Real Rural Ethiopian Life

[tribal_thrash]

I've just come back from the field... an unusually intense experience. For the first time I was in control... well administratively anyway

Comments

[purp1e_magic]

This sounds very similar to stories my mum tells of her youth, though they weren't living in quite so much poverty

[tribal_thrash]

Hmmmm very interesting, I didn't know your mother came from such a background... As much as they have more choice about what to pick and choose, I still feel that the reality of those decisions often entails unexpected consequences, mobile phones coming with 12 year contracts meaning you NEED to have the mony in the bank at the end of the month. As it is, these people don't have the money to have soap, let alone monthly payments. And for the pre-processed food, this is a perfect example of a time-saving product that allows them to do more in a day. But, as with us, disrupt that supply and you'll really the dependency and accountability. If for example Tescos etc all stopped providing us food, we'd all be screwed wouldn't we. This is the freedom I'm talking about. I totally see why everybody would want it, but then we have to acknowledge how potentially exposed it leaves us

[anonymous]

This is a nice one! There is more to everything in rural Ethiopia than just poverty: motherhood, patriarical and gender relationships, religion and culture. Above all, thanks for not looking at the things through European tilted glasses. I.e. for giving a clue of what life is like in these parts of the country to such people who make comments like:"what is wrong with this people? Why can't they have smaller number of children? Why can't they use fertilizers and work hard so that they can feed themselves? blah, blah, blah" GOOD JOB!!

[alyxzandrauk]

And people here whinge on about how hard their lives are.