Warning: This post is based on Western sources circa 1998.
If you were an ordinary person in Ethiopia, what would life be like? Ethiopia has towns and even big cities, but most live in the country – and most are also Christian – so I take that point of view in what follows:
Work: Men farm, women cook, keep their children clean and looking nice, pound grain into flour and look for cow dung and wood for the family fire. Older girls look after children, older boys look after sheep. Most families have about a hectare of land (less than three acres). All water has to be carried back from the nearby well, something that falls to women or children.
Work hours: Men work 80 hours a week, women 126 hours. You are supposed to take Saturdays and Sundays off, but how many do?
Pay: $123 a year (in 1998. That comes to 3 crowns a month, which is just what shepherds made in Shakespeare’s time). Most Ethiopians grow their own food, build their own houses and so on. Their wealth is in their animals: cows, chickens, sheep, etc. Like Jack in the Beanstalk, they sell one when they need money – for things like salt, coffee, oil, pots and clothing.
Housing: A small, two-room house. One room to store food, the other room for everything else. There is a fire that is always going. No electricity or running water.
Transport: Walking. The nearest market is one to three hours away on foot.
Dress: You have one change of clothing, maybe even ill-fitting, second-hand clothing at that. If you go to school, you get a second change.
Food: Bread, maybe with egg and vegetables. Meat on special occasions. Everyone eats from the same dish with their fingers.
Family life: Families are big. Ethiopian women have about seven children. As a child you grow up near your cousins, aunts and uncles.
Holidays: Christmas, the Baptism of Jesus, Good Friday, Easter and the Feast of the Cross.
Education: Only a fourth of all children regularly go to school. School is free, but schoolbooks, school supplies and school clothes are not! Early schooling is in your own language, but to go further you need to know Amharic or even English because that is what the books are written in!
Entertainment: Mainly visiting and storytelling. Most people cannot read and have no electricity. Men like to sit, drink coffee and talk.
It could be worse and sometimes it is:
- Famine: Having little money and growing all your own food means that when the rains do not come it gets very bad: you can water only so much of your land by hand and sell only so many of your animals to buy food. A million people died this way in the 1980s.
- Genocide and civil war: Ethiopia is in effect an empire, so for most people their land is ruled by foreigners, and evil ones at that who are not above wiping out your kind. A quarter million have died this way in the last 60 years.
See also:
Even though I have several pairs of clothes and can grab water from my faucet when I please I often feel that the connection the people in these villages have with each other are amazing. America is a joke to some countries and I don’t blame them we are only a few steps ahead!
Go.
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What your comment and this post reminds me of is a show that was on PBS where some people in England in 2000 lived like it was 1900. The strange thing is that even though life was harder back then, especially for the servants, when it was over they were all crying!!
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omg im an ethiopian and u ppl dont relize that ethiopia isnt all poor but that is all i hear really ethiopia is rich in its land and cutlture it has woderful ppl and the stuff u wrote yes that may b the case for some ppl but not for all
im fuckin tired of all this y cant any one show the part of ethiopia where its rich and has everything yet they dont
blahblah
ethiopia is a beautiful place
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I read what you have download regarding Ethiopian life but the information you leave for us it has not truth especially regarding religion because the dominant religion in ethiopia is muslim so if you make correction on this is better for your information reliable.
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Gemechu Feyo:
I said most Ethiopians are Christians. According to the CIA Factbook:
“Christian 60.8% (Orthodox 50.6%, Protestant 10.2%), Muslim 32.8%, traditional 4.6%, other 1.8% (1994 census)”
Source:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/et.html
That is the 1994 census, of course, but if you or anyone knows anything more current please let me know.
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I have applied for a job in Ethiopia… Dont remember which city/place is that…
But is it comfortable to move to ethiopia.. Or is it too dangerous…
Some people say… They cut your hands… terrorism…
Cant believe them… Would like to know from people who are frm ethiopia…
I am sorry… I dont wanna offend any country, religion, people….. Its just a suggestion i am asking for…
Thank you….
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Ethiopia is a good country rich in resources, people, culture, and history. Stop making it look as if it is the worst place man could live in.
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How do a boy and girl decide to get married?
What kind of process is followed?
What is a wedding like?
Where does the couple live after marrying?
How soon do they have children?
What are the roles of the husband?
What are the roles of the wife?
Does their culture recognize distinct stages of life? What categories do they have? (Birth, adolescence, marriage, death)
Are there ceremonies (rites of passage) which mark the transition from one stage to another (E.g. naming ceremonies, circumcisions, graduation, wedding, birthday parties, etc.)?
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i would like to move to ethiopia
i have a plan i can make that biusines in there
what kind of steps sodoi have to know to go there
thanks and egarsd
happy eastern to every body in there
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Gemechu,
where did you get your ‘Muslims are majority’ non-sense, the problem with you fanatic Muslims is you tent to abuse the privilage of being treated as humans…
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wow now that is not fair. they r humans as much as we r. nd gemechu… u r wrong! oh nd for u foriegn ppl out there stop judging us or making assumptions about how to live in Ethiopia unless u actually do. we can think just as much as u do so stop making us look dumb or insensitive, my god!
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I think the poverty is not on the countries but on the minds of the ppl. Every country on the globe is special, even Ethiopia which I hear sad things of. Famishing children, ravaged families, etc. But it’s not only there, it is everywhere. I personally believe it is almost impossible to change but it does not do bad a country. I look up to those people from countries like that, they get up every day to try to chnge their lives instead of surrendering! I’m from Colombia, and many baffling things have been said of it. But I still believe, everyday is a good one to grow in a different way! 😀 Cheer up, Ethiopia!
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Yes,there are lots of not only poor but rich people here in Ethiopia plus people socialise well unlike the so called rich countries of the world.If there’s anything you can do,learn from us .Don’t assume you’re better cos your history of poverty is not recorded like ours.
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Its really sad that in this day and age that well meaning do-gooders still come across as uneducated snobs!! Everybodies life is different from our own it does not make them poor or rich,as richness is felt not owned by material gains. When bad times come for all of us regardless of faith or colour they will be bad times/
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Ethiopia is a good country rich in resources, people, culture, and history.But don’t see the political view of the country, it is tied, horrible and unpleasant .
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May i request someone to write about life in Robe Bale whre I have to live for sometime.
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We can clearly see that the person who wrote the article doesn’t know nothing about Ethiopia. I’ve been to Ethiopia several times & it’s not even near on what I am reading in this article. Yes! Muslims & Orthodox Chritians are about the same in %. Not the majority of the people are Chritians. In my opinion this article needs to be deletted. It’s not credible. Go study, get a degree then write..
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Ethiopia is the country of many nations and nationalities. I love Ethiopia.
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it amaizing to read this text. there is highly economical variation between the peoples. and most of the peole are such what u right and expect.
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most of the time “scilence is better than talking un relevant and false propogandas” since it makes the speaker nothing before the audience. the same is true that we see in this writer. 90% of the document writen here is never be the caractor of ethiopia or had been seen before Minelik the 2nd. good by
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U should have to check ur information cuz it’s almost wrong .ETHIOPIA is a country of peace & luv .
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Muslims make up almost 50% or more, you people need to realize this
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I would soooo report this blog if I could, this is the most ignorant shit Ive ever read! It is all wrong, you need to get a better source before you write about a country you don’t know!
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I agree with a lot of these people. Back in the day of Axum Ethiopia was a rich and beautiful country. But because of sources like national geographic and heifer that only focus on the bad parts, most people look at Africa and think “Eeeeeew” while a lot of the time that’s not the correct way to respond.
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Hey, does anyone know if Ethiopia still uses the Red Sea as a trading route? I really need to know soon because I’m doing a report for Social Studies.
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*please look at end of this rant for real sites about Ethiopia *….Wow…Let me give you guys my background I was born in this area and raised there, I was also raised in the US, you would not know I am African until I tell you. As a person coming from this area I must say that this article has so much falsehood its disgusting. This article sounds like its written by someone who has refused to go beyond the media’s paintbrush picture of Ethiopia and Africa in general. So Please if you are trying to get some truth …this article is not it…you will think you are so smart using this and only sound ignorant. There are some facts but this “article” is skewed from the truth. Also Ethiopia is not ruled by foreigners. Ethiopia has its issues as all countries but its not a dark hole that if you are born into you are stamped hopeless, a pity for humanity, or dumb. LOOKING FOR REAL INFO HERE ARE SOME SITES…DIRETUBE.COM (LIKE YOUTUBE)…ALLAFRICA.COM…ETHIOEMBASSY.ORG/UK (HOW MORE LEGIT CAN YOU CAN THAN INFO FROM AN EMBASSY)…ALSO GO ON YOUTUBE AND TYPE “ETHIOPIA”, BETTER TO GET PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THEIR COUNTRY instead of someone who knows nothing and tries to create facts…while this article states how messed up it is there…did you guys know that Ethiopia is creating hydrogen dam using the Nile river that will give electricity to as far as part of the middle east…YAH…Please AFRICA IS A PLACE THAT HAS ITS TROUBLES, BUT HAS PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND THE RICH NEIGHBORS. DESIRE TO LEARN/ BE MORE OPEN MINDED/BE MORE INVESTIGATIVE/ DESIRE TO SEE BEYOND WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR.
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http://www.tourismethiopia.gov.et/English/Pages/Home.aspx if you are looking for real info here is the Ethiopian government website with ITS REAL FACTS..:)
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@ AfricanBorn
Your comments are borderline spam – because you aggressively push websites while showing little sign of having read and understood the post.
This post is about the daily life of average people in Ethiopia – something that embassies, tourist websites and urban-based YouTube videos are going to say little about or whitewash. My sources were admittedly Western, but your sources do not allow me to set that right.
Instead of saying my post is skewed and full of falsehoods, it would be better for everyone if you listed the falsehoods or gave concrete examples of skew.
I did not say Ethiopia was ruled by foreigners. I said “Ethiopia is in effect an empire, so for most people their land is ruled by foreigners,” by people who speak a foreign tongue.
Nor did I say anything like, “a dark hole that if you are born into you are stamped hopeless, a pity for humanity, or dumb.” If you think I was holding up average Ethiopians as objects of pity, then please point out where I did that.
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Ignorance can be a very destructive thing,,,Ethiopia is a very beautiful place with the most kindest people i have ever met,it is rich in land and has a rich history however we can not run away from the fact that majority of the people residing there are starving to death,,now as to the other crappiest assumptions and questions posted here all i can say is,we should rather focus on the positivity and beauty of our diverse countries and never hide what our people are going through because they need help…i am a South African in ma passport but am an African in citizenship and people in Africa do not eat people,but yes our people are dying as a result of poverty..
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No disrespect to no other Nationality but I just thank God (in whatever form he truly is) for being born in the USA still the greatest country on earth FLAWS & ALL!
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I lived in Ethiopia for over 1 year, I am white American male who married a beautiful Ethiopian woman who I met in Washington DC. We have two beautiful children, both born in the U.S., and they are living and being raised in Ethiopia now and for the last 4.5 years. I want to make some things clear, and speak truth on the behalf of my love for Ethiopian’s, especially my wife and children……most people in Ethiopia are starving, is not truen. Just because someone is from the African continent, i.e. South Africa, does not mean they know what Ethiopia is like, unless they lived there anumber traveled the countryside. This thread actually paints a good picture of the average life in Ethiopia, only 20ish% of the entire population have running water and electricity, 60 ish% are christian. Before you judge, consider this; livestock is the farmers wealth, is true. The average person in Ethiopia is a farmer with livestock. On average the Ethiopian family does not live in debt, on average the American family does, in 2013 dividing the national debt by the population and some additional factors, the average U.S. Citizen is in debt $225,000, with the majority of this debt received at birth. The average person in America dies alone in a nursing home, the average person in Ethiopia dies with their entire family around them being well taken care of, and nurtured. I suppose one could argue the definition of wealth which would completely alter the view of this thread. Ethiopians are wealthy in ways most Westerners simply can’t understand…… James 5:1-5……. look here you rich people: weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and you’re fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgement. For listen! here the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter (nlt)……
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Who the hell are u and how the hell do u know all these things.All the information u have given is incorrect.know what u r writing!!!!!!!
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@Thomas
” Ethiopians are wealthy in ways most Westerners simply can’t understand”—I agree.
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i agree to everyone
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Oh…what things you wrote..I am ethiopian…all you wrote are very far from the reality.
Ethiopia is the very beautiful country holding numerous nation and nationality with amazing culture.even her economy now is amazingly changed.In fact little poor people has lived but they are little. poor people is not the only indicator of Ethiopia.b/c every nation has poor people in the world. Even the developed nations like:- USA,China,UK,German,Canada, France , spain,Australia blabla countries today even they control the world economy massively but they all are contains poor people. So why you mostlly shows ethiopia is the country of poor people’s???
Today majorty of people in ethiopia there life is changed. They ate food 4 or 5 times per day & feeding others. most of children gets modern school.most of domestic industries export there effort for abroad countries. The agriculture is not depending only with rain.the country has many pond,oceans & lakes which is contribute a lot for agricultur development. Industries, service sectors also various. So I kindly ask you please try to check the real fact rather I would not advice you to write the unknown fact of the country. So try to rectify the fact ok.
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No one is saying Ethiopia or the Ethiopian people aren’t beautiful. But based on what the majority of you are saying, Ethiopia is so well off I guess I don’t need to sponsor a child and her family there anymore.
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” I guess I don’t need to sponsor a child and her family there anymore.”
.
@ Summer. Ethiopia may not be that poor poverty stricken country you may have initially imagined it to be. But even if the country is indeed better off than you believed, why would you think that there’s absolutely no one in Ethiopia who is in need of aid or help?
Consider this. America is supposedly one of the richest of nations in the world, right? Yet there is a growing number of homeless adults and children in the USA who are living in shelters, cars, tents, sidewalks, beneath bridges, in subways, and in cardboard boxes. Some of these people have jobs, yet can’t afford housing.
A nation’s wealth isn’t always shared with the people who need the MOST help. In fact, some politicians and bureaucrats in the USA have made it illegal for private citizens to feed homeless people.
Don’t be too quick to jump to conclusions.
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what you say about ethiopia is true but it’s not that bad as u say , may be u better come and see ethiopia then I swear to u if u have open mind to see everything u will be amazed. and alos u forgot to tell as the good part of ethiopia u should search like u deed once for the overblown bad part of ethiopia. and also u don’t have to try to proof for those some ethiopian who comments under because they live with the fact so they know only the truth and u live with ur own so u know anly urs so please let us help u to know ours don’t try to be a teacher u have to be a student.
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How can we help the poor people 😞😞😞😞😞
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Do you have any links / resources of where you got all this info? Or is it all personal knowledge?
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Greetings Abagond Ethiopia might have same place that are like that but I was born and have been leaving in Ethiopia all my life it is not as you say there are some places like that but it’s not all like that.its been 8 years since you wrote this maybe that’s why but I think you would be surprised to see Ethiopia now it has changed a lot since then.
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@ Redeat
Hello Redeat! Greetings from here, Mozambique, from an African brother!
I just saw this Abagond’s post about Ethiopia and your reaction to it.
Let me add my own observations.
I consider this blog a platform created by Abagond to allow Black people worldwide think about their own issues from their own perspective; the focus is in Black Americans because Abagond is an USA citizen; other topics are also discussed but Black people issues remain the main focus;
African issues haven’t received much attention (except history) because, I think, the main contributors here have neither a direct knowledge of the continent nor read much of modern sources which could enlighten them about today’s issues in Africa;
Therefore I think that it is the duty of any African, especially the ones living or having spent a significant part of their life in Africa, to help enlighten other commentators and lurkers of this blog about African life today;
This needs to be done because in my own journeys outside the continent, I’ve noticed how badly Africa is reported there; people who don’t know Africa by direct experience are bombarded by streams of information which give a distorted view of the continent; the result is that oft they are not able to separate what is true from what is misinformation about Africa.
Once said that, let me tell you that in my seminal comment in this blog, 4 years ago, I tried to give a framework to think about Africa, which I think remains valid today:
Today the easiest way to counter stereotypes about Africa is to present pictures about it, and there are already tons of images in the Web that can help in that regard.
For example, what about the following video-clip on Adds Ababa:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMVSu2_ajd8&t=904s)
Or, about Maputo (Mozambique):
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hI1DWID2Yk)
Maybe, from that point some people can gain some interest to know more about those places and their people.
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@ A Russian Nagpo
Comment deleted for having an email address.
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@ munubantu
This is why I do not do as many posts on present-day Africa as I would like. From experience I have found the sources I use not to be trustworthy when it comes to Africa.
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@ Redeat
I understand Ethiopia has cities and all that. I said that up front in the post. But from what I understood eight years ago, most people still lived in the country. My sources in turn, were apparently from circa 1998. Add that up and the post is now almost 20 years out of date! I will put a warning at the beginning of the post. Thanks.
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Ethiopia isn’t an empire no more and it was ruled by foreigners only for few years (the 5 years Italian and 12 years Adal occupation) during her thousands of years existence.
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Ethiopia has changed considerably in 10 years.
Ethiopia Already Is the ‘China of Africa’
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-05-29/ethiopia-already-is-the-china-of-africa
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Yes, it’s true.
I’ll look not at all aspects of development but only the grow of their capital city, Addis Ababa.
In East Africa the more modern and best looking city in the middle 70’s used to be Maputo (formerly called “Lourenço Marques” when Mozambique was a Portuguese colony).
Later Nairobi advanced to the first place, and some argue that it remains at the top until today.
But lately, Dar es Salaam and Addis Ababa have grow so much that already can be serious contenders to that status.
With large populations and local elites clearly willing to develop their countries, those cities have become true successes of the construction of the new Africa.
See the next video-clip, with recent panoramic views of Addis Ababa. It would be good to compare the appearance of the same locations only fifteen to twenty years ago.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh05N48FMPc)
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