Coming to the States

This morning about 5am, the call to prayer echo's across the city. I had forgotten the familar call that rings out in the morning sky. The country is mostly Eastern Christian Orthodox, which I think of an intense version of Christian and Islamic. I heard here once, there is no such thing as not being religious. It is ingrained in the culture from the calls to prayer with loud speakers across the city; to the Holy men you see in the streets with large crosses as tall as they are. Addis wakes early to the echoes of prayer but the haze of the clouds and the pollution hang low on the city. There are moments where the sun peaks through but the clouds push it out of the way and it hides until it's next opportunity to show itself.

I meet with my documentarium (film maker) last night and I was so amazed he knew so much about American politics. Not just Obama was President but he talked about Mike Steel's speeches and Rush Limbaugh and how Spector left the Republicans. I told him he knows more then the average American does. He is a news follower and I am very happy he will be filming my trip. He has great knowledge about his own country as well and the system we must follow to get things done here.

Whenever I travel abroad, I always feel bad that a lot of Americans only know English where the rest of the world speaks at least 2 languages if not 3 or 4 fluently. Most educated people in Ethiopia speak English as well as Amharic, and their Mother’s tongue. Since higher educational books (beyond elementary) are mostly in English they learn to speak, read and write it. Nolawi, my filmmaker talked about how English is so important here for high-level jobs. He also spoke about how so many people here long to come to the US but there are high fees for Visas to get into the states. It is about 750 USD for a Visa; keep in mind the average salary for a labor worker might be 400 dollars a year. For a new doctor after 4 years medical school and residency is about 12,000 per year. So 750 USD is a huge amount. Then he told me of people that save and save, they apply and paid the fees and most are denied or put on a accepted list that means come back in a few years to get clearance to travel maybe. Apparently, the US Embassy is very profitable here. People here still hear stories of the American dream and want to come have their happy endings. It is sad to me because I realize that many times coming to the US is not the answer, sure we have great opportunities more then any other country but many times immigrants are not nourished by our systems. I do see why they want to leave here, that is the easy part but I don't know if they know how hard it would be. For instance, the cost of living here is so cheap (except in western hotels), since most of the population has little resources or money. For a full dinner last night for 2 people with drinks it was about 93 Birr, which is less, then 10 dollars. So for Ethiopians to come to US where, a movie is 10 dollars is difficult. Sure they have increased wages, if they are lucky enough to find a job but the weight of the cost of living increase is very heartbreaking to some. They might find being in a strange land with little money can be worse then being at home where everyone is in the same boat. Now for the professional who finds a visa a lot easier to get approved by the US embassy, they can come up way ahead. Making 35,000 dollars as a top doctor in Ethiopia, they can move to the states and suddenly make 6 figures easily. So that is the brain drain in Africa. Unfortunately the best and the brightest leave and go to the west to find their pot of gold. Leaving millions of people to be served with limited amounts of doctors, nurses, architects, engineers, lawyers etc, etc. It is a big problem here.

Hey is anyone out there reading these by the way... I wonder am I typing into a black void??? : ) Perhaps... I am not sure?

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Part of trip: Ethiopia 2009

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