Dear Ethiopia
Actually, why am I starting with the word dear, when what I really want to say is, “fuck you”! It’s difficult to hold anything dear about a place that has institutionalised the ripping off of visitors and does so with a level of contempt that may well be unique. If it was just me that had similar thoughts, I’d keep my whining to myself and any other embittered travellers for when we’d had a few too many beers, but too many other veterans of the continent have all came to a similar conclusion: that your commitment to hassling foreigners is in a class of its own. I’ve been to over twenty countries in Africa, where I have endured the kind of demanding environments that keep 99% of backpackers well away, yet left with great memories, good friends and the urge to return. And return I have done, on several occasions to a number of countries. But you are not the Africa I knew before having the misfortune to cross the border.
You do have some nice religious paintings though. Have you considered actually following the teachings of Jesus?
So what makes you a special case? In many respects you’ve got a lot more going for you than just about every sub-Saharan, African country, in terms of things to offer tourists, particularly as your ancestors built things out of rock, rather than wood and mud, so there is a solid cultural heritage stamped onto your ancient buildings. Anyone not impressed by the carved stone churches of Lalibela or the seething lava lake of Erte Ale needs to have a cv that starts with, “surfed the rings of Saturn”, or some such feat, to justify a, “yeah,whatever”, to your physical charms.
Just one of the amazing churches of Lalibela
Ethiopian Orthodox priest
It’s not simply the extent of wanting to relieve us of as much money as possible, which extends well beyond the high-profile tourist spots, but the rank cynicism with which its done. Take an early encounter I had with a couple of students in Gonder who invited me to a “party”. This social function consisted of sitting in a dilapidated shack with a number of dubious males, chewing chat (the popular stimulant in the region) smoking shishas and talking shit for a couple of hours. So, whats the problem? Well none up to this point, it’s exactly the kind of thing I’ve always loved doing, even if it could be prosecuted under the Trades Description Act for being referred to as a party. It was clearly a little facet of everyday life for some in the country and such opportunities are not to be missed. In such situations I always know its going to cost me some money and something for which I am happy to pay more than my share when I know I am with people in a poor country who have limited funds. It seems only right for an insight into a culture.
Even the goats are off their heads, as they gobble up every last scrap of unused chat
What I wasn’t prepared for was the bill for the other six guys sitting with us as well, who’d been tucking into the chat and puffing away at the shishas, and to then be fed a load of bullshit excuses for why I should be paying for everything and everyone, ignoring that it was they who invited me, not the other way round. One kept saying, “it’s our culture”, as if that was some kind of justification. Well, if your culture means luring foreigners in on false pretences so you can get shit faced for free, then you know which orifice you can shove your culture up. It seems somewhat pertinent that their favourite subject matter was economics. I might add that, even if the bill was a legitimate piece of arithmetic, which I doubt, as it came to nearly $45, it wasn’t the kind of sum that my budget allows me to shrug off without using a broad selection of expletives from my extensive vocabulary of insults. Generally speaking, it is not the African way to solve disagreements by shouting, “you’re taking the fucking piss you fucking wanker” at people, but my anger at being continually regarded as nothing more than a fat, white wallet meant that I usually opted for this mode of communication in such circumstances. After following my expletive laden diatribes with me telling them what I was going to pay them, it did prove, in later encounters, to be more of an effective negotiating technique than quiet diplomacy, as shameful as it may be.
Worshipers at an early morning ceremony at Lalibela. Almost certainly an example of nice Ethiopians
In most countries I travel in I am happy to aimlessly wander around, say hello to everyone and go where the encounters take me but after a few conversations on the street which proved to be solely motivated by what the speaker could get out of me, you start to avoid entering into anything more than brief hellos and swiftly moving on. Maybe I missed a richly, rewarding occasion in stimulating company because of it, I certainly missed out on a procession of cynical leeches looking for a free beer though. Don’t get me wrong, you are a poor country and life is bloody hard for a lot of people and I’ll gladly buy drinks and food for those who are prepared to share a bit of their time and life experiences with me but not when it’s simply just a facade for financial extraction.
For some, these practices were so engrained that the notion that foreigners might be treated in any other way was not a concept that had ever entered their heads. Twice, when drinking with some of the nice examples of your population (yes there are some, I am not condemning every last one of you to eternal torment in the Pits of Hell) who insisted on paying the bill and translate the waitress’s reply, explained that they’d said, “why are you only paying that much? he’s a foreigner”! Although the, “is that it”? look on their faces didn’t require translation, anyway. It’s one thing to disrespect a tourist but to disrespect your own people because they are socialising with one is low, really low! Of course, even at the levels of tourism you have you are bound to get some of this kind of behaviour almost anywhere in the world, but even in a small village, where it was difficult to imagine that any tourist would have bothered going unless they had developed a penchant for walking around in goat shit, the kids had only learnt two words: you and money. Not that I blame the kids but it’s difficult to see how they act that way with strangers unless it’s taught to them by adults. Why not try just being nice to people? You’ll be surprised how effective it is.
Amazing crystal formations at Lake Assal in the Danakil Depression
While we are on the subject of the charming, little, snot faced turds, it’s about time I mentioned the stone throwing. Having one of the grinning bastards throwing stones may have only happened to me once in my stay, but several other travellers I’ve spoken to over the years have talked about having gangs of kids chucking rocks at them. Don’t tell me, “it’s just our culture”, nowhere is that a quaint way of welcoming guests. If you really don’t want us to come, then fine, don’t give us visas and put, “white people fuck off”, signs at the borders, I can respect that level of honesty. If not, include, “throwing rocks at people is not nice”, in the school curriculum.
At least the young girls were often too shy to be as annoying as their brothers
You could take a look at your neighbour, Sudan: equally demanding quality of life, but not once in my entire month there did I have a single encounter with a person who treated me with any kind of disrespect; if anyone overcharged me it can’t have been of enough consequence for it to set any alarm bells ringing on the rip off monitor. Unlike with you, where demanding three times the going rate for a mini bus journey and talking as if you are doing me a favour is entirely respectable behaviour and I might add there were worse examples than that, which naturally required a lot of swearing to deal with.
Of course, this is all just the ungrateful ranting of white privilege. I am fortunate enough to know where my next meal is coming from and can return to the world of flush toilets and porcelain tiling whenever I want. I’ll never have to choose between spending my week’s money on food or medicine to keep a baby alive. Also however, I don’t live in the world of gleaming spires and smoked glass 4×4’s. I’ve travelled more than most in Africa and have seen how many have to make the kind of hard decisions every day of their lives that most westerners never have to think about, not least because I count some of those Africans as my friends. And I am pretty sure that they’ve got bigger problems than worrying about some white guy whose had to pay too much for some stuff, somewhere. But, do you want a tourist industry that’s going to get bigger, bringing in foreign currency and creating more jobs? Because, if someone like me doesn’t want to come back to visit you again I am pretty sure not many other people will either.
You do have some fabulous vegan food, which made a change from the inedible, chewy animal parts usually on offer
I might add that if you are going to keep insisting on shooting your own people because they have the impertinence to ask for more equality and justice, you are going to lose a lot more than your tourist industry, try Googling Syria, news, and see what comes up. It might not have registered much in the foreign media yet but it will do and if you want to know what machine gunning innocent people does to tourist industries just ask Egypt – the Pyramids are much better known than anything you have but they don’t see many visitors these days.
The highly efficient recycling market in Harar
Just to show that I am not a totally, miserable old tosser, in spite of everything I’ve said I am going to give you the last laugh. As I said earlier, you are not all a scheming bunch of jizz bags and as luck would have it, I did end up meeting a rather nice lady, who actually liked me enough to want me to come back. Bearing in mind that among her not inconsiderable and more visible charms, was a dedication to ensuring a fair pricing structure for all of our purchases and that, as years of meetings with the fairer sex have taught me, I have all the sexual allure of a second-hand wheel barrow, it’s an offer that’s too tempting to turn down. So, I now have to come back and visit you again.
God! I hate you Ethiopia.
I would ask readers to look at the comments section below and see my exchange with the Ethiopian Jos to get a better appreciation of this issue.
Graham, entertaining and informative as usual! Also, your ‘disrespectful’ language is strangely respectful: it is better to be honest than ‘nice’.
Happy travels…
Thanks Martin, I like a balance between outright abuse and constructive criticism. Hope married life is treating you well
Oh well fuck you, too.. 🙂
And again, you have a point. And I am sorry that you had such an experience. I think, partially it might be because the way you travelled around. It doesn’t matter if you are a “ferenji” or not, if you follow around some unemployed youth, who claim to be “students”, it’s inevitable that they would want to take advantage of you. Not only in Ethiopia, but anywhere in the world. Actually, I can think of so many place in the world, where you would have been physically harmed by such group of “students”. Yes. It could be annoying that they siphoned a little more than your budget. But, c’man, give’em a break. Pretty please.. 🙁
The xenophobic type of encounter that you may have with some people may have some societal, cultural and historical reasons. But, trust me it is skin deep. I guarantee you we approach white people with way way way way way much less resentment than any other Africans. Our relationship with Europeans is not based on colonial history like many of our peers in Africa. Therefore, we may see you as a bit odd thing, especially in rural areas. But, not with contempt, hate or resentment. I agree with you, however that we need to teach village kids not throw stones and being hanger ons with tourists.
If you like some things and especially the good, you are bound to come back. (Please, do come back) The country is vast. Try to explore some areas that you have not seen before. You probably will have a different experience. One thing I like pd from what you have written is that you are not a condescending prick with a tinge of bigotry as many backpacking “tourists” with blogs. You are just pissed and a bit naive… I hope and pray that you will be back and see some places that you have not seen before and enjoy it this time. Have a good one…
Hi Jos, it’s great to hear from an Ethiopian and of course you make some reasonable points. I realise that trying to make my points with some kind of humour means that I was always going to invite some criticism but I hope that’s a useful tool in starting a discussion. As you said and I hope I made clear myself, such things can happen in a lot of places but it seemed to me to be a far more widespread in Ethiopia and if plenty of other people with a lot of experience of Africa had not made the same point I wouldn’t have dreamed of writing the piece. I am not sure that the colonial issue is really appropriate as if anything I have only been received with kindliness in places that have good reason to resent my country’s history, being British. Sudan and Bangladesh are good cases in point where it was me pointing out British crimes to people talking about our shared histories. Is it not possible that Ethiopia’s rejection of colonialism, something of which you should be rightly proud, may have even had the opposite effect with some people? I say that knowing full well my own country’s colonial history still generates far more objectional characteristics in some people than anything I experienced in Ethiopia. I certainly wouldn’t describe anyone I met as racist, something Britain is not short of at the moment. Nevertheless I have simply not encountered the resentment you talk about to any great extent elsewhere in Africa. Sure I get overcharged in other places but it is more a matter of degree than the fact it occurs. I don’t have a fit if I am asked for $2 for a $1 bus fair but $5, I am not going to apologise for getting angry about it. I could have given more examples but I didn’t think it necessary to make my point. As for being naive, I think my extensive experience of Africa as well as dozens of other countries speaks for itself. However I could have made more effort to make it clear that such behaviour can in no way be blamed on anything but a minority of Ethiopians, particularly with the great range of cultures that exist.
I suppose my anger might be best directed at those in government who have the power to influence public opinion and make it clear about the importance of the tourist industry. I sincerely hope that the current troubles can be resolved without violence for the benefit of all the people, certainly not just the tourist industry.
I look forward to your response or any thoughts others you know may have
Graham,
Thank you so much for your reply. I just wanted to give you a different perspective than you have on some apparent resentment you may have encountered. Until very recently, especially in Northern and middle Ethiopian highlands foreigners, especially white Europeans are seen in great suspicion no matter what they were doing there. Former US Ambassador (1996-1999) to Ethiopia David Shinn once said that every time he goes with group of Ethiopians to the northern highlands and tries to communicate to regular folks, the people would tell the Ethiopian translators, who were with him “..We don’t care who they are, we don’t care what they do, just get’em outta here..” It’s a culture of suspicion that has been inherited and passed on from generation to generation for so long. It’s not actual resentment. Trust me. You would have understood what I am talking about, if there was no language barrier. If the people spoke English and if you were able to communicate with them easily, I really do believe that you wouldn’t identify what you have encountered as “resentment” but rather some annoying factor that you would brush off. For example, you would not have been over charged, if you can haggle in Amharic or if vendors and service providers are fluent in English. You had more pleasant experience in other African countries, because I believe that you were able to communicate much easier with the people. And many were able to mask what they really feel about you, because they are much more equipped with the ability to speak to you in a language that you are more comfortable with. Allow me to show you something. This young man is your fellow British, who is very very fluent in Amharic. Look at the Ethiopian’s reaction to him, when he speaks to them in English and then in Amharic. This is not in Ethiopia. This is in the middle of London. Most people were pretty much indifferent to his friendly greetings, until he starts talking to them in Amharic. The minute that they realize that he understands their language, his skin color or British heritage went out of the window. That is why I said what looks resentment is really skin deep. It’s about understanding. http://youtu.be/eefmOxYcrXU
In his other short videos, (you can watch them, when you have time) the same gentleman helps people like you to navigate the country and the culture. I hope my “rant” helps you to understand the point I am trying to make. We Ethiopians explain ourselves to foreigners by saying that “look we are like onions. We have so many layers. When you peel few of our layers we make you cry, but at the end you’ll find out how essential we are, just like an onion is to a good meal” (My English translation is too long for that adage. Sorry about that.) Please don’t hesitate to ask me anything, you wish about Ethiopia. I have worked with the travel industry for so long, I might help with some of your questions.
Hi Jos Thanks for the background info and thoughts. I am happy to accept that in using words like resentment and comtempt I may have misrepresented the motivations behind some people’s actions, which is why your input here is so valuable. I will add a note to the post asking people to read your comments to get your perspective. Whilst you are absolutely right to say that being able to speak the language anywhere will open doors and give people a positive impression that does not mean that the opposite is true. I have been to many places with almost no undertsanding of the language and been treated with respect by people who will gladly engage with me in whatever way we can. Secondly every where I go I always learn basic greetings, please, thankyou and a few expressios at least and Ethiopia was no exception. However, I only rarely felt that anyone ever appreciated my efforts (those that did seemed to be more tourist industry professionals in the broader sense), whereas in many countries I have seen faces light up with joy on hearing my attempts – thats not to say everywhere is like that so I wouldnt suggest Ethiopia is a unique exception. Moreover the problems I had were with people who spoke English very well, I would never have offered such opinions based on encounters where I had limited ability to communicate with people as I am only too aware of the almost certainty of misunderstanding people. If anything, even when I feel aggreived after some encounter where communication ability was extremely limited I refuse to come to any firm conclusions at all and accept that it was probably a misunderstanding.
The bottom line is that no matter what the limitations are on my understanding of Ethiopian cultures, I and many other people have had similar experiences. Although its important to put them in perspective, which I attempted to do in my piece and you certainly are helping me to do so here, the Ethiopian tourist industry is always going to be facing an uphill battle in gaining return visitors – a vital element to building the industry and bringing in money and employment along the way. I didnt write the piece with the intention of putting people off visiting, as the country has so much to offer but to address this issue of generating return visits. If I have failed in this I apologise and I accept that my sense of humour doesnt work for everyone by any means.
Maybe people on guided tours get shielded from some of the worse behaviour and have someone like yourself to ensure constructive relations with those they meet but even if I could afford that kind of travel I wouldnt because I am more interetsed in direct contact with people. Thats not to say I dont recognise and appreciate the importance of guides, they have often been a vital part of my means of gaining an understanding of cultures, its just that I dont want to spend two weeks on a fixed itinerary. With the quality of many of the roads now in the country much of the tourism may be of the organised form so visitors dont experience much of what I did but I struggle to see how independent travelers can avoid it.
This is legendary. A mere traveler has seen through the issue of Ethiopia that still is a problem today. I have live in ethiopia since 2003. And i couldnt agree more. I have visited many developing nations but no place has folks with such malice. Ethiopians needs to swallow their petty pride and accept they have a problem within their people. Lemme give a cold reality of Ethiopia. You’re not in golden age of king Menelik anymore. Ethiopian economy solely depends on chinese loan, if the chinese wants you dead, your nation is finished. Ethiopian gas stations cannot have fuel all the time cause Ethiopia cannot afford to pay promised installation to saudi. You are the few last remaining nations in the world where Mcdonalds refuses to make invest to open a branch along side with North Korea. Ethiopia isnt member of WTO while freaking Afghanistan is. That just shameful.
If any Ethiopian is reading this. Try to process this. While you pamper yourselves with useless pride. Others have moved towards progress. More you lingers longer you stay backwards. The choice is yours.
We have to be careful not to damn the entire nation. The attitude you talk about may well exist but given the huge variety of people I’d doubt that all the ethnic groups have the same attitude – i suspect many have far greater allegiance to their own people than any mythical ideas about the state of the nation.
So so much true 🤩 …. I understand people of ethiopia ,i live near ethiopia border, Kenyan sides moyale”talk truth even if it is bitter”.am with you 💯..i don’t wish to pass border and enter ethiopia sides except for purpose..stay blessed and be well you genius💪
To CCH, as an Ethiopian i am extremely offended by what you said, HOW DARE YOU say something so disprespectful and demeaning about another country, i don’t give two fucks that you’ve lived there since 2003, I’ve lived there since 1983, guess what everyone has their own problems, but how dare you say to to ethiopia, to SWALLOW UP THEIR PRIDE, GUESS WHAT WE WEREN’T CONLISED, AND WE ARE PROUD OF MENELIK, WE JUST CELEBRATE AND APPREACIATE OUR HISTORY, SO IF YOU DARE TRY TELL ANY ETHIOPIAN THAT THEY SHOULD SWALLOW THEIR PRIDE, I HOPE THEY SMACK YOU RIGHT ACROSS YOUR FACE, SO HOW ABOUT YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP, AND BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF FOR EVEN HAVING THE COURAGE TO WRITE THAT.
To my dear proud ethiopian friend.
You dont have to worry about me. I have left ethiopia ages ago. And i thank god for it. Your comment itself just proves me right. The proud of the menelik is busy fighting each other. While the whole nation should have moved for progress. No ethiopian has time to smack me cause they are busy smacking each other. Your civil war is no accident or sabotage of the west. It was predicted time bomb. so long your politicians have used ethinic pride as tool to get them elected. Now it has backfired deadly as it gets. I think you should be ashamed of yourself, living in ethiopia all these years trying to stop the mad wave of tribal nationalism. Instead you pamper youself with it you got its ultimate prize.
Do you think it will all get better once the war is over? You have an astronomical debt from both china and UAE which will never be paid they way ethiopian economy acts. As an economist my observation is that ethiopia is one step away from being failed state. The only solution for ethiopian economy is claiming default turning over the authority of your economy to international organization. But we know that will only happen when ethiopians end this petty pride civil war and actually acknowledging that ethiopia is a failed state. So what stops this? Petty pride.
Truth is that ethiopian has alot of pride,i can say that without fear of anyone or anything!!!… ethiopia lonely planet,,
So typical of western man that most visit third world country’s, they come to Ethiopia and other country’s to have sex with children and party the night with prostitution. So typical!
Hate speech @petter to white people
Everyone has freedom to do or don’t anything,,,i have never heard white tourist rape ethio gals ,,peter from your name ,,you seem to be Kenyan ,i dont care if not too..my point is not am Kenyan so i advice you no not like that, its both way round ,,to anyone with search comment,,even if a single white man do wrongs its not all ..
Inshort you try to force things and say Ethiopians are r right whites are wrong…without any good justification ,things arenot like black and white and as simple as like that the way u show as here,even in front of court of law ,u will be answerable wat u says with your tongue disrespecting other colour ,jealousy sort of things seem disturbing you…rem if you want to be like Ethiopia poor and jealousy u would die soon..