By Shumon Alam, Oxfam
It rains a lot in Addis Ababa. The day can start with nice bright sun, shining down on the highest city in Africa, but within hours it can become dark and gloomy, with drizzle pouring on the rocky soil. A little rain can bring the temperature to below ten degrees with a chilly wind. Since I have arrived in this beautiful mountain city, I have spent most of my late afternoons and early evenings on the balcony of a Family Guest House, sitting on a chair gazing at the sprawling city as rainwater washes the roads, buildings, trees and hills.
This downpour never stops the daily life in the city. From the balcony, I can see cars running on the Bole road. People are walking to and fro, holding umbrellas over their heads. I can see Shewangiazaw Derbe, the caretaker of this guesthouse, sitting on the chair, a sheet wrapped around his body, observing the raindrops on the ground with undivided attention. Once in a while the phone would ring and he would get up to answer it. Sometimes he would come up with a bottle of water or coffee to the guest on my floor. Sometimes he would stop at my request and chat with me.
The conversation always starts with rain. Shewangiazaw informed me that it is not typical for all of Ethiopia. Some areas in Ethiopia only have a few showers throughout the year and often face drought. His hometown Debre Birhin, in the Amhara region, has had little rain this year, though it is not as severe as other parts of the country. Through several rain-induced conversations I have got to know him a little better.
Shewangiazaw left his home almost six years ago to support his two brothers and younger sister. One of his brothers took up farming on the small land they had, producing beans, maze and Teff. The youngest brother and sister are still in school. His has four more sisters and all are married off.
He works seven days a week and only gets few days leave every year, with a salary of 500 Birr (approximately 30 GBP) and a room to sleep. He tries to send half his salary to his siblings so they can continue with their education. However it has become harder by the day. Nowadays, he is spending more of his salary on food. He informed me that the price of food has gone up two to three times in the last year. “A kilo (2.2 pounds) of tomato used to cost 3 Birr few months ago, now it cost 7 Birr. 50 cents Injera cost almost 3 Birr”, Shewangiazaw said, “I don’t know why but the price is going up every day.”
The increase in food prices, coupled with two failed crops within the year because of lack of rain, has pushed millions of people in Ethiopia near to starvation. In an interview with the Financial Times, Meles Zenawi, the prime minister of Ethiopia, said: “The increase in food prices has pushed a significant number of Ethiopians, particularly among the urban poor and in some pastoralist regions and areas of drought, to the brink…” Recently in a statement, the United Nations has described the food crisis in Ethiopia as “alarming”. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that “the food security situation in Ethiopia has deteriorated to alarming levels in the wake of drought conditions throughout much of the country”. The UN says that more than four million Ethiopians need emergency assistance and a further eight million need immediate food relief. The Daily Monitor reported, quoting WFP that around 737,000 Ethiopian are enrolled in its Targeted Supplementary Feeding programme (TSF), designed to address the problem of acute malnutrition among pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under five.
Shewangiazaw started to repair his house but had to stop in this tough economic situation. “Money was good back then. Tips were good. Nowadays it is becoming less. People don’t have money to tip, I guess,” he said. He hopes the situation will become better and he will able to finish his house. Once he is done with the house and his brother and sister are out of school, he plans to become a taxi driver in Addis Ababa. As the new years starts in Ethiopia, people like Shewangiazaw have had to put their dreams on hold and hope for the best in the future.