Beautiful Baskets: Ethiopia's Everyday Art in English and Somali

For thousands of years, Ethiopian women have taken fibers from the plants that surround them and braided their strands into intricate works of functional art. Each weaver creates distinct patterns, some passed down through generations of skilled artisans, some newly created to reflect personal interests. There are oblong baskets for grinding corn into flour, baskets designed to carry goods balanced high overhead, colorful baskets for a future celebration, watertight baskets that hold milk, even table top baskets that can hold and serve hot food. Ethiopian basketry combines aspects of mathematics, engineering and design into stunning, and most importantly, useful works of art. Explore some of the many gorgeous examples of Ethiopian basketwork and learn to read African languages at the same time in this colorful early reader.

Open Hearts Big Dreams Ready Set Go (OHBD-RSG) Books were created to help increase the literacy rate in Ethiopia through giving readers books with stories in their heart languages, full of colorful illustrations with Ethiopian settings and details. Profits from book sales are used to create, print, and distribute more OHBD-RSG books to kids in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country. Ethiopia's population has a high percentage of children ages 0-14. Only a small percentage attend pre-school or kindergarten, and the adult literacy rate is around 50%.

Some of our books are based on wise Ethiopian sayings that often rhyme in Amharic. If an adult says the first half, many children can chant the second half. Sometimes the meaning of these sayings is clear. Sometimes it has to be puzzled out and argued over. But sayings and idioms and proverbs help people express truths and beliefs in unusual ways. Other books are based on STEAM topics, cooking, colors, counting and more.

Since late 2017, OHBD has published over 150 unique OHBD-RSG bilingual titles in a number of Ethiopian, African and global languages plus English and has plans to publish more titles and add more languages. New titles or languages are added monthly; follow our author page to get new release announcements. Open Hearts Big Dreams Fund (OHBD) is a 501(3)(c) not for profit organization that believes the chance to dream big dreams should not depend on where in the world you are born. Our mission is to inspire and enable youth in Ethiopia through Literacy, Innovation, Inclusion and Leadership Projects in collaboration with individuals and organizations in Ethiopia and globally.