When I worked in San Jose, I frequented the Shebele Ethiopian restaurant for their delicious food. I would "hang-out" for hours with the friendly people from Ethiopia and Eritrea to learn about their culture and engage in interesting conversation.

One evening, I met an Ethiopian man whose name sounded like Ken-dee or Kun-dee. (There is emphasis on the 'K'.) I saw similarity to my given name, KEN DIckman. He said that, in his Amharic language, the name means that person who helps me, or literally, my arms. Helping people is gratifying to me. The name is somewhat common in Ethiopa and is spelled with the three Feedel characters shown in the upper left corner of this page.

I felt that I should also have that name. It makes a great computer userid. It also makes me feel a little less "mid-western" (I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA), and makes me feel closer to all cultures and all people of the world.

In several internet locations, the name Kendi was already taken, so I chose kendy (with a lowercase 'k').