I have never seen a city ANYWHERE so active with construction. Sometimes it seems like they’re building on top of active construction sites. New construction roads are plowed through active construction sites just to allow taxis and vehicles to get to locations where previous streets no longer exists.
My first thought when arriving is that Ethiopia is Thailand 40 years ago… but a “Thailand” where not only the world can feel comfortable, but one of the few places left that black people can be comfortable and build a new life.
I keep remembering something a black U.S. veteran expat said:
“I was sitting in a cafe for about 15 minutes when I suddenly jerked around and discovered that no one was looking at me.”
The number of unemployed young, skilled Ethiopians is shocking. It’s estimated that the Ethiopian-Eritrean war costs $1 million dollars a day. While this drastically hurt the Ethiopian economy, the country is building like a house on fire and everyone expects great transformation within the next five years. Things are cheap now for those wise enough to get in early, but it’s obvious prices will rise with growth.
The African Development Bank Group states:
- In 2012/13, Ethiopia’s economy grew by 9.7%, which made Ethiopia one of Africa’s top performing economies.
- Through co-ordinated, prudent fiscal and monetary policies, the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has brought down inflation to single digits.
- Trade and industrial policies are not yet attuned to global value chains; such policies should address all obstacles and opportunities linked to each level of the global market. [Read full article]
BBC NEWS Africa article states: “Egypt and Sudan currently get the lion’s share of the Nile’s waters under colonial-era treaties. While Sudan backs Ethiopia’s plans, Egypt has remained opposed. Talks to ease tensions between the two countries have collapse. Despite this, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Amb Dina Mufti describes the dam as a “win-win” project. Sudan has already seen the benefits and has come on board, we hope Egypt will see that too,’ he says.” [Read full article]
Black Traveler 
Your perspectives and experiences on travel in Africa are awesome, yet cynical (we’re crabs in a bucket all over the earth?), yet inspiring in a kind of way that makes me want to join some African diaspora unification movement. Sigh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s WEIRD time… a “mini-Dark Ages.
The Oligarchs have been spreading their Social Engineering worldwide, and as Sam Vaknin put’s it, “Stupid People Run The World. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne96QQorOkI )
It’s the way we raise children. Too much beating. Abandonment is just as big of a causer…. the way Capitalism pushes on the nuclear family. WHO has two unstressed parents these days? So our politics are symptomatic of our mental problems caused by the culture we’re raised in.
The real problem now rests in resolving the ways we’ve been divided and separated … not just from each other (people in general)… but from ourselves. Our core identity problems and conflicts. Jung pointed out that it’s impossible for humans to not have psychological complexes. But there’s a GOOD side to complexes … our fantasies develop around them. (Just like here on this page.) In imagining our resolution, the human species evolves!
Drugs, alcohol, and all other addictions are simply attempts to “self-sooth” childhood traumas.
The poor person who angrily spouts Right Wing rhetoric at you is a person with a wounded or shattered personal identity that they’re trying to prop up with the propaganda the Hate Radio and T.V. pundits massage their egos with. Notice the way they slightly smile at you when they’re spouting it.. as if they’re watching to see if you believe any of that crap… and laugh when you react to it. Aren’t they doing the same thing that ANGRY Feminist are doing? And yes, that blacks who are so angry that they think segregation was a “GOOD TIME” for us???
Literal readings of Fundamentalist Christianity, Islam, and Zionist Judaism pour gas on the fire that destroys mental stability. But no, “all or nothing thinking.” Those theologies (especially Christianity and the Jewish Kabbalah, when read ALLEGORICALLY … with a knowledge of numerology, a bit of Hebrew, astrology and science… unfolds a cosmic map of YOUR mind.
This can be a way to re-access love (when combined with meditation) instead of the slavery of churches and traditional religion.
In other words, the battle is within … but it’s best fought with others beside and sitting across from us.
LikeLike