Bill is in Ethiopia!

No, we are not Under the Uganda Sun any more; in fact sadly it is not “we” at all this time, because I am alone here in Ethiopia, on a one-month teaching assignment at Addis Ababa University that did not pay nearly enough for us to cover Theresa’s airfare. That’s not a good thing from my point of view, since I feel like I am missing a very important part of myself without my partner-in-adventure along. But it is just a month, and we shall survive.

So. Ethiopia – first impressions after just a couple days in the country (but some good exploring, including a lonnnng walk, may be 3 ½ hours and 5 miles or so, through the heart of Addis Ababa … which means up some pretty steep hills, in this mountain town! (I was glad to note that despite the roughly 7,300-foot elevation here, the walk, including the big uphill part, didn’t affect me more than such a walk would anywhere else.)

Since this has previously been mostly a Uganda blog, maybe it makes sense to frame what I’ve seen so far in comparison to the country where we have now spent nearly a year in two trips over the past couple years. Below is just a sampler of Ethiopia compared to Uganda, first impressions.

SIMILARITIES

• VERY similar street scenes: people walking, walking, walking; kiosks selling everything from melons to flip-flops; kids in school uniforms; roadside nurseries with potted trees, and roadside furniture makers with piles of wooden chairs; guys herding goats down the street; lots surrounded by corrugated metal fences; wood-pole scaffolding, and on and on.


• Jarring juxtapositions of lovely smells from nature (flowers; and here, especially, eucalyptus trees) competing with nasty smells from humanity (diesel exhaust; drainage ditches emanating odors of human waste; meat-processing places).


• Jarring juxtapositions of class: ramshackle tin-walled shacks immediately adjacent to razor-wire-topped walled compounds of mansions with satellite dishes and gilded gates.


• At least at first experience, similar resignation to a government that, in both countries, has moved away from its early (and liberating) democratic promise to an increasing inclination to hang onto power by whatever means. (And this is demonstrably more serious in Ethiopia than in Uganda.)


• Hand labor. Truthfully, I have seen more heavy machinery at work here than in Uganda. But so much is still done by hand – from ditch-digging to all manner of construction. At one site I saw two women mixing cement with shovels then loading it onto a wood-frame stretcher-like conveyance to carry it to the job site. Just down the road came two more women carrying one of those stretcher things with two large boulders on it.
• Apartment furniture. Clearly they shopped at the same warehouse that the owners of Salama Springs used – the very same cherry-colored cabinets, hard-cushioned bed, etc. Made me feel at home when I walked in. But at Salama Springs the water worked (it is sporadic here, as is the electricity – currently off – and no generator). See photo of me to get an idea of the apartment complex - my room is on the 4th floor, two balconies.

DIFFERENCES

• Almost no bicycles – I’ve only seen one so far, and they were everywhere in Uganda, often mainly used as wheelbarrows to transport stuff.


• Christian slogans. Uganda is full of them – “God is the Hero” on the back of a matatu minivan; “God is Able Restaurant and Takeaway, Also Fruit Salads.” Haven’t seen one yet – probably because Christianity, though very well entrenched here, is of the orthodox, traditional nature, not evangelical.


• Shoe-cleaner guys. There are a LOT of them here – cleaning shoes, polishing them, all along the sidewalks in different neighborhoods. And they seem to get good business, especially after a rain turns part of the sidewalks to mud.


• Potholes: There are a lot fewer of them in Ethiopia, at least in the roads – I have actually seen more in sidewalks. (“Well,” I can hear Theresa muttering, “at least they HAVE sidewalks there.” True. They are far from universal – I have spent plenty of time walking in the streets or in muddy, rocky shoulder areas – but there are more of them in Addis than Kampala.)


• Monkeys! No sightings so far and I don’t really expect any in Addis. I miss the monkey tribe from Salama Springs!


• Mosquitoes! No sightings of them, either, and that’s a treat. We are too high for them, which means no slathering with Deet every evening, and no problem with leaving windows and balcony doors open.


• Beggars. Sadly, many many more here than in Kampala, where they are actually pretty rare. Swarms of urchins, and older kids/young adults who sidle up and just walk alongside you for blocks, first maybe chatting, then getting to the point.