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Kream
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Tue Oct-08-02 06:44 AM

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144. "Why Ethiopia Stayed Behind"
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Extremely long article which is somewhat appropriate in this thread.

Peace,
Kream

WHY ETHIOPIA STAYED BEHIND
By: Timothy Kalyegira

----

Introduction - CAUTION!
Before I sent this article out for reading and
publication, I showed it to an Ethiopian friend in
Addis Ababa to have a read through. She cautioned me
that, because of its somewhat frank and detailed tone,
the article would not go down well with many
Ethiopians. It first stunned her when she first read
it. But after discussing it with her for several days,
we decided that it might as well come out, since it
echoes issues that many Ethiopians are concerned about
these days. But I have had to add this cautionary
note.

The first is to mention that I have written it with
the best of intentions. I have developed an emotional
connection with Ethiopia that makes it impossible for
me to remain neutral of the country and its people. On
my second visit to Addis Ababa, I was accorded more
respect I think I deserved. I have made many friends
in the country and many other Ethiopians abroad. This
same respect I have got from the Ethiopian embassy in
Kampala, and generally from the Ethiopian citizens
resident in Uganda. I am grateful for all this
Ethiopian friendship and I can't do any less than
return it. Or to use the joking word we like to use in
Uganda, I will "revenge" for all this friendship from
Ethiopians! However, there are certain things I also
have been discussing in several newspapers in Addis
Ababa and which I am developing further in this
article, as part of my ongoing discussion of Ethiopia
with many people in Addis Ababa and elsewhere.

Ethiopians love their country. But they more than even
I feel that they there are difficulties in the country
that they can no longer ignore. Because I am an
outsider, yet in a certain way now also an insider, I
have the benefit of neutrality.I bring with me a point
of view that is based on my being a Ugandan, an
African, and also one who is interested in the
historic African country of Ethiopia.

Yet, as an African who has taken the time to try and
understand Ethiopia, I can also talk about things from
a more informed standpoint than that of just a tourist
spending a few weeks in the country.

I have made a number of observations in the time
between February 1 when I first went to Addis Ababa
and now, September 2, when I write this note. Of
course, I still cannot claim to have the total picture
of Ethiopia yet. But, maybe through the eyes of this
Ugandan foreigner, Ethiopians might see things that
their history, upbringing, life experiences,
ethnicity, and the simple fact of being part of the
country might have caused them to overlook.

This is why I hope my comments in this article are
taken in good faith. For those who wish to strongly
disagree with me, or even to express their disgust and
anger at me, please do so. You can think of me as a
punching bag at your disposal! Please feel free to
punch me as freely and hard as you wish!

Uganda is not very different from Ethiopia. At some
stage in our history, we were in the same cycle of
endless gridlock. One of the main ways in which Uganda
managed to resolve its greatest national problems was
that we talked about everything, got angry where we
did, argued, agreed, reflected, discussed, and did
research. But what mattered was that we laid it all
out on the table as it was.

What therefore I hope the readers of this essay keep
in mind is that I am writing as a Ugandan. Coming from
a society where, because of our openness, we have
reduced AIDS to a disease as risky as cancer. We have
a news media that is even freer than that of the
United States, and freedom is now our most distinct
national trait.

I might, in this article, say things freely that are
still taboo subjects in Ethiopia, without realizing
that I am hurting, annoying, or scandalizing many
people. If that should happen, I apologize sincerely.

It will always be my pride to see Ethiopia become once
again the country of legend that it was hundreds of
years ago.

I thank my secret proofreader and reviewer in Addis
Ababa for her helpful comments, words of caution, and
spell checking. She loves her country and I am
grateful she took the time to wrestle with the pain of
some of the things, the "hard facts" as she called
them, which I mentioned in the first draft of this
article, before it could come out. Have no doubt at
all I will always love Ethiopia and its people.

I actually feel more affection for Ethiopians now that
when I first visited in February, in spite of some of
the uncomfortable issues I will discuss in this
article.


Timothy Kalyegira

Kampala, Uganda





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WHY ETHIOPIA STAYED BEHIND what must be done for the
future
By: Timothy Kalyegira



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

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Part 1: Impressions of my second visit to Ethiopia
As I had promised, I made my second visit to Ethiopia
for three weeks between July 18 and August 7. I
suffered as I have never suffered in all my life
because of the cold. Cold bed sheets, cold blanket,
cold floor, rain, rain, rain, rain. Whoever came up
with this slogan about 13 months of sunshine, should
be arrested and put in jail! I am surprised there was
no snow on the streets of Addis Ababa! On a good day,
I would experience 13 minutes of sunshine, followed by
13 hours of rain. But otherwise, I really, truly
enjoyed myself in Ethiopia. I am so glad I came to
visit once again. Those three weeks in Ethiopia were
the longest time I had ever been outside Uganda since
I was born. I also got a taste of that Ethiopian
hospitality which can at t even suffocate! Strangers,
my friends, government officials, the staff of the
National Hotel, all made me feel like a VIP, they
treated me like royalty, it was flattering, really
nice. I give Ethiopia a 21-gun salute for that
unforgettable hospitality. But also, a red card for
the rainy season cold in Addis Ababa! (Oooh, that
cold!)This time on my visit, I had the time to see the
inside and out of this historic African country, as
close-up as through zoom lenses, unlike the nine days
I spent there in February. Of course, even three weeks
is still too short a time to understand everything
about a country and its complex history, but I can say
I have come close this time to a much more accurate
understanding of the dynamics that make Ethiopia.
Comparing Ethiopia with Uganda Freedom When the
Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 flight touched down at
Entebbe International Airport on the afternoon of
Tuesday, August 7, I got off the plane and right away
began taking photographs of the airport building.
About five minutes after we landed, the new
presidential Gulf stream jet landed and parked about
60 metres to the left of the Ethiopian Airlines
aircraft. I also took photos of the presidential jet,
although President Yoweri Museveni was not in his
plane at the time. Watching me were the intelligence
agents who maintain security at the airport. None of
them stopped me from taking photos of the presidential
jet, or wondered who I was. What kept going through my
mind on the tarmac at the airport was, "This is
freedom! No wonder people always comment on how free
Uganda is!". In Uganda, taking photographs at the
airport is as normal as taking photos with your family
at home.

When I was in Ethiopia, I kept telling my many
Ethiopian friends that Uganda is a much freer country
than even America, but not all found it easy to
believe me. This is what one misses most when one ----
or at least when I am in Addis Ababa. Total freedom.
Of course I cannot assume that conditions in Uganda
should be exactly the same in all other countries,
with their different histories. Each country knows the
specific conditions that influence its policies. But
this is the most important difference between Uganda
and Ethiopia. Freedom of the most abundant type
imaginable can be felt all over Uganda. It is a
freedom that goes beyond politics and government. It
is freedom of the society. Perhaps it might even be
reckless freedom. When you mention this idea of
freedom to Ethiopians, they are quick to point a
finger at the government, as the main reason why
Ethiopia is not such a free place to live in. But by
the time I visited the country again in July, I had
already understood that there is more to Ethiopia than
the government. I tried to make my friends see that
Ethiopian society in general is not very free and
therefore it is not fully accurate to blame the
EPLF/ERDF government exclusively. Not that the
government is perfect. But it largely reflects the
culture and society. I would argue that even if
Ethiopia had the most democratic government in the
world, the society would still not be free, because of
traits woven into the culture.

It is, in my opinion, vital to understand and come to
terms with this, especially when it comes to how to
deal with political differences. Ethiopians could
spend decades resorting to armed conflict, only to
replace one government with another, with the exact
same way of running the country, because of their
cultural background. We cannot simply write articles,
hold debates in parliament, and speak about democracy,
without asking what conditions in the first place
nurture democracy. In Russia, the population has been
demanding for more "democracy." But this same
population, on other issues, shows that it is not
prepared to tolerate "democracy" in the full sense in
which it is understood in the western countries. I
mentioned this point in a long article in June and I
confirmed it by my second visit. If you are attentive,
you can feel the tension in Addis Ababa. People are
generally not relaxed. Or even if they seem relaxed on
the outside, it is not difficult to sense a degree of
unease in the air, in their eyes.

Even when you discuss matters that have nothing to do
with politics or the government, people often don't
want to be quoted and they are generally hesitant
about expressing strong opinions. It is almost as if
people are scared of being controversial, of being
known to hold strong views about anything. One of the
proofs of my argument about cultural freedom is drawn
from my observation of the Ethiopian community living
in Uganda. These people are exposed to one of the
freest countries on earth, Uganda, where anything can
be said by anyone, about anyone, on any topic, at any
time of day or night, anywhere, be it in a bar, or
school, government department, or on the street. If
you want to be racist, foolish, sensible, intelligent,
silly, or nice, you are free in Uganda. You are free
to write or utter sense or nonsense on radio,
television, or the newspapers. You can get away with
any opinion on any subject. But I notice that, even in
this free atmosphere in Uganda, most Ethiopians living
in Uganda even after several years are more or less
exactly like the Ethiopians in Addis Ababa. They are
still as reserved, cautious, and private.

An Ethiopian in Kampala, who is a diehard Ethiopian
patriot, one evening after I returned from Addis
Ababa, freely admitted this to me. He casually
observed to me that, even if Ethiopia got another
government, the people would continue to be
suspicious, particularly of foreigners, and of those
foreigners, the White people above all. I was
surprised by his confession, since he is one of those
Ethiopians who think Ethiopia is the center of the
universe and that everything about Ethiopia is
perfect. The same sober, reserved, and quiet air that
I felt so strongly when I would sit in mini buses with
Ethiopian passengers in Addis Ababa or Debre Zeit, you
feel around most Ethiopians in Uganda. When I would
visit churches in Addis, be it St Mariam's up in
Entotoor St. Stefanos just opposite National Hotel
where I was staying, I would look at people's faces
and feel like saying, "Hey, can't you smile? This is a
church!"

People sit silently in taxis in Addis Ababa, Debre
Zeit, and Nazareth, with sad, strained expressions on
their faces. That is why I will never forget the
evening I went to Debre Zeit by mini bus. Along the
way, the boy who collects the taxi fare asked me in
Amharic for my money. I signaled to him that I didn't
understand Amharic but in English I asked how much it
was. He seemed to get stuck over expressing himself in
English. A tall, attractive girl, maybe about 24 was
seated next to me told me the fare. As I paid the taxi
boy, this girl burst out into a long bout of laughter.
For about 10 kilometres, she laughed and laughed as
the boy looked at her and me sheepishly. She was
laughing at him and saying "You people always think
everybody in the world speaks Amharic. You thought
everyone who looks like an Ethiopian is an Ethiopian!"
She then went on to point out the landscape to me
through the mini van's windows like a typical
Ethiopian: "See! So green. Its very nice!" She kept
looking at the taxi boy and laughing, while the other
passengers were all seated in silence. I had never
seen an Ethiopian laugh so hard and for so long. She
laughed until tears filled her eyes. That amused me. I
never forgot it because it was so rare to see this
sort of easy, heartfelt laughter in an Ethiopian.

Ethiopians in Addis Ababa complain about the lack of
press freedom. But it is almost impossible to hear an
Ethiopian in Uganda pick up a phone and take part in
any of the many talk shows on Kampala's 20 private
radio stations. You rarely, if ever see, an Ethiopian
write an article expressing any opinion in Ugandan
newspapers. A number of Ethiopian journalists have
come and taken diploma courses in Uganda, or visited
for brief courses. But despite studying and living in
this free environment, I never heard any of them write
articles in the Ugandan newspapers, or take part in
radio discussion shows as studio guests. There are
many educated Ethiopians in Kampala, but you almost
never feel their presence. They live in their private
world, socializing mainly with their fellow
Ethiopians. You rarely meet an Ethiopian at a private
party hosted by Ugandans or meet Ugandans at Ethiopian
parties. Every time the national newspapers publish
picture pages of parties, , and other social events in
Kampala, the people you see having a good time with
Ugandans are Americans, British, Canadians, Kenyans,
White South Africans, Congolese, Italians, Nigerians,
or French. You rarely see Ethiopians at these parties.


I think the greatest surprise that hit me on this
longer visit to Ethiopia was the country's news media.
I visited the editorial offices of four private
newspapers and the government Walta Information
Centre. Some of these newspapers have been publishing
my articles sent from Kampala. Yet when I visited the
offices, there was such a reserved, mild atmosphere,
it was so surprising. I was introduced to reporters,
editors, sales executives, and production people. I am
used to newspapers and radio stations in Uganda where
the newsrooms are filled with laughter and humour,
heated, loud debates about politics, social life, last
weekend's party, and people, and so much energy. I had
to come to terms with that aspect of Ethiopia, (and
something else I will write about later in this
article.)

I was puzzled most by the reaction in the newspapers
that had published my articles. In my first article, I
made a few errors in my assessment of Ethiopian women,
thinking they were proud when in fact they are the
complete opposite. I had mistaken their reserve and
shyness for pride. I thought at least someone in the
newsrooms would say, "Aha, since you are here, let me
ask you what you meant by this or that statement in
your article!" But I came and went, without hearing my
Ethiopian sisters come out and discuss or challenge
some of my earlier misconceptions with me. Later, I
began realizing that this was not just limited to the
government and private media. All over Addis Ababa's
professional community, in private offices and
businesses and government departments, you encounter
this mild, reserved, often shy, quiet attitude. You
meet people who hold powerful offices or who ran
successful businesses. But they are so humble, it is
hard to link the office with its holder. People sit
quietly behind their computers doing their work,
speaking in low modest tones and rarely do you hear
the laughter, jokes, and debates that tend to fill
Ugandan offices.

When I would enter offices and be introduced to women
or girls, many would politely rise up from their seats
or extend their hands in greeting, then seem to be
glad to go back behind their computer screens, which
provided a convenient curtain to shield them from eye
contact with this Ugandan stranger. This humility and
modesty is something that I, personally, admire a
great deal in Ethiopians. I actually admire it even
more than the fact that Ethiopia was never colonized.
But it is a trait that has its other side. It makes
Ethiopians seem somewhat passive. There are some
professions like the airline, hotel, foreign policy,
and tourism industries which require a much more
outgoing attitude than others. This is why I feel that
Ethiopian society is partly where it is, because of
what it is. The various governments past and present
might have had their part in holding back the country.
But I don't think you can ignore the impact of the
wider society and culture. A number of Ethiopians
admitted to me that the general mildness of the
Ethiopians and thus the low-key tone of the news
media, is largely cultural. If what they say is true,
then at least it takes us to the first step. We stop
regarding our national crisis as primarily political.

We come to recognize that the politics of Ethiopia is
a reflection of the wider societal current. It is
important for Ethiopians to face up to this reality,
if they are to avoid tearing their country apart with
all sorts of liberation and guerrilla groups, each one
claiming to liberate Ethiopia from a bondage that is,
in truth, within the society, no matter which
government is in power and however democratic it is.
For example, for three weeks in Addis Ababa, I had to
get used to the fact that there are so many places
where you cannot take photographs. Even at churches
and church museums, of all places!

In Uganda, you enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
with no one checking you. Almost all government
ministries are as free to enter as restaurants. Not
only do you enter Uganda Television and state-owned
radio as freely as entering a market, you are even
free to take photographs in the TV studios. Another
dominant feature of Ethiopian society is the almost
paranoid fear of cameras and being photographed. Just
the sight of a camera would cause tension in many
people I met. Freedom, a relaxed atmosphere, and
relaxed, playful, easygoing people, is one of the
major differences between Uganda and Ethiopia. I would
have to add that Ugandans were like that even under
the most difficult years of Idi Amin's regime. When
Ugandans were refugees in Nairobi, Kenya, having fled
from Amin's brutality, they became a favourite in
bars. They would buy up crates of beer, invite any
Kenyan around who was interested, and have long,
cheerful hours of partying.

There are many things Uganda has done right and thus
we deserve the freedom and growing economy, and
international favouritism that we enjoy. Our freedom
is astonishing, our friendship with foreigners real.
It is not by accident that people as diverse as former
U.S President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary were
so taken up by Uganda. Or Libya's controversial leader
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who has made two state visits
to Uganda this year and is to make a third one next
month. Or the South African singers Yvonne Chaka Chaka
and Lucky Dube, who have each visited Uganda for
concerts at least three t. Or African hero Nelson
Mandela, who visited Uganda twice or thrice. And so
many western leaders and diplomats.

For a foreigner to invest in Ethiopia, that investor
would need to bring in a minimum of 250,000 dollars.
Uganda is a foreigner's paradise. As I keep telling my
Ethiopian friends, an Ethiopian can come from Addis
Ababa with only 3,000 dollars, set up a hair salon in
Kampala, and make money. No one will disturb that
Ethiopian. Uganda is the true heartbeat of Africa.
When we say Africa is every African's home, this is
not just political talk. You are free to come in from
anywhere in Africa and start up a business, however
small. Uganda is like a discotheque --- anybody from
any country is welcome to dance, as long as you don't
step on other people's feet. Most Ethiopians in Uganda
think we are crazy because of this open door policy.
My opinion is that Uganda is the real character of
Africa --- open, welcoming of all Africans, and not
just to visit, but to take refuge and even set up
small, 2,000-dollar businesses. Maybe God has blessed
us with this abundant freedom because we have made His
children ---- Ethiopians, Russians, Indians,
Eritreans, Britons, Chinese, Iranians, French,
Americans, Italians, Lebanese, Congolese, Somalis,
South Africans, Swedes, Arabs, Swiss, Rwandese, Irish,
Canadians, Sudanese, Japanese ---- feel truly at home!
Maybe more at home in Uganda than even in their own
countries. Common sense, flexibility

However, while freedom is a major difference between
Uganda and Ethiopia, the single biggest difference is
in the mentality, the atmosphere of common sense and a
flexible attitude toward crucial national matters that
is so clearly seen in Ugandans.

Ethiopians take too many things too seriously. What is
most unfortunate is that Ethiopians tend to get worked
up and serious for the wrong reasons, yet where energy
and determination are required for the right things,
Ethiopians seem so mild. This is the contradiction
that puzzles me. If a country were to invade Ethiopia,
thousands of young people would scream in anger and
rush to go to the battlefront to "fight for my
country." Few would stop to ask the reasons for the
war in the first place, who is involved, and what the
consequences will be. But you ask a young person to
roll up his sleeves and give a hand to cleaning up the
streets of Addis Ababa, or do some manual work, rather
than embarrass the country by begging visitors and
tourists, and he will feel insulted about being told
to do manual work. You wonder: if he is willing to
take enormous risks like facing artillery fire and
land mines on the battlefield for his country, why is
he unwilling to work to keep Addis Ababa's streets
clean?

In May 2000, Ethiopia went to war with Eritrea. Many
months later, most Ethiopians and Eritreans in Kampala
would tell me: "That war was between Meles and Issias.
The Ethiopian and Eritrean people have no problem with
each other." I asked that if this was so, why were so
many young people, boys and girls, struggling to go to
the war front? "Because they love their country!",
would come the reply. See a contrasting situation. In
June 2000, just a few weeks into the
Ethiopian-Eritrean war, Uganda and Rwanda ---- which
like Ethiopia and Eritrea are neighbors and former
close allies in the guerilla struggles ---- fought in
the Congolese city of Kisangani. Most Ugandans calmly
went about their everyday business, saying, "That is a
quarrel between President Museveni and Major General
Paul Kagame . When they are tired of
fighting, they will come back and talk." No single
Ugandan civilian went to the battlefront or
volunteered to fight in a conflict that they felt was
between two leaders. That's where we are different.
When the Israeli air force attacked Entebbe airport in
that famous commando raid in July 1976, very few
Ugandans came forward to volunteer to fight for
President Idi Amin. We reasoned that it was he who had
provoked the Israelis. And anyway, he was a dictator
and deserved that beating. When Tanzania invaded
Uganda after Amin first attacked Tanzania in October
1978, again no Ugandans except for the army and air
force bothered to come out to "fight for my country"
We supported the Tanzanians all the way, until they
removed Amin from power. Even though another country
(Israel, Tanzania) invaded Uganda, Ugandans were able
to separate their love for their country, from the
fact that it was Uganda's leader who had provoked that
country and therefore deserved what he got. Since most
Ethiopians find it hard to separate their emotions
from their country, it is easy to lead Ethiopians into
expensive and pointless wars and conflicts , when the
fight might really be a personal quarrel between
Ethiopia's Colonel Mengistu and Somalia's President,
General Mohammed Siad Barre. Things that Uganda would
laugh off and let pass without any problem, will get
Ethiopians so worked up and angry. You can meet a
Ugandan and tell them you think Uganda is the greatest
country in the world, and they will reply, "Well,
thanks."

Then later you can tell the same Ugandan that you now
think that Uganda is the most foolish and backward
country in the world. To this, the Ugandan will calmly
reply, "What makes you say that?" None of the two
statements will cause the Ugandan to get over excited
or angry. While I was in Addis Ababa, a Rwandese
living in Europe who had visited Uganda, wrote an
article dismissing Uganda as one of the worst
countries he has ever seen. He criticized the
restaurants, nightclubs, taxis, roads, and the whole
country. The article was one of the most popular that
week, I am told. People laughed about it and it was
the topic in bars and offices. No matter how much you
insult Uganda, you can't get any one annoyed over
that. To begin with, Ugandans spend much of their time
laughing at their country's silly mistakes and
confused leaders. This balanced thinking, this control
of one's emotions cuts across almost every area of
Ugandan society, from the leaders to the poorest of
the poor.

Next Page



To me, the admirable love for Ethiopia that almost all
Ethiopians feel is also the most frightening thing
about Ethiopia, and something I feel is the country's
greatest danger. It is this trait which, if not
checked, will make Ethiopia take 10 steps forward in
economic and political progress, only to suddenly
plunge back 40 steps into war, ethnic tensions, and
factional fighting within whichever government is in
power. Here is the paradox: how can people like
Ethiopians, who love their country so much, be the
same people who do the country its greatest harm, yet
people like Kenyans and Tanzanians, who seem
indifferent to their country, have actually helped
their countries remain so stable for so long? Could it
be that too much patriotism can be more harmful to a
country than not caring about one's country?

Usually when an Ethiopian is not pleased by what you
have said about Ethiopia, he gets so angry, and can
even stop talking to you over that. It happened to me
in Addis Ababa. I also got a taste of it when some
Ethiopians and Eritreans in America and Europe visited
my Africa Almanac web site. They disagreed with some
of the content there regarding Ethiopia and Eritrea.
This is a website which I launched in December 2000,
long before I knew either of these two countries well.
Of course I was bound to make a few errors, because as
a human being, I did not know enough to get their
complex histories correct. But you should see the
e-mail from these Ethiopians and Eritreans! "You are
the most man in the world!", read one. I wrote back to
them calmly asking that, even if they disagreed with
what I had written, they did not have to lose their
self-control and insult me. Should they not rather
have informed me of the facts, instead of blowing up
in anger? Unable to reason this out, they wrote back
to me with even more abusive words. I told them that
this is the central crisis in their countries,
Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Before Ethiopians and Eritreans visited my web site,
the letters from other Africans were gentlemanly,
respectful, rational, and even when they disagreed
with what the web site had said; they did so in a
reasonable manner. But as soon as the Ethiopians came
in and began giving their comments, suddenly the tone
became aggressive and unreasonable. I reminded them
that, even after spending so many years in America,
these Ethiopians writing from the United States had
still not developed the tolerance of other people's
views that is required for democracy to flourish. Many
of the Ethiopians are in America as political exiles.
They blame Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for all the
problems in Ethiopia, saying he is crushing and
suppressing all views opposed to his. But I told them
that, just from their abusive and angry e-mail to my
web site, if they had even 10 percent of the power
that Prime Minister Meles has, they would probably
have ordered for my arrest or thrown a grenade at my
house.

You are late for an appointment or for some reason you
can't make it, and your Ethiopian friend gets so, so
angry for a whole day. That is a dangerous national
streak and character! A girl who was staying at the
National Hotel asked me to lend her a camera for a
trip with some Ethiopian and American friends to Bahr
Dar. I told her that I was using mine, but I would ask
around for one from my friends. Two days later, after
I failed to find one, she said impatiently, "I am
going to stop talking to you because you didn't get me
a camera!" One girl in Kampala invited me to visit her
at a time I was so busy I kept trying to make it to
her place but couldn't somehow find the time. One day
when I think her patience was exhausted, she rang me
at home and blasted me with the words, "What's wrong
with you!" I tried to explain why I had failed to turn
up, but by then, her temper was already in flames. Yet
when I met her that evening, she was calm, and her
usual nice self. There are too many examples of this,
but I begin to feel frightened by people who's
emotions can so suddenly switch on and off, from cool,
sweet, warm, to angry and uncompromising! (Some of the
people I am writing about will read this article and
probably laugh, knowing what I am talking about!)

Ethiopians are nice people, really sincere and in my
opinion, wonderful people. But there is a demon that
flies from nowhere once in a while and plunges them
into a state of mind that can only lead to conflict
and self-destruction. I have been telling my Ethiopian
friends both in Kampala and Addis that they should not
think that what happened to Somalia was different and
it can't happen to them. Most think Ethiopia can't go
to that extreme. But, you never know. That fiery,
volatile temperament I see in Ethiopians gets me
worried somet. A teenage Ethiopian girl in Kampala put
it well to me one day in late May: "Ethiopians are
like that. Once they like you, they will like you to
death. But once they turn against you, it is
finished." Frightening words! It is as if stubbornness
and intransigence is written into most peoples' minds
people who find it difficult to think with
flexibility, people who struggle to detach themselves
from their emotions and think clearly and objectively
about Ethiopia. But then, where did this trait come
from? A trait that has kept Ethiopia more or less in a
state of war or near war for more than 200 consecutive
years or even more? Ethiopians have fought the people
who tried to enslave or colonize them. But so too have
they, with equal ferocity, fought amongst themselves,
and still do to this day. There is this liberation
front, that liberation front, this fighting group,
that fighting group. Where does this tendency come
from, which it seems will keep the Horn of Africa,
from Somalia, to Eritrea, to Ethiopia, to Sudan, a
virtual war zone for the next 30 or more years? How
can people whom I find so sweet, beautiful, loving,
modest, sincere, and loyal, at the same time have this
other side to them that is like a volcano --- dormant
most of the time, but once it erupts, it throws
destructive fire for several kilometers in its path?

Did the Ethiopian Orthodox Church shape national
character?

When I returned to Uganda the first time in February,
I was having lunch with an Ethiopian in Kampala. I
asked him a question, which popped up in my mind from
out of the blue. I asked him: Why is it that, wherever
in the world you find countries where the Orthodox
Church is the dominant Christian denomination, there
is either full-scale war (Yugoslavia, Serbia), or
recent war and tensions (Ethiopia, Eritrea), or
serious civil war and trouble with provinces that want
to break away (Russia), or have had to have United
Nations intervention to prevent war between them
(Greece, Cyprus), or some stubbornness that could make
war possible at any time (Ukraine)? Then why is it
that, wherever in the world Islam is the dominant
religion, there are either suicide bombers (Lebanon),
militant militiamen (Algeria, Egypt, Somalia, Iran,
Bosnia, Albania, Sudan) or they are generally a
trouble spot? Then worst of all, in the places in the
world where Islam and Orthodox Christianity sit side
by side in equal percentages among the population,
conflict, war, factional fighting, or extreme
political tensions are alive and dominant (Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia, Chechnya). Why,
in other words, does the Orthodox branch of
Christianity influence its followers to become so
ultra-nationalistic, and hence so militant that almost
every disagreement has to be settled on the
battlefront? Where does this militancy in the Horn of
Africa come from?

Since I am a Protestant Christian, I will not comment
on Islam, where I am no expert. But I will hope that
my brothers and sisters of the Ethiopian and other
Orthodox Churches in Africa and Europe search their
souls over this matter. I am not saying the Orthodox
faith promotes war and war-like tendencies. We too
have crazy, uncompromising Protestants and Roman
Catholics shooting away at each other in Northern
Ireland. In Indonesia and the Philippines, street
battles have become the main way of life between
Christians and Muslims. But the dominant pattern of
war and internal civil conflict in Orthodox-dominated
countries in Africa and Europe is inescapable. I hope
I don't appear to be blaming the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church for the country's political tensions and many
past wars. I am only trying to study a pattern and see
if it offers explanations. From the little I know, I
can say this: the Orthodox churches have, at the
center of their belief system, the idea that they are
national churches. They are not simply part of the
general body of Christ, but they often take on a
national character. Thus, you have the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the Russian Orthodox
Church.) They bear the names of the nations in which
their roots are planted. They also seem to instill in
their followers an extreme loyalty, a spiritual and
emotional connection to their country. To an Orthodox,
his country is his father-mother, his very being and
reason for existence. People are willing to sacrifice
their lives for Ethiopia. Olympic champions give their
medals to a church, out of gratitude for their
victories. That is the patriotism that is so striking
in Ethiopia. People revolve their lives around service
to their country. It is the same in Russia, Greece,
Eritrea, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Macedonia, and Cyprus.
Even military dictators like Joseph Stalin of the
Soviet Union and Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam,
although they were Communist and had no time for
religion, were raised in this atmosphere of extreme
patriotism and so reflected the influence of the
Orthodox Church. All this patriotism is fine and
admirable. As I mentioned in my very first article in
February, if only Ugandans had the national spirit
that the Ethiopians have, we would be so far ahead of
where we are today in economic development. But....it
gets to a point where this patriotism can become
self-destructive, if it is not controlled. And this is
the danger I see facing Ethiopia. If you can't stop
and shout, "Hey, let sanity prevail!", before you know
it, your country could be in flames, such as what we
are witnessing in Yugoslavia and what we saw in 1974
between Greece and Cyprus, when the United Nations had
to intervene.

We need to understand our history. Ethiopians might be
putting all their blame on governments as the cause of
their national problems, yet the same problems existed
even before Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was born. He
himself blamed Ethiopia's problems on the dictator
Colonel Mengistu and so went to the bush to start a
student guerrilla uprising only to come to power and I
am sure by now, 10 years on, has realized that the
problems are so deep, anyone in power in Addis Ababa
will be tempted to react exactly as Mengistu did. Pope
John Paul II visited Greece and Ukraine within the
past two years. For several days before he arrived in
Athens, priests and nuns of the Greek Orthodox Church
staged demonstrations in the streets, denouncing him
and threatening him if he set foot on Greek soil. The
same thing happened in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
What these hard-line priests and nuns forgot was that
as head of the Vatican, the Pope is a Head of State,
not just the head of the Roman Catholic Church. At
least in his capacity as a Head of State, he deserves
the minimum of a formal diplomatic welcome. When he
visited Syria, a predominantly Muslim country, he was
warmly received, even though the differences between
Islam and Christianity are greater than the divisions
between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox
Church. When your very being, your whole personality
is tied with your country and state, when the question
of your nationality and ethnicity is the main reason
for your existence, it can land you into trouble,
because by their nature, governments and states are
not always sincere, not always rational, and peaceful.
How can a whole nation tie its deepest emotions with
those of the state, ruled as it is by politicians, who
are often the most unreliable people of all? How can
you want to die for your country, when the people who
lead it are mere mortal humans, with their own
political agendas, who use your sentiments to their
advantage, even as you suffer? How can people not see
these things?

This extreme loyalty to one's country lives in nearly
every Ethiopian, particularly those of the Orthodox
faith. It might perhaps be one of the explanations for
the tendency to be volatile that is so easy to observe
in the Ethiopian character. The illusions of national
greatness In May, the South African pay TV network
M-Net held the finals of the M-Net Face of Africa
modeling competition. The title for 2001 was won in
style ---- and really deservingly so --- by a dashing
and charming girl from Senegal. Two days later, when I
met an Ethiopian girl in Kampala, she was angry. She
wanted to write a letter to M-Net in Johannesburg and
ask why they did not have an Ethiopian girl among the
24 African finalists. First, I had to cool her down.
As a typical Ethiopian, she first heated up to 300
degrees centigrade before she had time to think. I had
to try and bring her temperature down to the normal
human 37 degrees, before we could talk.

As usual, she could not help the typical suspicious
Ethiopian way of viewing the world. They are against
us, they are out to get us, there is a hidden agenda
by the Whites against Ethiopia. Classic Ethiopian
mentality. First, my friend couldn't think that there
was also no Ugandan girl in the Face of Africa finals
and yet I wasn't complaining. Secondly, if these
Whites in South Africa are so discriminating against
some Black Africans, how come all the winners of this
200,000-dollar prize have been Black Africans, and not
White South Africans? Then I asked this girl: surely,
you know the shyness and reserve of your fellow
Ethiopian girls. Can you realistically expect shy,
modest, soft-spoken, self-conscious Ethiopians to win
international competitions as fierce as these, where
the stakes are so high? Finally, only after I reasoned
calmly with my friend and with her temper back to
normal, did she admit that, yes, the beautiful and
electrifying girl from Senegal had won the title
outright. No more argument. I did not watch the finals
that Saturday night, but when I eventually watched
parts of it on CNN television the next week, not only
did I confirm that the Senegalese girl was indeed the
deserving winner, but that this charming girl is going
to become one of the most successful models on the
world stage very soon. That Senegalese is even better
than some of these international models like Naomi
Campbell, Tyra Banks, or Cyndi Crawford! I wondered:
did my Ethiopian friend first have to get into a
heated mood, threaten M-Net, before I could calmly
made her see that, if she had thought in a balanced
way before getting all heated up, she would have come
to the same conclusion as me, that the girl from
Senegal deserved to win? Just multiply this Ethiopian
girl's explode-fi rst-then-think-later typical
reaction by 64 million people, and you begin to
understand the difficulty involved in governing
Ethiopia, even if you were St. Gabriel himself!

However, this Ethiopian attitude did not just come
from nowhere. Apparently, Ethiopians are raised under
what seems to outsiders to be brainwashing. They are
raised as children to believe that their country is
the greatest on earth. Most Ethiopians genuinely
believe that their land is the most fertile, their
country is the greenest, their food the ideal and
best, their women the most beautiful in the world,
their history is richer than that of any other nation,
their climate gives them "13 months of sunshine",
their country is mentioned countless t in the Bible,
their music is the best on earth, their traditional
clothing the finest, and of course, they are the only
Black people on earth who successfully beat off
colonial rule. About the general greatness of
Ethiopia, there can be no doubt. I have written and
agreed many t that this is true. Ethiopia, to me,
ranks or should rank among Africa's top five countries
by virtue of its cultural heritage. There is no
question about that. But Ethiopians might also need to
take a close, objective look at the rest of the world,
and their eyes will be opened to the fact that as
great as Ethiopia certainly is, there are many other
countries that as just as great or even greater.

As I asked in my recent long article in June, Ethiopia
and the fate of Africa , if the country is all that
great, it should have been somewhere in the top 10 of
the economic table of the world. But even in
comparison with the rest of Africa, Ethiopia is among
the bottom 10. A painful fact, I know, but better to
be bravely faced than pretend the evidence is not
there. If the girls are all that beautiful and
elegant, why have we never heard of a Miss World from
Ethiopia? If the country has produced so many
well-educated, talented people, so many scientists,
who now live in the "Diaspora" in America, Britain, or
Sweden, how come we never hear of an Ethiopian Grammy
music award winner, an Ethiopian Pulitzer Prize
winner, a Nobel Prize winner, an Academy film award
winner? You can't just say the reason is because the
whole world hates Ethiopia. If the whole world hates
Ethiopia, how come that same world, especially the
White western world, has given so many Olympic and
world championship gold, silver, and bronze medals to
Bekila Abebe, Miruts Yifter, Derartu Tulu, Haile
Gebreselassie? How come this same "biased" world has
not stood in the way of these Ethiopian world-class
athletes becoming famous and quite rich? In other
words, it is time for Ethiopia to start seeing things
in a broad, balanced way, for its own good. When you
are truly great, even the biased, racist White world
still takes note of you. If Ethiopia is lagging behind
even most of Africa, the answer could simply be that
we might not be as great as we imagine we are.

When I came to Addis Ababa last month, I made a point
of carrying photographs of parts of Uganda and
Tanzania's island of Zanzibar, as well as Zimbabwe.
Many Ethiopians I showed the photos were very
surprised by what they saw the dazzling beauty of
Zanzibar, with its coconut trees, white sand, and blue
ocean; the breathtaking beauty of the Victoria Falls
of Zimbabwe at sunset, and Uganda where the country is
green all year round. It opened a few eyes to the
illusions of greatness that most Ethiopians are raised
to believe. Yes, Ethiopia is beautiful. But so are
dozens of other countries like Uganda, the Bahamas,
Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and the Seychelles.
God's handiwork is spread all over the earth, not just
over Ethiopia. I also quietly told some of my
Ethiopian friends to revise their illusion that only
Ethiopian girls are beautiful on the face of this
earth. This is because one day they will travel abroad
and, surprise, surprise, they will see other girls who
will leave them breathless.

This idea of somehow being the most beautiful breed of
people on earth seems to me to be a central theme in
most Ethiopians' minds, so I will comment at length on
it. But ask those people who have been to Nairobi,
Kenya. Or western Uganda. Or Rwanda, Burundi,
Tanzania. Go to Zanzibar. Somalia. Mali. The West
Indies. The Bahamas and Barbados. Some of the Black
Americans and Black British. Have you seen some of
these girls from India who have won the Miss World
beauty pageant? Can anyone argue that they did not
deserve to win? Even these Whites. The Black beauty we
have in Africa is not the only one on earth. Take a
look at the 20 year-old American Pop singer, Britney
Spears. She is White. But what a beauty she is!
Remember the late Princess Diana? Who can argue about
that? Or Marilyn Monroe? Cyndi Crawford? The American
Country music singer Faith Hill? There is this
American actress Cybil Shepherd. I think she really is
a truly beautiful woman. Have you seen some of these
White women who appear on the adverts of the brandy
Remy? Or in the fashion magazines Vogue and
Cosmopolitan. I think that too is pure beauty. I even
see some of the many White girls, the tourists who
walk aimlessly through the streets of Kampala, wearing
dirty slippers and dirty T-shirts, with their funny
blue eyes and blonde hair. Some of them should be
models.

True, Ethiopian girls are beautiful. Very beautiful.
But so are those from many other African and Caribbean
countries. Because Ethiopia has a large population,
the abundance of feminine beauty is more noticeable.
That is why I think a visit to another large city like
Nairobi would help people in Addis Ababa see things
from a broader perspective. What you see might
surprise you. Blacks, Whites, Asians, as far as I am
concerned, all have among them very beautiful people.
Let us not think that we Africans are the only people
God chose to make beautiful! Then there is that other
beauty that they call inner beauty, which at the end
of the day is the only beauty that time does not
erase. One of the problems with thinking of yourselves
as the most beautiful on earth is that it breeds
vanity and surely those who believe in God have some
idea about what God thinks of pride. But more
importantly, if you have this adamant idea that your
girls are the world's most beautiful, then it is
obvious what it leads to SEGREGATION.

Not everyone in any society can be beautiful. If being
beautiful is something Ethiopians hold as dear a part
of their identity as having not been colonized, then
obviously they will become ashamed or uneasy about
those people in Ethiopia who are not beautiful. You
then have to start living a lie or keeping up
superficial appearances, when your identity is based
on vanity, rather than better reasons to be proud, for
example being proud that your country is a just
society which treats all of its people equally. That
is a more sensible thing to be proud of than
perishable human beauty. While I was in Addis Ababa, I
saw several Ethiopians who in terms of appearance look
identical to the very dark-skinned, Black people of
southern Sudan. They speak Amharic and are Ethiopians
in every way. A British girl whom I sat next to on the
flight to Addis Ababa in February, told me when she
came back to Kampala that the general population in
Ethiopia tends to look down upon these dark-skinned
Ethiopians. I refused to believe her. But this second
time in Addis Ababa, I noticed that these people
seemed to be strangers in their own land. They walk
through the streets of Addis Ababa as a group, with
people staring at them. I did not see a single one of
these Ethiopians doing business, owning a shop, or in
a position that seemed one of advantage and
prosperity. I wondered what they do for a living. What
I saw quietly troubled me. But it did not surprise me.
When you build a national identity that revolves
around the myth of beauty and cultural superiority,
rather than on justice and fairness, you inevitably
have these uncomfortable situations of unstated
discrimination.

When I returned to Kampala, I had photographs of the
many places I visited in Ethiopia --- the nice ECA
office buildings, the Sheraton Addis, inside Fasika
restaurant with its attractive artwork, Debre Zeit,
Nazareth, and the countryside. When an Ethiopian
friend of mine saw some photographs of the simple,
humble people riding on horse-drawn carts along muddy
roads in Debre Zeit, she angrily exclaimed: "Why did
you have to take photos of these?" I asked: "But I
thought you Ethiopians love your country. Is this not
Ethiopia too? Are those poor people in Debre Zeit not
Ethiopians also?" To her, Ethiopia is the attractive
images you see in Selemta , the in-flight magazine of
Ethiopian Airlines beautiful women, the Hilton and
Addis Sheraton hotels, the new ECA conference center,
the great rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, the castles
in Gondar, the Blue Nile waterfalls in Bahir Dar, the
great Olympic champions.

The severe poverty in the small towns like Debre Zeit,
which touched my heart so deeply, is something that
many urban Ethiopians would rather not talk about.
They would rather that the visitor walked through the
well-lit corridors of the Sheraton Addis Ababa, and
return home with the Sheraton as the total image of
Ethiopia. But then, what happens to some of us ugly
people? Should we be sent to prison because we don't
meet beauty standards? (Come to think of it, maybe I
should also launch an Ethiopian guerrilla group and
call it the Ugly People's Liberation Front (UPLF), to
fight for the rights of the ugly people!) I think
Ethiopians should start traveling and seeing other
countries. Expand your view! See the broader world.
Make friends! The days of a closed world called
Ethiopia should come to an end. All across Africa,
these are your brothers and sisters.

An Ethiopian told me of how he brought his relative by
road from Ethiopia through Kenya to Uganda. When they
entered Uganda, the young man asked, "Where are we?"
His uncle replied that they were now in Uganda. The
boy could not believe his eyes! "All along," the young
man said, "we are brought up to believe that Ethiopia
was the greenest country around. What is this I am
seeing!" What he was seeing was Uganda. Green from
January to December. But you rarely hear Ugandans talk
about it! Some Ethiopians have told me the same thing.
They step outside Ethiopia, carrying all the legends
and myths they have been fed on since childhood. Then
they discover that there are other countries with
advanced cities, beautiful women, green and fertile
land, sophisticated people, and rich histories, and
suddenly they are in a crisis. Many get into a denial
mode, stubbornly arguing that Ethiopia is still number
one, despite the evidence before their eyes.

When I appeared as a guest on Tefera Ghedamu's Meet
ETV show, I complained about the many Ethiopians who
are struggling to leave the country. I feel that
Ethiopians who were never colonized --- should set a
better than the rest of us Africans, by not flooding
America and Europe, as if we don't have a home. We end
up making the Whites believe even more that they are
superior to us. Our floods of people fighting to enter
their countries have made the Whites feel more
confident that without them and their help, the Black
people are nowhere. But on the other hand, I am somet
tempted to welcome this new craze about going abroad,
which I will address in a later part of this article.
Let these young Ethiopians, who have been raised on a
narrow, inward-looking menu of illusions, go abroad,
open up to the world, see wider places, see the
variety of countries and as a result, develop a more
international outlook than the feeling that the world
starts and ends with Ethiopia.

Discomfort with other nations

A Ugandan friend of mine in Kampala called Michael
attended a workshop in July which several people from
several African countries attended. Commenting about
the Ethiopians he met at the workshop, he said: "They
are painful people to be around!" He said
they are tense, not free with other people, generally
only free with fellow Ethiopians. I understood what he
meant.

An Ethiopian journalist not long ago went to
Washington and when she returned to Addis Ababa, she
wrote an article on her experience of the Ethiopian
community in the United States. Her conclusions were
almost identical to those of other people who know
Ethiopians elsewhere in the world. They keep to
themselves, find it difficult to mingle with other
people, and even if countries where freedom abounds,
the Ethiopians still do not become outspoken or take
part in the life of these countries. White South
Africa Since apartheid ended in South Africa, the huge
White South African businesses have began spreading
all over Africa. I have been observing the White South
Africans, who are already starting to dominate
business in Uganda. I still can't believe those
people. These are people who were raised from
childhood in a country where racial separation and the
tendency to despise Blacks were not just a social
norm, but official church and government policy. Yet
if you see the White South Africans in Uganda today,
they are among the friendliest people you can meet.
They are so popular, they play Rugby and Cricket with
Ugandans, they are always at Ugandan parties mixing
and laughing with Ugandans, and even wearing Ugandan
traditional dress. Many of these White South Africans
date Ugandan men or Ugandan girls. I have wondered to
myself, "Are these the racists that the world
portrayed them to be?". It is so hard to connect
apartheid South Africa with the White South Africans
living and working in Uganda.

I told my friends in Addis Ababa that if you were to
conduct an opinion poll over who they think are more
racist, Ethiopians or White South Africans, 70 percent
of people anywhere in the world would answer that they
think Ethiopians are more racist or at least more
socially discriminating. When the apartheid era in
South Africa came to an end, the White South Africans
displayed the character which, I think, explains why
the are beginning to spread all over Africa and
dominate it.

As I have mentioned, the White South Africans quickly
threw off their racist policies and began to unite
with the rest of Africa. That flexibility of mind
still surprises me. At last week's United Nations
racism conference, a large number of White South
Africans were part of the crowds on the streets of
Durban, South Africa, to demonstrate their opposition
to racism. Whether that gesture is hypocritical or
not, at least it demonstrates a pragmatic attitude,
considering that the White South Africans were raised
to believe in racial separation. So if Ethiopians say
that their isolation and closed country, their
culture, and upbringing are largely responsible for
their aloofness from the rest of Africa, they should
take a look at the White South Africans and see the
importance of flexibility, of recognizing the need to
come out and mix, and be seen to mix with the rest of
Africa. As noted before, the White South Africans are,
today, some of the most popular Africans in Black
Africa. Who would have thought that this would ever
happen, as recent as just 10 years ago, considering
the reputation of White South Africa! It would be a
pity if as time goes on, many people begin to think
that the White South Africans, with all their racist
background, are actually more social than the
Ethiopians.

Something has to be done about this reputation that
Ethiopians have around the world. That impression of
being unable to relate with other Africans is one that
Ethiopians leave behind them everywhere they go. They
give people the impression that they are uncomfortable
with and cannot adjust to other people from other
nationalities. Of course I who has taken the time to
understand Ethiopia, know better than most Ugandans. I
know the realness, the sincerity of Ethiopians, the
hospitality that they are capable of. But most other
people think of Ethiopians that way, as racists, as
more racists than even the White people. This is
something Ethiopi

  

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Greetings from Ethiopia!!!! [View all] , kemetian, Thu Aug-22-02 09:44 PM
 
Subject Author Message Date ID
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 22nd 2002
1
cosign with monique
Aug 22nd 2002
2
salaam
Aug 23rd 2002
3
RE: salaam
Sep 16th 2002
110
      by marriage
Sep 16th 2002
111
Cool !!! And BLUE MOUNTAIN IS THE BEST!
Aug 23rd 2002
4
kaffa
Aug 23rd 2002
5
      RE: kaffa
Aug 23rd 2002
6
           RE: kaffa
Aug 23rd 2002
7
                dont believe tea comes from london either ;)
Aug 23rd 2002
8
                     hehe...isn' it from china?
Aug 23rd 2002
9
                          yep, same with spaghetti
Aug 23rd 2002
10
great, keep us posted!
Aug 23rd 2002
11
be careful..Addis aint no joke...
Aug 23rd 2002
12
you've been?
Aug 25th 2002
25
      what the fuck would i go to afrika for?
Aug 26th 2002
44
Wow
Aug 23rd 2002
13
RE: Wow
Aug 23rd 2002
14
My heart is racing
Aug 23rd 2002
15
Kemetian Holla Please
Aug 24th 2002
16
GET OUT OF HERE!!!
Aug 24th 2002
20
RE: Kemetian Holla Please
Aug 25th 2002
24
Peace & Blessings
Aug 26th 2002
36
Hey, I LIKE kitfo!
Aug 26th 2002
40
      Sounds like
Aug 26th 2002
41
have a wonderful time...
Aug 24th 2002
17
Enjoy the culture & the beautiful people!
Aug 24th 2002
18
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 24th 2002
19
What are you talking about
Aug 25th 2002
29
      dude's quotes of jigga is even
Aug 27th 2002
48
      RE: What are you talking about
Sep 06th 2002
73
           RE: What are you talking about
Sep 06th 2002
74
Isn't West Africa the motherland?
Aug 24th 2002
21
No idiot
Aug 25th 2002
27
No, that seems just as weird
Aug 25th 2002
28
      So my friend....
Aug 26th 2002
32
           Firebrand
Aug 26th 2002
37
           Advice taken...I thought he was serious.
Aug 26th 2002
39
           Uh well I am in the states and I don't feel at home
Aug 26th 2002
38
Motherland
Aug 27th 2002
46
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 25th 2002
22
yes
Aug 28th 2002
55
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 25th 2002
23
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 25th 2002
26
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 25th 2002
30
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 26th 2002
31
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 28th 2002
53
      berbere in the morning
Aug 28th 2002
54
      comments/questions
Sep 05th 2002
70
           Your fiancee is Gurage?
Sep 08th 2002
81
           RE: Your fiancee is Gurage?
Sep 09th 2002
83
           Tigre/Tigrinya?
Sep 09th 2002
91
                OK, this might get confusing, but bear with me here...
Sep 09th 2002
94
                     it gets worse
Sep 10th 2002
95
           Nope
Sep 09th 2002
87
           Yeah,
Sep 20th 2002
118
           kohjoh
Sep 09th 2002
82
           RE: kohjoh
Sep 09th 2002
86
                RE: kohjoh
Sep 09th 2002
88
                     Dupont Cir. (sorry 4 postjack)
Sep 09th 2002
93
                          RE: Dupont Cir. (sorry 4 postjack)
Sep 10th 2002
96
           Skip Sodere
Sep 09th 2002
89
Minibus
Aug 26th 2002
33
we spread like wild fiya
Aug 26th 2002
34
RE: Minibus
Aug 26th 2002
42
      rasta's cant afford no trip to afrika,
Aug 27th 2002
49
           RE: rasta's cant afford no trip to afrika,
Aug 27th 2002
52
                RE: rasta's cant afford no trip to afrika,
Sep 10th 2002
97
                     No explanation, I'm sure
Sep 11th 2002
98
being a foreigner (from a western country)
Aug 26th 2002
35
WHAT?
Aug 27th 2002
51
RE: being a foreigner (from a western country)
Sep 05th 2002
67
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 26th 2002
43
We Will
Aug 28th 2002
56
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 26th 2002
45
RE: Greetings from Ethiopia!!!!
Aug 27th 2002
47
      U ain' neva lied.....
Aug 28th 2002
59
"God" bless you, Kemetian!
Aug 27th 2002
50
what a great quote!
Aug 28th 2002
57
      are you serious or just being ironic?
Sep 08th 2002
80
Salama
Aug 28th 2002
58
RE: Salama
Sep 16th 2002
106
      Yes, yes,
Sep 16th 2002
109
           you should do a post on it
Sep 17th 2002
112
                RE: you should do a post on it
Sep 18th 2002
114
                Wha's up, Brah?
Sep 20th 2002
117
                     don't bother inboxing Solarus
Sep 20th 2002
120
                          I was looking to see what
Oct 23rd 2002
156
                          RE: don't bother inboxing Solarus
Oct 24th 2002
160
                               I don't recall receiving
Oct 25th 2002
164
The Mercato
Aug 31st 2002
60
RE: The Mercato
Sep 01st 2002
61
Merkato Continued
Sep 03rd 2002
62
      RE: Merkato Continued
Sep 04th 2002
63
      RE: Merkato Continued
Sep 04th 2002
65
           RE: Merkato Continued
Sep 04th 2002
66
                Coffee or tea?
Sep 05th 2002
68
                     Oops
Sep 05th 2002
69
                     Beka
Sep 05th 2002
72
                     buna shai?
Sep 09th 2002
84
      Sounds really interesting...str8 up.
Sep 04th 2002
64
      RE: Merkato
Sep 05th 2002
71
The Wedding Part I
Sep 08th 2002
75
RE: The Wedding Part II
Sep 08th 2002
76
RE: The Wedding Part II
Sep 09th 2002
85
RE: The Wedding Part I
Sep 08th 2002
78
I just got back today!
Sep 08th 2002
77
Wow! That's wonderful
Sep 08th 2002
79
My 2 cents
Sep 09th 2002
90
Geshta?
Sep 09th 2002
92
      Hard to explain
Sep 12th 2002
101
      Sweetsop!!!
Oct 25th 2002
163
ond meskerem
Sep 11th 2002
99
Happy New Year!!!!!!
Sep 11th 2002
100
Addis Amet 1995 Part I
Sep 13th 2002
102
Addis Amet 1995 Part II
Sep 13th 2002
103
Worldspace
Sep 15th 2002
104
the bomb on addis amet
Sep 16th 2002
105
i actually heard about it
Sep 16th 2002
108
      RE: i actually heard about it
Sep 18th 2002
113
Current situation in Ethiopia?
Sep 16th 2002
107
Entoto: A Radical Ritual pt. I
Sep 20th 2002
115
Entoto: A Radical Ritual pt. II
Sep 20th 2002
116
      RE: Entoto: A Radical Ritual pt. II
Sep 20th 2002
119
           Lucky you!!!
Sep 20th 2002
121
                RE: Lucky you!!!
Sep 21st 2002
122
up
Sep 24th 2002
123
thanks a
Sep 27th 2002
132
Institute for Ethiopian Studies
Sep 25th 2002
124
RE: Institute for Ethiopian Studies
Sep 25th 2002
125
      hhmm
Sep 25th 2002
126
      maybe
Sep 26th 2002
127
      No?
Sep 26th 2002
128
      the coffee house
Sep 27th 2002
131
           RE: the coffee house
Sep 29th 2002
134
           thanks for the love
Oct 01st 2002
136
           Yes!
Oct 01st 2002
137
      RE: Institute for Ethiopian Studies
Sep 27th 2002
130
           hhmm
Oct 01st 2002
138
Meskel!!! What can i say?
Sep 27th 2002
129
is this that christian celebration?
Sep 27th 2002
133
      um, no
Oct 01st 2002
135
^
Oct 04th 2002
139
Meskel finally
Oct 04th 2002
140
RE: Meskel finally
Oct 04th 2002
141
So Christianity is O.K.
Oct 08th 2002
143
      yes Christianity is O.K.
Oct 09th 2002
146
^
Oct 08th 2002
142
well
Oct 10th 2002
147
some activities
Oct 09th 2002
145
^
Oct 14th 2002
148
Shashemene I
Oct 17th 2002
149
Wondo Ganet
Oct 19th 2002
150
Sounds soo wonderful...I can't wait to go next summer
Oct 19th 2002
151
^
Oct 23rd 2002
152
Desta: Master Traditional Dancer
Oct 23rd 2002
153
Ethiopian Martial Arts
Oct 23rd 2002
154
LoL
Oct 23rd 2002
157
?
Oct 24th 2002
159
sort of
Oct 25th 2002
161
      i find
Oct 25th 2002
162
Hol up
Oct 23rd 2002
155
Are you going to Axum?
Oct 23rd 2002
158
^
Oct 29th 2002
165
Awassa
Oct 29th 2002
166
^
Nov 03rd 2002
167
RE: ^
Nov 09th 2002
168

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