Happy Holidays, Broncos! To end the semester, we sat down with Pheben Getahun, co-president of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Student Association, to highlight one of the newest spaces for Black Brookwood students.
Pheben started the EESA alongside her friend and co-president, Hanna, because she "recognized that there wasn’t a lot of unity within the Habesha community" at Brookwood. Habesha, we learned upon further research, is the term used to refer to the cultural and ethnic group from Northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, and surrounding regions.
Everyone had their own specific groups to be in, or they were too scared to show off their culture... With the amount of Habeshas increasing at Brookwood, it also just felt like something we needed to do. Therefore, we joined forces with our Co-[Vice Presidents], and that’s how EESA came to be!
The EESA, Pheben explains, is a Black organization "like ACSA... [the] two clubs share similar values." According to Pheben, the EESA's "main goal is to create a cultural community for students through our events, meetings, and conversations." ACSA has done and still does a great job of this, as they’ve always been able to create a welcoming environment.
If anything, ACSA was the inspiration for the creation of EESA, and I think the only difference now is our target audiences.
The EESA satisfies the stated "unity problem" discovered by Pheben and co-President Hanna Daniel. The pair started the EESA to bring "new friendships, a better understanding of their culture, and [help] students become proud of their identity" to the Brookwood community. Events and campaigns like “Wednesday Weray” (Wednesday News) or “Meme Mondays” allow a unique way for the club to connect with its audience and members. Pheben notes, to the credit of the ACSA, that "both organizations remain a vital part of the Brookwood community, and EESA happily looks forward to future collaborations..."
Pheben most notably shared a personal anecdote about her experience as a Habesha student in the Brookwood cluster and how she hopes the EESA will bring her peers a similar sense of belonging.
Growing up in elementary school, there was a severe lack of people who looked like me. My best friend, Hanna Daniel, was one of the first people I met who shared a similar cultural identity. From there, her presence became vital in helping me be proud of where I came from, and without her, I don’t know if I could’ve ever gotten as cultured. With that being said, I hope EESA can help shape others and bring them a friend like Hanna who brings you closer to who you are.
In the immediate future, Pheben hopes for a "successful international night" for the EESA. Long term, Pheben hopes to plan other major initiatives, like cultural club collaborations, college planning and success nights for Habesha students, and raising awareness of issues in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
So far, though, the EESA has been incredibly successful in its inaugural year. "In October, [the club] collaborated with an organization called Blooming Abeba that works to provide menstrual products to disadvantaged parts of East Africa." Their recent cookout helped raise awareness about problems in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Their Meme Monday posts (which we are HUGE fans of) "have also increased our social media engagement as many can relate to the jokes we make and they’re reminded of the cultural page, Selam Central (a staple within the Habesha community)". The sign-up form for their international night dance was also wildly successful. It "showed a massive increase in the amount of students who wanted to participate, which is such a change compared to last year when [they] had little to no guys wanting to dance."
In addition to the immense social and cultural impact Pheben has made at Brookwood with the EESA, her involvement in the club has had profound personal impacts on her college and career considerations.
Before EESA began, I wanted to go [into] the medical field and do surgery. However, after EESA started, I soon learned I was actually interested in fixing Ethiopia’s social plights. When I became more immersed within my cultural identity, I gained awareness of the problems within Ethiopia that impacted kids like me. The educational system, [the] menstrual equity crisis, and refugee displacement are all things I hope to one day fix. Even now, as a senior applying to colleges, the most important factor to me is having a community I can lean on. A EESA club on campus is vital when I’m considering where I spend my next 4 years.
We'd like to thank Pheben for talking to us and encourage you to attend meetings and support the EESA. To see more of the EESA, join the organization in January, and be sure to come to International Night on March 2nd! Follow them on Instagram for updates, @brookwoodeesa!
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