Sandford Reunion

10/05/2023

Hello Friends,

The day is almost here! By this time Friday evening, I expect to be surrounded by the Sandford Massive! I'm looking forward to connecting with old friends, and creating new memories with some new friends. Looking forward to a great time!

And as the hour is upon us, it's important to stress to all attendees that if you have not submitted your $200 registration fee, please do so as quickly as possible. Our Saturday evening Dinner Cruise has to be paid for upfront, and in full. Thus far, the operators of City Cruises have been very kind in extending the deadline, but this is the last call. If you are planning on attending our DInner Cruise please remit the $200, no later than Friday 12:00 PM. We have to submit a total number of attendees, and they will not accept walk up guests on the day of the event.

As mentioned in an earlier email;
All payments can be made directly to the DC Committee by sending your payments directly from your banking app, using Zelle or PayPal. Or, if your bank utilizes a different banking protocol you can download the Zelle app to your phone.
Funds can be sent to the DC Committee by using the Reunion telephone that is registered with the Zelle app, 202-655-9444.

Please send your registration fee via Zelle or PayPal.

Zelle - 202-655-9444 / [email protected]

PayPal - PaypalMe/SESAAReunion

Iyob Tessema
SESAA President
#❤️L💚L💙S💛L

10/01/2023

Greetings to All.

Welcome to October! Where in just a few days, we will be gathering in the Washington DC area, or as they call it "The DMV" (District, of Columbia, Maryland & Virginia) For all who responded in the affirmative that you will be attending, we look forward to seeing you. For those who responded as "Maybe" and are still on the fence, we hope you'll change your minds and join us. For those who cannot make it this year, we hope to see you at a future event.

For all those attending, the time has come to collect your registration fees. We have held off on this to see if we could get better pricing, but at this stage we need to fully commit to signing contracts with the venues for the weekend.The individual attendee fee is $200/person..

Attendees can either use Zelle or PayPal to send the funds.

Zelle - 202-655-9444 / [email protected]

PayPal - PaypalMe/SESAAReunion

If you have any questions regarding the October Reunion, Please feel free to text/call (202-655-9444 )or email us.

Iyob Tessema
SESAA President
#❤️L💚L💙S💛L

09/07/2023

Hello Friends,

I hope this finds you all well and thriving! We are hoping to see as many of you as possible at our October Reunion. Some of you have voiced a very valid question, " How much will it cost?". The question is simple, and should be an easy answer. However, this is a classic case of "Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?"

To be utterly transparent, we need to know how many of our alumni will be in attendance, to provide a fair and equitable answer. As an example;

If the total cost of events is $10000 USD, and we only get 50 attendees, then we'd be looking at $200 USD/person.
If we get 75 attendees, the cost drops to $133 USD/person, if it's 100 attendees, $100/person. It's simple arithmetic

At the moment, we have approximately 15 individuals who have indicated that "Yes" they will attend, with a few "Maybe". Using the same example as above, the cost would be unreasonable ($600+ per person), and we would have to scale back on our preparations.

In order to secure venues, and enter into any financial agreements, we need to know how many attendees we can expect, and then collect the funds to cover the costs of the reunion weekend. As we are less than 30 days from October 6th, we respectfully ask that if you are planning on attending, please let us know.

You can respond to this post on FB, via WhatsApp( "Sandford Reunion") email us at [email protected], or text us at 202-655-9444.

Thank you in advance for your consideration, and participation.

Sincerely,

Iyob Tessema
SESAA President
#❤️L💚L💙S💛L

09/01/2023

Welcome!

On behalf of the SESAA & the Washington D.C. Reunion Coordinating Committee tasked with organizing our 2023 Reunion celebration program from October 6 through October 8th; it gives me great pleasure to personally invite each & every single one of Sandford School’s Alumni from near and far, to attend this year’s Reunion!!!

What you can look forward to..

We have planned several exciting events lined up for our extended weekend, which consists of but not limited to the following;

Meet & Greet evening,
Book signing event with Makonnen Ketema, author of “Ketema Yifru: A Champion of Peace, Progress, and African Unity”
Gala Dinner Event
Annual Walk-A-Thon & more!!! More details to come…

Accommodations have been negotiated at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda. (1.888.591.1234)

Single or Double Occupancy - $139/night
Triple Occupancy - $164/night
Quadruple Occupancy - $189/night

However, due to unusual overbooking circumstances, the Hyatt could only provide us with a room block for Saturday Oct 7 and Sunday Oct 8th. However, they still have a few rooms that are available to be booked on an individual basis. If you will be attending, please book your room with the provided link to the Hyatt Regency, then call in to book your room for Friday Oct 6th.

What’s next…
With the formal announcement of our 2023 Reunion; I would like to take this opportune time to request the following from ALL our Alumni:
Please R.S.V.P. your definitive status of attendance (“Yes”, “No”, or “Maybe”) AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The D.C. Committee absolutely needs a firm headcount in order to finalize all matters related to our weekend events.
All Alumni who respond “Yes” to attending, can expect to receive an email outlining any additional details, and Reunion attendance fees.
All payments can be made directly to the DC Committee by sending your payments directly from your banking app, using Zelle or PayPal. Or, if your bank utilizes a different banking protocol you can download the Zelle app to your phone.
Funds can be sent to the DC Committee by using the Reunion telephone that is registered with the Zelle app, 202-655-9444.

Should anyone have any questions or seeks clarification about this invitation or process; please direct your questions immediately via email at [email protected]. Or text us at 202-655-9444

A preliminary schedule of events is available on our website

We hope to see as many of our Alumni who can attend this year's reunion.

Sincerely,

Iyob Tessema
SESAA President
#❤️L💚L💙S💛L

Dear Beloved Sandfordians: Welcome On behalf of the SESAA & the Washington D.C. Reunion Coordinating Committee tasked with organizing our 2023 Reunion celebration program from October 6...

02/07/2023

Hello and Happy New Year Fellow Sandfordians:

Just a reminder, friends, that our next Sandfordian book club will be Saturday, February 11th, 2023.

We are still reading the anthology Ethiopia: Through Writers' Eyes by Yves-Marie Stranger - September 2016.

We will be covering three SHORT chapters:

A Historical Collaboration, Job Ludolph and Abba Gregarious - From the History of Ethiopia, 1861.
The Land of Honey and Butter Turns Sour, Jeronimo Lobo - From The Itinerario: a relation of travels in Abyssinia in the years 1622- 1640
Do not Disturb, Edward Gibbon - From The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-1788

Join the discussion! The book is available on Amazon and Kindle.



The Sandfordian Book Club The Sandfordian Book Club is a monthly virtual gathering. In this online community, alumni can connect with each other and enjoy books, from fiction to nonfiction, classics to new releases, reflecting Ethiopia and Eritrea.
How it WorksThe book club connects monthly online through zoom. Each month we invite you to read a chapter of a book of the group's choosing, then join us for a discussion that provides context, offers the book club participant's reflections on the selection, and deepens understanding. The group covers only one chapter each session so you will have sufficient time to read.

Why You Should Join

Connect with fellow Sandfordian alumni across the world.
Be part of a lifelong learning community
Reading is good for you!

Please consider joining us for the next discussion. All are welcome.

See you at the next book club!

Cheers,
Muluemebet & Emebet

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2478643509?pwd=MHN0UUptS05ZN2lVVVEza1oyc2o3UT09

Meeting ID: 247 864 3509
Passcode: 823161

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

01/22/2023

Hello Sandford Family,

Whether you’re still basking in the warm eucalyptus perfumed air in Addis, or you’ve decamped to wherever you call home hope that you are all well and thriving. The feedback from attendees and those who eagerly consumed each new photograph and video has been overwhelmingly positive. Thanks again to all who attended.

A new aspect of our shared Alumni experience will be showcasing the many talents of our Sandfordian Family. At our last virtual reunion, we had a chance to chat with and view the art of Dilip Sheth. Today we have another Sandfordian artist, musician, singer-songwriter Zakki Jawad, aka Zedicus. While he has been on the DC Ethiopian and reggae music scene for many years, he’s stayed off the radar and focused on refining his craft. He’s played with icons of Ethiopian music, like Mahmoud Ahmed, Tilahun Gessesse, Aster Aweke and many more, he’s also been the opening act for reggae royalty like Ziggy Marley Third World and Steel Pulse.

His 4th single from his soon to be released sophomore album is called Natalie, and is currently available on th Bandcamp platform, and will be more widely distributed on other streaming services. Check out the new single, leave a comment

track by ZEDICUS

01/18/2023

Dear Beloved Sandfordians:

We the members of the Sandford English School Alumni Association Board (“SESAA Board”) successfully hosted our 1st in-person Reunion since the 2019 Washington DC reunion! The 2023 Addis Assembly Reunion was attended by Sandfordians from all over the globe. It was a labor of love, an experiment, which spanned 4 days, but which proved to be such a worthwhile effort!!! On behalf of the SESAA Board, I would like to express my deeply heartfelt “THANK YOU” to all of you who took precious time out of your busy lives to honor us with your presence, and even more so, engaged passionately throughout the time span you were able to attend.

We also want to commend the organizers for all the efforts they put forth to make this a successful reunion. The primary organizers were Frehiwot Haileleoul, Serkeaddis Seifu, Abiye Ambatchew, and Konjit Worku. We owe them our heartfelt THANK YOU’s for their dedication and effort over the last 6 months to make this reunion a reality.

While the “official” reunion came to its conclusion on Sunday, I would remind all who attended of the very generous offer by Omer Bagersh that was extended to Reunion attendees. Omer Bagersh (Class of ’82) has very generously extended a 50% off discount for any Sandford Alumni who decides to book at Bishangari Lodge. (This offer is valid to Sandford Alumni ONLY, and the offer is good from Jan 16th- Jan 30th, 2023.)
To book this exclusive offer, please contact
Sitota - +251.911.20.13.17

Whether you made it to this years Reunion or not, we want to connect with you. We want to know what you’re thinking. More importantly we want to reconnect with all our old friends, and forge new friendships. To that end, call, email, text, WhatsApp (Sandford Reunion) or on our website . If all else fails, message to us via carrier pigeon! CHEERS!

Long Live Sandfordian Love! #❤️L💚L💙S💛L

Respectfully yours,
Iyob Tessema, SESAA President

SESAA Board
David AndeMichael Frehiwot Haileleoul
Derege Alemayehu Rahel Mitiku
Frehiwot GebreMichael Yitbarek Arefe-Aine

01/15/2023

Good Sunday Morning Sandford family!

It’s Sunday, which means Day 4 of our EPIC reunion is upon us. We have an event filled day planned at Kutiftu Park Entoto. Let’s close out our weekend on a strong note!!!

Sunday, Jan 15th, 2023

10AM - Visit Kuriftu Park Entoto - The lush eucalyptus forest of Entoto is our backdrop for our last day. Whilst walking thru the park, we will also be observing a SESAA tradition, our In Memoriam Walk-A-Thon, a moment to remember our classmates, teachers and staff who have passed on.

12PM - Lunch at Kuriftu Park Restaurant Entoto - A delicious repast with Vegan/Vegetarian options, the menu is replete with Western and Ethiopian cuisine. እንብላ!​ Lets eat! Buon appetito!

4-5PM - Closing ceremony @ Kuriftu Park Entoto. Coffee and Tea will be served as we close out our weekend activities.

SESAA Reunion 2023 details. Schedule of events, hotel accommodations and air travel info

01/14/2023

Good morning folks!!! ☀️

It’s Saturday, which means it’s Day 3 of our reunion. As Iyob shared earlier, we have a very “eventful” morning planned, beginning with a visit to our old stomping grounds, Sandford International School ( as it’s current known).
As it happens, our reunion efforts coincide with the 75th Anniversary of our schools founding. The mornings schedule of events is attached.

Saturday, January 14th, 2023

9AM - Visit Sandford School- (see attached programme for our Saturday morning)

1PM - Picnic at Sandford School - Our picnic Lunch will be catered by Five Loaves Restaurant. Chicken, Steak or Fish sandwiches, Vegan/Vegetarian options will be available.

3-4PM - Addis Fine Arts - a visit to one of the “Most Important Young Galleries in the World" (Artsy 2019). Co-owner Mesai Haileleul is a former Sandford Alumni.

7PM-Midnight - Dinner at Villa Verde Restaurant followed by a DJ hosted Oldies Music Party.

01/12/2023

Good Morning! Good Afternoon! Good Day!!!

Welcome one, welcome all to Addis Assembly 2023! For those of you who have arrived in Addis, WELCOME! For our Addis based Alumni, it’s great to see you all. We look forward to meeting everyone tonight at our opening dinner ceremony at Dashen Terara Restaurant!

We look forward to interacting with as many of our Alumni who have traveled great distances to attend what we hope will be a memorable weekend, starting this evening at Dashen.