He is now giving back to his Ethio culture by donating $50,000 to the University of Toronto’s Ethiopic Studies Program. The organization was surprised with the generous donation since they weren’t even sure if he would respond to their request. Grammy award winning Toronto native Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd certainly sees it that way too, and has decided to make a huge donation to his hometown’s university. U of T professor Michael Gervers had previously pledged to contribute $50,000 if the university and/or Ethiopian community could match that donation, and evidently Tesfaye rose to the challenge.
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“It’s unbelievable”, Tam Gebeyehu, a board member of the Bikila Award organization, told The Star.
The Bikila Award is named after named for Abebe Bikila, an Ethiopian Olympic hero, who won two gold medals while running barefoot in the marathon in the 1960s.
The donation will fund a “a course on the Ge’ez, an ancient Ethiopian script and language also known as Ethiopic”.
The singer took to Twitter to share about the project, saying that he is proud to support the Ethiopic studies program that shows the “brilliant and ancient history of Ethiopia”.
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Bikila Awards awarded Tesfaye with the Professional Excellence Award back in 2014, but Gebeyehu didn’t know the young Toronto native would elevate his career to this level.
