Addis Star

Discover Addis and Beyond…

7 BILLION!

 

 

 

 

Today is a day the world have witnessed the total population of our planet hit seven billion.

There is so much that can be said about the consequences of population explosion. Unfortunately the population explosion is happening in the poorest regions of the world which in effect people become victims of unspeakable misery.

Not so much has been done about this issue, and in a country like ours it is hardly an issue at all. Some NGOs are working on advocacy and supplying birth controls. That could be the reason why we are the second most populated country in Africa.

There is so much social crisis because of this explosion in Ethiopia. Unemployment, poor Medicare, illiteracy, migration and in general a very poor quality of life are the norms of over populated nations such as ours.

Living in Addis, I feel the temperature of population boom almost in every corner of the city. It is hard to find a street which is not jammed by pedestrians. It might be odd to comment on this issue in a society where having more children is like a blessing and questioning it would be like a taboo. But anyway we can’t ignore the outcomes of having more population because life has been pretty much a challenge the more people we have on the planet. Especially in a nation where it is even hard to feed its citizens I wonder how it could be possible to provide the needs of  a population growing astronomically.

We all have to take responsibilities to limit our family members and save the planet. . We should be very careful with what we do with our resources. Because  we are experiencing a great challenge facing the human race.

 

Foot Ball

 

 

Foot ball is one of the most loved games in Ethiopia with a lot of serious fans more than any other game known here…

The European clubs and players are more famous than the local ones. People seem to know every detail of the players starting from their income and life styles to who they are dating and where they plan to be for their honey moon.

There seems to be an overemphasized discussion about foot ball than other burning issues of social or economical importance. I once remember tuning my radio and found out four of the FM stations were discussing about foot ball at the same time. And it was too much for a kind of person like I am who is not a football fan.

I personally appreciate foot ball as a healthy form of entertainment. Though some fanatic fans take it to its extreme and fight with their own brethren over silly arguments. Some times the fight goes physical and it gets ugly.

As much as people are crazy about foot ball, they are not satisfied with the local games at all. They are full of disappointment and mediocrity. Hence they don’t have any appetite for local games and they prefer singing songs of western clubs..

As far as I know almost everybody awaits the weekends with great expectation of who is going to beat who. Sometimes the streets are deserted for everybody is indoors to watch the games. Once the games are over the discussion and the aftermath will be talks of the town for days to come, especially when the game is between the big clubs.

There are times when the games are scheduled at late night hours, when the games are over, we again see crowds rushing home in cold mid night hours. This really shows the commitments of people to stay awake and outdoors just to watch their favorite games. I know of no other thing which gets so much attention other than foot ball.

Addis Ababa has a number of ‘Dish houses’ where people pay a minimum of 2 Br to watch their favorite games. Some places charge as much as 20 to 50 Br. Just for a game. Yet all places  seem to be overcrowded any time the big clubs meet. There are people who make their living out of such weekend games. And they await their customers posting a poster of the schedule well in advance.

 

All in all Addis seems to be full of debates days after the games are over and these is something one can’t ignore though one is not interested in foot ball at all.

The end of Gadaffi

The world is busy with another breaking news on the death of Gadaffi…

Much has been said about his death and the last few months of his life and I have no more thing  to add. I am more interested in the drama of life where it keeps on following the same path regardless of the places and the conditions we live by.

We have witnessed stories of leaders who condemned and vilified their predecessors some even killed them and they have declared themselves to be the redeemer of so and so nation and sung the songs of redemption amongst their people.

When the euphoria passes the problems condemned by this same leaders start to pop up again and this time it might be worse than before. Then the leaders start scratching problems on the surface and not do much to go deep and solve them once and for all. Then another unsatisfied group emerges among the crowd and do what has been done by the present leaders. The cycle goes on and on…

The general public, hence achieve nothing as a result  and all the promises made to them  are like chasing the rainbow…

So why do we still face the same kind of leaders and why do we repeat history again and again?I believe the possible answer could be ‘the means justifies the end.’ If the means to take power has unjustified procedures specially through violence and blood shed the end won’t be any different. This is quite common practice in Africa.Now we have seen what happened in north Africa and the Middle East though we usually overlook the message behind.

There is no way to form a just world if people live to take advantage of others specially when they are in power.Power was supposed to be for serving others but if we take it the other way round we pay a big price.If we open our eyes what we’ve been witnessing the past one year or so is a great lesson for those who are in power or for those who aspire to be.

Hence, the end of Gaddafi is not the end of violence and suffering. The world is still in the hands of many who abuse their power.The question now is who is next? Time will tell.

 

Scarcity

 

I was talking to a friend about housing and accommodation problems in Addis and we were wondering how people manage to survive in the escalating prices of housing,which is one of the basic necessities.

Though houses are built almost in every corner of the city the problem is coming by and large and it doesn’t get any easier the way things are going.This is in fact a problem which has been overlapped for many years in the past. It is just that we happen to face it.

Addis Ababa has been a city of contrast for many years  since the time of its inception to be A capital of Ethiopia. There has not been much facility for a city which aged 125 years since becoming a capital of Ethiopia by the late Emperor Menilik. Things started to change since then slowly but we are way too slow to see significant changes at all.

I once attended a presentation by one real estate developer and the figures show shocking statistics of the housing shortages and even the ‘houses’ we live in are not habitable and should be condemned to be destructed in the years to come if we need a habitable and well developed neighborhoods.

There has been many real estate companies which promises fancy and good looking houses and apartments but their prices are way too far for the majority to reach and can only serve the upper class society. Such developments can only serve hundreds if not thousands of people. But the number of households are too much to be absorbed by such accommodations.

The government is also developing low cost condominiums for the poor and middle class families, and condos have been transferred to many residents though they can’t build as many as they have planned in the past years. In spite of that many are still on the waiting list to one day become a house owner.

Owning a house is a far fetched dream for many and let me focus on renting which again is not affordable to many specially for people with low  incomes.

People who even earn a salary of a degree holder can’t afford to rent a condo of more than a studio size. Even that could be possible if they go far off the city center. In side the city they can only be able to reside in the shabby places which are even being demolished for reconstruction.

Many of such houses are just places better off the streets yet only few can afford to live in them.I sometimes wonder how it could be possible to accommodate the needs of the society with so many baby boomers? Is it not a a big challenge for many to afford the most basic of all needs? God help us all!

Piassa

Piassa, where it all began! This is a place where all the early days of Addis Ababa were cherished…It   is still in the memories of Addis residents where they used to spend their time lavishly. All the pubs, disco techs ,cinemas and every possible form of entertainment was jammed around Piassa. Even today, though options are available with the emerging places like Bole and Haya hulet still  many prefer to be around piassa than anywhere else in Addis.

What is there in Piassa which makes it so special? One can choose to sit in one of the caf’es which can be available almost at every corner. Caf’es like Enrico an old caf’e known for delicious cakes and cookies, Tomoca Caf’e known for its fantastic coffee, Mekonnen bar known for its baklava.Now, new fancy caf’es are popping up like a mushroom and the young generation have plenty of options to choose from.

The first hotel in Ethiopia,Taitu Hotel was built in Piassa and the first bank,Bank of Abyssinia was also located in it. Cinema started in Ethiopia at Piassa and they called it ‘Seitan Bet’  which literally means the devil’s house they called it so because they thought people can only run on a canvas screen by some kind of magic or something.Other cinemas and theaters are also jammed in Piassa than anywhere else in Addis. Cinema Ethiopia,Cinema Empire,City Hall Theater, Hager Fiker Theater are some of them which until today entertain patrons.

The City Municipal is located in Piassa which still serve as the Addis Ababa city administration office where the Mayor’s office is located it is one of the majestic buildings in town even by today’s standard.Just across the city municipal building you can find the St. George Cathedral which is one of the tourist destinations in Addis. Other churches are also located in Piassa such as the Greek , Arman and other denominations.The Grand Anwar Mosque is not far from Piassa as well.

People from all walks of life visit Piassa for shopping, walking or watching movies…Even those celebrities which we often see on movies or stages could be sitting and sipping coffee with us  in one of the caf’es around,or rub shoulder with us while walking on the street.

There are different faces of Piassa.I’m only scratching  the surface here. it has got a lot of stories to be told or written about.A writer called Fikru Kidane a renowned Ethiopian in the Athletics Family,have written an excellent book about it a while ago. and it is worth reading it if one wants to know what it looked like during his time for he has written what he experienced. some 50 years back.

Now Piassa is hiding itself through the beautiful girls and jewellery shops. It has not changed much recently since the city is expanding itself from other sides more attention is given to the new emerging places. But still it is a place worth to be around.

The Facebook mania

 

Here in Addis Ababa using internet as a means of communicating with people around the world is becoming a common experience among youngsters specially using face book, the social networking website with subscriptions increasing astronomically.

As a nation we are in a relatively primitive stage of using internet and IT solutions to empower our day to day lives…There are still very few internet users here and that could probably be the lowest even by African standard.

There are as many reasons as I can’t even care to count why we are still lagging behind when the world is benefiting a lot from the IT revolution.Figures show us the number of internet subscribers to show a slight increase yearly, yet it amounts to still another low figure compared to other countries where internet is accessible to every household and organization.

On this blog i am not going deep into the reasons why we are not using this opportunity of connecting to the world socially, economically and in all aspects of life.I would rather focus on the issue as mentioned on the subject. ”the face book mania”

I know people who hardly know how to operate basic computer skills yet having thousands of people on their face book friends list.I know others who only use the internet for a reason none other than chatting with friends and socialize with some groups or be part of an event.What I mean to say is more time is wasted to just chit chat than actually doing something of value.In a country where you can do the offline chit chatting all day long almost for free I can’t see any reason why people spend so much to do the same online.

Some organizations already banned the use of social net work sites specially face book because their employees are wasting office hours doing pretty much nothing.Some countries like China has banned it nationwide.

What i am trying to emphasize is that we hardly know how to benefit from this amazing era of knowledge and information using the internet because  more time is wasted with out such transfer of knowledge and information.

Recently a fiend of mine has opened an internet cafe around piassa and he told me his café is overcrowded by young school children who come to use this one website I’m talking about.I wish we get the maximum use of the IT revolution like countries of the East.As we know these countries are getting a lot of job opportunities with out actually traveling abroad and leaving the comforts of their home.Our youngsters can do the same than complaining about the scarce job opportunity the country can provide after graduating from college.

The face book is only the tip of the ice burg more is there to be discovered from the internet. We should wake up and discover.

 

Exodus

I happen to be at the Immigration office in Addis Ababa for a different reason other than traveling yet I was amazed to see thousands of people specially women waiting to get their passports.

One of the main reasons why women are in such a large number is because they have a better chance of traveling to Middle East countries to fulfill their dream of better job and better life for themselves and for their loved ones back home.

There are agents who promise these aspiring women a greener pasture on the other side which is not usually the case.In spite of  the facts we see on the mass medias(all the negative aspects of it) thousands still migrate to these places risking their money and in some cases their life.I recently read on one of the weekly newspapers over 100,000 people have made their way in the past year alone.

I have no intention of condemning those young men and women from their ambitious exit from their homeland. But they should by all means try a legal exit to their destination which otherwise will end up in a serious consequences later  on. Many have been deported after sacrificing so much.and all their effort was just  like chasing the rainbow. Many has lost their precious lives in vain.Many have been humiliated and abused.Words won’t be enough to describe what these people pass through, recently we have seen a terrible scene at Muammar Gadafi son’s home,An Ethiopian nanny who have been burned alive!

I often ask my self ‘Does it worth  to pay so much price just to be on the other side of the river?’Why are we so obsessed with just crossing the border and end up being a fugitive? I once saw a documentary which shows how people cross borders using a small wooden boat packed with migrants the journey begins at Djibouti and ends in Yemen and I was speechless seeing what was happening on that boat!

The police and the media often warn citizens not to be victims of illegal migration and to protect themselves from illegal  human traffickers.Though  facts show the increase of such activities…

This issue is something we should all be concerned about.I need more people to comment on it.

Funerals

I happen to be in some parts of the world and witnessed the funerals of people from different cultures and sects.There are cultures in which people celebrate the death of the deceased through chanting and dancing and one time we went to lease a sound speaker for a holiday party and we found out it was leased by people who have got some one died a day before and they need it for days to come…

In my culture( in Ethiopia) Funerals are sacred moments and one can not take this moments for granted.It is believed that the deceased is embarking to another level of existence and all the procedures should be dealt with properly.

In the past all days after the funeral will be busy for the deceased family because mourners will be coming from even far distances to show their condolences.But now in cities, as life needs more time to make ends meet,   city dwellers can not afford to sit and wait for mourners as they used to do in the past.Some even announce to the public not to come afterwards.

I am not saying that people should ignore the old culture and just  live any how but there should be a limit to what they do because it costs a lot of time money and energy to treat ever body for days…

Life, as we know it is a battle and one day we will be defeated by the one and the unbeatable enemy called death. This is something we can not ask why, because we are all going to end up in the hand of this enemy. But we should be asking ourselves  what will people say on the day of our funeral? what will our parents, children, spouses, friends,colleagues and people that we have been dealing with will say on the day of our funeral?

That would be what we want to do while we stay  on earth and more focus  should be given to answer this question than trying to make our funeral more colorful than others…

School vibes

This month,September is not only the beginning of a new era in Ethiopia but also a beginning of an academic year for all from nursery to  graduate classes.Now the streets are busier with crowd of students who have been on break for the summer vacations.

Parents get this time of the year more challenging with the holiday season expenses .On top of that those who send their children to school find it even more challenging to afford all the expenses that comes along sending children to school.Days have gone when government schools used to give free education to children(still there are schools which are doing it for almost free compared to the private ones).Now with private schools coming like a mushroom in almost every corner of the city, parents have more choices to send their children to a school of their choice as long as they afford to pay the fees.The fact is that some people send their children for a sincere reason of a better education for their children while others do it for the sake of maintaining a certain status.Here is where the problem pops up. I was talking to a friend who send her son to a pre- KG school in a relatively upper class school and she was complaining about the kind of competition they have at school and i was in awe! She said her son started comparing himself with other rich kids whose parents have got bigger cars than his! And he was only a kg student and not even four years old.I asked if he is doing this at this age then what will be his fate when he grows up? She said it is already a culture in Addis of such comparisons and he is not an exception.She also told me he gets disgusted when they hire a taxi to drop him off and take him back home as they cannot be there for him during working hours…I flashed back the days when we used to walk all the way to school an back home.not even getting enough changes to board a bus.What a change!

Finally she said she will send him to a middle class school ones his KG days are over and focuses on his education than fulfilling his expectations of fancy things to show off his friends…I was thinking about it over and over and I realized it is not an easy task sending a child to school and as the number of children increases it doesn’t get any easier.

I personally believe that parents who send their kids for the sake of status  play a major role of such idiocy. And kids, specially the little ones reflect what they see at home. It might seem harmless as of now as long as a parent  provides children’s needs as it may not be much. But as they grow up, their needs grow as well and it may not be as easy as before…which results in domestic violence and ultimately to a social crisis.

Don’t you think it is the right time to do conscious parenting before it is too late?

An eye for an eye?

We have witnessed a sad story of a woman abused by her ex husband. who used to live with him for years as a married couple but separated for their own reasons.

It is no wonder that couples have their arguments while walking their journey together. But there should be a civilized way of handling such arguments. violence is never a solution for a problem. And people should solve their issues by  talking about it, it doesn’t mean it always works out but at least it makes more sense to discuss issues than going to the extreme of physical abuse.

The story I begin with was the talk of the town the past weeks  where an ex husband allegedly took both eyes of his ex wife. and it is something I have never heard of. I am sure many were as disgusted as I am.The woman used to serve as a senior flight attendant at Ethiopian Air Lines and she has become handicapped overnight leaving all her dreams and career and who knows she could be a  good support for her family which now she will have to need their hand instead.I don’t want to go to the details of the crime committed or what the reasons could be behind.But one thing is for sure there is no justification for such act of injustice.We have heard lots of stories of domestic violence and crimes up on women and children and they have been overlooked. it is now time to take serious actions against such aggressions. and we as individuals have the choice to not involve in such acts and condemn it wherever we see it.The general public should be well aware of the consequences of such actions and more focus should be given for teaching the public of what to do and what not to. otherwise punishing individuals by itself is not a solution for such a serious problem.As Ghandi ones quoted ‘An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind’