Due to work reasons, I had the opportunity of visiting Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for over a week. In comparison to the neighboring Nairobi, Addis Ababa almost seems like a gateway to another world. On the one hand, the noisy, bustling capital of Ethiopia is no doubt evolving at a fast pace. From other perspectives, one almost feels as if they have stepped back in time, standing on the verge of a distant, ancient and mystical world.
Ethiopia is Africa’s oldest independent country who prides themselves to be the only nation on the continent which have never been colonized. Ethiopia was the founding member of the UN and its capital serves as the headquarters of the African Union and many international organizations. Yet according to the Democracy Index, Ethiopia is an “authoritarian regime”. Since late last year, Ethiopia plunged into a human rights crisis, increasing restrictions on basic rights during a state of emergency and continuing a bloody crackdown against largely peaceful protesters. The state of emergency – which continues today – permits arbitrary detention, restricts access to social media, and bans communications with foreign groups. Just few weeks earlier, internet access across the country has been blocked completely for two weeks to prevent national exam papers from leaking online. Such ban to internet access across the nation was not uncommon.
Addis Ababa, a city of six million, is regarded as one of the most modern urban centers in Africa. In the recent past, Ethiopia suffered periodic droughts and famines with a long period of civil conflict which devastated its economy. However, the country has begun to recover recently and by now has the largest economy by GDP in East and Central Africa. Since 2015, the main flagship of the city is its brand-new train system that runs across the city cover a distance of 32 kilometers. Like the new Africa Union building and many other infrastructure projects, the construction of the train system were funded by the Chinese government. With great contrast, it would not take long for one to notice that cars in the Ethiopian market are one of the oldest in the region as a result of an extremely heavy tax rate.
Ethiopia is also a country with unique cultural heritage, being the home of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Its people also prides themselves in their extraordinary cuisine and coffee drinking culture. Not only does one “feels” to be back in time, the Ethiopian calendar – the Ge’ez calendar – is indeed 7 years behind our widely used calendar (the Gregorian calendar). The current year is 2010 in Ethiopia! Moreover, the time in Ethiopia is also counted differently from the westernized countries where the day is reckoned as beginning at 6 a.m. instead of 12 a.m.
Beyond the poster children from Ethiopia, allow me to take you on a journey to this fascinating country who stands out from all African nations and proved itself to be a unique world of its own!