Ethiopian Summary

 Construction is going on everywhere, even if health and safety is compromised.

 Public transport mini-buses are usually jammed.

 Trucks often carry a load of people, again with no thought of health and safety.

The scenery, mountains and valleys were stunning.

 Trucks break on the road, they get fixed on the road, eventually.

 For Timket all buildings and hotels put fresh grass in the foyers or lobbies, and replace it when it gets dry, to say 'welcome'.

 The hardest working Ethiopian.

Horse hair fly swatters that people use to brush them off as the sit and talk.

 Ethiopians make beautiful coloured woven baskets and mats.

 Tuk tuk repair shop.

 The ever present children in their multi-coloured, uncomfortable, usually broken, plastic shoes.

 Did I say the scenery was stunning? The Simien Mountains.

Smile for the camera.

Final Thoughts and Reflections on Ethiopia

What an amazing country! It has an ancient and vibrant history, a beautiful and varied landscape, and a welcoming and friendly populace. The population is about 100 million. The slogan at the airport is: Ethiopia, Land of Origins. There is an active volcanic region that is creating new land; this is where Lucy, the first human-like skeleton was found, and where some of the beginnings of the Christian religion started.

Our guide Kaleb is a very well-spoken and knowledgeable young man who was always happy to answer our questions and give us an insight into his country. Admittedly though much of it was lost on this listener as I was unfamiliar with the history and major personalities. So, I have done some research for this report. 

Ethiopia, although very poor, seems to be on the brink of developing into a better place. Kaleb said, that in the next fifteen years, Ethiopia will either succeed or fail. Unlike, Madagascar which I felt showed little progressive growth, many regions, towns and cities of Ethiopia showed evidence of growth, with construction of roads and buildings going on everywhere. Much of the construction of the buildings seems to be substandard by western standards, including the use of eucalyptus scaffolding, but they are building many multistorey structures. Many of the roads are being upgraded from dirt to pavement or are being widened and improved. Kaleb also pointed out the new universities that are being built in large towns and cities, some of which are causing significant growth in those towns and spurring on the construction of housing.

As we drove through the state of Tigray this became really evident as we saw whole neighbourhoods being built with many new high rises. We were told that the political protest that hampered our route, was partly around this. There is growing resentment that the new infrastructure is not being spread around the country equally and that Tigray seems to be getting a disproportionate share. 

At the time of the year that we traveled, Ethiopia is a very dry and dusty country. The roads and fields are bone dry and dust is everywhere. It gets into everything from your nose, eyes and throat and cameras as well. It would be interesting to see the difference in the wet season of July and August when they grow most of their food.

There are virtually no cars here and what there is is only in the cities. Traffic on the country roads is comprised of trucks, buses, mini-vans and tourist vehicles. In the cities or big towns there are lots of low cost tuk tuks for local people. There are also some motorcycles, and lots of donkey carts. Other than that, people walk. The roads often had people walking on them and most people have to walk to get water for their homes.

Nowhere in the country did we see any western food outlets... no McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, etc. We never saw a supermarket as we know it. There are lots of small shops that sell a few things, but choices and varieties are very limited. 

The country is 55% Christian, 35% Muslim and the rest is pagan, but it is very religious! Evidence of religious fervour is everywhere, holy men are omnipresent, and there are churches wherever you look. And the Timket Festival has to be seen to be believed.

The house construction changed from area to area and depended largely on the materials available to them. The first houses we saw were wood framed and made of eucalyptus tree poles and filled in with mud, grass and manure. The second type was from homemade or locally made bricks and the third were made from carefully laid rocks with no cement or binding agent.

The children of Ethiopia would always wave at our van, or us, as we walked along, and would often call out ‘frangee’, which meant tourist. But they would also call out ‘Chinese’ as they are the most common type of foreigner they see and they think all foreigners are Chinese. Unfortunately, the children have learned that foreigners give out handouts, and they beg or demand money, candy or pens. Well intentioned tourists have created a culture of begging children, and the sad part is if they are successful (which they were not with our group) then their parents will keep them away from school as begging provides a much needed income supplement.

Ethiopians tell time very differently than us. They count the hours from the sun up starting at 1 and going up to 12 when it gets dark and they start at 1 again and count to 12 when the sun comes up. In other words, when the sun comes up at about 6 am they would call that 1 am. This is because they live at about the equator and they have about 12 hours of light and dark all year long, unlike us. 

A year in the Ethiopian calendar is 13 months long, with 12 months of 30 days each. The 13th month has 5 days in a common year and 6 days for a leap year. Like in the Julian calendar which we use, a year in the Ethiopian calendar happens every 4 years without exception.

As a result their date is 7 years and 8 months behind our date. Their Christmas is celebrated on January 7^th.

As we travelled through the country we all commented on the fact that we saw no one smoking. We asked Kaleb and he told us that teenagers and young people do smoke, but privately as there are big fines and sometime prison sentences for smoking in public.

The local 'bread' of choice is injera and is unleavened bread traditionally made from teff, a tiny round khaki-coloured grain. The bread is made into very flat crepe or pancake like shapes and put on a round plate. Then the meal ordered in put on the injera and the dinner eats with his or her hands, balling up injera with the meal inside. 

Here is a very simplistic overview of the politics of Ethiopia since 1930. Kaleb told us that Ethiopia’s democratic government was only 25 years old and had formed after the demise of the communist government. So I researched that to learn a bit more and here is what I learned: 

Haile Selassie was the emperor from 1930 to 1974. (Interestingly, among the Rastafarian movement, which we usually associate with Jamaica, but actually originated in Ethiopia, Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate despite the fact that he was a devote Ethiopian Orthodox Christian throughout his life.)

The first signal of any mass uprising against the government was the actions of some of the soldiers in the army in southern Ethiopia. They were unhappy about the state of their food and water and arrested their brigade commander and other officers. When the government sent the commander of the ground forces to deal with the rebels, they held him and forced him to eat their food and drink their water.

This ground swell movement in the military eventually gained momentum, managed to overthrow Sallassie and gain control of the government. It became known as the Derg.

Under the Derg, Ethiopia became the Soviet bloc's closest ally in Africa and became among the best armed nations of the region as a result of massive military aid, chiefly from the Soviet Union, East Germany, Cuba and North Korea. The Derg nationalized all rural land and in 1975 nationalized most industries.

The massive famine that we remember happened in the eighties during the reign of the Derg. This resulted in the music community coming together as BandAid with famine support by recording Do They Know Its Christmas time (Britain) and We Are The World (US).

Then with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 80’s all funding and support from there ceased. The Derg lost power and eventually a democratic government arose from the ashes.

Prior to 1974, Ethiopia had an estimated illiteracy rate well above 90% and compared poorly with the rest of Africa in the provision of schools and universities. After the 1974 revolution, emphasis was placed on increasing literacy in rural areas. Practical subjects were stressed, as was the teaching of socialism. By 2015, the literacy rate had increased to 49.1%, though this is still poor compared to most of the rest of Africa.  Recently, there has been massive expansion throughout the educational system. Access to primary is limited to urban locations and they are mostly owned by the private sector and Faith Based organizations. Primary school education consists of two cycles from grades 1 to 4 and grades 5 to 8. Secondary schools have two cycles from grades 9 to 10 and grades 11 to 12. Primary schools have over 90% of 7-year olds enrolled although only about half complete the two cycles. This situation varies from one region to the other and it is even worst in agro-pastoral locations. A much smaller proportion of children attend secondary school and even fewer attend the second cycle. School attendance is lowest in rural areas due to lack of provision and alternative occupations. The school curriculum in later years covers more subjects at a higher level than curricula in most other countries. Low pay and undervaluation of teachers contributes to poor quality teaching. This is exacerbated by large class sizes and poor resources resulting in poor performance on national assessments. There is evidence of corruption including forgery of certificates. Girls' access to education has been improved but, early marriage decreases their attendance. Girls' educational attainment is adversely affected by gender stereotypes, violence, lack of sanitary facilities and the consequences of sexual activity.

Teacher training has been up-graded. All higher education has been expanding but this has not been accompanied by sufficient expansion in staffing and resources. There have been difficulties with poorly paid university staff supplementing their incomes where possible. All colleges and universities suffer from the same disadvantages as schools. Library facilities are poor, classes are large and there is lack of equipment.

A disturbing fact we heard on TV was that cancer is on the rise and that only 10% of cancers victims have access to treatment. This is mostly because of money and the remoteness of some of the villages and farms. I researched this on the internet and found this. Although these facts are from 2001, they provide an insight into the health of the people and the condition of the health care system.

Underdeveloped health system: The health system is unable to provide health care for more than half the population. Much of the rural population has no access to any type of modern health care service. In terms of service delivery, it is estimated that only 75% of urban households and about 42% of rural dwellers are within walking distance from a health facility. From the data of the mid-term review it was seen that the health coverage is only about 50%. However, when there is physical access to the facility, it is reported that some facilities are staffed with health workers of low qualifications and drugs and clinical supplies are not available at many health facilities all of the time. There seems to be gross inequalities when it comes to access to health services amongst different regions of the country. The issue of health care services of pastoralist communities, who represent 10% of the population, calls for special attention.

The health status of Ethiopia is poor, even when related to other low-income countries including those in sub-Saharan Africa. The population suffers from a huge burden of potentially preventable diseases such as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, intestinal parasites, acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases. The health indicators are generally poor, though there are improvements observed.

Health sector reviews, indicate that patients suffering from HIV/AIDS-related conditions may occupy more than 50% of hospital beds at any given time. Other conditions responsible for admission include tuberculosis, malaria, respiratory infections, trauma, pregnancy-related conditions and complications of measles.

Determinants of ill health:

Poverty: About 45% of the people of Ethiopia are living on less than one dollar per day.

Lack of access to safe drinking water: Only 33% of the population had access to safe drinking water in 1999. The coverage of 80% for urban areas is better than that of rural areas at 14.3%. Lack of sanitation facilities: It is estimated that the sanitation coverage stands at 17%. A total of 74% of urban dwellers have access to reasonable sanitation facilities. Disposal of waste is a particular challenge to the authorities at all levels and is not sufficiently addressed.

High rate of migration: Large segments of the population are migrating for climatic, economic and social reasons and sometimes because of social unrest. 19.6% of the population in the country were migrants.

Low agricultural productivity and recurring droughts contribute to nutritional deficiencies. According to Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey 2000, 51.5% of children below the age of five were found to be stunted while 10.5% were found to be wasted and 42.7% to be underweight. The same survey found 3.6% of women stunted and 30.1% undernourished.

On the brighter side, I found this:

Health in Ethiopia has improved markedly in the last decade, with government leadership playing a key role in mobilizing resources and ensuring that they are used effectively. Birth rate has risen because of this. A central feature of the sector is the priority given to the Health Extension Program, which delivers cost-effective basic services that enhance equity and provide care to millions of women, men and children. Ethiopia has demonstrated that low-income countries can achieve improvements in health and access to services if policies, programmes and strategies are underpinned by ingenuity, innovativeness, political will and sustained commitment at all levels.  

The whole group thoroughly enjoyed this country. It has so much to offer and seems to be on the cusp of emerging from poverty. However, there is much to be done. They have to deal with up grading their education facilities and standards, providing safe drinking water for all, improving sanitation for everyone and improving the infrastructure of the country. It would be really interesting to come back in 15 years and see if Kaleb is right.