Twenty-four Hours in Addis Ababa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- I have been in Ethiopia for less than 24 hours and have had my first experience with armed robbery.

I was walking around an open-air market -- in broad daylight -- in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, with a friend who has lived here for over a year. The Merkato is considered the biggest open-air market in Africa. With the exception of an Ethiopian contemporary art gallery, it was the one thing in Addis I really wanted to see -- mostly for the photo opportunities.

My friend and I, the only two white people there, spent the afternoon strolling through the market. She chatted with the men and young children calling after us. I took photos: men sitting on the street selling everything from sneakers to power cords to videogame controllers; Muslims lined up on their knees for the afternoon prayer; stalls selling bushels of leaves called chat that men chew as a stimulant; women in a variety of dress -- some Ethiopian Orthodox Christians wearing white veils for church, Muslims in headscarves and some, presumably Somalis, in gowns that fully covered their bodies with only slits for their eyes. One wore a long black gown, fully covered, and as she walked, pretty silver high heels peaked out.

As we were on our way out of the market, two young guys ran up from behind us. One grabbed the digital camera out of my hand. The cord was wrapped around my wrist, so he had to tug. As I soon as I realized what was happening, I let go easily. Just in case.

Then I saw the other young man struggling with my friend for her clutch purse. She put up a decent fight, even running after him a little. Damn it, I thought as I watched my guy take off through the stalls, I should have put up a fight.

But the second guy pulled a knife out on my friend. As soon as she saw the knife, she dropped the purse and fell backwards on the ground. He ran off.

People gathered around, watching. No one ran after the guys or even asked if we were OK.

We quickly found a taxi and jetted away.

I have told a few Ethiopians about the incident, and the reaction has been the same: the Merkato is known for theft, but armed robbery? That is very rare here, they say. A fellow writer told me that armed robbery is almost unheard of in Ethiopia, and that the crime rate here for serious crimes is very low compared to other African countries. He also said that had we gone to the police (which we didn't -- how could they find these guys in a huge market?) -- and they had arrested the men, the men would have gotten 10 years in prison.

I am in Ethiopia with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which will be taking me around the country to visit their maternal health sites. Today we will visit teenage girls who have fled their homes in rural villages due to child marriage and have resettled in the capital. Many now work under harsh conditions as maids for very low-income Ethiopian families. UNFPA helps educate the children and give them life skills.

People in Addis have been friendly; many men and children see a white woman and eagerly begin practicing their English. "You! You!" "Hello." Or they shout out the Amharic words for "Foreigner!" and "White Face!"

The city is not exactly "attractive." Tiny shops line the streets selling beer or snacks. And then out of nowhere, these huge, incredibly gaudy modern hotels pop up. Shack -- shack -- shack -- huge gaudy hotel -- shack -- shack -- shack. To be fair, I have only been here for 24 hours. Maybe the beautiful parts of the city are hiding.

Luckily, though, the modern hotel where I am staying has Internet access in my room, a big TV and a clean, comfortable bed. I will spend much of the week outside Addis, where I hear bedbugs prevail. I will get my rest in Addis, while I can.

Despite the fleas, the rest of the country should be very beautiful -- thank goodness I brought a second camera.

Comments

[civilizedthinker]

"modern hotel where I am staying has Internet access in my room, a big TV and a clean, comfortable bed"
ARE YOU KIDDING? Sorry, but what about the families sleeping on the streets a few YARDS from your hotel? And you are worried about comfy and bed bugs? This is a world editor position? Sign me up!

Hate to disappoint merkato and others hoping for a real report on the state of affairs in Ethiopia, but this series is not going to shed ANY light into the doings of the governemnt or the UNFPA.

Perhaps someone over at The Nation can do some real reporting.

[Keith23]

hi hanna,

we tried to post a comment on sunday when we got your blog but it does not appear here. anyway, we said something like "omg. glad to hear you are all right." hope this one goes through, since your email access is limited at present. looking forward to news of how you are and your next blog posting from there.

[Tilahun Kassaye]

Dear Mrs. Win,

I feel sorry for you on the incident. But, I am really puzzled by your courage to make big conclusions based on your short stay in one corner of Addis. This reminds me of some Ethiopian friends who came to Washington DC and watched the local News on roberry and killings asking me "How do you guys live here?".
Dear Mrs Win, The western media have already done a massive reporting on what is not pleasant about Africa. The obvious but not well reported is what is good about the continent. You flew thousands of miles to duplicate the bad stories. I am not surprised by your haste to do so though the robbery made me sad. There are countless pleasant experiences you can write about Addis if you have a good-will. You have indicated on possibility of bedbugs when you go outside Addis but said nothing on what you might have heard on the beautiful landscape, rare wild animals, kindness of our people, etc. I am not writting this comment to blame you, but to give my piece of advice for you to be a fair blogger or writter so your readers can have both sides of your daily experience. Dwelling on how the giant media portray Africa does not benefit your readers b/c it is merely repetition.

[merkato]

Good to know that you are safe. Please consider these questions in your assessment of UNFPA.

1. The population growth rate in Ethiopia which i believe is high, and the trend of population increase in comparison with the previous two regimes;

2. What role UNFPA is playing when the population is reaching towards 85 million? Is there a significant activity to control the population by UNFPA and other NGOs? What is the problem?

3. Are there a significant familiy planning education and ads. that can bring a change? Is UNFPAs money being used for repeated, unjustifiable (because the same person might receive same training twice or receives training but no one knows what contribution he/ she makes after the training; or there could be a growing culture of training for the sake of training and perdiem by government officers in the name of capacity building)

4. What has the government done towards population control (Has it ignored the issue other than paying lip service and a mention on policy document?)

5. Is UNFPA's money being used to bring a change towards healthy population? Or is it being abused and arbitrarily used for activities which bear no significant result towards educating the population about family planning?

6. I heard that there is rarely an education about family planning on the mass media and there are only very few advertisement posts in the capital city.
Continued on the next comment...

[scrapp]

Dear Hanna,

It is good you are ok.
It is obvious there is a sharp rise in criminal activities in the country mostly due to the rise in corruption and lawlessness among the government officials whose job was supposed to be working for the well being of citizens
As you know the government is nervous in dealing with foreign reporters, you probably went through the reporters permissiion process yourself. A few days ago there was a report that another foreign reporter was briefly detained. Another American citizen was ambushed, detained and deported from Harar. Security has been tight lately, evidently, their nervousness becoming so rediculous.
It is also a common practice among the 'security' thugs of the ruling clan to pay street thugs to do such kind of dirty job as it is often done on local and foreign journalist, opposition leaders and anyone who they think have some valuable information at hand. I believe you fit this category, stay safe if not brave. lol

[overcat]

This unfortunate incident is similarly played out all over the world. I travel quite a bit and I'm a photographer. Cameras have always been a target of thieves because they are highly portable, usually valuable, and generally unconcealed - you can't get the photo if your camera is stowed away. All of that, coupled with the fact that in areas like the market you visited the person with a camera is generally going to be a visitor/tourist, a person who generally doesn't know the lay of the land too well. Tourists are prime marks for thieves. On the other hand, at least this didn't happen in the US where it's highly likely you would've had a gun shoved in your face and maybe been shot.

[Asta B]

I'm sorry about your experience! I visited Addis Ababa three years ago and also wanted to visit the Merkato. Our local guide was unwilling to take as there but finally he agreed to do it. He insisted that we take no cameras or bags with us. He also wore sunglasses all the time so that it would not be so easy to see which direction he was looking at. We had no problem there but I sure got the impression one really has to be careful there.

I'm sure you'll be fine elsewhere!

[Republicnotademocracy]

Welcome to Africa! Marketplaces (or souks as they are known in Arabic) are very, very quaint and colorful. You can pick up bargains galore. You can also get pick-pocketed, and as you found out the hard way, robbed at knife point.
Another tip: NEVER, EVER go to town without at least one male escort, and dress to show little or no skin. Being non-descript is hard, but try.

[Georgianne Nienaber - Huffpost Blogger]

Geez Hanna..be careful. Never had anything remotely like that happen in Congo..not that it does not! Of course be careful and scope out the real story, and then come home.

[merkato]

Look into these and related issues in depth. My assumption is that: UNFPA is not effective in making a difference because it has been operating under the indirect control of the government, which is known for corruption, misuse of resources and under utilization of the scarce aid in the name of capacity gap (used as an execuse), when there is so much economic problem in the country. The majority of the capital city is a slum area and you can see the magnitude of the problem there. Therefore, despite the existence of so much economic and social problems in the country, part of UNFPA's little resource is not utilized on time. Last but not least, I wonder what the government is thinking by seemingly ignoring the fast population growth, ignoring that it will increase the existing acute problems. I think, the government resorted to just play with statistics towards population size, rather than taking planned well designed measures. Please take your time and look into these issues, the results i think will be interesting. I think thease issues should concern UNFPA. Please do not just take what they will show and tell you. Thank you and take care for the rest of your stay.

[merkato]

Good to know that you are safe. Please consider these questions in your assessment of UNFPA.

1. The population growth rate in Ethiopia which i believe is high, and the trend of population increase in comparison with the previous two regimes;

2. What role UNFPA is playing when the population is reaching towards 85 million? Is there a significant activity to control the population by UNFPA and other NGOs? What is the problem?

3. Are there a significant familiy planning education and ads. that can bring a change? Is UNFPAs money being used for repeated, unjustifiable (because the same person might receive same training twice or receives training but no one knows what contribution he/ she makes after the training; or there could be a growing culture of training for the sake of training and perdiem by government officers in the name of capacity building)

4. What has the government done towards population control (Has it ignored the issue other than paying lip service and a mention on policy document?)

5. Is UNFPA's money being used to bring a change towards healthy population? Or is it being abused and arbitrarily used for activities which bear no significant result towards educating the population about family planning?

6. I heard that there is rarely an education about family planning on the mass media and there are only very few advertisement posts in the capital city.
Continued on the next comment...

[Samuel Berhe]

Hanna,

It's unfortunate that you were robbed in a broad daylight; however, I hope that should not get in the way of what you are set out to do. I believe you will be productive with your time there and come up with important research data that could be utilized to allocate resources properly without being wasted and bring about possible solutions. It's a sad fact that early marriage is one of the the many problems that our society has to fight vigoriously and it contributes to over population in a country where the rate the population is growning exponential while resources are not....please be not discouraged by what happened to you and your friend; rather, focus on the change you will bring in those young girls lives.

[Lafiw]

DearHanna
I am so sorry for this bad indecent. As an Ethiopian armed robbery in the capital is a news for me too. But it also shows one portion of the bigger picture that Ethiopians are facing now. Nobody is paying attention to it but this shows that the regime, that do not have any mandate from Ethiopians, is failing in all aspects. In the past, even during the militaristic authoritarian governorship, armed robbery was unthinkable. But now since those who are in power are robbing the country by controlling all of the business sectors under a minority ethnic group, it is no surprise that individuals are engaging themselves in such condemnable acts. We have a saying that roughly goes like "a fish starts to smell from the head". So if those who are in power usurped people's right and rule the country without any kind of representation, why wonder if we hear such kind of acts that is completely alien to our society.

How about the power outage? and the so-called power rationing? It is a surprise to me that you didn't face this problem over there. May be it is because the hotel you're staying can afford to have a generator. The regime that is boasting to "export power" to neighboring countries is NOT able to supply AddisAbeba - "the capital of Africa" - a seat for so many international organizations . . .

I could have said a lot but what a shame to be an Ethiopian

[Winta M]

Excuse me
There is no shame to be an Ethiopian.
The country has full resource to be self sufficient the problem is the government in power
who are leading the country and the people into poverty .
there is also an influence of western who indirectly control and would like the country to be dependent of aid.
Armed robery is a shocking news because this kind of thing has never heard but it is a daily news in the rest of the world we have heard in Uk armed robery taking £44million worth of gold and dimond a month before.
It is just kind of exageration you went to Addis Ababa went to Merkato and this happened .
it can happen anywhere .

[Lafiw]

Winta

It may not be shameful for those who are among the 7 or so million minorities who are "enjoying" the so-called "double digit development and economic prosperity" in the country. For the rest of the majority (70 million) who is in bondage it is still a shame. And quit blaming the West for every single problem you have. Development aid is business for the West and as far as "wedi" Zenawi (beggar-in-chief of Ethiopia) stays in power they will do their business.

[Mesfin Abegaz]

Lafiw, the comment directed at Winta was meant for you.
Winta, my apologies for the mix-up.
Mesfin.

[Lafiw]

Ato Mesfin

I am an Ethiopian but I don't represent Ethiopians - I just represent myself. I don't think you'll claim that representation yourself either. To represent someone or a number of people of you've to have their say and neither I nor yourself are not elected by Ethiopians to represent them. So you need to understand what representation means. However, it is no wonder that you talk about representation because even those who are in power for the past 18 years (may be your are part of them) are not represented by Ethiopians.

Having said that, the Ethiopia I knew and grew up was not like this. In my early years back home I was raised with great Ethiopian ethics (gibregebinet) which are considered as signs of backwardness these days. What happened to Hanna is just the tip of an iceberg. If you've been back home recently you'll understand what I'm talking about. From the Prime Minster to the lowest person in office (mezgeb bet halafi) the country is turned into a den of thieves. So it is no wonder to find some of them in the streets of Addis. So now if this makes you proud that is fine. But it won't make me so.

[Henok Tesfaye]

Dear Hanna,

I am a proud Ethiopian who is currently living in US doing my graduate studies. I feel sorry to what happened to you but I am surprised by the fact that you have run and come into judgment about the largest market in Africa which is Merkato, Addis Ababa, the comfort of the hotels and other things in just one day or so. Please try to fare.... Let me tell you....be it Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Africa or Asia is the same like Your Europe and America. You get some you lose some. Bad incidents like the one happened to you can happen any where in the world. To your surprise, Addis Ababa is a place where you will see people (either foreigners or locals) can move freely. Although Unfortunately poor, Ethiopians are very Proud people who, respect and protect who ever comes to their Land as a guest the way they, have protected their freedom from foreign enemies and colonizers. So I assure you, please enjoy the hospitality of Ethiopians !!!

[Halsey]

:-)....took me THREE weeks after moving to Los Angeles to have a gun shoved in my face in a robbery.(then slammed against the wall with the gun to the back of my head)... ahh...life in the big city...

[Meskel Tekle]

Hanna I am sorry you got bad experience in the short visit to my capital city of Ethoipia, but as you said it, rearly happend.also Ethiopia is an open museum you can enjoy to visit axum ,lalibela,gonder and harer to name a few.also Ethiopian they believe in humans right, this spirit they carried away from 3000 years ago, to prove you can read in the holy bible or koran or you can stay for three months to figure out by yourslef. Ethiopians are most nice people on earth and handsome creat by GODs image.think lucy 3.5 milion years skeleton found, means the first human prove by science and by the bible and also we believe the ark of the covenant placed at aksum with all this values one incident I hope next time you have to visit to rewrite the good side with care and alert and learn the culture. there are bad peole anywhere even in Ethiopia.