The capital city of Africa, Addis Ababa, besides its beauty has its own social, economical and political hardships when eyed from the perspective of its native residents. Top ten are opted. Genuine opinion of Addis’s native residents helped my deep personal observation to coin out what really and routinely irritates the public.
TRANSPORTATION (PUBLIC)
The highly increasing number of Addis residents probably is impacting the load to the public transportation service. Long waiting queues of residents waiting for mini /medium level taxis and city buses for an undefined period of time is the commonest thing you see. The queues are the most disciplined way of waiting as very commonly you could also experience fights at the gates of vehicle doors to win for a seat. Ethics of the vehicle operators is another issue that follows even after taking a seat. Passengers can be loaded in confined and stranded pattern-‘you have little right to resist’, the operators made it a habit breaking the government fixed route final stops into smaller routes in a way they could incur you an extra cost. As ‘money’ is the only concern by the operators, whatever commodities can become your travel partner, where you have to enjoy your journey with ‘bad smell’. Don’t ask about the service time validity of the vehicles, that would be a ‘luxury’.
ELECTRICITY
You probably have heard the nickname of this country, ‘the power house of Africa’. Though hoped by many, candles would be swapped only for birthday parties at the verge of the ‘Grand’ dam accomplishment, electricity is yet an issue to worry about. There are still areas where electricity is offered in shifts. You may need to have your kerosene ready, your laptop fully charged, your candles in a place you could easily figure out, your mobile phone double battery as the ‘inconsistent’ and ‘non-reliable’ electricity supply may annoy you at any time you never expected
HOUSE RENT
When it comes to renting a house, you will have no guarantee for the changing of the rates. The prices are far away scaled from a humanity conscious. As a matter of fact, in the middle of the month, you may be given two options; to raise the pay or leave the house. Chasing affordability, most residents prefer wandering to the extremities of the city. ‘Who is Addis for?’, that is probably the question you should ask when you understand what is happening; fresh government university graduates get paid from 67 to 215 USD/month average, the house rents range from 33 to 120 USD/month for just a single room. The common principle is, getting to merge with a friend and share the cost. That probably is the better relief.
WATER SUPPLY
That is yet a paper story if you probably have heard about the richness of the country’s water resources. Water supply has the same pattern as the electricity. There are places, mostly at the extremities of the city, where the tap pipe gets wet with chlorinated water just once in a week. You need to have jars ready which could hold an amount that may serve you the whole week so as you are going to deeply miss sustainable tap water supply for the rest six days
‘UNFAIR’ AND ‘UNEQUAL’ DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH
It shall not surprise you, if one of your colleagues or friend who is working on the same medium class salary level like you owns a mansion or a car overnight. Corruption is quite justifiable here, secretly conducted as a normal practice where some explain the pay scale doesn’t allow them to fulfill life necessities. Becoming richer legally and ethically is quite a struggle says most residents, for one has to compete with corrupted hands who already built a stronghold.
SOCIAL INJUSTICE
New graduates of a university education who had to chase job posts all around Addis had a lot to say and can tell more about nepotism. Bureaucracy is the other issue residents’ face while getting service in public organizations. You may get a privilege and a priority because of your political background and affiliation. As a resident, the moments and opportunities you feel your rights denied and unjustified are too many.
MENTAL STRESS, LOOKING AT EVER ‘SOME METERS’ GAP, IN ‘MOST PLACES,’ AGONIZING STRICKEN MOTHERS/CHILDREN/MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE BEGGING
You probably would ask whether begging has become ‘normalized’ especially if you get the opportunity of going through the streets of ‘Mexico’, ‘Megenagna’, ‘Piasa’ where you can see a bunch of people with different catastrophic health conditions lying on the streets pleading. If you are a man of true conscious, you will have to always fight with yourself seeing those people but passing over them with-out providing any help. How on earth will you feel ok and not complain while your fellows of your same copy are facing the worst challenges human body couldn’t even handle?
THE DUST / UNCLEANLINESS OF THE CITY
‘Gash Abera Mola’, a profound Ethiopian singer and social activity innovator, comes to the minds of many if the agenda is about ‘city beauty’. He was once an ‘engineer’ who triggered the ‘green and clean Addis Ababa’ project social mobilization within the younger generation. Today, Addis’s streets are not like those days; that charisma is not in place. Continuous construction works, unaccountable waste disposal system, strong sunny atmosphere are thought to have made Addis dusty, shabby and rugged.
NOT FEELING ‘SAFE AS A LADY’
Kidnapped by four men, raped continuously for days, and finally died tagged with an excruciating pain. The victim of this true story, ‘’Hanna’’, who once was a public talking point could be a good illustration how ladies should always be vigilant in the cities of Ethiopia. As a lady, you may have to face men poking you along your way on the streets .It could probably would make you lucky if you experience zero pokes. You may end up unlucky, and be threatened or harassed. I am a personal witness for this. My fiancé who is a university student has experienced repeated sexual insults from her teachers. Refusing their requests has affected her grades. This is not a strange news for so many of the ladies attending college studies.
INTERNET CONNECTION
‘Internet’, you need to wander and search for internet cafes if you have to feel a ‘little better speedy’ in connecting to the world. The big hotels probably could provide you a medium range speed connection, most of the time that doesn’t even work. But for me, as a researcher who has to connect with a professor abroad atleast once in a day, I spent too many coins for internet but the volume I have used and the satisfaction I have with the service is extremely low. Once, I remember spending 50 ETB for my 3G mobile internet data connection: The puzzle of this story was, I ended up with a 0 balance hours later, without even checking my mails.
AUTHOR BIO: [Menebo Mesay Moges] Born on Earth, in a place 7.8570335 Latitude, Longitude. I love wandering around this planet in case I may understand a little about the secrecy behind this world. By profession, I am a pharmacist, supply chain professional and currently a masters student but by interest I could suit anywhere; Journalism, IT, Photography are few on the priority list.
