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"Everybody must get stoned" </br> Bob Dylan

Northern Ethiopia to Addis Ababa. March � April

Roundtheworldbybike
2005-11-18 11:01:39

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Say Ethiopia to me and I would have thought of Bob Geldof and speedy runners. After two weeks in the country those thoughts are still prominent. Cycling through Ethiopia involves a crowd of up to 40 children running alongside you for a couple of kilometres after every village. At the same time they keep up a relentless shout of �YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU!� and �MONEY! MONEY! MONEY! GIVE ME MONEY!� Decades of foreign aid (epitomised by Geldoff�s impressive efforts) have produced a knee-jerk reaction in this nation: if you are white you are rich, therefore give me money. As I pass by they express their disappointment by hurling stones at me.

I am no longer a person, I am a mobile cash point. Something has gone seriously wrong somewhere (see article below).

The change from Sudan is drastic. It is not only cultural and behavioural, the dress of the people changes too. From flowing white galabeyahs and colourful draped robes to ragged mohican-haired children with necklaces of old keys, nuts, bolts, shells and whatever else they have found lying around. The men wear very skimpy shorts and tattered t-shirts, usually beneath a blanket gracefully wrapped over the shoulders. With a shortage of public transport the roads are busy with people walking. Women walk shaded beneath umbrellas, a strange sight. Men usually carry a stout staff across their shoulders as they walk. Barefoot people and donkeys vastly outnumber fume-spewing rattling vehicles. This is by far the poorest nation I have ever visited.

Poverty and the issue of money hang constantly in the atmosphere. Larger towns are busy with beggars suffering every variety of physical disability, skin ailment, disfigurement, disease and blindness imaginable. Most could easily be helped with basic medical treatment. There is a never-ending circle of people around me pleading for money. There are a lot of issues I am struggling to get my head ...