A Story of Hope

by Ready Set Go Books, Daniel Getahun, Caroline Kurtz

Description Captured in Ethiopia and sold into slavery as a child, Malik Ambar travels throughout the Middle East until he arrives in India. Despite a lifetime of adversity and hardship, Malik's love of language and ideas helps him persevere and inspires him to study military history. Through education, hard work and perseverance, Malik learns to manage his master's finances and trains legions of African horsemen as a commander in the Indian Army. As a free man, he becomes a respected diplomat and earns his place as a respected figure in Indian history. Written by science writer Dr. Worku L. Mulat and illustrated by Ethiopia-educated Daniel Getahun, the story of the Ethiopian slave boy who grew to be regarded as one of the greatest leaders of central and southern India reminds us how empowering and liberating education can be. Part of the Ready, Set, Go series of dual-language early readers through Open Hearts, Big Dreams Publishing, whose mission is to empower generations of young Ethiopian students with engaging, inspiring stories written in indigenous Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Tigrinya and Afaan Oromo to support bilingual readers. Ready Set Go Books, an Open Hearts Big Dreams Project, is focused on increasing 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 Ready Set Go Books to kids in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country. Ethiopia's population is 44% children, ages 0-14 (43 million out of 97 million total). Only 5.5% of children attend pre-school or kindergarten, and the adult literacy rate is 49%. 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. Since late 2017, OHBD has published over 100 unique #ReadySetGo dual language titles in four Ethiopian languages plus English and has plans to publish another 100 titles and add more languages in the coming years. New titles and/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 READY SET GO books, STEM and Innovation Projects in collaboration with individuals and organizations providing literacy, education, and leadership opportunities.