Of course,
the question remains, did we like Ethiopia? I know I have been negative on
occasion, and perhaps a little cynical on others. But did we like it? Ethiopia
is definitely a scenic country, fabulous natural beauty, spectacular geological
phenomena; full of history, and full of architectural highlights to prove it,
from the walled city of Harar to the churches of Lalibela and Tigray, and those
around Lake Tana. But great nature and great toruist sites are only half of the story. The churches are very special indeed, unique, you won’t find
anything like this anywhere else. But I never felt welcome in those churches, it
was only my money they seemed to be interested in. The tribal villages in the South Omo Valley are equally unique, I don't think there are many people dressing up that way anymore, these days. But once again, I didn't have any social interaction with the people, I just paid money. We were welcome until we stopped taking pictures. In fact, with the exception
of Somaliland and the Afar region, we didn’t think people were particularly hospitable to foreigners, despite the
assurances of an Ethiopian acquaintance that guests in Ethiopia are held in the
highest esteem – perhaps foreigners are not seen as guests. And history is on my side: many visitors have been slaughtered in
Ethiopia in the past, and not only by the Afar people. See the accounts of James Burke, Wilfred Thesiger.
So, did we
like Ethiopia? Yes, but perhaps less so the Ethiopians. Which does not diminish
the travel experience, mind you. Those eight weeks have been very enjoyable,
and have taught us a lot, about the country, the culture, the people we met
along the road – perhaps the advantage of the traveler over the tourist. It
equally taught us about ourselves, and puts our own experiences in other countries in a certain perspective - at least in part the difference between living somewhere, and just passing through, however much time we take for that. Another lesson: perhaps we do prefer our own way of
independent travel, complete with irritations and uncertainties, over the
convenience of organized travel, as we did the last three weeks. If someone
organizes the trip for you, you are no longer in control, but what is worse,
you get the feeling that you are watching through a window, you don’t seem to
be part of society itself anymore. At least that’s how we experienced it.
Some general observations, not hampered by any scientific base: The West is often criticized for its colonial past, and whilst there is little to justify the rape of colonies, the argument that colonial exploitation has caused poverty is disproved by Ethiopia, just as poor if not poorer, yet never having been colonized save for a few years Italian occupation. That the West is responsible for arbitrary borders is true (especially the Conference of Berlin, 1885), but the border of Ethiopia, the result of late 19th century expansion drift, is just as illogical, including ethnic Somalis, and a whole range of tribes that have very little in common with the Tigrays and the Amharas of Northern Ethiopia, the ones who have historically wielded power. And racial discrimination? Just as much alive in a country that is overwhelmingly black, and where those same Amharas and Tigrays look down on those primitive Southerners as well as those savage Afars. At the same time there is no denying (as so often has been done) that a highly skilled society in Africa has been responsible for the construction of those extraordinary rock-hewn churches, quite likely at a time that the West was dominated by Barbarians. And that society has survived, for centuries, in the same place: it may have been pushed, occasionally plundered, but there has been an Ethiopian - Abbysinian - entity for at least 2000, perhaps 3000 years here. There are few other countries that can look back at such history.
What the
future holds for Ethiopia is hard to tell, of course, even more so by someone
who has only been there a short while. It seems to me that encouraging more
agriculture at the expense of pastoralism - animal husbandry - would be a step
in the right direction, but that is just an impression from two months
traveling, during the end of the dry season. If the rains stay away, animals
die – wealth destroyed -, and crops fail
– wealth creation is postponed to the next season, with relatively low
additional investment. It is interesting that all my previous employers –
Shell, but I mean more specifically Plan International, Save the Children,
Interact Worldwide, even IOM – are present here. Organisations as Unicef have
their second largest program in Ethiopia, no lack of outside help, thus. But
maybe that is part of the problem, maybe that discourages incentives for people
themselves, discourages them to take their lives into their own hands. A
generation of children grows up begging the foreigner for whatever they can
think of, and they have been preceded by an older generation, now in their 20s,
many of whom still cannot resist a “give me” attitude in the face of a
foreigner. Time to take responsibility, perhaps?
Anyhow, the end of a trip, the end of another blog. Hope you enjoyed reading it, hope you enjoyed the pics. Let me know any feedback, so I can incorporate that - or not - next time around.
(o, and by the way, you have to check out the video in the post "the travel day", which I finally managed to upload...)
Anyhow, the end of a trip, the end of another blog. Hope you enjoyed reading it, hope you enjoyed the pics. Let me know any feedback, so I can incorporate that - or not - next time around.
(o, and by the way, you have to check out the video in the post "the travel day", which I finally managed to upload...)