A call to the Sifter community

Time as a Birthday Gift

I am on the right, and my sister, Lella Misikir, is on the left. The photo was taken at a press conference organised by the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA), November 2023.

Hi there,

This newsletter edition is a little different. It’s a call for support to the Sifter community.

The photo above was taken at a press conference my sister and I attended in November 2023 (Time flies when you’re running a weekly newsletter).

It was organised by the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, in opposition to a draft directive by the Ministry of Education that would have severely restricted maternity leave for women pursuing higher education. I wrote an explanatory update on it at the time; you can find it here.

The pushback was powerful, and it forced the Ministry to reevaluate, rescind, and begin consultations on the directive with women’s rights groups.

Exactly a year later, in November 2024, my sister, a women’s rights activist, was forced to leave the country for fear of her safety.

Even as a child, my sister has always been outspoken. That same boldness gave her a platform on TikTok as an adult. She, along with many other courageous women, has used her voice to speak up for the rights and protection of Ethiopian women and girls.

But I’ve watched as her visibility turned her into a target over the past few years. Last year, a smear campaign (spearheaded tragically by another woman) escalated into real threats. She was forced to make a choice many of us hope we never face: stay silent, or leave home.

She chose to keep speaking.

My sister is not the only one who has had to pay a steep price for speaking up. Many of her peers have faced attacks, threats, harassment, and deep fake technology intended to silence and shame them.

While it is beyond infuriating that legal recourse is hardly an option, I know they have a community. A community that has kept them going in their relentless fight for justice.

So today, I’m turning to this community to support my sister in her fundraising campaign, as she works to rebuild her life in a new place.

I’ve been writing this newsletter every week, come rain or shine, for more than two and a half years. Throughout this time, many of you have asked how to support my work.

So, I’m finally here with an ask.

If this newsletter has ever helped you make sense of what’s been happening in our corner of the world, if it’s helped you feel more connected to Ethiopia, or if it’s lightened your workload even a little, please consider contributing to her fundraiser.

To learn more about what technology-facilitated hate speech is doing to women and girls in Ethiopia, I highly recommend reading this report by the Center for Information Resilience.

To read more about what the experience was like for my sister, you can read her interview here.

Thank you to everyone who has supported her campaign already.

Proud of you, Lella!

— NEXT WEEK —

I’ll be back in your inbox next Monday with the usual five updates of the week. Check the archives and refresh your memory in the meantime. The posts go all the way back to January 2023, when it was just 25 of us here. We’re nearly 2,000 now! : )

Was this forwarded to you by someone? Then hit the button below to subscribe and get free weekly updates on Ethiopia.