Interview and Analysis of Ethiopia Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa and is a landlocked country. The countries that border Ethiopia are Kenya to the south, Djibouti and Eritrea to the northeast, Somalia to the east, and Sudan to the west. Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia and is located in the heart of the country. The population of Ethiopia is approximately 32.2 million people. The population growth continues to remain high at 2.76 percent and it’s estimated that that the population could reach 90.0 million people by 2015. Ethiopia has over 83 different languages with about 200 different dialects. The largest and most common are Oromos, Amharas, and Tigrayans. The ancient language of Ge’ez was first introduced as the official written language when the Sabeans sought refuge in Aksum. The official national language of Ethiopia is Amharic. Large widely spoken languages include; English, Arabic, French, and Italian. The languages of Ethiopia are broken down into four major language groups; Semitic, Omotic, Nilo-Saharan, and Cushitic. In Ethiopia there are two main religions, Orthodox Christianity and Islam. These religions have coexisted since Mohammed’s time. If you were to visit a church the priests are always happy to have guests. Every church has three or four entrances. The east entrance is only for the priest, the south is for women, and the north is for men. The last entrance, the western one can be used by men or women. Once inside women sit on the right and men to the left. Visitors can use any entrance except the eastern one and they don’t have to use segregated seating. Marriages in Ethiopia are often arranged by the parents of the groom and the bride. A great deal of negotiation takes place. Tradition states that a bride must be a virgin at the time of marriage. Incest is highly forbidden and the parents do an investigation of five generations of the bride and groom to make sure there is no blood line. A mediator is utilized and is sent to the would be bride’s parents with the parents of the bride imposing conditions. Then the mediator takes the messages to the groom’s parents. If the conditions are met the preparations move forward and the engagement date is set. The typical wedding day has a certain agenda. The day begins with dances and music. The bridge’s parents give a dowry to the groom. Common dowries are money or cattle. The celebration after the wedding takes place at the groom’s house.
The honeymoon is one week to three months long and is contingent on wealth. The bride isn’t allowed to step outside during the day, but is allowed to go out after sunset with the bridesmaid accompanying her. Once the honeymoon is over, the bride and groom return to the bride’s house for a period of time.
Family makeup in Ethiopia generally includes the extended family. Ties to family and strong bonds are valued. A household can be from one to six people in which half are children less than ten years of age. There are no nursing homes in Africa, and if there are any they are few and far between. When there is a time of crisis a family will take full responsibility for a family member with problems. Problems can range from financial, social, health, etc. If there is an argument it is settled by the elders of the community. This society respects their elders and is accepting of their wisdom and advice.
Clothing in Ethiopia varies widely. A traditional type of dress for the Christian highland peasantry has traditionally been white cotton cloth. Men wear long, jodhpur-like trousers, tight fitting shirts, and a loose wrap also known as a shamma. Muslims on the other hand wear very colorful clothes. Men wear shirt trousers and colorful wraps while women dress in fine dresses of black, purple, and red. Western attire has had an influence and is not substituting for traditional dress. During festivals national dress is worn and you can see a sea of white finely woven cotton dresses, wraps that are decorated with colored borders, and suits. Both religions wear jewelry such as silver and gold with glass beads or amber. Anklets are made of heavy brass and ivory bracelets are worn as well.
Track events are what Ethiopia is best known for, especially the middle distance and long distance runners. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics Ethiopia took fifth place in the world for its running events. The most popular sport in Ethiopia is soccer. During 1962 the national team won the African Cup of Nations. Stick fighting is also a sport which is more commonly known as martial arts in which a long, skinny, blunt, wooden stick such as a cane is used. Stick fights are an important part of their culture especially in tribes. Surma people have stick fights to show off and to look for a bride while Nyangotam people have stick fights to inflict stripes on the back of their opponent. Other sports include boxing, basketball, volleyball, cycling, and tennis.
Recreation in Ethiopia is primarily dominated by spending time with close family and friends. Coffee ceremonies take place in which guests are expected to drink at least three cups of coffee. Children enjoy playing jacks, swinging, and skipping. A popular board game is Gebata in which players accumulate as many pebbles as they can by moving them on the board which has six holes on each side. In the city people go to films, nightclubs, and theatres. Some bars have Italian billiards.
Media in Ethiopia is television and radio, both of which are under control of the Ethiopian government. They have newspapers and magazines as well. There are a total of 10 broadcast stations, eight AM, and two shortwave in which all are licensed to operate in Ethiopia. Radio broadcasts occur in a variety of languages to keep with government policy. Only a small percentage of the population is served with print media due to poverty, illiteracy, and poor distribution.
Ethiopian food is mainly made up of vegetable and very spicy meat dishes. One of these is called wat which is a thick stew served on top of injera, a large sourdough flatbread. Ethiopians use their right hands to eat and use pieces of injera to pick up bits of food. Breads, stews, grains, and spices are present in almost every meal. Gurage suicine uses false nanan plant which is pulverized to create bread like food called qocho or kocho. Pasta is available all over Ethiopia. Coffee is an essential part of culture as coffee ceremonies typically take place after a meal. A combination of powered chili and other spices also known as Berbere is an important ingredient used is many meals. Ethiopians are known to fast and have developed lots of different cooking sources to use instead of animal fat as that is forbidden during fasting time.
Major exports of Ethiopia are coffee which accounts for almost 65% of foreign exports. Starbucks signed an export partnership in 2007 with Ethiopia. Livestock is another major export and Ethiopia holds the tenth position in terms on production. Other exports are gold, leather, oil seeds, and khat. Imports for Ethiopia are food, machinery, animals, fuel, cereals, transport equipment, textiles, and vehicles. The largest import partner is China. A favorable balance of trade is not favorable in Ethiopia.
Education in Ethiopia consists of eight years of primary school, two years of lower secondary school, and two years of higher secondary school. Children are desperate to attend school and the most common age to enroll is at seven years of age. Some can start earlier with private fee paying kindergartens in some cities. Time spent at a university is from three to six years. As an undergrad you are not always given a choice of location or course. Attending college is free, but after gradation students have to pay it back when they are employed.
Ethiopia government has quite a bit of control over some forms of technology such as Skype, Google Voice, and any other video chat service. It’s a crime to use video or audio communication using Voice over Internet Protocol. There is a fifteen year sentence for using these forms of technology. Ethiopia is known to record and censor communication activities. Internet in Ethiopia is limited in speed and access, only 0.4% of the population has access to the web. Ethiopia is known to have strong opposing reactions to advances in technology before adopting them. The country does have satellite dishes and uses credit cards.
Infrastructure in Ethiopia is developing. A major success was the development of Ethiopia Airlines which is a regional carrier. Other successes are expanding access to water and sanitation and upgrading its network of truck roads. The roads are maintained poorly and this brings challenges of accessibility. The challenge of power is further evident as generating plants have been needed over the next decade due to the doubling of capacity.
Jobs and business opportunities that exist in Ethiopia are varied. Maize and wheat plants are growing as this is a staple for the country. Real estate and construction have grown as the country has become more developed. 85% of the population depends on agriculture for employment, so anything in regards to food processing will offer plenty of opportunities. Coffee is the main export for Ethiopia and is the most important cash crop. There are opportunities for private production and processing of coffee. In the textile, food and beverage, electronic, nonmetallic mineral, and garment industry many manufacturing opportunities exist.
Ethiopia is the oldest country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. In the fourth century missionaries from Egypt and Syria reached Ethiopia and introduced Christianity. The rise of Islam in the seventh century resulted in Ethiopia being isolated from European Christianity. In the 1700s for about 100 years there was no central power in Ethiopia. The transitional Government of Ethiopia was set up from the EPRDF along with other political parties in the country in 1991. In December 1994 the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was adopted. In 1995 elections were held and the government was installed in August of that year.

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