Dulce's Site

February 8 and 20, 2009
When I visit a country, I obviously look for the monuments and sites worth being seen, but I also keep my eyes open to the city itself and I therefore see and take pictures of what is not considered a tourist highlight.
Addis Abeba, the capital city of Ethiopia, is a big city also with the status of a state. Due to its historical, diplomatic and political significance, Addis Abeba is home to the African Union and therefore often referred to as the political capital of Africa. Its name means “new flower” in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia (the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic).
Unlike Cairo, which I visited in 2005, Addis Abeba did not shock me: economical disparity is not visible in the city. This is usually the feeling of foreign tourists travelling to Ethiopia. We see that the economical level is relatively low, but it is equally spread all over the city. We most probably see more people sleeping and living in the streets in Brussels than in Addis Abeba. And when we leave the city and penetrate the rural areas, people live according to their own ancestral traditions. I believe that this state of uniformity is due to the fact that unlike many other African countries, Ethiopia's founding, growth and development are not rooted in colonization. Ethiopia has been an independent state since ancient times and is one of the oldest countries in the world. Only for a short period between 1936 and 1939 (when Ethiopia was invaded by the Italians under Mussolini) was there a danger that the country could be influenced by European standards. Fortunately, this was in fact a short period with no further consequences.