Real Progress
[Photo By: KPA]
Contrary to popular intellectual belief, building is good.
It gives jobs.
It adds room for people to live, to perform commerce, to attend schooling, to save, and much more.
The running opinion is that it adds congestion. But ordinary people are not so stupid, and they eventually weigh the balance, and demand their construction barons toe some line - if anything by NOT buying.
And Ethiopians are not so stupid. Most people live with their families. The women I talk to (preparing for my
Kidist Foods Expanded Project) talk about adjusting their homes to fit their families, which includes several generations.
Why not build, and thus why not buy? And why not rent, even? People need homes!
This construction I photographed (ab0ve) from my apartment across the street started about six months ago, when I moved into my building. The noise was difficult, often starting as early as 6:30am.
But, I am lucky. I always get up pre-dawn, and finish my most thought-consuming tasks in early dawn. That way, I make no judgment errors in my decisions. And I haven't.
It is interesting, and fun, to watch. And somehow, the laborers avoid the torrential rains, and do just enough (I presume) for the day, to keep on track. Sometimes, they break out into chant.
They are, as far as I can gather, Oromo men, day laborers.
The building next to it, which is a part residential, part commercial building, lights up in the evening with diffuse yellow light (each bulb placed by a window) giving the area a beautiful glow, which is progressively dimmed through the night.
Now, most of the exterior is done, and today I saw the workmen (laborers) bringing in window panes.
I asked, a couple of days ago: "How Long!!!"
The foreman laughed, and said, probably by Inqutatash, the Ethiopian New Year, in September.
Then, I will have been here, in Addis Ababa, a year!
