didn't have many planes i think they only had a handful of planes but he flew them and he delivered messages like he was a courier so he would deliver messages from one part to another part he was also a scout so he may go scout to see were did talents are camping out and come back and he had he has several close calls where he had to run for he didn't have he didn't have bullets attached to his plane he had to run from his life from the italians and so he had to do tricks and go up into the sky and go into the clouds and maneuver through the mountains and he was a big help although he was unable to secure a utopian victory he was you know critical in bringing medical supplies critical and delivering messages and also was personal private pilot and that's where he became a colonel that's where he got the rank of colonel and he was the commander of ethiopia's air corps even though there were no not much of an air corps but i mean what the what there was of it he was he was  the colonel and so after the invasion you know utopian patriots never gave up the fight and so they always kept fighting and afterwards after they did get their and they came and helped to train some of the first ethiopian pilots who ended up going into the air force and then they ended up going into it the open air lines so i thought i was going to tell the short version but american media center under his name can you tell us more about this yes i can tell you a little bit more about this i think it was under veiled earlier this year in february this is when all of this came to fruition but this is been many years in progress i know where they are davis has been coming back and forth ethiopia for over twenty years and especially within the last ten years i know he was working originally one part of the project before they could name these things after robinson they were searching for his grave because he actually passed away in ethiopia he died in a plane crash in the mid forty's or yeah i think it was the mid fort s and he no one knew where his grave was for a long time they were searching and they finally found his grave like a year or two ago and so i know yeah i was a part of that part of the finding of  so what kind of relationship do you expect and do you have any ideas or you know pointers to get out you know i've expected good relationship i you know i expect maybe a little bit of having to learn and learn about each other in the beginning and maybe being a little bit slow but as i think i want to the students meet each other you know share common interests that you know they'll realize that they're they're all in this together and they have a lot more so similarities than they have differences you know i see the sky's the limit definitely a language exchange you know some of the students coming from united states could be learning a mark and so of the ethiopian languages and some of the students who may need help ordinary english they could be learning more english that's one thing technology transfer a lot of things are going on here at the center you know i c s i see stem being a big part of it you know coding robotics and especially media you know being able to document our stories because that's one of the most important things are and why i appreciate m m r t i is that you know there's so many things that are going on but people don't know about it you know you have to be able to document it and share it with people so that they know about it otherwise for them it's not something that exists you know there's many people who don't know they're a colonel john robinson exists and many people don't know that there is any relationship between need therapy and an african american history whereas there's a very long relationship it may not be the biggest loudest relationship in your face but if we need  document it more and then we can spread it around so i see a lot of documentation coming and as far  i would suggest people have open mind as far as the programming just you know outings field trips nine hundred just staying in a one room i think the best thing would be for them to you know travel the country together or travel to a city and  eat together don't just stay in the classroom that's what i would suggest so i heard you speak you know i'm hard earlier you're really good at it you know for someone i can read and write too so that's very very impressive so in terms of social media it's great for you to connect with one another and we have video conferences t google hangouts is one of the examples for blasts what other activities do you suggest to develop this relationship so definitely whatsapp that's been my saving grace out here because when you have  can text them is long as you have good enough service which some places you don't you can do video conferencing and i would suggest you know what the other social media venues the borders won't be a difference it will make a difference where they are also you tube i thing you tube is a very powerful tool it's who are a lot of free information  where a lot of people go maybe as their first as their first preference before they actually start to read or you know get other sources you tube may be the one they go to first and and you can also go experiences and he also taught science in technology classes like i know one was a solar powered car solar you know not i don't know if not a big car but a toy car to create family they seek to bring together young people who have lost their parents and by whatever means they're not able to be with their biological parents and they bring them together with women who have you know lost her husband for various means and they make them into a family so that's one of their models and they have another model of our we try to outreach to people who are in april their main goal is to create a family atmosphere for people who have you know lost their family and they do a number of different things but that's their main go fees every summer it is an english language summer camp i mean they partner with organizations like pots and other organizations and they pretty much take care of them you know they provide for their provide for their needs and they give them an environment where they have other people who are like them and it's an alternative to the orphanage if you will you know so that's what they do they provide alternative to that so what kind of volunteer work have you been summer we're through the english language summer camp and essentially is a six week long camp they have three sessions they're broken down a two week sessions i did the first session and i'll be going back intermittently for the last session  essentially you have youth there younger students that come in the morning teenagers come in the afternoon and you help them with their english language skills and it's a very nice can't we it's not simply based on it's about life skills so through their teaching english through was in the book they came out of the seven habits of successful people and then they made a your one for younger people or just seven habits for successful teens and so they're using their model of some of those some of those habits be proactive think before you act have goals in mind and so on and so forth and so we create discussion  august so that six weeks was the main purpose of your trip so the main purpose of coming to the opiate was for me to conduct research for my master's thesis which is  title is ethiopian and african american relations and the legacy of ethiopian ism and pan african ism so essentially was to come to you know the institute of ethiopian studies which is a university of a so i wanted to visit some sites like this and then also there was one to go and the other goal was to study i'm hark i did not intentionally i did not think that i would be able to register into official an official heart class at  e university but i was able to and so i'm taking the intermediate level of speaking and listening and my my goal is to duplicate my experience for other howard students i want to make this something more formal where howard students can come from washington d c and many of them they're from all over the world and maybe they may even be ethiopian americans themselves and they can come here and study the language and so that's what i'm working on now working with the heart language literature folklore department at at addis ababa university and coordinating between them and african studies department and the center for african studies and the department of world languages over at howard university and so it's going to happen we was going to happen you know people have already expressed interest i've introduced him via email and it's just about getting things on very fast city it reminds me like new york or something like that it's just so many people you know there's a saying about ethiopia de ethiopia is a museum of peoples and like they're so true because it's like i  hair texture every type of so many different languages that are being spoken so many different religions you know you have mosques and orthodox churches and protestant churches and  have a jewish community and people in the south are still practicing the traditional beliefs so it's beautiful experience to be in a city like this i like coming here because you know a lot of people when they first see me they just assume minority so sometimes you can be in settings where you feel you know just you know small in number but you know being here just nice it's a nice breath of fresh air for somebody coming from the states but as far as like there's so much to do i amazed you're relaxing so but i got a chance i would say anyone who comes to artists this is amazing city so much to do live lives very life but even worse it's a lot of traffic so you know and sometimes the air quality isn't the best so if you really want to see where you have to go to the countryside and bring fresh air going to the mountains you know i had the opportunity to go to to see the history  when you can appreciate the present even more you know you know about x them in gondor being the former capitals of ethiopia in lalibela and some of these amazing sites these ancient churches and ancient monasteries and castles and all these different things that they have it's amazing i mean in even if you go to shatter mining you know they have maybe even a thousand or more people who came from the caribbean in america and they moved to the opiah and they live there now so that's something that you wouldn't necessarily it's special ethiopia is a very special place so anyone interested in coming to ethiopia good show no food is very tasty i'm from d c so we have a very large of in population so i'm very familiar with the food however the food is definitely better here because i know there are some spices and things that they can't get in the states and also their meat is more organic here than it is in the states so that's better you know i like the fact that they have the fasting days you know it's because i are being a vegetarian or not but with the fasting days i don't really have to make a choice and i can just do both and stay disciplined to keep up with the fasting so as far as the food that i like i really different people from africa are living in united states and i would encourage all of them to visit ethiopia especially our start with african americans because that's my experience you know it's a beautiful experience  to come to a country to has its own alphabet and it has many languages you know one of the things that was taken from us when we were sold into slave meant and brought to america was our language and you know maybe we came from ethiopia maybe we didn't we don't know but the point is they have their own alphabet and that's the strong showing of self determination and something now we can learn from and so it's amazing to  be a part of that you know also another thing that was done to us in the americas during a slave process was christianity was used as a weapon against us and saying that black people were cursed whereas in ethiopia christianity was brought about not through missionaries or anything like that it was a part about their own voluntary their own initiative and it's even older than many of the christian forms that we were introduced to so it's it's a way to learn a different side of christianity you know now i'm not trying it's not preaching for someone to be in a specific religion it's just because these were some of the things that were lost and some of things they were used against us is very special to be able to come to ethiopia and to see angels they're brown you know or biblical figures who are brown although you know they have they have white images of the biblical figures as well i won't get into that but at least at least that's not the only image that you see it's not the one that's plastered in your face all the time so it's it's a liberating experience for african americans to come for ethiopian americans you know i have friends and it seems that many of them are sometimes caught between two worlds they may feel like they're not fully  they may not feel like they're really african american but they may not feel like they're either they just want to be individual but what i would say to them is you have a strong history and culture and you need to stand and if you don't know your history and culture then you'll be lost and you will be easily manipulated by the people you know it's something it's something that you have to have and it's a beautiful experience don't don't give it up so and you know there's a lot of some people say is the capital of africa i mean i won't argue or say it is or it isn't but there are a lot of international work there's a lot of international work going here and let's remember only country in africa that was never colonized and as does the pride of all people of african descent so if you get a chance definitely come visit here the following weeks time from  document this history of the relationship between ethiopians and african americans and we have many places to go we have meetings solidifying things with different partners and what i see is just when we leave here we'll have a firm partner sward know where to go who to talk to and it will be the foundation will be set for bringing students the next that would just be making sure that we can bring students here but as far as here it will be set up so they can come that's where i see so we want to thank kamau grimes for this interview and last diverse district it's very important to me that i am able to speak and reach all my constituents with accurate and timely information and provides a great avenue it's so easy to come down to their offices and meet and get interviewed by amazing very committed community and media experts and professionals and and so i really highly recommend and that more folks should be accessing this great resource and this public resource for our communities to be able to make sure that we're getting out the word and getting connected to our we we share our knowledge i'm not saying we have a lot of knowledge but we share what we know even if it's a small or big but  of the reason we are here is that we care a lot because we know we have been as through every many situations we have struggled many many situations to know this much the knowledge we have right now but we don't need any anybody to go through that pass we just provide some pass for a easy way for others and that's if you don't like doing things by yourself you just need some someone or something to do it for you so that's brings every that what kind of community work do you guys do do you guys do it in your community do you do volunteer work in your c actually we volunteer on teaching i mean like sharing what we have even if not the knowledge even if we have some issues you know most of the we're not showing them how to do things we just show them how to find things what they need to do what they're want to let's say someone needs to do something we show them  meet with our friends and everybody we just drop some technology stuff hey there is one thing called in the something like this like this and it happens here is when when i say that it's a little it's a little thing but it seems the big thing for them that's a really interesting thing to do and it would create some so they would have their time with you even if they like that but we didn't stop there you know there's always another way to do one thing so we searched for and i was that way and we found some ways but that  have the access and everything but here are we don't buy stuff was dollar better so for those people who have the access for dollars i only advise them to give it to kits development kits and such and such sending them here that would be a great help for us because it's really really difficult to find even the simplest electronic device that is my last question for you guys will be what changes would you like to be here like right here what you or i swan to be changed to be improved for you guys so that you could have access to different stuff such as the like you said you you thing it's the trust we need to trust from this was like they have to trust us on doing what we what we had interest because you know that's not going to buy your bread or something they would say that you have to attend some things that kind of give you some revenue or something but everything can bring us what we want so trust is the big issue that's one what generation also is capable of doing amazing things we have a lot of ideas that could really improve that we disassociate the lives but you know the problems you've been discussing the internet the lack of m to share to show you to tell you about our status where we are right now and what we are interested on