Readers Questions answered
"are
all roads dirt or are some/most paved..and the soil... clay like?...
it appears so hard"
Ethiopia
has very little roads, even by african standards. And especially paved
roads are rare.
In Addis Ababa, as the bustling capitol of the country, with a population
of 5 million, there are the most paved roads. In fact all the main roads
are paved. However, they are still completely surrounded by dirt roads,
except for where they connect to other main roads. The dirt roads are
an adventure. They often rise or fall steeply from the main road, with
holes and rocks and bumps and puddles on every square yard. Usually
they are dry and thereforehard, but if there is some rain, they might
change into slippery muck. When you take a taxi to a place off the main
roads, (and he can get to it by car,) you will find it swerving left
and right to avoid the main bumps and holes, as you are rocked to the
core by the car jumping up and down, accompanied by a concert of clangs
and bangs.
Most of the dirt roads however, especially those that lead further into
the residential areas, can only be reached by foot. But Ethiopia is
a walking nation, and to join them is the best thing in the way of social
experience.
In Axum, as an example of a town that is interesting to tourism, there
is the main road, leading from Adigrat and Mekele into town, and onwards
to Shire, Debark and Gonder. And there is the one branch towards the
stele. Other than those, there are no paved roads. All the other being
the same dirt roads or alleys. And, as you ride out of Axum, you'll
notice the paved road quickly changes into gravel or dirt road. Something
you will find everywhere. Almost as soon as you lose sight of the town
or city, you will suddenly lift from your chair, as the bus drops into
the gravel road.
And then there are the unimportant small towns, where no paved roads
at all are found. But, with the 13 months of sunshine, they are usually
useable for normal traffic, albeit bumpy and dusty.Sadly though, there
is a huge and very rapid increase in the number of paved roads, as they
are growing ever further outside the important towns and cities. Everywhere
you see people working a road construction, leaking oil and gas and
other crap into the surrounding nature. Traffic on the better roads
is increasing in speed, and with it accidents are increasing in number.
I found that travelling by bus or truck in the countryside was quite
pleasant. The speed was limited by the quality of the road, giving you
time to look around and enjoy. People could safely walk their donkeys
in the middle of the roads, and children are running up alongside in
every town you go through. All that is liable to change, as roads are
paved for the comfort of tourists in touring cars.
As far as the soil is concerned, there you stumble upon one of those
many diversities about Ethiopia. No region in this country is like the
other. The country's land area is about twice the size of Texas, or
5 times the size of Britain, and has eight major habitats. I travelled
mainly in the highlands in the north, when I was there, where the soil
is mainly clayish sand, with pebbles and rocks. However, the east side
of the country is sand desert, and the west side has wetlands. The south
I don't know very much about, but it is disected by the rift valley,
left by the tearing off of the horn of Africa, filled with lakes. This
part of the country is populated by zebra's, eliphants and gazelles,
so I can picture what it must look like, being mostly savanna. At any
rate, the best way to describe Ethiopia is as being diverse.
I will probably touch many of these subjects when I write some more
about my travel in Ethiopia, but let me say you can travel the country
for years probably and still have not yet seen every difference. I am
sad not to have been to either the east, west or south regions, and
can't wait to return to Ethiopia to see more of the country. I spoke
to a friend of mine the other day, who has been there for research into
the fish of lake Tana, for four and a half months. She agreed, and said
we should go there together to see the south. We shall see, if the predictions
about the coming months/years would prove correct, there is no telling
if I can get there again, or if I can, I would have the time and ability
to travel all over. But I would really love to return.
"what exactly drew you to ethiopia ?"
I have
been studying biology here in the city of Groningen. I was
especially interested in behaviour/ecology. Through watching human
behaviour closely, which is more funny, since much of it is animal
behaviour, but is given a different reason because people never want
to admit just doing things out of instinct, I ended up writing a
book. I never published the book, since I went trough some
development of my own, while revising it to the instructions of my
publisher. But it did by then change my own outlook on the world. I
then needed to reread some parts of the bible, which I knew for
having been raised as a christian, since it holds a lot of examples
of human behaviour. This got me interested in revelation and end
times, and I noticed the part of the woman taken to the wilderness
to escape the wrath of the serpent. I figured that in this messed up
world there had to be somewhere some people still walking the narrow
path. (a woman signifying a church or congregation as seen in the
bride of christ) At that point there was a program about Ethiopia,
as some man traced the ark of the covenant there. It was said that
Ethiopia housed the oldest known christian church, which is very
fundamentalistic. I then searched the net about Ethiopia and found
Andy's site at the top of the list of hits. That was what drew me to
Ethiopia, to go and see what the church and what Axum were all about.
"was
it different from travelling in other countries , not in the
poverty aspect but in the way people behave in general ,, or do
people in general behave differntly because of the poverty do you
think ?"
It
was different from travelling other countries. I do think the
poverty has a lot to do with it, since it takes people's attention
away from trivial worries, and focuses them on what truly matters.
As I perceived it wealth clouds judgement. Through their poverty
poor people focus on social interaction, standing strong together.
They loose interest in everything that doesn't aid their need to be
healthy and fed. They are almost without fear of anything in the
world, for it can hardly make things worse, leaving them with a lot
of time to focus on important stuff. Ethiopia as a country and as a
people however, seemed even more to show a special kind of quality.
There are muslims, christians and jews living together in harmony
there, beyond any twist the media will give it. Their faces shine
with happiness, even when sitting at the side of the road begging,
without legs and with only one useable arm. If you give them the
equivalent of 0.001 cent, they'll break a warming smile at you,
while they ask God to bless you, even while believing you to be a
millionair at the least. The most amazing thing about the country is
that the predominant sound on the streets was laughter, regardless
of pain, sickness, poverty, hunger, or any such plight. Their
character is based on interest in everyone, social interaction and
hospitality. The first months after returning here in the
Netherlands, I had this same shining face and perpetual smile of
happiness. Sadly though, that has changed into the regular frown
people here bear, by now. Also, I've by now started to fear things
again, for instance when climbing and slipping, I fear the rope
won't hold, even while in Ethiopia I could walk a tight rope over a
mile deep drop, without thinking about anything bad happening even
once. Ethiopia instills trust in God, and joy through hardship,
knowing that death just makes one pass into heaven, and therefor
signifies an improvement from the present situation.
"is
prostitution more prevelant there than in other places ?or is it
just sadder there 'cause of the perception that ethiopia is a holy
place ?"
In
Ethiopia, prostitution is an accepted way for girls to make a
living for their family, or to pay for their college fees. They
therefor accept the existence of the oldest profession as a means to
survive, and prostitution is abound everywhere. Although some would
rather die than be a prostitute, no one blaims anyone for choosing
prostitution as a way of life.
"what
about the music? any good tunes?? i know ethiopian music is
kind of quirky ??? any good performances or good festivals ???"
Well,
it always a matter of personal preference of course, but I
thought the local music is fantastic. All of the tunes sound happy,
although I never understand any of the lyrics. They play their music
everywhere, in stores, in buses, in bars and restaurants, you can
hardly pass by any place without music coming out to meet you. And
then, of course, there is interest in Bob to some extent, but they
prefer their own music, probably because it has a faster rythm. The
number of hits though, is very small, and I have made the joke to
some, that there are only 10 songs, whose titles are 1 trough 10.
Walking by some place from which music was heard, I'd say things
like "Oh, listen, that's number 6!"
In the way of performances there are two kinds of particular
interest. For tourist purposes and luring clients, there are always
some places advertising traditional music, accompanied by
traditional dancing at times, mostly the Iskista. Apart from that
there is the medieval feeling bardlike performances of a duo,
visiting the restaurants at night. They play a simple rythm and sing
a chorus, a then have the diners add a couple of verses in between,
which they then repeat, before proceeding to the chorus and another
table. These are great fun and are accompanied by hoots and
laughter, but sadly again I never understood any of the words. The
regular instruments are small goatskin drums and homemade violin-
like lutes with very distinct sound. The Iskista dance is done
mostly, only using the shoulders and is incredibly entertaining. In
the way of festivals, I haven't been to any, but they are abound,
and usually to do with religious dates.
"have you met any women monks or nuns? what do they say . ??"
No,
I haven't. As far as I know there aren't any. Again due to their
poor, and underdeveloped country, the roles of women and men are
pretty rigidly determined. Not that women don't work, just that the
men are in control. But it's not something to do with suppression,
or inequality. It's understood and accepted. Men usually do the hard
work or the leadership roles, while women work in the stores,
restaurants, hotels and all such at-home-roles. Only the richer
women drive their own cars to some office in the capital. Ethiopians
usually don't make much of a problem of anything. Any opportunity to
make a living is taken without too much bothering about the how and
why. But they seem to prefer to have a situation where the man goes
out to work, and makes enough of a living to have the woman be able
to stay at home and take care of the household. Meaning that women
work out of necessity rather than choice. But you'll probably never
find female priests. There is even a couple of monasteries where
women are forbidden to enter.
"what is the general demeanor of the people???"
Well,
in as much as I haven't touched this subject yet, they are
wonderful people. And, if I finish all my story about Ethiopia,
you'll recognize the same, I hope. Even though I got tired often of
being set upon by beggars and 'helpful' people, I never lost the
feeling of being welcome and loved. I cannot begin to understand how
there can be such a difficult relationship with Eritrea, for most
people in the north, where Axum is situated as well, seem to be
indifferent to Eritrea and are happy not to have to be at war. I
concluded it had to be a fight between governments mostly, while the
populace couldn't care less. There are rumours of criminals, such as
robbers, rebels and other riff raff, mainly in the capital, where
the western world is encroaching rapidly, accompanied by all the
corruption that goes with it, but all I noticed about that, was one
single instance when a man tried to rip off my bracelet. I've been
walking all the back streets at all hours though, and even became
unintentionally drunk at some point, so much so that some man had to
take me to my hotel, and never feared anything, nor met with any
trouble at all. People react strongly on your unhappiness. They
apologise and try to make you feel better, being competely helpful,
wanting to do anything that will return a smile to your face. And a
perfect example of their nature is when I greeted a man in Amharic
once, to which he reacted saying: "Oooh, I love you!"
Love, Gert Jan
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