Investing In Ethiopia

By Hanna Kebbede

I had the opportunity to work in Ethiopia during the 1970s and was one of the pioneers of my generation engaged in fieldwork for rural development. As a consequence of my research work, I lived and worked in eleven regions except Tigray and Eritrea both considered war zones at the time. My love for Ethiopia grew during those years when I lived among peasant families and got to know my native homeland. I developed a genuine appreciation for the diversity of its culture, found profound generosity of spirit and fell in love with the people.Ethiopia will always be a part of me, so much of its culture and tradition are part of my genetic information. I crave the spicy food, reminisce my childhood and youth, tune into lamenting traditional music and practice rituals of congeniality. I carry the pain for injustice that occurs and sorrow for all the wasted lives especially for the youth. I have a vivid memory of young boys and girls walking several miles to and from school barefoot and hungry. After many years on this journey, the vast majority have virtually no opportunity to enter college unless they leave the country. Such thoughts bother me because I have not detached from the motherland at my viscera. However, there is a degree of disengagement from feeling helpless, overwhelmed and out of the loop. It complicates any considerations about going back to Ethiopia or even staying for an extended period of time. I love the short visits with family and old friends; enjoy going to Langano and Dire Dawa, but after a while I am ready to come back.I sense that Ethiopia is now a fractured society with a deep chasm between those who never left and those who return from abroad. The rift is all the more pronounced because some escaped the tormenting days of the Mengistu regime. There is evidence of erosion in ethical values and moral principles mostly attributed to the onslaught of the socialist revolution. On its demise, excessive materialism and cut throat competitiveness took the wave of cultural deterioration. Values for personal integrity, word of honor, ethical principle, moral obligation, professionalism and good will are rare and we are astonished when we find them in business or personal relationships. Ethiopia’s communal values are replaced by rugged individualism that justifies the end by any means necessary. With the quality of education spiraling downward it is easy for ill conceived ideas to get adopted by urban communities. These ideas then trickle into the rural communities as desirable elements of progress and modernization. What is the ethos of Ethiopian society today? I guess in the past it was warriorship (gagninet), and it was tied with protecting the land (dar dinber). What is the state of the family? The Mengistu regime and the socialist revolution are to blame for the instability of family authority but the state of children and youth has now reached a critical point. What about the status of women? Whatever strides were made then to protect women against domestic violence, rape and economic injustice, have gone retrograde. Since I left Ethiopia in 1981, my identity as an Ethiopian has put me on an emotional roller coaster. In spite of my attachments, I feel somehow disconnected from the current Ethiopia and often wonder how many others may actually feel as I do? A part of me wants to believe that I have already paid my dues, but the little voice inside says that I need to give back more. A part of me is convinced that serving humanity is the same anywhere yet I feel especially responsible for my native land. My ancestors’ are etched in my mind like my grandmother who lost several sons in the Italian war. She wore black until the day she died and had great pride in her sons who fell defending their nation. I feel as though she entrusted something over to me and I somehow let her down. All of my conflicting inner voices could not drown my passion for Ethiopia. I am constantly provoked by ideas that may help transform the society, but the challenge to reconnect still remains. Economic investments are changing Ethiopia’s physical landscape, but there is lack of ethical principles and moral grounding. Antiquated practices that belittle women, oppress the underdog, and neglect the basic rights of every individual indicate a community’s broken spirit. While I admire people who returned to Ethiopia and are making a difference, I also note how posturing sophisticates segregate themselves in Addis Ababa. They are as much responsible for perpetrating the rift as those who harbor resentment and bitterness over their lot. Ethiopians are fragmented into small communities defined by economic status, social values, political convictions, religious beliefs, and ethnic identity. There is lack of cohesiveness as a community. We need a monumental shift to appreciate our differences and thrive as a nation of diversity. Investing in enlightened thinking to evolve fatalism to positivism, competition to cooperation, and individualism to communalism, might seem like three steps back and some might argue it smells of feudalism. Cut throat competition leads to mental anxiety and depression caused by relentless pressure for success. A fragmented social fabric leads to a high rate of teen age suicide where the elderly are obsolete and substance abuse is the answer to numbing the pain. Is this the vision my grandmother had of Ethiopia when she entrusted it to me? I know her feudal days were unjust to many but there was an unwritten code that even I knew as a child. Personal integrity and honor to preserve the good name of the family were worth more than the mighty dollar. In such moral code were bundled respect for others, good will, consideration, sharing, discretion, rule of law, and many other social values for which people made personal sacrifices every day. While I offer no ready solution, I submit that investing in Ethiopia’s cultural and social development is imperative even to the nation’s sustainable economic growth.Hanna Kebbede worked as planning and management consultant and trainer in several countries in Africa, Asia and Europe with the United Nations and other international organizations. She has an MPA from Harvard University and a BA in Sociology from Washington State University. Hanna lives in Arlington, VA and owns her own business as a content developer, business and technical writer for web and print media. More information on http://www.hanmark.biz