Blogs from Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 19

In one of the most remote areas of Ethiopia, there live native tribes that 50 years ago were not even aware of modern Ethiopia. There are multiple different tribes that retain distinctive traditions, from dressing in beads and goat hide skirts to scarification practices and jumping dance celebrations. The scenes are classic Africa. It was fascinating to visit the Hamer people. They are high cheekboned people, whose men wear beaded caps and short sarong skirts. The women wear elaborate beads on top and cowhide skirts. The women have huge scars on their backs. The men’s initiation ceremonies are called Bull Jumping Ceremonies. There are up to 30 bulls lined up in a row. The initiate needs to jump over the first bull and continue jumping over the backs of all the bulls without falling down. At ... read more

Intellectually we all understand that poverty and disease makes life miserable for people, but the following study results help us better understand these facts. Through my work I am learning how devastating extreme poverty really is to people who are just trying to survive another day. Largely as an effect of the AIDS pandemic and the weak national infrastructure for dealing with social services, Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of child-headed households, second only to Zimbabwe. Unlike baby orphans who typically generate a lot of sympathy and development aid, these children are probably the most vulnerable, lonely, and isolated people within communities. The following information was taken from a recent report sponsored by the African Child Policy Forum. Follow this link for more information. http://www.africanchild.info/chhReport.asp. - Children account for more than hal... read more

Ruta writing…At work, we emphasize “gender equalitiy” issues. There is a growing conviction among international development work that a key to dramatic improvements in a developing country’s progress is to educate and empower women. It certainly makes sense to me. Women are key to a family’s culture and values. If the mother is uneducated and repressed, often the children are as well. On the other hand, when a mother values education, she teaches those values of learning, confidence, and ambition to her kids. In Ethiopia there are many issues carrying over from “tradition”. The extreme are termed “harmful traditional practices” which include kidnapping (e.g. if a girl balks at an arranged marriage, she’s kidnapped into it), female genital mutilation (a particularly horrendous, awful, demeaning tradition that affects 60-90% women here) and child marriage. Child marriage has ... read more

Vidas writing-One of the few places that we hang out is the Edna Mall. It is probably the favorite place of kids in Addis Ababa. Most kids from my grade spend their weekends there. The Edana Mall is one big building. It’s nearest biggest church in Ethiopia and really stands out because it is a big glass building surrounded by gated tin roofed houses. I’ve only been there once with my Ethiopian friends and we saw a movie. While I was in there I saw an arcade, shops, bumpercars, a small rollercoaster, and a movie theater. There are about 2 other movie theaters in Addis but they either showed Amheric movies or American movies that we had never heard of. They show different movies every Friday. It cost 20bur on weekdays and 30bur on the weekends. ... read more

Hi all! Obviously the idea of me trying a few things out on the blog this week hasn't really happened! Probably because I've been concentrating on all the important things like putting as many songs and videos onto my new MP3 player as possible, and staying up til 4 last night drinking wine, eating Bacon Streakies and having a singsong with my mates round at Woodser's house... But in half an hour I'm taking the National Express to Heathrow and then flying to Addis Ababa via Nairobi. Exciting Times! Speak Soon, Love, Ben ... read more