By Veronika Fillitz, FM4 Radio
The country that we call Ethiopia contains a region that is said to be the most important in the history of humanity. It is from what is now the capital, Addis Ababa, that archaeologists will tell us that humans migrated around the world.
For such an important place in the story of mankind, my first impressions of Addis Ababa were rather unremarkable – a sprawling city that could be anywhere in Africa with cars and buses and masses of people hanging around public buildings. But this was a stopping off point for me to travel further into some of the rural areas in Ethiopia and to get a glimpse of the work being done by the doctors, nurses and support teams of Licht für die Welt – the Austrian charity that helps to bring access to eye-care in some of the most remote regions of the world.
Jijiga
We flew onwards to Jijiga, a city that is East of Addis, near the border to Somalia. And from there I visited a field hospital and saw for myself the work of the eye specialists and the daily challenges they face, patients who needed anything from simple check-ups to more major operations to remove cataracts. I was also invited to go to some villages and this is where I really felt the culture shock begin.
As I walked into one small village, I was greeted on the way by young children who would come up, walk alongside of me and start to chat away in their local language. The fact that I couldn’t communicate with them didn’t seem to put them off. It just made them want to put more of their questions to their European guest. The colours of the landscape, the houses and the warmth of the people made a great impression on me. Here was a country that had been beset by years of war, poverty and drought yet these people were determined to do their utmost to invite me into their homes and make sure I was fed.
Staying put
I was also keen to meet and talk with young Ethiopians about what they thought about their futures. I met a young girl who was also a kind of parliamentary speaker for the Ethiopian Youth as well as a young guy who had left home at the age of six and had been sleeping rough as child on the streets until he was befriended and looked after by soldiers. Both of them, along with other young Ethiopians that I met had similar views. Although they had seen many Hollywood movies and enjoyed western music, the thought of upping and leaving and trying to make it in Europe or America was not something they would consider. They all told me they were very proud of Ethiopia and their aspirations of continuing their education were founded on being in their country. Even though it was clear that they and their families didn’t have very much in the way of possessions, they were staying put and were cheerful and positive about their future in Ethiopia.
That really made me think because we are often lead to believe by some politicians and sectors of the press in Europe that all people in developing nations in Africa want to do is get in a boat and come to our shores. Maybe a trip to a place like Ethiopia that has known real poverty would help to modify those ideas; writers who know the continent well echo the view that despite the daily problems they face, most people whether they live in Addis Ababa or Accra have only one major goal – to face up to their own challenges at home and make a brighter future in their own countries.
Hear more about my visit to Ethiopia on FM4’s Reality Check: Progress in Africa, today (Saturday) on FM4. [podcast]http://fm4.orf.at/medias/163835/mp3[/podcast]