September 12, 2007 in Washington, DC was a special day. It was a beautiful day. Sunny with no rain in sight! Breezy! Blue sky! Elected leaders of Ethiopia are in town. At the capital city of the free world, there is no fear of being arrested for the events ahead. Such an event is unthinkable in Addis Ababa today. What more can a freedom loving Ethiopian ask?

The west lawn of the US Capitol was the staging ground for March for Democracy. Capitol police officers were on hand to enforce the code of use of the premises as well as to protect the public. As march participants trickled in around noon, the millennium coordinating committee was pretty busy setting up all the gadgets needed for the march.

While the estimated 1000 marchers were pretty excited to be at the capitol to express their dreams for democracy for their homeland, Teddy Kass’s mind was on much finer details of the event. Teddy is the architect of the march for democracy on behalf of the Washington DC Millennium Coordinating Council. Teddy put his entire energy and all his waking hours of the last several months to see to it that this march is executed flawlessly. The high charging but always smiling Teddy commands respect from his peers because he is a hands-on leader. It is hard to stand and watch a leader who works first and asks for help. Teddy and his team cued up the march ready to go for a 2PM kick-off.

The freedom loving marchers were in really good mood. They were chanting pro-democracy slogans. The marchers were warmly cheering the march speakers. Even the young Ethiopian boys and girls, who may have little idea as to what the march is all about, were joining in to create a true family outing atmosphere. The crowd was not quite tame when the Kinjit delegation arrived to participate in the march. There was a sudden eruption of joy, screaming and chanting to welcome the truly elected leaders of Ethiopia, who were in jail for 21 months in Ethiopia on trumped up charges. The crowed rushed to the elected leaders to show them love and adulation. One marcher fell on the feet of the delegates to express the ultimate form of respect and love for the beloved leaders.

US Representative Mike Honda, Chair of the Ethiopian Caucus in the US Congress greeted the crowd in Amharic and wished them a happy new year and a happy millennium. Congressman Honda expressed his unwavering commitment for the passage of the Ethiopia Human Rights and Democracy bill dubbed HR 2003, which is under consideration in Congress. The sub-title of the Congressman’s remarks was dedicated to the need for tolerance among Ethiopians of all political views.

Professor Al Mariam, the darling of the Ethiopian democracy movement was among one of the speakers. The professor, who is gifted with the substance and style of presentation made a case for supporting HR 2003. He challenged the marchers to reach out to their US Congressional Representatives to support the passage of the bill. Al Mariam’s body language clearly demonstrates that he is a winner and he is not going settle for anything less than a win for the Ethiopian people.

The two Kinjit delegates who were in attendance of the march were Dr. Hailu Araya and Ato Gizachew Shiferaw. These cherished leaders thanked the Ethiopian Diaspora for their relentless support during their imprisonment, and expressed their dedication to democratic institution-building in Ethiopia. These gallant leaders communicated with the crowd not only with their words but also with their body language. They showed sincerity, determination, dedication and love for all Ethiopians. They generously made themselves available to meet and greet their admirers. They even took time out to visit with the youngest of the marchers, American style.

After the democracy march, attendees were encouraged to join the celebration finale at the Washington Monument. The event organizers urged the crowd to call and text message their friends to join in the evening celebration, which featured a free concert of traditional Ethiopian music, contemporary Ethiopia music, African American music as well as reggae.

By 9PM the monument park was packed with more than 10, 000 Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia to enjoy the free concert. The crowd was truly into all kinds of music. Gone are the days when Ethiopians only listened to and enjoyed only Ethiopian music. They sang along and danced to African American as well as to reggae. The evening was capped with performances of Ethiopian cultural music and dance. The entire park turned into an instant eskista dance floor. A few brave souls, mostly young boys and girls, joined the performers on the stage to showcase their talents.

As the celebration approached a culmination point, members of the DC Millennium Coordinating Council appeared a whole lot like a super bawl team that is leading its opponent by 54 to 3 with 2 minutes before game time. The council members were high fiving one another. The leaders of the Council, who were the MVPs of the event were Alem Tsehay Wodajo, Neamin Zelleke, Zecharias Getachew, and Teddy Kassa. Alem Tsehay Wodajo, who is a performing artist by background and a real estate agent by profession, presided over the Millennium Council. She put in countless hours to lead a team of volunteers to put on this historic event. Alem put to use all her talents and some to pull off this extremely successful event. She used diplomacy, lots of smiles, flexibility, gratitude, speaking her mind, tears, sincerity and effective listening skills to lead a male dominated volunteers. Alem can probably write a best seller book entitled “How I pulled off an event that can only be repeated in a thousand years”.

Dear Millennium organizers. Now the event is in the history books. What is next? Let me offer an organizational consultant advise in the order shown here: (1) First take a break and take care of your self (2) Attend to your family members, who were neglected while you were busy organizing the Millennium mega event. (3) Regroup with the most productive members of the volunteer group – you know who they are by now. Cut out the deadwood. (4) Transform the current organization into the Ethiopian Millennium Action Group (EMAG), which is a non-partisan group, dedicated to raising awareness and educating Ethiopians to build a democratic nation through activities you have already successfully implemented such as: (a) Building Technology Infrastructure – hint: technology symposium (b) Creating a think tank of best practices and research – Hint: general symposium (c) Excellence for artistic expressions – hint: art exhibit and the two concerts (d) Building Democratic Culture – hint: March of Democracy. Remember, it is always easy the second time around. You have already done 80% of the work by successfully hosting the millennium for the first time.