THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday, March 6, 2020 |A
leaving behind a 3-year-old
daughter.
“I talked to my mom. I told
her pray for me, because I
don’t know how I’m going to
face these people—look them
in the eye, sit across from
them,” she said. “I was very,
very angry. And I’m still an-
gry.”
Nine volunteers who lost
siblings, parents and others
spent hours with executives
from Boeing’s government arm
and a handful of Ethiopian
Airlines officials.
Some relatives were upset
about Ethiopian’s proposal to
hold an international design
competition for a physical
monument at the site of the
crash, including prize money
and a panel of professional
judges. The families said the
process Ethiopian had outlined
seemed rushed—as if the car-
rier was trying to put the inci-
dent behind it. They wanted to
have more to say about the
memorial’s design, and argued
they weren’t being given
enough time to weigh in.
At the meeting, Boeing’s
Tim Keating, executive vice
president of government oper-
ations, stepped in, according
to people in attendance, tell-
ing the Ethiopian executives
that their plans were moving
too quickly for many of the
families.
Ethiopian Airlines execu-
tives acknowledged that com-
munications between the air-
line and the families of the
victims were shaky at first.
“Ours is a balancing act. I
think maybe at the beginning
we should have seen that
there were going to be chal-
lenges,” said Kagnew Fisseha,
vice president of holidays and
digital sales for the airline,
who is acting as a spokesman
for Ethiopian. The memorial
plans were paused.
Even logistical meetings
have turned emotional, said
Allan Jaboma, a Kenyan who
lost his sister, who had been
on her way home from a pedi-
atric oncology conference.
Nearly everyone cried at the
first conference call of the
committee working on the me-
morial, he said.
“It’s nagging and we can’t
move on. Because we have to
see all this through,” Mr. Ja-
boma said.
As the anniversary looms,
the parties have clashed over
travel arrangements. Some
families pushed back against
Ethiopian’s initial proposal to
include just two guests per
victim. Boeing agreed to covertravel costs for four. Some
have said they would rather
not travel to the event on
Ethiopian Airlines, or that
they want to avoid Boeing jets.
“It’s going to be the hardest
trip I’ve ever taken,” Ms. Eissa
said.
A person familiar with Boe-
ing’s planning said the com-
pany was able to accommo-
date many of the requests.
Boeing representatives who
have worked most closely with
the families are making sure
other company employees are
aware of the crash’s emotional
toll. “We’re telling these sto-
ries across Boeing, we’re let-
ting [Boeing employees] know,
and that there are conse-
quences. That this is a big
deal,” said Mr. Keating, who
also oversees Boeing’s charita-
ble activities.
Some of the sharpest con-
flicts have been with Ethiopian
Airlines. Many didn’t receive
remains for seven months andfault the airline for being slow
to sweep the site again when
summer rains brought addi-
tional bones to the surface.
Last fall, Ethiopian filled in
the crater at the site of the
plane’s impact, burying coffins
containing the remains too
small to be identified. Families
were notified a day or two in
advance—almost nobody was
able to make the trip in time
to witness what they consid-
ered to have been a funeral for
the dead.
“We want to know every
step,” said Konjit Shafi, whose
31-year-old brother Sin-
tayehu—the family’s primary
breadwinner—died in the
crash while on his way to a re-
certification course in Nairobi
for his job at an automotive
company. “I need them to be
closer to the families than this
and update us more often.”
Ethiopian’s Mr. Fisseha said
the victims’ remains were
identified as quickly as possi-ble through DNA tests. “The
identification process was re-
ally difficult,” he said.
Roland Rehhorn and Joan
Vincent, whose 24-year-old
daughter Angela Rehhorn died
in the crash on her way to at-
tend a United Nations meeting
on the environment, traveled
from their home in Ontario to
Washington last year to meet
with Boeing executives, includ-
ing then-CEO Dennis Muilen-
burg.
“I remember sitting in that
room with Dennis Muilenburg,
and I remember thinking, ‘this
is really weird,’ ” Ms. Vincent
said. “I was in conflict sitting
there,” she said.
“It’s kind of confusing,” Mr.
Rehhorn said. “You’re kind of
litigating against them, but
yet they’re there to help.”
At the meeting in Washing-
ton, family members held en-
larged photos of their dead
relatives. Paul Njoroge, a Ca-
nadian who lost his wife, threeyoung children, and his
mother-in-law, displayed only
pictures of their caskets. “I
told them that the faces of my
wife and children did not mat-
ter to them,” Mr. Njoroge said.
“I said they should look at
those coffins and think about
the pain, anguish and devasta-
tion they caused me.”
Families of victims are hop-
ing to use a portion of the $
million Boeing has set aside
for community assistance to
build a hospital or high school
and to improve access to
drinking water or electricity
for the benefit of local resi-
dents near the crash site.
Demoze Wodajo, the top
government official for the
district, said the community is
starting to worry about the
delays. “We have been discuss-
ing, but Ethiopian is not con-
firming back whether projects
will be implemented or not,”
he said. “Ethiopian always re-
sponds that they will consider
the projects.”
Though they have agreed to
work together for now, the
families remain at odds with
Boeing. Many relatives have
said they want to keep the
MAXfromeverflyingagain.
Some have met privately with
top officials at aviation regula-
tors in the U.S., Canada and
Europe to push for stricter
scrutiny of the plane. They
have blasted Boeing’s current
and former leaders as culpable
for the crashes.
Boeing has already removed
Mr. Muilenburg, who led the
company during the crashes,
and has taken other steps
aimed at strengthening its en-
gineering and safety pro-
cesses. Still, some family
members have publicly called
for new Chief Executive David
Calhoun or other board mem-
bers to resign.
Several remain skeptical of
the company’s motives. “Any-
thing being done in honor of
our loved ones should not be
done as a way for corporations
to earn their community
badge or rehabilitate their
reputation,” said Zipporah Ku-
ria of the U.K., whose father
died in the crash.
Boeing executives involved
in the company’s efforts say
they aren’t trying to score
public-relations points, but to
ensure the families continue to
have a role.
“Sometimes they’re angry
with us and that’s OK, we ac-
cept that,” said Jennifer Lowe,
another Boeing executive who
has been working with the
families.sia less than five months ear-
lier. Families have filed more
than a hundred lawsuits accus-
ing Boeing of disregarding hu-
man lives and of putting prof-
its over safety when it
developed the MAX and when
it opted not to ground the
plane after the first crash.
In court filings, Boeing has
denied the allegations. “Safety
is at the core of everything we
do at Boeing,” a spokesperson
said. “We do not trade safety
for lower cost, because with-
out safety and quality, we
don’t have a business.”
The company has engaged
victim-compensation attorney
Kenneth Feinberg to disburse
$50 million in direct payments
to families of the 346 people
who died in the two crashes,
and to oversee the distribution
of another $50 million to as-
sist communities affected by
the crashes. The memorial dis-
cussions are taking place apart
from this.
To make any of their hopes
for a crash site a reality, the
families need Boeing’s money
and the airline’s cooperation.
Accepting either means having
their lives inextricably bound
to these companies for possi-
bly years to come.
“It’s not easy to sit with
them at a table and just start
talking like nothing has hap-
pened,” said Samira Eissa,
whose 49-year-old father died
in the crash. Ms. Eissa, 22, has
been juggling planning meet-
ings for the anniversary with
her studies in Germany. “But
as I see it, those are the peo-
ple who put harm to us...so
those are the ones who should
be paying for that damage.”
A planning session to com-
memorate the anniversary of
the crash took place in late
January in Ethiopian Airlines’
Addis Ababa headquarters.
The conference room looked
out onto the airport where the
doomed flight originated.
As the date drew near,
Emmy Auma Odero was afraid
of what she might do when
she came face-to-face with
representatives from Boeing
and the airline. Her sister Im-
maculate Achieng Odero was
29 when she died in the crash,
Continued from Page One
Boeing and
Families
Forge Ties
Where a
Famous Orb
Ended Up
FROM PAGE ONE
ing to people familiar with the
events.
U.S. officials have largely
stayed mum about it ever
since.
Saudi officials created the
glass Orb in 2017, weeks be-
fore the summit, as a dramatic
prop for President Trump’s
trip. They envisioned the mini-
globe serving as a tangible
symbol for a fight against ex-
tremism that must unite all
nations.
Continued from Page One
Saudi officials charted out a
plan for the U.S. president to
inaugurate the new center by
walking into the operations
room with Saudi King Salman
where the two men would put
their hands on the Orb of the
Earth to officially “activate”
the center. A few American
officials involved in planning
the trip said they worried that
having the president touch a
glowing Orb in Riyadh might
make for a potentially embar-
rassing moment.
The Orb itself wasn’t much
to look at. Some U.S. officials
compared it to a prop in a
high-school play. The bowling-
ball size Orb had black silhou-
ettes of the Earth’s continents
stuck on it.
Despite their reservations,
officials agreed to the Orb-ac-
tivation plan. Photographerssnapped photos of Mr. Trump,
King Salman and Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi
with their hands on the globe,
an unearthly light illuminating
their faces from below.
Mr. Sisi was never meant to
be in the shot, U.S. officials
say, but he kept close to Mr.
Trump and King Salman as
they walked into the center,
and joined them in the photo.
Mr. Sisi’s office didn’t respond
to a request for comment.
When the event was over,
U.S. officials said, an American
embassy official asked if he
could take it. The Saudis
agreed.
Back at the embassy, the
Orb was briefly placed on the
first floor, close to an en-
trance.
Some people who knew the
Orb was taken to the embassyjoked among themselves,
channeling the voice of Gollum
from “The Lord of the Rings”
coveting the Orb the way the
movie character covets his
“precious,” magical ring: “We
wants it! We needs it!”
Plenty of people wanted
their pictures taken with the
famous Orb. Yet senior U.S. of-
ficials worried that images
would end up on Instagram,
Twitter or Facebook, that
could be embarrassing. So,
within a few hours, U.S. offi-
cials said, they ordered the
Orb removed.
For a while, said people fa-
miliar with the events, it was
stashed in the empty ambassa-
dor’s office. (Mr. Trump didn’t
appoint an ambassador to
Saudi Arabia until 18 months
after the visit.)
Then the Orb was movedinto a more permanent storage
spot in the embassy—exactly
where U.S. officials won’t say.
The State Department
didn’t respond to requests for
comment.
The Orb’s move has even
earned a mention in a biogra-
phy of the Saudi crown prince,
by New York Times reporter
Ben Hubbard, which comes out
on Tuesday.
The Saudis actually created
two Orbs for the 2017 event.
The Orb upon which Mr.
Trump, the Saudi King and the
Egyptian president laid their
hands on rested on one side of
the room. Its twin was on the
other.
Visitors to the Riyadh cen-
ter can see the second Orb,
which still sits in the opera-
tions room as a ceremonial
prop.Saudi officials at the center,
known as Etidal, said they
gave the Orb as a gift to the
U.S. Embassy. The other re-
mains at the center. “We are
proud of it, and it is displayed
to all visitors of Etidal,” a
written statement from the
center said. While many visi-
tors want to touch it, not ev-
eryone gets the chance.
Jonathan Schanzer, vice
president of research at the
Foundation for Defense of De-
mocracies, a Washington-
based think tank, said he was
excited to see the Orb when he
took a tour last year and
hoped to lay his hands on the
glass. No touching the Orb, he
said he was instructed by the
center’s staff. Mr. Schanzer
was crestfallen.
“Alas,” he said, “the life of a
small fry...”NICHOLE SOBECKI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (3)
Allan Jaboma holds up the recovered passport of his sister Bella Jaboma, who died in the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX crash last year. Her purse wasalso found at the scene.
Canadian conservationist Angela Rehhorn, 24, left behind parents Roland Rehhorn and Joan Vincent.AARON VINCENT ELKAIM FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (2)