The Bikila Award was given to outstanding Ethiopians who made significant contributions to both the Ethiopian community and the global community, at a ceremony in Toronto Canada. Some of the notable recipients of this award included Hon. Ketema Yifru, Ato Girma Wake, Eng. Fesseha Atlaw, Rebecca Haile, Dr. Birhanu Bulcha, Ato Liben Mekonnen, and the comedian Eshetu Melese.

During the event, we had the opportunity to present our project and our books.

September 23, 2023

We had an opportunity to be part of a two days event at the 18th Ethiopian Day in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The kids learned about Abebe Bikila’s life and his success story against all odds. We gave out Prof. Aklilu Lemma’s children’s picture books to the kids, which was terrific!

September 5, 2023

An Amharic video book of Professor Aklilu Lemma’s story was launched on May 2, 2023. Making our books available in Ethiopia has become very challenging given the rise in print and distribution costs. One way to reach kids around the country is through video books that are available freely online. We hope that schools would find these videos helpful to supplement their curriculums. This video is our second work following Abebe Bikila’s video book on our YouTube Channel.

May 2, 2023

Village Oaks Elementary School at Novi, MI held an event showing a video book of Abebe Bikila. All students across the school watched the video and learned about setting and achieving goals.

February 15, 2023

Alem had an interview with the Amharic Service of the Voice of America, where he shared his vision and upcoming projects. You can follow the link below to listen to the interview.

January 10, 2023

The first-of-its-kind video book was launched on YouTube to reach more children, as book distribution in Ethiopia is challenging. The video book narrates the story of Abebe Bikila in a way that engages children with colorful illustrations from the book.

January 1, 2023

The books we donated to Abrehot Library Amharic and English Hardback books about Abebe Bikila, are now available in the library.

December 2022

Our second children’s picture book is scheduled to be released by December. The book is about Professor Aklilu Lemma, a pathobiologist who found a cure for schistosomiasis. Professor Akliku Lemma had three patents, five books and sixty scientific papers to his name.

November 2022

Zehabesha News Media covered the book launch on their news. Henok Degefu, CEO of Zehabesha News Media interviewed Alem about Abebe Bikila’s book release and the other books that would be published soon.

September 17, 2022

Abebe Bikila’s children’s picture book was officially launched on September 10, 2022 - the day Abebe won the Rome Olympics in 1960, running barefoot. We had a chance to read Abebe’s story to kids that gathered at an Ethiopian community event in Michigan, USA.

September 12, 2022

Abrehot Library is a public library in Addis Ababa. It was officially opened in January 2022 in a ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Built at a cost of over 1.1 billon Birr, and at a size of 200,000 square feet, it is the largest library in Ethiopia that could accommodate more than 2,000 users at a time.

Lella Menged LLC is donating six hardcover Amharic and English books to the library in September 2022.

August 28, 2022

The children’s book titled ‘Abebe Bikila, The Barefoot Runner,’ will be available in August 2022 on Amazon and book stores worldwide in paperback and hardback. It will also be available in audio on Amazon Audible following the release.

MAY 15, 2022