How the world was before globalisation

Without any prior experiences in sub-Saharan Africa, it is difficult to put a visit to Ethiopia in its proper context. But, without doubt, it was the least developed place I've ever been, which made three and a half weeks there feel a bit like a roller coaster ride. The highlights of the trip were extremely high, but these were balanced out by the hassle of being of European descent in Ethiopia (the locals seem to feel an entitlement towards your money, so genuine friendliness – commonplace in Indonesia – was rare in Ethiopia).

Asia and South America both feel a bit more developed thanks to cheap labour, which has drawn firms by the thousands to set up shop and indirectly provided a reasonably complete infrastructure (power, transport, water, etc.). Ethiopia seems to be a land that globalisation skipped, despite a similar supply of cheap labour. USAID (the international aid arm of the US Government) seems to be a main supplier of foodstuffs – one day in Lalibela, we watched a parade of locals march by, alongside their donkeys laden with USAID 100kg sorghum sacks and vegetable oil. The Chinese government is just beginning to build paved roads (with imported Chinese labour!) – though, the dominant form of transport, by a long shot, is still walking (up to 50km/day in rural areas). Main streets are chock full of locals walking up and down, going about their daily buisness – in scenes probably not too distant from what it was like 100 years ago in the US and NZ. The internet doesn't really function yet – mostly because the two necessary infrastructures (telephone and power) are extremely unreliable. There were only four days out of 24 where both were functioning at the same time, and even then, most Ethiopian runners could run 10km barefoot in the time it took to download an e-mail (just to have the power go out before completing a reply).





So travel is tough, but a lack of power, internet, phones, and, somethimes, water, is a great way to experience a more simple life. In the next few posts, I'll be quickly summarising the more interesting bits of Ethiopia from my experience. As a fiercly anti-colonial state – Ethiopia was not taken under the wing of a European state (only a brief takeover by Mussolini) – it retains a culture and history to rival any European country. The natural scenery is equally astounding; most of populated Ethiopia are fertile ex-volcanic highlands, with landscapes that seem to combine New Zealand, the Grand Canyon and Utah's Monument Valley all in the same spot. And the simple life itself can also be extremely interesting – where else could you have a chat with someone who had no concept of what the USA was or ask if women in our culture also had a 9-month gestation period?

Photos:
Top - Aid distribution in Lalibela
Bottom - An Ethiopian highway - the main "road" to rural settlements north of Lalibela