Pictorial Review poster, 65-259: Young American helps Ethiopian villages (English, Addis Ababa)

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Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

PICTORIAL REVIEW

YOUNG AMERICAN DEVOTES "SPARE" TIME TO HELP OTHERS TO HELP THEMSELVES

Young American Hugh Downey watches the children of Beggu as they approach their new school. It is one of two schools in the town (and one of four in Ethiopia built under Downey's leadership) which were designed without charge by a leading architect of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Downey also supervised construction of six kilometers of access roads to Beggu.

Hugh Downey points out on map of Ethiopia the northern area which was the scene of his "spare" time activity to help others help themselves. With the help of his father in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A., Downey raised Eth. $ 25,000 for his community projects. This does not include Eth. $ 4,000 he contributed himself.

His Imperial Majesty Haile Selasie I granted an audience recently to a young American who, in the two years he spent in Ethiopia, devoted an average of 30 hours a week of his spare time and a large part of his salary to helping others help themselves. Hugh Downey, 23, a serviceman stationed in Asmara, won the Emperor's personal plaudits and received from His Imperial Majesty a momento of Ethiopia. The Emperor noted that Downey's efforts were especially commendable because they were carried out on his own initiative. Projects initiated and funded through Downey's efforts include five schools, two roads, medical and health services, a well, two farm experiments, a library, an orphanage, and recreational facilities for children.
Why did Downey choose to do twice as much work as most men? "I was impressed with the people of Ethiopia," he said, "and with their great desire to make progress especially in education and health. I decided to do my part to help them." And help he did. It all started shortly after Downey arrived in Ethiopia two years ago. He was driving one day from Asmara to Keren when he spotted a Coptic priest walking in the same direction and offered him a ride. The priest told Downey that his village -- Shinnara -- did not have adequate school facilities. Downey drove on to the village and saw for himself the old school built of mud-bricks and a thatched roof, both of which washed so badly in the rainy season that the building was unusable.
Downey decided to see whether he and some of his American friends could help the village build a new school. He found his friends eager to help. Money was collected -- more than Eth.$3,750 -- both in Asmara and in Downey's home town of Kansas City, Missouri. With this money Downey drew up plans for a new school and bought construction materials. The villagers of Shinnara worked hard to build the school, and when it was done last March they decided to name it the John F. Kennedy school in appreciation of the Americans' efforts. And in gratitude to Hugh Downey, the villagers renamed the River Nebehita, from which they draw their water, the River Hugh. But Downey's exploits do not end here. The list of his achievements is almost incredible, considering that he worked on community development projects only in his "spare" time. A few of his accomplishments are illustrated here.

The villagers at Ghelas formerly had walked several kilometers to get water before Downey supervised construction of this well. All digging was done by hand.

Downey stands before new growth of corn at experimental farm he launched in village of Hagaaz near Keren. He obtained 500 kilos of fertilizer free from an American firm.

Father Zera Selassie Hadgu, who first told Downey of the great need for a new school at Shinnara, and Downey hold the plaque for the John F. Kennedy School before it is placed on the wall of the building.

[remaining photo captions and code 65-259 (8) omitted for length]

Truncated to stay under 4000 characters: the last two photo captions (Ghelas school; first Shinnara school) and the printed code 65-259 (8) are omitted. Plaque text in the photographs is not transcribed.