ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) – Thousands of homeless people will be moved from the capital to the countryside before next month’s millennium celebration and provided help with food, shelter and medicine, a development group said Tuesday.
Homelessness is a huge problem in Addis Ababa, a city of 5 million where an estimated 90,000 live on the streets. Beggars are a common sight, with everyone from young children to the elderly seeking money or scraps of food.
Ethiopia _ which is celebrating its third millennium in September in accordance with the Coptic calendar, which is about seven years behind the more common Gregorian _ is planning a 10-hour, US$1.6 million (¤1.2 million) party in Meskel Square to mark the milestone. The celebrations are expected to draw tourists from around the world.
Elshadai Relief & Development Association, a local group that receives government funding, said US$930,000 has been set aside to move some 5,700 people out of the capital in time for the celebrations.
The group said most are from the northern Tigray region and that Elshadai was simply sending them back home.
«It’s good for the whole world, not only for Ethiopia,» Elshadai spokesman Blen Yehdego said Tuesday. «Nobody wants to have this miserable life for their citizens.
Yehdego said only those who volunteer will be moved.
Government officials and did not immediately return calls for comment about the project, and calls to Hope Enterprises, a homeless advocacy group, were not returned Tuesday.
Elshadai bills itself as a development group that works for the «well-being of children and sustainable community development.» It also conducts research on street children and AIDS.
3 thoughts on “Homeless Tigreans being moved out of Addis Ababa”
I hope the whole of the TPLF gang leaves addis and go to their God forsaken land.
For all those of us who believe that the Tigay people have become wealthy by looting the rest of Ethiopia, let this confirm to you that they are still very poor just like most other Ethiopians. Recently, I met an old friend with PhD level education who tried to convince me that if they build any more factories in Mekele, the place will sink from the weight. I have seen Mekele some 25 years ago and I saw it again last year. It is quite improved but it can’t hold a candle to, say, Debreziet. The prominent landmarks of Mekele that impact a visitor are the TPLF headquarters, Mekele University and the Medical school hospital. All are bigger than what Mekele needs. However, I am told that they are for regional use. Other than that, there hardly anything to write home about.
I also want to comment about those of us who get upset about the resettlement of homeless people from Addis to their original homeland area if possible. The irrational among us Ethiopians who shade crocodile tears are usually those that feel good throwing pennies in the direction of the sidewalk where a homeless person sleeps. That may make us feel superior and falsely generous but it never alleviates the problem. I wish to ask such people to select one homeless child or adult and decide to take care of them on a permanent basis and they will have done a lot better than shading tears. If all of us invest on one individual, for each to take care of, we will solve the problem completely. It is very hard to do that and false tears will not solve it. Homelessness happens everywhere in urban areas of the world. People are attracted by the glitter of urban life and hope to make it big by moving from rural parts. Many will do better than their life on the farm and many will fail to make it. Some others fail completely and end up homeless. There are homeless Ethiopians even in DC and Other US metro areas. Obviously, it is very hard to solve this problem even in wealthy countries. Making an attempt to tackle this problem in Ethiopia even using the millenniums celebration as a pretext is a good idea.
This is a fascist move. Why do they select Ethiopians from Tgrai for this measure (which could be called “deportation” if it were across borders)? They have all the right to live anywhere in the country; and it is this basic right that is being violated now. This is a refelction of the narrow, ethnicity based thinking of Melles and the gang. As to “Mekellie sinking under the weight of the investment…” that is total b…it! The people don’t have adequate water supply, the streets are for the most part the same old dirt tracks. WHY DO PEOPLE FALL FOR MELLES’ TRICKS? He is the one who will benefit most out of these rumors because they help to keep the people of Tgrai on edge (Mells hzbu indebergege indinor yifelgal)