Issue 24- Oct/Nov 2016
CONTENTS Eminence Spotlight 8 Price Fluctuations on Hotel Rates Threatens to Push Addis among the Topmost Pricy List
g of Pricin rs lie Hote is d in Ad
11 Receiving the Challenges of Developing Ethiopia’s Fashion Sector. 14 Meseret: Laying Foundation for Young Girls and Mothers
Hospitality 3600
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16 Gullele Botanical Garden: Pioneering Eco-Tourism in Ethiopia 18. Eliana Hotel: Bringing Prestige to Old Arada 20. MoCT Upbeat on Tourism Sector Performance Despite Concerns
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Cultural Panorama 26. Deciphering the Fetha Negest 26. Bonga, Kaffa: The Lungs of Ethiopia
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28. Degrees of Success Ethiopia’s Art Scene is Bright and Getting Brighter
Made in Ethiopia 30. Juggling Careers Opens Business Niche for Nannies 32. Ethiopian Fashion Scene Seeing Renewed Interest 34. Hotel Celeste: A hotel whose designs and Decorations are Inspired by Ethiopian Art 36. Illegal Construction and Rickshaws Threaten Harar’s Hyena Attractions
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Reflections 38. Things to Know Before Packing Your Medcines to Ethiopia
Entertainment 40. Classifieds http://www.theeminencemagazine.com
Asnake Amanuel ( Founder ) aamanuel@eminence-se.com Dawit Kebede (CEO) Dkebede@eminence-se.com Managing Editor Tsewaye Muluneh tmuluneh@eminence-se.com
EDITOR’S NOTE
Editor-in- Chief Frehiwot Gebrewold fgebrewold@eminence-se.com Lideta s.c Woreda 04 H. No 175
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henever working to attract more tourists into a country or planning to increase the number of tourists, the first thing that comes to mind is having a developed infrastructure. That’s the most basic need and that’s why Ethiopia is working towards developing its infrastructure. The capital, Addis Ababa, is experiencing a construction boom at every corner. Among the new buildings, most are hotels; both local and international brands. Roads are also being constructed in the city and make the traveling smoother for tourists to the country. However, when planning to increase the number of visitors and tourists, the country also needs to take its cleanness into consideration; specifically the cleanness of its capital, Addis Ababa. As the saying goes, “first impressions last” and Addis Ababa is the very first place most tourists see when they come to Ethiopia. Taking this into consideration, the city administration needs to work very hard to make the city eye-catching and enjoyable. One of the main reasons that make the city to be dusty during the dry season and muddy during the rainy days is the construction that is going on. In addition, since the pedestrian ways are fenced in along the construction sites, it makes walking around the city very difficult. In fact, for a metropolitan city like Addis Ababa, home of various continental and sub-continental organizations, having green areas and recreational parks is very important because it helps visitors to relax and encourages social activities. Addis is very much affected by the lack of green areas and recreational parks. Considering these problems and with the goal of making Addis a clean and model city to the continent by 2020, the Addis Ababa City Sanitation Administration Agency has hired more than 4,000 street cleaners since the year 2012/13. In addition there are about 568 small and micro-enterprises and private agencies that have more than 6,000
cleaners employed under them. Additionally, the City administration is currently working towards beautifying squares and road sides by planting indigenous plants in different parts of the city. In addition to making the city greener and cleaner this will also help to make the city have fresh air which many people do not have now. On a panel discussion organized by the city administration on June 3, 2016 it was stated that the administration is working to make Addis Ababa an ideal place to live and to be attractive to tourists. It was also stated that the city has been selected to join 100 Resilient City Network. This allowed the city to have support for greenery for buildings and urban development projects. In order to make Addis clean and enjoyable, the first thing the Agency must do in addition to hiring cleaners is to create public awareness on how to properly manage waste. The city’s population has reached 3.38 million according to the 2008 census. In addition, many more people across the country come to the city for different purposes. Hence, creating awareness among the society is very much important. Though problems that were mentioned seem temporary ones, it leaves a bad image of the city for tourists. Further, the lack of green areas and parking is another challenge that causes the city to be dirty.
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oth the government and hoteliers need to give equal attention to the cleanness of the city as they are doing towards improving infrastructures. Making Addis clean should be a shared responsibility. It is known that for a metropolitan city like Addis Ababa which doesn’t have a proper waste management, it will take a considerable amount of time to make the city clean. However, since tourism and environment have a huge link in affecting one another, it is very important that they take the city’s cleanness into consideration
Deputy Editor-in- Chief Fasika Tadesse ftadesse@eminence-se.com Nifas Silk Laphto s.c Woreda 12 H. No 747 Reporter Lucy Kassa lucykassa6@gmail.com Michael Gebremedhin gebremedhinmichael@gmail.com Contributors Brook Abdu jambong@gmail.com Editor Samson Haileyesus samsonfikre@gmail.com Copy Editor Carolyn Curti cutyrmc@yahoo.com Graphics and Layout Design Yohannes Seyfe vecxelgrafix@gmail.com Website Administrator Samson Tegegn Photographer Sentayehu Bekele Sbekele@eminence-se.com Front page Leulseged Reta`s Painting Finance and Administration Berhanu Tegicho Distribution Tariku Tessema Editorial Address: Tel. +251-118-678-187 Mob. +251-939-858-724 P.O Box 794 code 1110 contact@eminence-se.com/ social@eminence-se.com Web:www.theeminencemagazine.com www.eminencemagazine.com Bole s.c Namibia Street, Behind Edna Mall, Adika Bldg 5th Floor This edition is printed at Central PP Kirkos Subcity, Woreda 03 H.No 414 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 5
News Highlights Sep. Ethiopian Airlines, the most profitable African airline, won two coveted awards in the first East Africa Careers in Africa Choice Awards in, Nairobi, Kenya. Ethiopian was nominated in 3 categories out of 10 presented, and was crowned in two: Reward Employer of Choice and Local Attractiveness Employer of Choice. In addition, Ethiopian Airlines took the runner-up award in the East African Employer of Choice. An exhibition marking the 29th World Tourism Day was held at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center on September 27, 2016. Various participants of the service sector, including hotels and tourism enterprises and tour operators, took part in the exhibition organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Addis Ababa Culture and Tourism Bureau. In addition to the exhibition, symposiums about tourism held as side events.
One of the biggest religious and cultural holidays in the Ethiopian calendar, Meskel was colorfully celebrated. Tens of thousands of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and tourists took part in the festivities in a tightly packed Meskel Square, on September 26, 2016, marking the Finding of the True Cross. The celebration commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Eleni in the fourth century. Ethiopia’s tourism sector is projected to reach 9 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2024, according to the new Tourism Master Plan 2015-2025 which was developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The Master Plan was developed to guide tourism activities in the country, highlights the current status of the sector, its weaknesses as well as strengths to be competitive with other advanced markets in the region and world.
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The 60 years old Addis Zoo Park closed from public for renovation for four months starting from October 1, 2016. The park has 36 animal specious including 12 lions and lioness which are named with Ethiopian famous athletes. After the finalization of the expansion and renovation the park will have 12 shops, kids playground, book stores, standard restaurant, fountains and different entertainment centers.
The 5th edition of Hub of Africa Fashion Week (HAFW) took place at Millennium Hall on October 6, 2016. The fashion week, which is part of the textile and apparel expo named Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week (ASFW) and was held from October 4-7 2016, was attended by 700 people while 12 African designers showcased their works on the runway.
The Dubai-based company, Albwardy Investment, showed its interest to purchase Hilton Addis, one of Ethiopia’s oldest international brand hotels owned by the government of Ethiopia. Hilton Addis has 12 storey and was opened in 1969 by Emperor Haile Selassie. Hilton offers a total of 402 rooms. The architectural design is based on the Lalibela Cross one of the most popular tourist attractions in Ethiopia that is considered as the 8th wonder of the world.
Events Oct./Nov.
Event: Climathon - 24 Hour Hackaton, ECIC Date: 28 October 2016 Venue: ECI Coffice, Dembel City Center, 11th floor
Event: 7th ADDIS BUILD Date:14-17 October 2016 Venue:Millennium Hall, Addis Ababa Addis Build, International Construction, Construction Materials and Technologies Exhibition, is a 4 day event being held at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This event will provide international business platform by enabling industry operators to catch global investment opportunities and build their brand in the region.
The Ethiopia Climate Innovation Center is organizing Climathon, is a 24 hour Hackaton style climate change event that will take place simultaneously in major cities around the world .The challenge the participants will be working on during this Climathon is on urban waste management.
Event: Tenth African Development Forum Date: 15 – 17 November, 2016 Venue: ECA Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia The Tenth African Development Forum will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the theme, “Migration and Africa’s transformation”. The theme stems from the recognition of the central role of migration as an important enabler for inclusive and sustainable development premised on African-owned and African-driven developmental initiatives.
Event: Ethiopia International Trade Expo Date: 05-09 Nov 2016 Venue: TBD Ethiopia International Trade Expo is an expo exhibiting a wide range of products from different industries and includes general trade, food and agriculture, construction equipments, building materials and equipments, electrical and electronic appliances, automobile products, information technology, oil and gas equipments and products, fashion accessories and products and textile products.
Event: Commercial Farm Africa Date: 17-18 Nov 2016 Venue: Radisson Blu Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Event: Triennial Conference Date: 09-13 October 2016 Venue: United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa The major focus of the event is the potential of potato and sweet potato to address food security and malnutrition in Africa, in particular, the promising contribution of the two crops to rural economic growth in Africa and its promising economic value for farmers and entrepreneurs. It is organized by Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and the International Potato Center (CIP).
Commercial Farm Africa is a two day event being held from 17th November to 18th November 2016 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This event showcases products like Innovative technologies to drive farm productivity & access to markets, improving soil health & nutrients management, financing agro projects & options and much more etc. in the Agriculture & Forestry industry.
Event: Iaom Mea Conference and Expo Date: 24-27 October 2016 Venue: Millennium Hall, Addis Ababa Iaom Mea Conference and Expo will showcases products like grown food crops: wheat, teff, maize, beans, peas, lentils, soybeans, chickpeas, high technologies for food processing industry, machinery/ equipment and production design etc. in the Miscellaneous, Natural & Organic industries. It is organized by International Association of Operative Millers. Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 7
Eminence Spotlight: Ethio- Topical
Knowingly hotel business is seasonal: it will boom during the high season and remain dormant during the low seasons. To compensate for the lost business during the low seasons, Ethiopian hoteliers increase their room rates drastically during the high seasons. This has led the city to be labeled as the most expensive African city to spend a night at a good hotel. The Eminence’s LUCY KASSA talked with tourists, hoteliers, experts and government officials to discover more about hotel room fluctuations, its effects on the hospitality and tourism industry and what should be done to crack it.
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t is a fact that Ethiopia, particularly Addis Ababa, is becoming a tourist destination with the increasing number of tourists as well as an increase in the number of international conferences it hosts. To support this assertion during the 2015/16 fiscal year, Ethiopia hosted 12 international association meetings and received a little over 910,000 tourists which helped the country to earn 3.4 billion dollar from the tourism industry.
Price fluctuations on hotel rates threatens to push Addis among the topmost pricy list
8 | The Eminence - Issue 24 - Sep/Nov 2016
Despite being a major African tourist destination, Addis Ababa is criticized for being an expensive city for its hotel room prices. According to the hotel data benchmark for over 6.8 million hotel rooms worldwide, STR Global, report that was launched in September 2015, the average rate for a hotel room in Addis Ababa was 231.78 dollar a night. The data illustrates that Addis Ababa stands out as more expensive than Kenya and South Africa which have avearge room rates of 144.76 dollar and 122.30 dollars, respectively. Even if many local hoteliers and experts have concerns about the findings of the research, they demonstrate that because of the short supply of quality hotels in Addis Ababa, the demand for hotels, especially during the high season, forces local hotels to increase their room rates, which has led the city to be known for its hotel room rate fluctuations. This is happening while the country’s hotel infrastructure development is still in its infant stage. This is also the experience of Andrea Lennberg, an Austria citizen and food supervisor at Kaya Bar and Restaurant, located close to Bole Medihanialem. Lennberg has lived as a permanent resident in Addis Ababa for the past two years. Six years ago she came to Ethiopia as a tourist. Based on her past experiences she said that the room rates prices offered by hotels was exagger-
ated compared to their services and standards. The same goes true for the South Korean tourist Seung Kyunct who was not comfortable with the facilities of the three star hotel where she booked a room. “There was repeated Wi-Fi interruption and when it came on it had no good strength. The surrounding infrastructure was also noisy when I went to bed,” Kyunct told The Eminence. In addition the price of hotel rooms will increase during the high seasons when the number of tourists and conferences that come to the country increases. July and January are the months that are known as high seasons for conferences while September to January is the high season for tourists who come to visit the country. During these seasons almost every hotel in the city drastically raises its room rates. Hoteliers offer different reasons for the price fluctuations. For Friendship International Hotel, a four star hotel in Bole Medhanialem area which has a total of 104 bedrooms, the hotel rate fluctuation is based on the seasons and is part of its marketing and competition strategy. “We set the prices driven by the market, and this is the practice everywhere. As we get our 70 percent revenue from room services, we can-
not escape from this fact. So what we normally do is when over half of the rooms are booked, we increase the rates by 50 percent. At the same time when over half of the rooms are unoccupied we offer 50 percent discounts on the room rates,” Solomon Assefa marketing representative of the hotel explained. The same goes at Harmony Hotel, another four star hotel located at Bole Medahinalem area. Keeping the demand–supply factor in mind, the Deputy General Manager of the hotel, Eyouel Ashagre mentioned that the fluctuating room rates are also driven by the fact that, in the low peak seasons the hotel rooms almost always remain empty. “During low seasons many of our rooms remain unoccupied. So by increasing the rates during the high seasons, we compensate our liquidation in the low seasons. But this does not mean that the rates should be exaggerated to take advantage of the seasons, rather they should be analyzed and calculated ones,” Eyouel said. Like STR Global’s analysis Ethiopian hoteliers also mention that scarcity of enough quality rooms contributed a great role for the fluctuation of hotel room rates. In addition, absence of numerous international conferences that are hosted by the city is another
cause that hoteliers mention for the rate fluctuation. The major reason mentioned for room price fluctuation remains the unavailability of good quality hotels in the capital. But it seems this reason would not be viable for the coming years as the number of both local and international brand, quality hotels are expanding in the capital. Currently the management deal for 18 chain hotel brands has concluded and so far six of the hotels are already operational. In addition, studies indicate that on average two new hotels are opened every month in Addis Ababa. According to the data obtained from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT), the number of hotels in Addis Ababa that fall under the star rating has reached 95 this year. From these hotels 68 of them that have around 5,987 rooms are classified from one to five stars. Thus the hotels are said to be enough to accommodate the growing number of tourists that come to the country which was a little over 910,000 tourists last year and that number is expected to reach 1.14 million by the end of the current fiscal year of 2016/17. The other reason highlighted for causing room rate fluctuation is because of the seasonal nature of conference tourism. The hoteliers claim that the Issue 24 - September 2016 - The Eminence | 9
like Solomon of Friendship Hotel, recommend the country to adopt market standard that would guide hotel room prices. According to Solomon, the standard will minimize the gap between the rates and avoid the unfair increments by considering the services.
of g n i c i Pr liers Hote is d in Ad
season which big international conferences come to Ethiopia are known and are very limited. So, they suggest, the country should work on bringing more conferences to the country that can be held throughout a year without being limited by certain seasons. “We sell our rooms waiting for a limited number of conferences including the African Union meetings. It is additional challenge to us. The government should promote the country to bring different trade fairs and international events like Meetings, Incentive Travels, Conferences and Exhibitions [MICE] to the country,” Eyouel noted. In fact increasing room rates during high seasons is a normal phenomenon globally for the hotel industry. But what makes Ethiopia’s case unique is the exaggerated price increase by hoteliers which can seriously affect both the hospitality business as well as the tourism sector of the country as a whole. Getabecha Dejene, general manager of the new hotel Azzeman and executive board member of Addis Ababa Hotel Owners Association (AHA), compares the extreme room rate difference of Ethiopian hotel with hotels in Stockholm, Sweden. During high seasons in Stockholm one can book a room in the five star hotels, Radisson Blu, for 130 dollars per night excluding any discount, while in Addis most 10 | The Eminence - Issue 24 - Sep/Nov 2016
of the three star hotels charge up to 400 dollar during the high seasons. “Stockholm is one of the top tourist destination places and its infrastructure is well developed. In addition to the rates, their services and facilities are more advanced. They even change their hotel display every day,” Getabecha compared. Finally, the effects of this extreme rate fluctuation boil down to the legs of the hotels and to the hospitality sector as a whole and to the economy of the country. International hosted buyers and event organizers will not be interested in bringing events to the country as they are always price and service sensitive. “Why should they care to organize events in an expensive city whose infrastructure is underdeveloped?” Getabecha asked. Not only shifting of businesses and events that were meant to come to Ethiopia to another country, the high rates also have a bad impact on the image of the country. In the longterm, the businesses of the hoteliers will not be sustained as the price of the rooms can drive away the number of delegates using hotels as they might shift their eyes to guesthouses. Rather what is advisable in a less promoted tourism industry is, having relatively sustainable hotel room rates and lower rates to attract more tourists. For their part, some hoteliers
But this recommendation does not seem viable for Getabecha, representing AHA. According to Getabecha, even though the fluctuation is a major problem there is nothing the association or the government can do in forcing the hotels to set their prices as the country is following a free market strategy. But the Association is working towards creating a consensus on the negative impacts of the fluctuations. In addition to that the increase in the number of hotels (supply) is also believed to help fixing the rates in the future. “I understand that the owners also have a worry as most of them construct their hotels using bank loans and they have to pay interest. But they should look at their long-term profits as well,” Getabecha said. According to Gezahegn Abate, International and Public Relations Director at Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the government does not interfere in setting standards in the pricing of hotel rooms nor re-setting any regulation to control the pricing. Rather it puts incentives to allow hoteliers to import goods with duty-free privileges to encourage more business people to join the sector and meet the increasing demand for hotels. For Yonas Moges, managing partner of Calibra Hospitality and Consultancy, room rate fluctuation is a normal phenomenon, but increasing rates randomly is a problem. Hence he suggests revenue management system software that calculates profits as a solution. This software which is applied in all international chain hotels like, Sheraton sets price by analyzing the demand. According to Yonas, hotels also need a proper revenue manager to do that
Eminence Spotlight: Interview
Receiving The Challenges of Developing
Ethiopia’s Fashion
Photo by: Sintayehu Bekele
Sector
Tell me about Yefikir Design. What you do; what are your aspirations and targets? Yefiker is a company which mainly uses handwoven Ethiopian fabrics and all the knowledge of Ethiopian cotton production to create a modern look. Yefiker is mainly involved in child-free labor products and creates jobs and provides respectful communication to people in the industry and in the value chain. Yefiker also would like to tap into the rich cultures of the country such as different colors, histories and interpretation of the collection staff. One of our commitments is actually creating opportunity for people to own their own company and grow. We mainly do the design in-house and do a lot of outsourcing especially for cooperatives and individual weavers and tailors. We also have people in Chincha [in Amhara Regional
State with over 5,000 weavers] and in Hawassa and we have a lot of suppliers and women who do embroideries and crochets. Who are your customers? We have different customers mainly who are interested in cultural inspiration with modern looks. We have different expats, different people from all over the world especially who want to have an Ethiopian touch in their clothes and brides are among our major customers. Tell us the major events and fashion shows you have attended and showcased your designs? We showcased our products in Africa Mosaic, Hub of Africa and different fashion shows that have been held in places like Alliance Ethio-Française. We also attended international fashion shows including the African Fashion Week in New York since 2011, the Ca-
Fikirte Addis, a psychologist by profession, has been in the fashion industry since 2009 and owns Yefikir Design, one of the well known fashion designing company. Fikirte, who is a mother of three, currently hires seven permanent workers and works with 70 more people in the value chain. Fikirte also serves as a secretary for the Ethiopian Fashion Designers Association (FDA) and has received several awards for child-free labor products and ethical production processes. The Eminence’s FASIKA TADESSE sat down with Fikirte to discuss about her company and the evolving fashion industry of the country.
ribbean Fashion Week in Jamaica, and Fashion Shows in Paris and South African Fashion Week. We also attended Origin Africa events and we take part in individual fashion shows both locally and internationally. As an industry insider how do you see the fashion industry of Ethiopia evolving? I feel like it is in the making. Previously we had the traditionally made clothes, but there was not really mainstream fashion as in the global sense. So we are kind of teaching ourselves to get into that. I feel Ethiopia has good potential in the niche market with handmade woven, ethical and eco-friendly products. Ethiopia is adding a lot of manufacturing industries such as garment making and fabrication. So I see things are moving into the mainstream. But still we have a lot to do.
When you go abroad the perception given for hand made materials is very good. But this doesn’t exist in Ethiopia. How do you see its effect on the industry and what should be done to avoid it? I don’t totally buy the common saying ‘Ethiopians do not understand the importance of ‘hand-woven’ because many people pay a lot for embroidered items such as the woven Tilet, rather than factory products. On the other hand sometimes we Ethiopians do not see the value of handmade products even though there is a lot of amazing weavers and embroiderers. But still in my eight years in the industry, I see people coming to appreciating these handworks and crafts. As there is a lot of availability in the work force many people feel like it could be done easily, so they take it for granted because it is here. But in the rest of the world
Issue 24 - September 2016 - The Eminence | 11
Eminence Spotlight: Interview
making handmade products is too expensive because most of the people do not engage in the industry. I also see a little bit of misunderstanding regarding the designs. For example, many people do not buy crochet designs assuming that they are cheap, while we incur higher costs and spend much time on them. I generally feel there is appreciation but still the payment does not meet the cost. So to avoid it we have to work on ‘ready to wear clothes’ and mass production. Still the ready to wear clothes are too expensive, so we really need to work on the supply chain, management and connection specializations in production.
branding and the storytelling part. I really want to communicate our story to the world. We need to establish research centers to study ways to communicate because I feel we have gaps in maintaining our oral tradition as we are not documenting them, so the stories are dying away from generation to generation. Designers can actually tap into that end by promoting their collection. We designers are involved in the hand-woven industry which is really entwined in the Ethiopian culture and different stories. While we were working in Chincha we learned about natural dyes, and we ended up making a
we should get orders from them. To buy our products they want to engage and attach themselves with the history of the clothes. I think the best way to promote it is, by being in the market and dominating it and getting it to the mainstream fashion. We really need to work on standards, quality products, fashions and trends without losing our cultural inspiration but we should not be too ethnic. In your eight years’ experience in the industry what are the major challenges you are facing? One of the major problems I faced in the business is making money
But still I do not want to be a seller/retailer while I want to be a designer. There is a big need to have stores that sell my products. But we primarily need to work on what works for us. We have to focus on first producing in bigger amounts if not in millions which department stores demand. We are also working hard at the Ethiopian Fashion Designers Association to come up with a retail outlet to sell our products. Ethiopia is a country which is known for its ethnic fibers that are not promoted well globally. What should be done to better promote it? I think we really need to work on
Photo by: Yefiker Design Models showcasing Yefiker’s Designs at the African Fashion Week held in New York USA.
collection from the dyes which we promoted in Paris, France and Prague, Czech Republic. Behind our traditional clothes there are lots of stories as lots of people are involved in the production system. So in each production we have a story to tell, but we are not doing that as we do not have such a strong medium for communications. I think we really need to work on putting that in the international arena by attending fashion weeks to promote it. Do you believe that there is an exposure for that? Yes there is, foreigners will always be interested and passionate about our fabrics and designs. So
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Actually this has been going on as a debate in the fashion industry, and many people think fashion shows are entertainment while it is a serious business. Fashion shows are actually where people order your products and a place to display what you made for that specific year and to receive orders. So, it is a serious business. In the global fashion industry, fashion involves a lot of money; it is one of the biggest industries. But different events such as fundraisers give us chances to showcase or sell our products. With Fashion Designers Association (FDA) we are working to organize standard fashion show where buyers, retailers and bloggers/fashion editors would come to view the event in a professional way so we can actually promote the industry.
In Ethiopia there are no big chain department stores like many other countries. Can we say it has effects on the fashion industry? I think department stores are for end products, and I think what we really need to work on is, on production first. We usually make custom-made products with a maximum of 10-20 pieces. But department stores receive orders in bulk.
It is assumed that fashion shows are organized to accompany other major events as an entertainment. What should be done to change that perception?
vs. being ethical. As a business person when you try to produce ethically you pay more. It is actually a philosophical question whether you are ethical or you need to make money. The second challenge is managing a business at the same time as being a mother of three. The third challenge is managing a formal company in the informal sector of fashion industry. I have all the taxes to pay, the bills and the receipts while some weavers do not have receipts. Getting into the bigger market and international market is another challenge, as we do not have an online sales system.
Some years back organizing and attending fashion shows was considered as a luxury, so people who attend the shows were specific groups. But this perception has changed now and many fashion shows are evolving and many more people are following fashion. From where does this change come? The designers who have been in the business for over 20 years say we are lucky to be working during this time. I really want to acknowledge the efforts of our elders’ who started from scratch. Some years back there were a lot of people who did not want to wear Habesha Kemis, now everybody wants to wear Habesha Kemis, especially for weddings. The interest grew because many designers are now producing fashionable attire. There are a lot of fashion schools opening, there
is a lot of information, media, and globalization and there is a good policy which gives incentives in the production and manufacturing of garments and textiles. But still we have a long way to go. Many fashion designers claim that there is a shortage of models to showcase their products. Do you feel this gap and what should be done to fill it? Modeling is a very serious and tough job in having the right walk, pause and professionalism. It is not easy to get models so it needs work and takes a lot of effort to invest in the models. International standard demands taller models while Ethiopian models are beautiful and amazing but they are often too short.
make and there are a lot of weavers and technologies in the whole supply chain unlike in the ‘ready to wear’ products that are cheaper. So we all should work together to make Ethiopian traditional cloth a casual one. Mostly Ethiopian traditional clothes are expensive and target some specific group of buyer? What should be done to lower the prices for these traditional clothes? I sometimes feel the price for cultural clothes is a bit overpriced and it all goes to different reasons. For example, retail space is so expensive, the taxation does not allow you to produce more and
The second is professionalism so we need to have schools and serious projects to help models be internationally competitive. But still we have some well-known international super models. Ethiopian traditional clothes are criticized for being clothes for special occasions such as for holidays and weddings. On your part what are you doing to make them more casual? The thread counts used for traditional clothes are not thick or strong. To make them strong as a factory-made fabric, we need to make them with machines. So we have to know how to make traditional Ethiopian clothes to be casual and durable. Yefiker is one of the companies that has been doing well with that. Because we actually cater traditional fabrics to be worn at different places in addition to weddings and other special occasions. We can also collaborate with garment factories, fabrications and with universities to work on the machines, making the clothes thicker without losing their essence. The second is the price, handmade products are expensive because they take more time to
the industry that could actually lower the cost. The third is availability of fabrics, inputs and accessories. If we want to produce in mass we have to buy in bulk from the factory which, as a designer, we cannot do. So we ended up buying from third or fourth parties with a lot of added costs. It is not just one thing or another but it is the combination of all these things that makes it expensive. I feel people should not really expect to pay the same price for handmade products compared to the factory-made ones. I don’t think it would be fair. If people are looking for cheaper handmade products, they should know that a child is working on it because somebody has to pay in order to make it cheaper. So that comes
our production costs are so high. When we want to pay fair market prices for handmade products its price is already too high. To buy one Ethiopian cloth you might pay as equal price as you pay for 12 pieces of clothes imported from China. And how can we be competitive, while involving many people in the supply chain and consuming more production time, unlike factory-made products? So its higher priced value is really fair. Even if we are trying to cut down many costs, there are still costs which we cannot compromise on, such as humanity and ethical production. And if I spend 10 hours for one shirt it has to be expensive because I have spent much time on it. So we need to make custom-made mass production clothing within
to ethics which we don’t have to cross the line. We all should understand the system, but still we designers should not be over priced. What is your price range of your products and do you believe that is fair and affordable? Our custom-made products, given the materials and the embroidery which are expensive, the price can go from 20,000 birr-
25,000 birr for dresses especially for wedding dresses which consume a lot of fabrics, designs and time. But in the ‘ready to wear’ we sell tops from 500 birr to 1,500 birr given, of course, the design, embellishment and the fabrics used, as all these are taken in consideration. We have lighter productions and more reasonable prices and our custom-made wear are not too expensive because that is the price it deserves, considering the work we have put on it. What does the future holds for Ethiopia’s fashion industry? There are so many beautiful things coming, like the opening of many schools. When I started fashion designing I went to 5-6 places to understand what fashion was. I went to tailoring, fashion, management and art schools because we did not have fashion schools. Now there are lots of schools, universities and TVETs that are opening. The second is there is a lot of support in the textile manufacturing sector which is pulling a lot of investors. But I still feel that there is no connectivity with the fashion and manufacturing industry. And we really need to work together on that. We are working hard with the Fashion Designers Association by tapping into a lot of trainings. I feel like it is a beautiful time for designers as there is a lot of need from society to buy and appreciate our products. They are even willing to pay a lot of money for fashion products. We have a beautiful story and production; there are a lot of people in the supply chain which we can create jobs for. But still we need to have a system; we need to build a workable ethical system that can actually connect everything because everybody is independently doing everything by themselves
Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 13
Eminence Spotlight: Society
Laying Foundation for Young Girls and Mothers
Ethiopia is one of the countries where children and women are the primary victims of poverty and other challenges. In order to avoid these, many local and international NGOs are operating in the country. Recently the number of local NGOs has been increasing as the local people are more aware of the difficulties and are close to the solutions. Among these organizations,The Eminence’s FREHIWOT GEBREWOLD, visited Meseret Humanitarian Organization (MHO) which solely works in empowering and improving the livelihood of poverty stricken women and children by creating different opportunities and support that leads to development.
idan. Now Kalkidan is a 6th grader in Netsanet Berehan School. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up. “We get our uniforms and notebooks every year. In addition to that, my family and I also get medical treatment for free,” she told The Eminence.
K
alkidan Shiferaw, 11, lost her father when she was little and is living with her mother, little brother and stepfather. Before her mother married her current husband, she was forced to raise Kalkidan on her own. She worked in a small café and earned 200 birr per month, and from that she used to pay 150 birr for Kalkidan’s school fees. Life was unbearable for Kalkidan and her family. However, six years ago Kalkidan’s mother heard about Meseret Humanitarian Organization (MHO). As she was desperate to make a change in their lives, she joined the organization. “After we joined this organization, our life started to get better. If it wasn’t for this organization, life would have been very difficult. It’s difficult even now. My mother is a housewife and my stepfather is a daily laborer,” said Kalk-
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Kalkidan is one of the 680 children that are members of MHO. MHO is an initiative that works towards reducing vulnerability among children and women in Ethiopia. Founded by Meseret Azage in July 2011, the organization currently has more than 440 mothers under its membership. Meseret believes supporting people should be until they are ready to sustain themselves. That’s why, their organization has a vision to inspire women and children towards prosperity. “Our job is not to preach about poverty, it’s rather about inspiring women and children to prosperity and success,” said Meseret. The children will have their own bank account starting from the moment they join the organization. The organization deposits between 20 birr to 300 birr every month into their accounts. The money will be given to them when they start their higher education. The organization has its own criteria in se-
lecting the mothers. One criterion is that the women are those who have given birth out of wedlock. The second types are those who raise their kids on their own without a father. Mothers who are supporting children whose parents are deceased are the third type. “Just because a woman brought a letter that confirms she is HIV positive, or because she cries, or because she wears some unclean clothes we don’t accept her. First and foremost, it’s forbidden to come here wearing unclean clothes. We always tell the mothers to come here being clean. This won’t make them to be rejected from joining the organization; rather it helps them to boost their confidence. The other thing is we need them to give us their time as we provide them with different trainings. This shows their commitment which we really want to witness,” Meseret elaborated. Frehiwot Gulelat, 34, is a mother of two. Her elder child is 16 and the younger is 12. She sells traditional Ethiopian scarves to support her family. She gave birth to her first child from an unknown person. The father of her second child left them. For a single mother like Frehiwot, life in the city is very difficult. She said she passed through a lot and she even tried to commit suicide before she joined the organization. Frehiwot added, “I had visited many organizations. The only thing that they could do for us was to give us wheat or some other thing. They didn’t follow up on us and they didn’t make sure that our life was getting better. But here,
Photo by: Meseret Humanitarian Organization (MHO)
Meseret:
it’s different. They come to our house and see the changes that occurred to our living. They gave us training on how to properly use the things that we have. They boosted our confidence. They give us love and built relationships among us.” When a mother decides to join the organization, the first thing she has to do is to have a one-to-one conversation with the management. This will help to understand what she wants and her desires. The management encourages the woman in the one-to-one conversation on how she can change the world with her knowledge. The coaching and the motivational training come after this. Mothers who want to be a member of MHO need to attend at least two hours of training every day till they finalize the training. “In addition we give them a small amount of money. We want them to save that money for a rainy day. For example, if a woman used to wash clothes for others before she joins the organization, we want her to continue doing her work and add the money that we give her to her savings,” added Meseret.
background and life experience. Wubalem Abohoy is a mother of two who lives with HIV. Wubalem and her family used to live on the street after their house has been demolished as they constructed it illegally. Her son Habtamu Baye was nominated by the district to join MHO. And that’s how Wubalem learned about the organization. Wubalem also joined MHO and took the motivational training. “They opened a bank account for me with 1,500 birr. I used the 1,000 birr for electric power, and I still have the 500 birr in my account. My two children who are 16 and 9 years old also have bank accounts. Each of them is given 100 birr every month. From that, 20 birr is deposited to their account while they use the remaining 80 birr for different purposes. Be-
What makes MHO unique is that no one is called a beneficiary; rather once a woman or a child joins the organization they are members. “There is a huge difference between a member and a beneficiary. A member is a giver while the latter is a receiver. Every member pays 10 birr per month as a membership fee and has a membership card. A member helps the organization with different tasks including promotion and so on,” said Meseret. According to Meseret, the organization believes in a win-win strategy. The monthly fee the members pay enables them to create new ideas. In addition, they are obliged to make contributions according to their educational
Kalkidan Dereje, 17, is an eighth grade student at Abiyot Fana School. She lives with her mother and siblings at a neighborhood called Saris. “It has been three years since I joined MHO. I came to know about MHO through a friend of mine who is a member. I get different kinds of support. I get counseling on how to be successful and how to take care of myself. I am also provided with school materials. Before I joined this organization, I was very much lonely. Now, I have lots of friends. I am better off now with my living as well as education,” Kalkidan told The Eminence. MHO is very much successful in creating awareness and introducing its work to society. However, raising funds is still a challenge. “I don’t like talking about challenges. Challenges take you backward. However, managing a humanitarian work is very demanding. It’s like being in the middle of a hot stove. Both the donors and the members may not trust you. But you need to have endurance and strength when doing such a work.
According to Meseret, they have seen changes in most of the women after they take the trainings. Most of them started appreciating their lives. Most of all, they started to take care of their children properly and strengthened the relationship they have with their family. “I get motivational and parenting trainings. The trainings that I took changed my behavior so much. I was a difficult person who got angry with every little thing. The training changed the way I see things, the way I care for myself and my children. This brought change in our lives,” witnessed Frehiwot.
To support one child through the one pack for one child project 170 birr or 8.00 dollar is needed per year. This is only to send one child to school for a year and doesn’t include uniforms and meals. “There are other sponsorship packages. For example, to help a woman be self-sufficient we need 11,000 birr. And to support a child to attend school we ask 3,000 birr per year. We ask 750 birr per month to feed one child,” added Meseret.
sides, I don’t buy notebooks and uniforms for the children as they are provided with that,” said Wubalem. Though MHO supports mothers and children specifically, its services extend to society as well. Among its areas of intervention, providing clean water, community mobilization, health care and education through their one pack for one child project, are the major initiatives. Besides Addis Ababa, MHO provides these services in the Amhara, Tigray, Oromia and Southern Nations and Nationalities Regions. MHO travels to these regions to hand over the materials directly to the members. The organization works with local and foreign volunteers.
The other main challenge is finding funds. We have different costs including transportation and office rent. We pay 25,000 birr every month for this house. We do all the project work in this office and paying that amount of money every month is very difficult. So, financial problems are the biggest challenges,” explained Meseret. In the near future the organization is planning to build a daycare center on a 4,000 square meter plot of land for about 500 children. The purpose is to provide a place for mothers who give birth out of wedlock to place their children without worrying about them while they continue conducting their education or work, and to provide nutritious meals for the children, so that they can grow well psychologically and physically. In addition, the building will have a pharmacy and clinic
Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 15
Hospitality 3600: Hospi- Tourism
Gullele Botanical Garden:
Pioneering Eco-Tourism in Ethiopia Eco-tourism, a form of tourism where one visits fragile, pristine and relatively undisturbed natural areas, is not promoted in Ethiopia. In addition, the country lacks destinations for eco-tourism. Gullele Botanical Garden is the one and only tourist destination site for eco-tourism established four years ago in Addis Ababa. It is home to a variety of natural plant species. The Eminence’s LUCY KASSA visited the garden to discover its rich resources and reports on this.
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botanical garden (garden devoted to the collection, cultivation and display of various plants and other facilities for visitor services) is not a strange concept to the entire world, including Ethiopia, which has been striving to have one for over the past 30 years. Ethiopia has an estimated 7,500 flora species, managed only to have one botanical garden, the Gullele Botanic Garden, built in 2012 after 30 years of effort. Inaugurated in 2012 by the then mayor of the capital Addis Ababa, Kuma Demeksa, Gullele Botanic Garden rests on 705 hectares of land. According to Mesfin Hailu, vice director of the garden, the site is unique in terms of its bio-diversity composition, different landscape within it and its proximity to the city. Located few kilometers drive from Addisu Gebya, Gulele was predomiantly forsted with ecualyptus before the establishment of the Garden. Now there is no eucalyptus within the botanical garden’s boundary. Considering it’s negative impact towards the survival of other species and vulnerability for soil degradation the first thing done was clearing this large jungle of eucalyptus and replacing it with junipers. In addition to its purposes of research, education and providing eco-tourism services, the
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garden was established to rehabilitate plants on the edge of extinction. In addition to juniper trees, it is also rehabilitating around 760 plant species in its compound after collecting them from different parts of the country. The botanic garden is designed to include the five agro-ecological zones namly: Kola, Dega,Woyna Dega, Berha and Wurch as divided into five landscapes: Semi-forest (semi-managed ecosystem), Nature Exotic Species (ecosystem without any scientific interference) and landscape with a cultivated garden. One of the landscapes is a cultivated garden and rests on 150 hectares of land. This is where the collected plant species (alive and dead) are adapted and cultivated scientifically. Partially open for visitors and researchers, the plants are lined into categories of indigenous species including species with medicinal value, plants with high economic value, ornamental species and aromatic plants. Within the botanic nursery site there are around 42 endemic plant species. The botanic garden attempts to collect and adapt all plants from the five ecological zones. But according to Ashenafi Kassa, entertainment expert and guide at the garden, adapting some plants [such as desert species] is not easy. “It is impossible to rehabilitate these plants
in this place without the help of greenhouses. That is why the botanic garden has a greenhouse. In this greenhouse we can easily adapt the plants by creating the different ecological zones through temperature control,” he said while pressing the temperature button of the greenhouse. In the greenhouse one can identify the types of each plant by looking into their botanic family name. The same goes with the plants outside the greenhouse and the nursery site. Within the juniper forest (outside the nursery site) there are about 23 plant species which are categorized in 12 different themes such as succulent, kitchen and fragrant themes. For environmental economists, what makes a garden ‘botanical’ is not only the collection and display of various plant species but also entertainment and other visitor services are mandatory. In this context Gullele Botanic Garden is still undergoing and perhaps is still at its infant stage. Yet, it is taking some promising steps to implement its costly landscape design done by Belgian, American and Ethiopian consultants. Around 22 kilometers of access roads have been built within its boundary. Construction of a recreational center named Agora Two is completed and waiting for a rent. Agora Two which is designed to have the
Photo by: Sentayehu Bekele
shape of eucalyptus (to remind the historical dominance of eucalyptus in the place) is made up of environmentaly friendly materials. The eucalyptus trees, which were cut while removing them from the area, were utilized as a construction material for the recreation center after being treated. Surprisingly cement, paint, iron sheets and other modern construction materials that expose the garden to high temperature as well as pollution are totally unused in Agora Two. The recreation center has green roofing to prevent rain from penetrating the rooms using geo-textile plastics on top with shallow root plants planted on them. The rooms that are located inside the building are not built using cement but rather were built using red ash, sand and limestone. The Garden also has a cultural and open air restaurant which has a view of the entire garden, stone made private dining rooms, amphitheater, library, gallery, gift shops, catering service, IT rooms and toilets for disabled visitors are some of the amenities available in Agora Two. It also has two parking lots. One is a natural parking using podocarpus, a species which creates a natural shed when its leaves grow. While Agora Two is waiting for business to rent space,
currently there is a small bamboo-made cultural recreation center named Warka that offers some services. Despite all these amenities, the area suffers from a shortage of clean water, so to mitigate that the Water Works Construction Enterprise pulled out water from underground and built a water well with a reserve capacity of 30,000 meter cubic. Construction of a water well with a capacity of 25,000 meter cubic water as well as with artificial ponds is near completion. But the latter will be used for watering plants. In the semi-forest landscape, which has 11 mammals and 94 birds that were identified during the 2012 population census, one can take an amazing forest hike. Separate roads are made for this effect and after 6.9 kilometers walk there is an overlook where hikers can see the entire city lying beneath it, including the botanic garden empire. A little further an overlook field is being cleared. This is a particular site where visitors can camp and spend nights. According to Ashenafi currently the garden is only receiving day time hikers. But in the future it has a design to make not only a camping site but also a forest lodge with a natural swimming pool as the modern one is not suitable for eco-tourism.
“This is significant for eco-tourism development. Especially with adventure tourism, Gullele Botanic could be considered as a training spot due to its location from 2,650 to 2,923 meter above sea level. Hence one who comes for adventure hiking the Ethiopian highlands can adapt him/herself in this forest and eventually tolerate attitude sickness,� Ashenafi emphasized. Clearly the tasks of botanical garden cannot be finished overnight. One of the best botanical garden models, Christian Bush Botanic Garden of the South Africa which is 100 years old, is still undergoing development. But costing more than 70 million birr each year since its establishment (excluding its design works), the Gullele Botanic Garden still has to implement the sketches of its designs namely creating the five agro ecological zones including the lifestyles in these zones, building a suspension bridge where tourists walk accompanied by the aromas of different plants, sky walk ways and other tourist service facilities. Yet visitors especially forest hiking groups keep coming to this garden. According to Mesfin this year around 10,000 visitors have already visited the garden
Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 17
Hospitality 3600: Facilities and Accommodation
Eliana Hotel:
Bringing Prestige to Old Arada
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n 1905, the first hotel in Ethiopia was built by Empress (Itegue) Taitu Betul, wife of Emperor Menilik II. Named after the Queen, Itegue Taitu Hotel, the landmark lays graciously in Piassa, in the middle of the city. Though Addis’ Piassa is known for its many tourists, it had not had a big star hotel to accommodate these tourists. But recently this is changing. It has to do with the opening of new facilities. One of these facilities is the Eliana Hotel. Located within walking distance from the pioneer Itegue Taitu Hotel, the 12 floor Eliana Hotel stands on the side of the steep Churchill Avenue. Built on 4,000 square meter plot of land and bearing the name “Eliana,” it has the biblical meaning “My God has answered.” The modern luxury hotel has a four star grading and offers a flavor of the old piassa, which is about seven kilometers from Bole International Airport. The hotel opened its doors on January 15, 2016.
Most of Ethiopian hotels are concentrated around Bole area and getting closer and closer to the Bole International Airport. But given the grace and harmony of the area, the four star hotel, Eliana, which is located at Piassa, the heart of the city, is one of the hotel investment that has looked elsewhere outside of Bole. The hotel has been in the business for almost 10 months. The Eminence’s MICHAEL G/MEDHIN, reviews the accommodation and facilities of Eliana Hotel and offers this:
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The hotel welcomes its customers with a spacious lobby surrounded by a mini bar and café. The large pillars that intersect the lobby, creamy walls adorned with big hanging chandeliers and local paintings portraying the old piazza are the first scenes that one sees when entering the hotel. The soothing soft music and comfortable chairs also make the lobby a nice place to meet up or sit by oneself and contemplate.
Eliana Hotel has 80 elegantly designed rooms and suites. After receiving hospitable service at the reception, one can enjoy class and relaxation at the standard and deluxe rooms or in the junior and executive suites of the hotel. The spacious bedrooms offer comfort, stress-relieving ambiance and a large and beautiful view of the streets of Piassa from their balconies. All rooms feature in-room safes, mini-bar, fresh ground coffee and tea making facilities, and hair dryers along with other basic amenities. All junior and executive suites, except one, have names that carry royalty. Itegue meaning empress, and Makda and Mintwab, which are names of two Ethiopian empresses, represent the two suites. The other suite called “Golet”, takes its name from Gurage language, a language spoken by the Gurage people in southern Ethiopia. “Golet means a room for honeymooners,” explained Blen Taddele, marketing coordinator at Degeman is an Italian fusion restaurant which is located on the 4th floor of the hotel with the capacity of accomodating 70 people once.
According to Daniel, Eliana is finalizing a major expansion that will start operation after eight months. “Our expansion includes two cinemas, a state of the art fitness center, a luxurious spa facility, shopping center and swimming pool. It will also have a parking facility that can accommodate over 150 cars and a convention center with a capacity of holding up to 2,500 people,” said Daniel.
Eliana`s lobby is wide enough as it is seen in the picture, unlike many other hotels with small lobbies.
the hotel. “This suite is meant for honeymooners or those who wish to spend their wedding day at our hotel, while mostly families stay at the others,” she added. Golet is a chic but also homey suite with embracing freshness to it. “It has a stove where the couple could cook for each other. The newlyweds could challenge each other’s cooking ability here,” said Blen. Demonstrating the purpose of the room, there is a portrait that depicts marriage in rural Ethiopia at the entrance of Golet. But one would not be able to comprehend what the name Golet conveys, unless by asking. The concept of incorporating local names along with the international standard service is commendable. Nonetheless, there could have been more effort to manifest the names outside and the culture they hold, through the interior designs. This is also evident in the hotel’s Italian fusion restaurant dubbed Degeman. Degeman in the Gurage culture is a place reserved for special guests. Again, while the concept of showing respect to guests through promoting a particular culture of Ethiopia is praiseworthy, it would have been best if that was clearly conveyed to all guests entering the restaurant or suites. Except for the inscription at the entrance to Degeman, one would have to inquire to gather what the name exactly means. Here as well, the question of depicting the culture and name in the service is also raised.
Located on the fourth floor of the hotel, Degeman has the capacity to hold up to 70 people. The velvet wallpaper and chairs with the view of the hustle and bustle down on Churchill Avenue makes the restaurant a pleasant place to dine. It can also host events for several purposes including weddings and other functions. The restaurant has an Italian fusion but also includes an international buffet along with a dash of Ethiopian dishes. The hotel’s meeting halls named “Shengo” and “Meysaw” are capable of holding up to 15 and 150 guests, respectively. The barbecue and grill restaurant dubbed “Arada” has an open terrace area for a family get together. It can also host weddings. The view and the spaciousness makes Arada terrace a yet undiscovered but amazing spot to organize a wedding. The bar and lounge at the twelfth floor of the hotel lives up to its name; Altitude. Altitude also holds a quality that is witnessed in all facilities of Eliana Hotel, spaciousness. The lounge has the capacity to hold large entertainment events and concerts. Comparatively the bar serves within a similar price range as other clubs in the city. Again here, the hotel has made efforts to infuse local flavors on the global standard services. The nostalga of classic Piassa materialize in the bar menu through a drink called “Churchill gar tebekign” [wait for me around Churchill], an old saying used as a rendezvous for lovers. The 45 birr
cocktail joins local Areqe (traditional liquor), birz (a mead from honey) & grenadine syrup. The panoramic view from the lounge shows Merkato, which is the biggest open market in Africa, on one side of the bar. The market is located within walking distance, making the hotel favorable for tourists. The other sides of the vibrant bar and lounge offer amazing views of the city. “We have held several graduation and wedding parties here recently,” said Daniel Abebe, marketing and sales director of the hotel. “We had also held an overwhelmingly successful album release party of singer Halima Ab d u r a h m a n ,” Daniel told The Eminence. It can be noted that Eliana has remarkable amenities and facilities but not much has been done to promote them. This can be witnessed with the number of reservations and people that can be seen in the hotel.
“Our parking lot has already started providing service,” Daniel added. This expansion not only benefits the hotel to grow, but it surely contributes to the country’s demand of hotels with vast, spacious conference rooms through the new convention center. Since Ethiopia is home to the headquarters to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU), hosting many diplomatic missions and growing number of international companies, the number of international meetings and conferences in Addis Ababa is increasing. Hence, the number of tourists coming to Addis Ababa is also increasing significantly. It is for
Golet, which literally means room for honeymooners is one of the executive rooms of Eliana
The marketing manager admits this. “But now we are working thoroughly on marketing the hotel; not only that, we are also working on expanding our services to a quality that will surely accredit us a five star grading,” says Daniel.
this reason that the country has recently set more focus to Meetings, Incentive travel, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE). The contribution such convention centers with good capacity and quality would bring to the tourism and hospitality sector is immense
Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 19
Hospitality 3600: E-Depth
Photo by: Sentayehu Bekele
MoCT Upbeat on Tourism Sector Performance Despite Concerns
Ethiopia, the cradle of humankind, is getting more attention from the world. As a result enormous number of tourists are flowing to the country. This is the biggest achievement for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT) which has released its performance report of 2008, 2015/16 in early September. At the same time, the institution is being criticized for some gaps seen over the past year. The Eminence’s FASIKA TADESSE takes an in-depth analysis of the performance of the Ministry during 2015/16 fiscal year.
T
he last Ethiopian fiscal year 2015/16 can be called a successful year for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT) in terms of the revenue it has earned from tourists who visited the country during the year. In 2015 Ethiopia earned a record 3.4 billion dollar from the tourism sector while Kenya and Tanzania collectively earned 2.77 billion dollar.
The report indicates that in 2015/16 Ethiopia was successful in increasing the number of tourist flowing into the country and the revenue spent by the tourists. It also launched the new tourism brand ‘‘Land of Origins”, five year Tourism Marketing Strategy and Brand and a Sustainable Tourism Master Plan are, among them.
The revenue was generated from the 910,128 tourists who visited Ethiopia in 2015/16 which is up by 117,251 tourists from the previous year when Ethiopia had 792,877 tourists. This is in line with the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) which aims to increase the number of tourists to the country by 20 percent annually.
In addition, the Ministry worked on the development of 21 new and eight existing tourist destinations, attended five international fairs in the United States, Sudan, Germany, Japan and China which helped the country to promote its tourism potential and successfully hosted several international meetings and conferences. The above successes had a direct impact in increasing the number of tourists to the country.
But as its name indicates the Ministry of Culture and Tourism stands equally for both tourism and culture. But the ministry’s success story is dominantly by the tourism sector, it is not providing sufficient attention to the culture sector. This can be supported by a performance report of the Ministry of the 2015/16 fiscal year.
Regarding culture, the Ministry’s major achievement was registering Fichee Chembelala as one of the world’s intangible heritages by UNESCO and its progress in registering Ashenda/Shadey/Ashendye and Irecha festivities. In addition, the Ministry reported it has conducted research on language, literature and folklore, cultural heritage and harmful cultures. MoCT also claims
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that it has studied and prepared theatrical plays on the Kunama and Hirob cultures and saved several traditional dances and songs from extinction by studying and recording them. The above mentioned achievements regarding culture are great claims made be Ayisha Mohammed (Eng.), Minister of Culture and Tourism. “It seems the tourism sector achieved better because its performance is calculated in terms of money and its impact on the economy, which is not pertinent for culture,” Ayisha told The Eminence. “The tourist flow is increasing because of the cultural and heritage sites of the country we are working on,” added Ayisha. The year 2015/16 was also another milestone for Ethiopia’s tourism as the MoCT undertook the first hotel star rating. From the 365 hotels which were deemed to be star rated, only 158 of them managed to receive certificates while 105 of them did not received their stars because they did not fulfill some mandatory requirements. On the other hand 102 hotels failed to fall under the star rating classification. From the 158 star-rated hotels Addis Ababa stood first with 77 hotels, Oromia follows with 27 and Southern Nations and Nationalities People Region (SNNPR) with 20. Amhara, Tigray, Dire Dawa and Harari accounts 18, 10, 4 and 2, respectively. Even though the tourism sector was successful the country failed on improving domestic tourism which does not have a strategy, according to Tadelech Dalecho State Minister of Culture and Tourism for Tourism Development. Another achievement mentioned by the Ministry regards conserving the national parks. During the past fiscal year, the MoCT reported it maintained 335 kilometers of road inside the tourist destinations and worked on the conservation of seven national parks in the country. It also designed three legal frameworks regarding parks and wildlife. But for Almaz Beyero, head of Southern Nations and Nationalities People Region (SNNPR) Culture and Tourism Bureau, the Ethiopian Wild Life Authority (EWCA) has failed in achieving its responsibility regarding parks and wildlife, and the report by the Ministry is not considered a major achievement. “The role of EWCA is really haphazard. It only manages 13 parks while the country has over 20 parks: for whom did it leave the remaining? Even the parks that are managed by the EWCA, such as Nech Sar and Omo National Parks, are in danger
and I can literally say the two parks are under the worst situation, and it seems we are expecting to see them lost in 2017,” Almaz said. In the performance report, SNNPR was mentioned as the top performing regional state among others in its efforts in developing both cultural and tourism sectors, while Somali Region was highlighted as the least performing regional state. As its strength, the Ministry identified good follow-up on its subordinates and regional bureaus and strong collaboration with the stakeholders. On the other hand, it pointed towards performance gaps, including being inflexible in adopting new trends and plan alignment problems, less promotion of the country as a destination, less promotion towards natural and cultural sites and less communication among the regional states.
reply yet. The other challenge mentioned by many regions and stakeholders was legal frameworks which blocked them from being functional. They mentioned that most of the time there is no clear and specific legal frameworks in the sector which is hampering their performances. Ayisha shares the claims regarding legal frameworks. “Some of the legal frameworks are subjected to different interpretations; some of them are not suitable for implementation, and on top of that, the process of ratifying or amending legal frameworks takes a longer time,” explained Ayisha. “But it is not only the mandate of the MoCT to
These are not the only gaps of the ministry, according to Mohammed Yaye, head of Afar Regional State Culture and Tourism Bureau. He questioned the merit of Ethiopian Tourism Organization (ETO) existence, which he believes has blocked the regional states to work on promoting the culture of the country from attending international trade fairs and shows. Almaz supports Mohammed’s claim, “ETO is not working closely with the regional states. It is only the regional states that are working on promotion which is the task of the ETO,” she said. Solomon Tadesse, CEO of ETO admits his institution’s failure saying, “The number of international trade fair ETO participated in was only five, while during the previous year the number was 12.” He also confesses that their communication with the regional culture and tourism bureaus was poor, and he promised to solve these problems in the current fiscal year. The Ministry’s officials were also challenged by the regional culture and tourism bureau heads who stressed the MoCT is not taking actions towards the challenges they raised in the past years. “We have several questions that have been lingering for the past five years which did not get responses from the Ministry. So I am forced to raise them again this year to get solutions,” said Mohammed. As an example he mentioned that his region has been asking the Ministry to claim the cultural heritages in Afar Regional State for UNESCO registration but they have not received any
The performance report was attended by ministers, head of regional culture and tourism bureaus and heads of the seven subordinate institutions.
solve the problems related to legal frameworks, rather every stakeholder in the sector should contribute its part,” she added. The other critical comment was raised by Geberetsadik Hagos, head of Addis Ababa Culture and Tourism Bureau. He claims the Ministry focuses on dealing with numbers to analyze its performance but ignores the effects and impacts of the performances towards the sector. In addition to the gaps mentioned by the stakeholders, the Ministry itself highlighted high staff turnover, the encroachment of livestock in the national parks and delay on the purchase of some items through the government procurement agency as its challenges during the year. It has also pointed out ETO and the Ethiopian National Theater were the major government institutions which performed less during the 2015/16 fiscal year
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Sanetti Plateau:
Bale Mountains National Park Photo by: Ethiopian Tourism Organization (ETO)
Cultural Panorama : History and Diplomacy
Deciphering the Fetha Negest
The Fetha Negest (Law of the Kings) is a legal code compiled around 1240 by the Coptic Egyptian Christian writer in the Arabic language. It was later translated into Ge’ez in Ethiopia and expanded upon with numerous local laws. This law served the country for hundreds of years until it was replaced by modern laws. The Code was registered by UNESCO under world literal heritages as an historical and ancient literature. The Eminence’s LUCY KASSA reviewed, discussed, and explored the Code with history and legal experts.
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ne of the twelve Ethiopian literal heritages which the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) registered as a World Literal Heritage is Fetha Negest (Law of Kings). Fetha Negest is a 14th century legal code that had served as the supreme law of the land until the ratification of the first modern constitution in 1931. Particularly the regimes of Emperor Iyasu, Susenyos, Tewodros II and Menilek II are characterized by the intense use of this code. The historical origin of Fetha
some reforms in the Church’s administration,” Hailemichael Getahun, Ancient Literature Expert at the National Archives & Library Agency (NALA), told The Eminence. Negest is Egypt. But legally speaking, the origin of most of the laws is Rome. The Code is one of the books which was translated from Arabic to Ge’ez in the 14th century during the reign of Emperor Zerayacob, a monastery-educated and powerful emperor from 1399 A.D to 1468 A.D. “Historically the reign of Emperor Zerayacob is considered as the renaissance period for Ethiopia. He had established strong diplomatic relations with the rest of the world especially with Western Christianity by sending delegates to the Council of Florence as well as to the Papacy. He also made
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Thus, Fetha Negest is one of the fruits of the Emperor’s strong diplomatic ties with the outside world. It was the desire of the then emperor’s (also the modern governor’s) to create politically unified subjects. One of the means to create politically unified subjects was legal nationalism which includes adopting a centralized legal code like Fetaha Negest. Hence the Emperor adopted Fetha Negest within his empire to consolidate his political power. The Egyptians were motivated by the same reasons to compile the “Law of Kings” from different sources of Roman law by their
writer Abul Fada’il Ibn Al-Assal in 1240. Even though there were other compiled laws to translate at that period, while looking for a comprehensive code Zerayacob shifted his interest to this Code due to the Code’s Orthodox Christian origins. “The king’s need was adopting a law that governs all aspects of life (every relation between the state and the people including civil, penal and administrative matters). But at the same time he was looking for such a law to be based on Orthodox Christianity. That is why he chose the ‘‘Law of Kings” from Egypt which was also intended to be used by the Egyptian Coptic Church and translated to Ge’ez,” explains Associate Professor Hassen Mohammed, lecturer at Mekelle University School of Law.
The law was directly translated to the Ge’ez language because Ge’ez was the national language at that time. And due to the slave trade and other commercial ties with other countries, Arabic was the second language that was widely spoken by most of the people during the time. But even though the historical origin of Fetha Negest emanated from Egypt, the legal substances of most of its articles were from the Roman Byzantine codes. This is especially reflected in the second part of the Code which deals with secular matters like family, succession, contract, commercial and other laws. It has adopted from three Byzantine compiled laws namely: Ecloga, a law issued in 726 by Leo, Procheiros Nomosa, an 870s law issued by Basil, and the Syro Roman Law Book. The unique thing in these laws is that they have Papal declarations which imply Papal law (a decree of regulations made or adopted by the Pope for the Roman Catholic Church and its members) which makes them supreme laws. This happens because Egyptians, who had a trade connection with the Europeans, used to translate these Roman codes and record them in archives which later were codified by Al-Assal under the name ‘‘Collection of Canons” [Law of Kings]. However the second part of Fetha Negest which focuses on dealing with religious matters, like the structure of the Church, is taken from the Old Testament, Christian writings and the Torah [the holy book of Judaism]. Once the Fetha Negest was adapted by the country as the first comprehensive written law in the 14th century, it brought many contributions. In fact, the country had some written laws before the coming of Fetha Negest, including Fewse Menfesawi (Spiritual Medicine), which was translated from Arabic and contained rules for some liturgical acts. But according to Hassen, these laws were not enough to govern the daily activities of the people who lived back
then. “The laws were very scattered and small in scale. In addition, there were some declarations written in tombs like that of the Hammurabi Code. But all these were not enough to deal with the then demand. It was by oral traditions and different declarations that the people were governed before the coming of Fetha Negest,” Hassen said. Comparing Fetha Negest with modern laws, the former has unique characters. One of its unique characters is the fact that it has a religious component to it. In modern laws there is principle of separation of state from religion (secularism). The method and style of the code is also different to modern laws. Modern laws are general and do not list acts specifically. Rather they categorize acts into some part and decide whether they are applicable. But the Fetha Negest is too specific and lists every act with a specific decision for all. “This case by case method which is called Socratic Method was common in the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages’ laws are very specific,” Hassen noted. Its procedural nature, like finding evidence and holding trials, is also unique. Unlike the modern procedural processes, the Fetha Negest is dominated by spiritual processes and it has this nature of ‘‘Trial by Ordeal”. It was not with reason. For example they used to apply Awechachina and Quragna superstitious systems to get evidence which were abolished by Emperor Tewodros. The punishments in Fetha Negest were also very harsh. They were in the form of ‘‘an eye for an eye” punishment which emanates from the Old Testament and has the nature of Hammurabi laws. Even though the Fetha Negest has these unique characters, which is in contrast to the principles of modern laws, its impact has continued till the promulgation of the 1931 constitution. The drafters of the modern constitution said they used it as inspiration and a source as well.
This ancient code was first removed from application by the adoption of the 1957 penal code. The latter replaced the cruel and “an eye for eye” punishments in Fetha Negest like abstraction of hands for conviction of theft. The 1960 civil code and commercial code which are still in use, replaced the civil parts of the ancient code. While making such laws, the drafters of the civil code includng Professor Rene David said that they used the Fetha Negest as a source. But for Hassen it is not clear which articles and elements they have taken. “I am not sure which elements they took because the civil code noted that all written and non-written laws of the country have no application after its promulgation,” said Hassen. Even though the application of the secular elements of the Fetha Negest has long been abandoned, the application of its religious parts continues to date. The criteria of decency, standards of obscenity, morality, definition of marriage, blasphemy, and offensive acts in the day to day activities of the people, especially among the Orthodox Christianity followers are believed to have a Fetha Negest touch. Among the Orthodox Christian clergyman, mastering the Fetha Negest is also considered as the highest level of education. “As the Book is challenging, one who understands the Fetah Negest is considered as a very wise person around the churches,” Hailemichael said. Having all these impacts the Code is registered by the UNESCO as it meets most of the criteria’s for World Literal Heritage. Some of these criteria are the fact that it is an ancient literature and that it is directly translated from Arab to Ge’ez. Largely its societal and country-wide benefits are considered. Unlike the Kebere Negest which is regarded as a legend and fictitious by some historians, the Fetha Negest is real and has a continuous moral impact on the society
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Cultural Panorama : Traveling Ethiopia
Bonga, affa y: K to b Pho rism Tou re,
The Lungs of Ethiopia
ltu Cu ne Zo
Kaffa:
Mankira, the birthplace of Arabica coffee, is lo-
au
A shepherd named Kaldi, who lived in Makira, the birthplace of Arabica coffee, saw his goats running into the bushes every morning to feast on some leaves. Then he saw the goats get motivated after consuming a certain kind of bean. What a wonder! He was curious to find out what was special about that tree and tasted it and found that it tasted good and gave people extra energy. That is where drinking coffee began in the sixth century in Kaffa.
re Bu
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Even if coffee or café which gets its name from Kaffa, the players in the multi-billion dollar commodity has the ability to shake up the global economy, the birth place of coffee literally unnoticed.
ion
One surely does not expect such a harmonious coexistence of forest, forest life and human activities. Many people dwell in the forest, inheriting it from their ancestors and farming uncovered lands within the forest. The Kaffa people do not cut trees, except for special cases when the community has been consulted to do so. The proof of this is the aged coffee trees and other trees in the dense forests.
This small town, hidden with its name and past glory, is a forgotten land, but its resources can attract adventurous tourists, both local and foreign. The major attraction to the area is coffee which is considered a blessed gift to the world.
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Almost 449 kilometers from Addis Ababa in the south west, Kaffa is called the lungs of Ethiopia and East Africa because of its dense forests and biodiversity. With its dense, subtropical forests, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) registered it as a biosphere reserve. Past Gibe River, what was once the limit of the Kaffa kingdom boundary, the greenery is breathtaking with the forest extending to the edge of the asphalted roads.
Bonga is a town and separate Woreda in the Kaffa Zone of SNNPR that sits upon a hill in the upper Barta Valley. Bonga is 10,602.7 square kilometer wide and composed of ten districts that receive a rain yearlong. It was once a popular town, serving as a trade center for the kingdom. It got its name after the swear word ‘boonooge,’ meaning in the name of his majesty, referring to the kings of the kingdom.
ni mu om
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affa, which is considered the birthplace of coffee, is in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). For centuries Kaffa had been led by its kings called ”Tato”, but that came to an end with the expansion of Menillik II to the southwestern part of the country. Until Menilik’s expansion, many kings led Kaffa for more than six centuries. The kingdom maintained its economy by earnings from gold, ivory and coffee until 1897.
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According to researches Kaffa is the birthplace for coffee Arabica as it was first discovered by a shepherd named Kaldi, who had dwelled in Makira in Kaffa. In addition the place is well known for its breathtaking, dense forest which can potentially attract tremendous numbers of tourists. Despite having these abundant natural resources, the area lacks developed hotel facilities to accommodate tourists according to Eminence’s contributor BROOK ABDU who recently traveled to the place.
cated within the Decha Woreda and has about 170 households in it. Mankira village is closer to Bonga and the only way to transport items is by horse and mules from Chiri, the capital of the Woreda. Since it was first discovered in Kaffa and Wolaita, the coffee beans are still drunk with spices brewed with it. In the area where coffee was first discovered, what is believed to be the mother coffee tree still stands and is covered in green moss. History affirms that the 19th century long distance Trans-Atlantic Trade Route began in Bonga, and the major trading elements of the kingdom then were coffee, cardamom, ivory and other natural spices that still grow in the area. It is regrettable if one travels to Bonga and comes back without seeing the dense coffee forest that is harvested and protected by the Kafa Forest Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, a collaborative of different cooperatives and unions. It is an exciting experience to see people congregating three times a day to drink the extract from the coffee beans. The other attractions in the area include caves, waterfalls and hot springs. Dubbed an open museum, the Kaffa Zone has so much to offer starting from the rivers that surround the Bonga town to the waterfalls that feed the rivers, as well as the natural bridges that make it possible
to cross the rivers. There are three major rivers that drain into the catchments of Bonga Forest; they are Gojeb, Dincha and Woshi Rivers. These rivers drain into the northeastern, central and western parts of Bonga, respectively. According to an NGO named Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Bonga Forest is inhabited by a minimum of 48 mammalian species, representing fourteen families and 100 bird species. There are 14 waterfalls in the Kaffa Zone out of which Barta, Shaki, Shimi, Mankira and Woshi are comparatively easily accessible to visitors. Similarly, the volcanic activity in the highlands of Ethiopia has created hot springs which the locals considered holy and offer cures. Among the many hot springs in Kaffa Zone, Goa, Dadiban and Kesho are most frequently visited. Dadiben is just 40 minutes away from Bonga. As waterfalls and hot springs are frequently found in the zone, there are also breathtaking caves. A website dedicated to promoting the Kaffa Biosphere Reserve states: “The caves are located in dense forests, and near springs and rivers. The people of the ancient Kafa Kingdom set up their defense structures nearby caves to add to their protection from invad-
ing enemies. In more recent history, locals have used caves, such as Wolla Shoba Cave, as shelters during the Italian occupation and as religious sites. Some caves have only recently been discovered, suggesting that more undiscovered caves exist. Caves in the Biosphere Reserve are located at Hawulti, Abagipo, Boirita, Gurguto, Yeshay, Gachinga, Dosha, Tuga, Elelo, and Tage Keto.”
of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
Other natural attractions include natural bridges which large rivers run under. One worth mentioning is Gurguto, meaning God’s Bridge which is a natural bridge near Bonga.
When it comes to the hotel industry, in contrast to the country’s experience of tremendous growth in hotel industry and tourist attraction, Bonga stands far behind in this development. There are small number of guesthouses and hotels that can host tourists. Mankira Hotel, a newly constructed hotel and Green Land Hotel are the major hotels for visitors to Kaffa. There is also a guesthouse managed by Kaffa Development Association.
As far as museums and cottages there are few of these attractions. But that does not mean the place lacks human built attractions, as it has churches that were constructed hundreds of years ago. Compared with the region’s richness in natural, historical and anthropological resources, there is no museum to displays these resources in different forms. There was a small cottage that had been hosting some of the collected cultural materials like clothing, weapons and eating and drinking utensils. The Ethiopian Millennium brought the inception of the idea to construct a museum that specialized in coffee in Bonga. The museum was constructed with 64 million birr. It took more than eight years of construction and was inaugurated last year in the presence
The museum has archeological and historical artifacts as well as findings placed together with the coffee story which are the major items on display. There are also five coffee beans found in a Kumakle Cave which are displayed in the museum; the beans are said to be 1,750 years old according to archaeological findings.
The new tourism strategy of the country puts Kaffa as one of the tourist attractions that has great potential in addition to the customary northern route. Hence, there is much investment needed to have facilities that can enable the Zone to host tourists. In this regard, the zonal and regional governments are responsible in attracting investors to invest in tourist facilities and make the place a top tourist attraction so that the zone could benefit from the tourism industry Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 27
Cultural Panorama : Art and Literature
s e e r g e D cess c u s of
is e n e c ter rt S h A g i s r ’ B a i Ethiop nd Gettairnt ingdustry easpyes.t ae for the Ethioppiaonpular back inmdany. h g i r B day has com hich was less e attention of is, including
B
ack in the day many Ethiopians’ perception for art especially for paintings was very low. As a result there was not many art exhibitions organized as the number of people who were interested in visiting art exhibitions was very limited. At the same time, people were not interested in buying paintings so the prices for paintings were low compared to the effort exerted by the artists who created the paintings.
Lulseged Retta, an international artist who is also the co-founder of the yearly art exhibition in Sheraton Addis Hotel, is a witness to this trend. Lulseged, who attended a painting school in the late 1960s, testifies that back then the community did not even give a concern to look and understand paintings. “The art and the understanding of the community towards the paintings were too little and unbalanced. At that time there were many legendary artists including Maitre Artist Afewerk Tekel, Gebrekiristos Desta, Worku Mamo and others who
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A new painting, w ed to get du asons for th ns and g ia or re cially f s now mana ntion many many Ethiop intings, e a f ha p o m t s i e s d t r r m o u a o t B inc tow pera le n o b o y i a t r s t p o s e Indu f disp ’s perc KASSA. rease o people the inc ovement of ence’s LUCY in pr the im g to The Em n i d r acco
earned international acclaim. But painting was not viewed as a profession,” said Lulseged. “Hence we used to sell our paintings for 300 birr and 400 birr. But even at such lower prices the local people had no interest in buying paintings, rather it was the foreigners who used to buy the paintings,” Lulseged added. In addition to the low view of paintings, there were few art exhibitions. Some of the well-known artists like Geberkirstos Desta used to organize small exhibitions in their residences. But even in such cases most people did not have the habit of visiting the exhibitions, so the exhibitions were only visited by foreigners. In addition there were a very limited number of galleries to display paintings. But recently many Ethiopian artists are even having their own studios and galleries. “In the past it was very hard to make a living with earnings from paintings. But at this time painting is becoming a source of income for
many families including me. I don’t have any other job at this time, and I can manage to support my family from the earning of my paintings,” Lulseged told The Eminence. Unlike the past, people’s understanding towards paintings is growing. Parents who used to forbid their children from being artists are even taking their children to art schools during the summer time. One can also easily see the changes by looking at the high amounts of money that visitors are willing to invest in order to purchase paintings. But even those who could not afford to buy the paintings at least are developing the habit of visiting art galleries and exhibitions. As evidence architect Tosa Yaregal and Etsegent Alemu are good examples. These two were at Art Ethiopia Exhibition, which was organized for the ninth time at Sheraton Addis Hotel from September 3 to 5, 2016. The whole nine rounds’ lighting, display space and coclatil reception were fully sponsered by Sheraton Addis Hotel. While The Eminence
Photo by: Sentayehu Bekele
m e t them, they were visiting the exhibition which was organized with the main aim of promoting Ethiopian paintings to the world and encourage the young painting generation. Over the past nine years when the exhibition was first launched, it has experienced an increasing number of artists and local buyers as well as visitors like Tosa and Etsegent. When the event was first established only eight painters displayed their paintings at the exhibition, including the famous artists Maitre Artist Afewerk Tekle and Ale Felegeselam. In this year’s exhibition the number of artists has reached over 100 with a total of 500 paintings displayed in a 900 square meter area. “When the exhibition was launched, it was only foreigners who have had the habit of purchasing paintings. But this time local people are also buying paintings. At the same time the styles of painting are also becoming more diversified and the number of local visitors has also increased,” said Luelseged. The two visitors Tosa and Etsegent do not have the money nor do they plan to buy the classy paintings from the exhibition. But they have some interest and knowhow of paintings and they just came to look and appreciate the paintings. This shows the improvements of people’s knowledge towards painting. “For a longer period of time,
the artist and viewers were separated. The people set aside paintings saying “we do not understand it” as well as artists assumed that the people would not understand their paintings. But now many people consider purchasing paintings as a sign of luxury and class. It is becoming just like fashion,” said Atkilt Assefa a full time painter who has his own gallery and studio and who displayed his paintings at Art Ethiopia Exhibition. “This is my third time to visit the paintings of Art Ethiopia. Even though I cannot dare to buy the paintings I get pleasure by visiting. And it is a good thing that the exhibition displays different techniques of paintings. But most of them are dominated by the realistic technique of painting,’’ Tosa said. Just like Tosa, Etsegent also has some understanding of paintings especially on colors. “Whether abstract or realistic I like and dislike paintings by looking at the composition of the colors,” Esegent said. With the increasing number of artists the creativity in the paintings as well as the sale of paintings has also increased. Different painting techniques and styles like the two and three dimensions painting technique of Mezgebu Tesema have emerged. Reaching such a level of interest many reasons contributes to the evolution of the art and a changed perception in the community. One of these reasons is the media. With many promotions about paintings by the media people have started to ask what makes the paintings special. This is also associated with the legendary artists like Maitre Afewerk Tekle and Geberkirstos Desta who are known worldwide. The popularity of these artists is believed to change the perception. The purchasing culture of the local people is said to emanate from the Diaspora community. But the fact that the living standards of the people is changing with an increasing spending capacity caused by the increase of individuals’ disposable income, have also contributed to people giving more attention to paintings. Unlike previous times many people want to have paintings to decorate their homes, offices and business areas including cafés, hotels and restaurants.
It is becoming more common for large hotels to exhibit stylish paintings in their lobby, rooms and restaurants. This is also another factor which pushes the price of paintings to increase. The price of paintings has drastically increased. Some 16 to 17 years before, the price of most paintings was not more than 500 birr but now some prices have reached the maximum price of 400,000 birr. And asking 30,000 birr or 40,000 birr for a single painting is becoming very common. In fact the time, creativity and material used in the paintings determine the price. But at times there are also some exaggerated prices that some artists ask. According to Lulseged the reason behind this is the competition between artists. Some of the young artists determine the price not by looking at the above factors but just by competing with other artists. Other than the exaggerated prices, some artists do not have a fixed price. For example while they sell their paintings by 10,000 birr in their studios or to ordinary people, they may double or triple the prices if they are going to sell them for Sheraton Addis Hotel or similar hotels or shops. Artists like Atkilt raise the issue of unavailability of painting materials like canvas and ink as a big challenge. The ink, especially the acrylic inks, could cost up to 1,000 birr per tube and not enough of the ink is imported and there is only one local manufacturer. The canvas is also expensive and there is no quality canvas. Other than becoming a reason to raise the prices, these barriers affect and interrupt the artists’ work, according to Atkilt. Inadequate professional galleries and art schools where the artists can display their paintings and learn the profession are also challenges in the sector. Artists have to wait for a long time before they can display their works in the few art galleries which forces them to raise their prices Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 29
Made in Ethiopia : Life Style
In Ethiopia it was customary for mothers to stay home, take care of the children and do the house chores while the men work outside the home to support their family. Even if a woman has a job, most of them quit when they give birth. This is due to lack of trained nannies. Also, raising a child was considered to be exclusively a woman’s job. However, in recent years, most women have their own job. Even though the responsibility of raising a child is not yet shared equally between a mother and a father, following one’s career is not only for men these days. This lifestyle change has become a reason to establish different businesses such as daycare and nanny training centers. Eshururu Training Center PLC is one of these. The Eminence’s FREHIWOT GEBREWOLD visited the training center.
A
Abaynesh Gosaye is a mother of three. She studied Chemical Engineering and is now working at Mitsubishi as a Chemical Marketer. She didn’t hire a nanny when she raised her first two children. However, when she had her third child who is a year and nine months now, she needed someone to look after him so she could continue her work. “I finished my studies after five years and I didn’t want to be a housewife after all of that. And, I just couldn’t quit my job of two years. Hence, I needed to look for a nanny. That was when I heard about Eshururu. Though I waited for three months to get a nanny, I am very pleased now with the nanny that I have,” explained Abaynesh. Unlike some years before, many Ethiopian mothers like Abaynesh have to juggle both careers and raising a family. Many of them run different kinds of businesses. For such mothers, taking care of
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the work and raising their children the same time become very difficult. Many mothers started placing their infant children in daycares or hiring a nanny to look after their children at home. However, most of the nannies are not well -educated or trained in taking care of children so this remains a challenge for many parents. “My wife and I have two children. Just like any other parents we have a nanny for our children. We both have our own jobs. One day, when we got home, our first child said a word. We were so excited that he started talking but the style was totally his nanny’s. After a while, we saw so many resemblances in behavior and style between them. There are good things that he learnt from her. But some things that we noticed were not. When we thought about it, it was not her fault. She didn’t get proper child care training. When we shared our experience with our friends, we learnt that they also were facing the same problem though they didn’t give it that much attention. So, we decided to provide her dif-
ferent educational information and help her. Shortly after that, she improved a lot. Finally, we decided to establish a training center for those who are directly involved with children,” said Solomon Mulugeta, General Manager of Eshururu Training Center PLC. Every Ethiopian child knows the word Eshururu as it is a lullaby that Ethiopian mothers sing over and over as they are putting their babies to sleep. Taking its name from this lullaby, Eshururu Training Center was founded by Solomon and his wife Nibret Abera and became operational in 2013. “It was not easy to establish the training center at first. It was difficult to know from where to start. We discussed our idea with professionals to prepare the manual and so on. And for the license we needed to have a certificate of compliance; so we got that from the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Office of the Bole Sub City. Fortunately, they were very cooperative, and we finally got the license and started the work,” Solomon told The Eminence.
Photo by: Eshururu
Juggling Careers Opens Business Niche for Nannies
Located around Gerji, the training center has three rooms. The first room is for theoretical education with a classroom kind of setup. The second room is a practical room where all the teaching materials are placed. In this room the nannies practice what they have learnt in theory. There are different dolls and first aid kits. Besides learning how to take care of the children, the nannies also learn about children’s food preparation and nutrition; the third room is where they learn how to cook children’s meals. The training center has its own cooking manual which is prepared by two famous and experienced chefs of the town. E shu r u r u is working in collaboration with International Labor Organization (ILO) and European Union (EU). “ILO and EU are supporting 200 women returnees from the Middle East countries to take the training,” said Solomon. Since its establishment, Eshururu Training Center has trained 890 nannies. “Among the 890 nannies 200 will graduate very soon. The 690 have already graduated and are employed now,” added Solomon.
Nannies taking theoretical and cooking lessons at Eshururu
What makes Eshururu different is that the trainees receive three certificates at the end of their training. The first one is a certificate of TVET and the second one is Certificate of Compliance (COC). The training center is working in collaboration with the Addis Ababa Police Commission and Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to reduce illegal migration of women to Middle East countries as well as teaching them how to defend themselves from different attacks while they are working. And
the third one is a certificate from the police for taking this training. Eshururu charges 4,600 birr for the three months training and 150 birr for registration. Solomon explained, “The schools in Addis Ababa don’t have certified nannies and caregivers. We are the only one certifying nannies in the city. Since we want to encourage the schools, we have a discount for them. We have reached 70 schools and only School of Tomorrow sent their 32 nannies. The rest of the 69 schools are not willing and this is very much shocking.” Among the 1,500 private schools in Addis Ababa, Solomon reached out to 100 of them and did a research. “The result that I came up with was a very much dreadful finding. In all those schools, most of the nannies didn’t have any knowledge about child care and they were not even certified. And what is worse is that most of them didn’t like their jobs,” explained Solomon. At the end of the training nannies will be assigned in groups to write about the different topics that they have learnt. Before graduation, they do their internships in kindergartens, orphanages and daycares. They have to submit their papers and the grades from their internships before graduation. When all this is done, they take the COC test and training from the Addis Ababa Police Commission and Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The courses that are given to the trainees are by the standard of the country’s TVET programs. Solomon said, “The TVET of Bole Sub City does continuous follow-up regarding the training. They come here at least once in a month and take out a document randomly and evaluate our training.” “The nannies that we got from Eshururu are now our family members. They are well trained and they know how to adapt with the situation easily. I think this comes mainly from the training they took,” said Tsehay Mulatu, who got nannies for her grandchildren from Eshururu. Tsehay’s children are now working and because of their work, they travel out of the country most of the time. “When they go out of the country, they brought the children along with their nannies to my house. It doesn’t affect my social life as the nannies know how to take care of the children,” added Tsehay. Nannies that are trained at Eshururu Training Center have a chance of getting hired right after their graduation. “Here
Solomon Mulugeta, general manager and founder of Eshururu Training Center
employers are waiting for our nannies to finalize their trainings,” added Solomon. Eshururu Training Center does an inspection visit every three months to the houses where their nannies work. “We go there to advice and encourage them. We want to get comments and feedbacks from their employees. We also want to listen to what our nannies would like to say about their employees,” Solomon told The Eminence. For a parent to get a nanny from Eshururu, it may take them up to three months and the communication in the meantime is done over the telephone. Parents start by filling a form regarding their livelihood, number of children, number of other employees and so on. Solomon said, “We immediately assign a nanny for a child who lost his/her mother due to birth or other diseases. But this is a rare case among the people who come here.” For a full time job, a nanny gets paid a minimum of 2,000 birr. If she only works during the day, the payment will be from 1,500 birr – 1,700 birr. The policy of TVET allows having 40 trainees per classroom, and since Eshururu has two training rooms and three shifts within a day, they have a capacity of accepting 480 trainees for the threemonths training. On the other hand there are about 800 parents on the waiting list to get a nanny for their children. This shows how the demand for a nanny is very high in the city. Currently Eshururu is also giving the training for parents who are eager to know more about childcare Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 31
Made in Ethiopia : Fashion
Ethiopian
ashion F
Scene Seeing Renewed Interest
Fashion was perceived in luxury terms for many Ethiopians. But this perception seems under transformation and people have started understanding that fashion is part of everyone’s lifestyle. Unlike previous years, the number of fashion shows taking place in the country is increasing significantly, giving fashion designers more opportunities to get better attention from the public, according to The Eminence’s FASIKA TADESSE.
S
ome 20 years ago, organizing fashion shows was very discouraging and disappointing for Ejigayehu Hailegiorgis, a veteran fashion designer and founder of Ejig Tibeb. After returning from Athens, Greece, she founded her company Ejig Tibeb and organized an annual fashion show at Ibex Hotel in order to promote her designs and the concept of a fashion show for the society. But she did not continue organizing the show as per her initial plan because she was discouraged by the
feedback and the outcomes- from her first fashion show. People’s perception towards fashion was very low, and very few people attended her show. Contributing to this, the public’s understanding of fashion shows was just to show imported costumes from boutiques rather than locally-designed clothing. “I decided to quit the show since the image towards fashion shows was very discouraging,” Ejigayehu told The Eminence.
So it took her about 20 years to organize her own fashion show again. She organized a fashion show at the Africa Fashion Reception (AFR) that was held from September 13 - 15, 2016 at the African Union, and featured fashion designers from 30 African countries. AFR was one of the grand events for the fashion show industry for Ethiopia, which the country has been considering organizing and attending fashion show as a luxury. So that there were very few promoters and designers organizing fashion shows. Even if fashion shows were orga-
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nized, they were just to accompany other events such as fundraisings, concerts and other entertainment programs. One of the designers who is witnessing this recent phenomenon of better attention given for the fashion industry is Yordanos Abera, owner of Yordi Design, who has been in the business for more than 12 years. Yordanos explained that not only has the number of fashion shows organized in the country increased so are the number of businesses attaching themselves to the growing fashion industry. “Back in the days designing was considered as a luxury, but now even companies are giving fashion designers opportunities to work. For instance Habesha Brewery’s logo is a handmade design made by a fashion designer. In addition, lounge owners such as Suba Lounge’s, organizes fashion shows three or four times in a year,” said Yordanos. “On top of that these days many event organizers and promoters who organize stages for fashion shows are emerging,” she added. This is happening in contrast to the
past history of the country where fashion was all but abandoned. The industry was not known by either the public or the government, and people’s perception towards fashion was only wear modern clothes. But now it seems things are getting better, and the industry is getting more attention from the government and society as well. “The Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT) and Ministry of Industry (MoI) have considered fashion as an industry and included it in their strategies and they are assisting us,” said Ejigayehu who is also President of the Ethiopian Fashion Designers Association (EFDA), which was established two years ago and currently has 87 fashion designer members. According to Markos Huluka, founder and CEO of Konjo Promotions LLC., a US-based promotion company, the main constraints which hindered the evolution of the fashion industry in the country were; poor system of the fashion industry and the unavailability of networks which connect fashion designers with the local and international customers even though Ethiopia is well known
Photo by: Zoma Hairs
for its ethnic textiles.
promote Ethiopian designers, as well designers from other African countries, to the international market. Hub of Africa’s mission has always been to link designers with key industry players,” says Mahlet Teklemariam founder of Hub of Africa.
“In addition, most Ethiopians do not approve of fashion, while fashion is a lifestyle. We Ethiopians do not have a fashion calendar, there is no investment in the fashion industry like the construction and hotel industries, there are no buyers for fashion products, no fashion talk shows and TV programs, no networks, bridges and promoters for the fashion industry, which all have negative impacts for the slow growth of the fashion industry in Ethiopia”, said Markos who has graduated from the Art institute of Washington in Fashion and Retail Management.
Not only are individual organizers working on organizing fashion shows, but also EFDA has launched an annual fashion show dubbed Ethiopian Fashion Week. The five day fashion show took place at Oromia Cultural Center for the first time last year with 60 designers and 65 traditional craftsmen participating in it. This year’s event is expected to take place in December, according to Ejigayehu.
To change this story and contribute his part, Markos organized a 45 minutes fashion show at Azzeman Hotel on September 8, 2016. The main event was a farewell dinner party for the two Ethiopian artists Girum Ermias and Ruta Mengisteab for The Nollywood & African Film Critics’ Awards (NAFCA). During the event two Ethiopian fashion designers, Yordi Design and Feleke Fashion staged their designs to promote their designs for the attendees. The show was attended by 300 guests including artists, models, diplomats, government officials, business owners and other professionals. After all, these kinds of shows are giving bigger opportunities for fashion designers to get better attention from the public and to market their designs. “By attending such kinds of showings we are getting attention from the international and local buyers, and we are also getting coverage from international media,” says Yordanos who staged her 20 design works during Markos’s event. Another grand fashion show for the industry is the fifth edition of Hub of Africa Fashion Week (HAFW). HAFW is a sub-event under the Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week (ASFW) 2016 that took place from October 4 to 7, 2016 at the Millennium Hall focusing on apparel and textiles. “We incorporated Hub of Africa under ASFW as we believed mostly the textile and garment industry are
Models on the runaway of the fashion show that was organized by Zoma Hairin July, 2016
Now it seems organizing fashion shows is becoming popular and everyone is rushing to establish an annual fashion show. Yordanos is finalizing a deal with Elilly International Hotel to organize an annual wedding collection exhibition which will have a bazaar and fashion show. At the bazaar, all service providers of wedding packages will take part including pastries, decors, makeup artists, wedding card printers, wedding dress sellers and, of course, Yordanos’s wedding collection designs. For his part, Markos is working to launch a show named Fashion Forward Ethiopia Event in December 2016. The event has a motive of linking Ethiopian models and fashion designers. The event will have a two day workshop with invited guest fashion designers from Washington DC. The growth of Ethiopian fashion industry looks to be restricted only locally. Markos is working to take Ethiopian fashion designers to stage their designs at international fashion shows such as DC Fashion Week, Canada Fashion Week, African Fashion Week in London and L.A. Fashion Week. According to Markos these stages will give Ethiopian designers the opportunity to show their potential in the global fashion industry arena.
highly connected with the fashion industry,” said Haimanot Tesfaye, managing director of Ethel Advertising and Communications PLC, which is the co-organizer of ASFW. Hub of Africa was started in 2010 giving an opportunity for 12 designers and international models like Maya Haile to show their designs. The second round took place in 2012 by partnering with Origin Africa which held its inaugural show at the new African Union Conference Center. HAFW 2014’s edition was featured on Vogue Italia, an internationally known fashion magazine. The 2015 show was also partnered with origin Africa/ASFW (Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week) and featured 18 African designers.
“International fashion operators do not have the idea where the Ethiopian Fashion industry has reached, so these stages will give a chance for them to know more about Ethiopia,” explained Markos.
This year’s edition is again supported by Vogue Italia and has 12 African designers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania showcasing their works on the runway. This year’s edition, which took place on October 6, 2016, was attended by 700 people. “Through our show we truly believe that we are creating platforms to
three fashion shows on the stages at different events, including the fundraising event by the Ethiopian Women Association, Hub of Africa and The Cosmetics Bazaar
In addition, last year FDA organized
But admitting with the rise of fashion shows organized in Ethiopia, there still are things that should be considered in organizing fashion shows, according to Yordanos. “The organizers should consider arranging space as to where the show will take place, letting the designers display and sell their products. In addition the organizers should also invite more people who can potentially buy our products,” she concluded
Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 33
Made in Ethiopia : Architecture and int. Design
Hotel Celeste:
Hotel Celeste which translates as heavenly in English and three digits in Tigrigna, opened its door to guests at the beginning of August 2016. The hotel is unique as it came up with the architectural and interior design with most features that include Ethiopian cultural heritages and sites. The Eminence’s LUCY KASSA visited the hotel to explore the detailed interior and exterior design of the hotel.
T
hese days in Ethiopia it is not common to see hotels and restaurants constructed with ancient historical or cultural elements. But contrary to this trend some hotels attempt to include some traditional elements to their interior as well as exterior designs. Among them, the Axum Hotel and several cultural restaurants have incorporated some of the country’s cultural touches in their architectural designs and interior looks. The newly opened hotel near Welo Sefer bearing the name Hotel Celeste, meaning heavenly in English and three digits in Tigrigna, is one of the hotels which has Ethiopian cultural inspirations for its interior and exterior designs. According to the owners of the hotel, the name implies Ethiopia’s bright and blue sky with its 13 months of sunshine. Hotel Celeste lays on a 436 square meter plot of land. It took three years to construct and was a 48 million birr investment. In its 19 rooms and its architectural and interior designs, the hotel highlights some of Ethiopia’s cultural sites and attractions for tourists who come to the country as a way to encourage them to visit these places. This hotel also includes some historical heritages in its architecture and interior designs in a way that did not contradict the simplicity in its ambiance. Fasiledes, he historical palace of Gondar, is one of the heritages that is represented in the hotel’s design. Hotel Celeste’s stone fence including its doors that are made from metal have the shape of the front design of Fasiledes. This is in addition to each room’s doors which are designed to look like the doors of the castle. The architectural design of the building, which applied different construction materials, has also tried to represent the upper shape of another heritage, the Axum obelisk on its roof top. For a vernacular architecture expert, Mulugeta Begashaw who is also the managing director of a new construction company named Mulugeta Be-
34 | The Eminence - Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016
Photo by: Sentayehu Bekele
A Hotel Whose Designs and Decorations are Inspired by E thiopian Art
gashaw General Contractor, it was a nice step forward that the hotel attempted to represent these heritages. But the attractiveness of the architecture especially on the first floor of the building is detracted by the multiple construction materials used such as aluminum, varnished wood, cement wall with cream color and quartz stone. For Mulugeta less is more in architecture. He said it would have been good if the materials used were reduced to two or if the first floor was fully constructed by stone. When lots of constructions materials are used, it will grab the attention of many viewers and lead them not to be curious about the architecture. While trying to bring the Axum shape, the cream painted beside wall also dominated the rest of the elements of Axum and Fasildes. To compromise this domination Mulugeta recommended that it was better to use
another color or avoide the lines in the wall. In addition to these two heritages, the hotel used Harar’s Arthur Rimbaud’s house construction for its architecture. This, according to Eden Muluwork, general manager of the hotel, is to bring fresh air to the rooms in each floor aside from representing the heritage of Harar. Mulugeta noted that the hotel should have adopted this architecture in all of its parts as it is the best and most wonderful design for that reason. The Rimbaud wall, a wall with small holes where is all common Middle East construction technology especially in the hottest places on earth has three functions to Celeste. One, it reduces the temperature of the hotel by pre-
venting direct sun and aids in ventilation. The second use is one can view the city from the hotel. The third benefit is it protects the privacy of the customer by not allowing people to see him/her from below. The other well thought out area of the hotel is the outdoor garden. Creating two zones by including a fountain in the middle, the garden uses indigenous plants to beautify its compound. But the best thing for Mulugeta is that the plants are not seen in a controlled manner. “When gardens are very controlled by green grasses and trees in a much equivalent and patterned way, they create a sense of fatigue. But this does not mean they should be very wild as the latter also creates a sense of nuisance. An interior designer should balance these two extremes. From this perspective the garden of Celeste is not that much controlled nor is it very wild,” Mulugeta said. Despite this the garden has also some limitations as it lacks detailed craftsmanship and is not handicap friendly. Having this kind of architecture and outdoor ambiance just like in its exterior, the hotel has added some vernacular elements to its interior design. According to Asrat Kahsay managing director of the hotel, the front gate to the lobby bar is designed to represent the round gates of most monasteries in the country, particularly Yemharene Kirstos, a monastery built in a cave, which is located 40 kilometer from the Rockhewn churches of Lalibela. The lobby bar has more or less modern furniture with brown leather sofas. The sofas, which originally did not have pillows, were decorated by Saba Tilet and have pillows. One of its sofas also used Mesob, a traditional dining table. In order to complement the traditionally designed pillows with the brown colored leather sofas, secondary colors were used to decorate Tilets.
The pillows of the sofas are also designed with Axum embroidery. At the same time the Axum embroideries are used to decorate the inside walls of the hotel including a wall accessory made up of wood. Despite all these mix of modern and traditional elements there is a coherent ambiance in the lobby bar. “The sofas are brown, the accessories are brown and the walls are white. So they all are harmonious and it is a nice decision to put the traditional pillows on the leather sofas,” said Mulugeta. But the problem rests in the lighting of the lobby bar. In interior design there are three kinds of lighting which include centerpiece lighting, ambiance lighting and focal lighting. The former is the central light, the second is lighting to create a mood and the latter is about giving a focus like what is done to paintings. The hotel uses both centerpiece and ambiance lightings. Yet the problem is that the hotel did not choose the right material for the centerpiece lighting. It uses spotlights which shine on the eyes and one does not dare to look at them. Spotlights are recommended to be in a hidden part or to be diffused, not in the center of a ceiling according to the expert. In addition the two windows in the lobby bar have no purpose as they neither bring in fresh air nor light. It would have been better if they had been covered with a curtain. To decorate the bar, Ge’ez numerics are sculptured in golden color furniture with mirrors behind. Other than the Ge’ez numeric, the hotel has also tried to show Ethiopia’s different cultural, natural and historical heritages through its paintings. In each rooms of the hotel there are different paintings and photographs that represent the endemic birds, unique lifestyles, traditional dressing styles and sites like the Harar wall. This, according to Eden, is to compromise with the fact that the hotel’s architecture mainly focused on the northern part of the country. “We dominantly represent the northern heritages in terms of architecture because most of the well-known architectural heritages are found in the northern parts of the country,” Eden concluded
Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 35
Made in Ethiopia: Unique Ethiopia
Illegal Construction and Rickshaws Threaten
Harar’s Hyena Attractions In addition to its ancient architectural designs and museums, Harar, the eastern town of Ethiopia, is known for its ample natural and cultural heritage which attracts both local and international tourists. Among the tourist attractions and ceremonies of Harar, the feeding of spotted hyenas is the major attraction. The Eminence’s KALEAB HAILU traveled to the ancient and historic town of Harar and took part in the hyena feeding scene and offers this report.
36
T
ourists flowing to Ethiopia come with different purposes including vacations, business meetings or religious pilgrimages, and because of the different reasons for their visits, they have different destinations. As a destination, each Ethiopian town and city offers its own attractions, be they natural, social or cultural heritages. And Harar is among the towns that has ample and diverse tourist attractions. The historic city of Harar is located in the eastern part of Ethiopia. It possesses several tourist sites that pull in a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. Harar’s tourist attractions include Jugol wall stroll through the five gates of the city (which is registered under UNESCO’s world heritage site), various museums scattered throughout the city and marvelous examples of ancient architecture. The town is also the only one which the blue and white Peugeot 504 taxis zigzag through the town’s cobblestone streets. However, the daytime experience of Harar is quite different from the ambience of the city at night. As the sun goes down, the shops on the streets close their doors to customers and the hectic human and vehicle traffic comes to a halt. It almost feels as though the city ceases to exist at around half past six each evening. However, there is one thing that comes to life on the opposite end of the city as it slowly goes down to sleep; the spotted hyena feeding shows. Written records indicate that spotted hyenas have been present in the walled city of Harar for at least 500 years, where they help keep the city clean by feeding on its organic refuse. The place is completely dark except for the three wheeled motor vehicles known as Bajajs that pass every now and then, spreading some light only to disappear after a few minutes. There are many hyena men in the area who congregate at
the place at night to feed the hyenas and entertain tourists who go there to witness the hyena feeding scene. According to local folklore, the feeding of hyenas in Harar originated during the 19th century famine, during which the starving hyenas began to attack livestock and humans. A farmer started feeding hyenas scraps of meat (goat, donkey, sometimes camel) to keep them away from his livestock. In one version of the story, a pure-hearted man dreamed of how Harar could placate the hyenas by feeding them porridge, and successfully put it into practice. Hayredin, 19 years old, is one of the hyena men who feeds the hyenas, charging 20 birr as an exhibition fee and allow tourists to take pictures during the feeding show. Tourists can enjoy watching while these hyena men feed the hyenas, or the tourists can feed the hyenas with support from the hyena men. When the place gets darker, the hyenas slowly start coming out from the dark. The hyena men call the hyena using a “hyena dialect” even giving them names. They hold slices of meat on short sticks. The hyenas eat the meat provided by spectators from the hands of the hyena men. The hyena men also hold the stick with the meat in their mouth to feed the hyenas. After feeding them, the hyena men, including Hayredin, invite tourists to feed the hyenas. Not all of the tourists feed the hyenas, as most are scared of being attacked by the oversized predators. Biniam Ashenafi, 22 years old, is another regular hyena man. He explains how he started feeding the hyenas. “My elder brother used to work in the Christian abattoir in front of where we stand now,” says Bianiam pointing forward a huge compound in front of the place where he feed the hyenas. “About twenty years ago my brother used to take out leftover pieces of meat from the abattoir and throw it to the hyenas. He then went on
to feed the hyenas with really long sticks so they won’t reach him. He used to run away when they got close and also faced too many problems while petting the hyenas,” reminisced Biniam. “I have been doing this for ten years now; the shows used to be visited by both domestic and foreign tourists throughout the year. But the number of tourists is declining because of these Bajajs driving through the arena and illegal house being built in the surroundings,” explains Biniam. “The drivers of the Bajajs drive straight at the hyenas almost hitting them at times and their lights are so bright they scare them away and we have to call them back. There are also houses that are being built on the hyenas’ habitats that drive them further away, not only from the neighborhood but also from the region,” he added. One of the things that attract tourists to come to Harar is this bizarre one-of-a-kind show where humans are seen passing meat slices to hyenas, using, not their hands but their mouth. This show is a socio-cultural heritage that should be preserved and protected to increase the number of tourists coming into the region. “We have forwarded a complaint about the Bajajs and the illegal buildings in the surroundings to the Harari Culture and Tourism Bureau. They are working with us closely to curb this problem which we are grateful for,” Biniam told The Eminence. Both the Bajajs and the illegal dwellers are affecting the tourist flow to the place and the town as well. While the number of tourists declines at the same time it decreases the revenue the town and the hyena men earn from the tourists. The region’s culture and tourism bureau and the hyena men should work in collaboration to preserve this unique culture of the town as well as the country to avoide challenges for of area
Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 37
Reflection: Legal Corner
Things to Know Before Packing Your
Medicines to
Ethiopia
W
hen a tourist or any traveler plans to travel to another country, there are things that the traveler should do before boarding a plane. It is known that documents like a renewed passport and visa is required for international travelers. It is also very important for the traveler to know more about the destination. This helps the traveler to know about travel alerts or travel warnings. Some countries have strict laws against medications. Hence, it is very important for the traveler to have a letter from a doctor explaining about any medications. For example in Ethiopia the exclusive organization that is responsible for inspecting medical and food items that enter the country to ensure protection of health and communicable disease is the Food, Medicine, Health Care Administration and Control Authority. The Authority is established by regulation number 176/1999 of the council of Minister and has
38 | The Eminence - Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016
exclusive authority according to proclamation no. 661/2009 article /4/sub Article/7/. According to the Authority, people who travel to Ethiopia need to have a yellow fever vaccination card. This is a basic requirement. If the traveler is taking medicines for cancer and some antibiotics during the time of traveling, then the traveler needs to have a doctor’s prescription in hand. However, this doesn’t work for medicines such as Tylenol and allergy medicines that are usually found over the counter. When there are epidemics, like Ebola, the Authority is responsible in establishing quarantine stations. During such times, more care will take place at the different airports so that people traveling won’t bring the epidemics into the country. Sometimes people traveling with infants may need special formula and more food items for the infant that they bring. At times like this people need to prove to the inspector at the
point of entry that they are bringing the formula for personal consumption and not for sale. Sometimes, some people bring some snacks; food and chewing gum. The inspectors will see the amount and make their own judgment to decide whether the person is bringing those items for sale or for personal use. If the inspector claims or thinks that the items that a person brings are not for personal use, then the items will be confiscated. If a person dies abroad and if the family wants to bring the body, they need to have a medical report for the cause of his/her death. The medical report needs to be from the country where the person died and it should be either in English or Amharic. This is mainly to know whether the disease that caused the death is communicable or not. In 2005 Ethiopia ratified the International Health Regulation which helps many countries to work together to prevent and control the spread of diseases in response to public health issues. So if there is any response to an epidemic internationally at any time, Ethiopia will also take the precaution through the authority cited above. It’s always good to know about the destination before traveling anywhere in the world. For Ethiopia regarding medication, food and related items its best to visit the executive organization’s website at www.fmhaca.gov.et for more and detailed information .................................................................... We give special thanks to Abebaw Gessese, Director at the Food, Medicine, Health Care Administration and Control Authority of Ethiopia for his support in bringing this to our readers.
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Places for Retreat Kurifitu Resort & Spa Location: Bishoftu (Debrezeit) Things to do: Restaurant & Bar, Swimming, Kayaking, Spa, Rooms Kurifitu Resort & Spa Location: Bahir Dar Things to do: Restaurants, Rooms with Lake Tana View, Fireplace, Swimming, Spa Adulala Resort Location: Bishoftu (Debrezeit) Things to do: Restaurants & bar, Spa & Gym, Bungalows, Horse riding, fishing at Babo Gaya Lake & much more African Vacation Club Location: Langanoo Things to do: Restaurant & bar, Swimming, Kayaking, Spa, Rooms, Horse ridding, Game Zone and Different Beach Games Yaya Village Location: Sululeta Things to do: Restaurant & bar, Horse Riding, Rooms & High Attitude training Liesake Resort and Spa Avanti Blue Nile Hotel Location: Bahir Dar Things to do: Bar and Restaurant, Rooms with overall city view, massage
Immerse yourself in Ethiopian Music and Dance Fendika Location: Kazanchis Time: from 7:00 PM- Mid night 2000 Habesha Location: Bole Time: from 7:00 PM- Mid night
Location: Piassa Holy Trinity Cathedral Location: Arat Kilo
Beautiful Scenic and Wildlife in Ethiopia
National Museum Location: Amist Kilo
Caribo Resturants Location: Mekinisa Specialty: Caribbean and African cuisine
Park (Anebesa Gebi) Location: Sidist Kilo
Panoramic view of Addis from Entoto Location: Entoto
Hangout Spots Edna Mall/ Bob and Bongos Things to do: Watch box office movies, Skating, basket ball, cafés, 7D movies Lafto Mall Things to do: Read your favorite books & enjoy hot drinks Balageru Coffee Things to do: Read your favorite books & enjoy hot drinks Bilos Café Things to do: Some of the best pastries in town
Night Life in Addis Gaslight Night Club Location: Sheraton Addis Club Illusion Location: Next to Ambassador Theater Black Rose Location: On Boston Building Champion Bar Location: On Boston Building Liquid Lounge Location: Next to Intercontinental Addis Hotel
Simien Mountains National Park Location: Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region Some of the animals that can be found: Gelada baboon, Simien fox & Walia Ibex Nechisar National Park Location: SNNPR Some of the animals that can be found: Burchell’s Zebra, Grant’s gazelle, Guenther’s Dik-dik, Anubis Baboon & Grey Duiker. Awash National Park Location: Southern part of Afar Region and northeastern of Oromia Region Some of the animals that can be found: Beisa oryx, Hamadryas Swaync’s Hartebeet Omo National Park Location: SNNPR Some of the animals that can be found: Burchell’s Zebra, Gerenuk & Kudu Mago National Park Location: SNNPR Some of the animals that can be found: buffalo, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, hartebeest, leopard, lion and zebra
Bale Mountains National Park Location: Oromia Region Some of the animals that can be found: Topi, Lelwel Hartebeest, Bustards, Hornbills, Weavers & Starlings
Suba Lounge Location: Wollo Sefer on Ethio-China road
Your Home Away from Home for Your
What to see in Addis Ababa? Ethiopian Korean War Veterans Association Location: Afincho Ber The largest open market in Africa Location: Merkato The gold jewelry market
40 | The Eminence - Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016
Chez Fasil Restaurant and Bar Location: Meskel Flower Specialty: Specialized in Nouvelle & Fusion Cuisine German Restaurant Location: Near Japan Embassy Specialty: German food and beer Kuriftu Diplomat Restaurant Location: On Boston Building Specialty: “The ultimate global cuisine” Hahn Khuh Restaurant Location: Atlas Specialty: Korean Aladdin Location: Near Japan Embassy Specialty: Middle Eastern
Some of the best Coffee house Tomoca Coffee Abissiynia Coffee Alem Bunna
Abijatta-Shalla Lakes National Park Location: Oromia Region Some of the animals that can be found: Great White Pelicans and Flamingo Yangudi Rassa National Park Location: Afar Region Some of the animals that can be found: Beisa Oryx, Dorcas gazelle, gerenuk and Gravy’s zebra
Fendika Club Location: Kasanchis
Castelli Location: Piassa Specialty: Italian Restaurant
Gambella National Park Location: Gambella Region Some of the animals that can be found: Nile Lechwe,White-Eared Kob, Roan Antelope, and Whale-headed Stork
Club H2O Location: On Yolly Building, “Chichiniya”
Gravity Lounge Location: Next to Bole Medihanialem Church
Al Mendi Location: Meskel Flower Specialty: Arabian Restaurants
Four Seasons Location: Bisrat Gabriel Specialty: Japanese, Thai and Indian
Ethnological Museum Location: Sidist Kilo
Ethiopian traditional clothes and jewelry market Location: Shiro Meda
International Cuisines in Addis
Extended Stay Beer Garden Inn (Guest House) Total Rooms: 21 Location: Bole Medhanialem Road near Edna mall GT Guest House (Guest House) Total Rooms: 13 Location: Kirkos kifle ketema, 200m in from Dashen Bank on Sierra Leone Street Yeka Guest House (Guest House) Total Rooms: 14 Location: British Embassy across the street from the Bio-Diversity Institute Addis Guest House (Guest House) Total Rooms: 12 Location: Bole road 5 minutes from Bole International Airport
“Please let it be noted neither the editorial team nor the company is liable for any errors or mistakes on the sources of information. The list is in no specific order”.
PHONE SERVICE Toll Free Information Service Federal Police Commission National Operator Fault Report Dial Up Internet Pre Paid Mobile Service/Bill Inquiry/Lost Mobile Registration/ Number Change Information Broad Band Customer Service PSTN Service Voice Mail
PRIVATE HOSPITALS 997 916 998 994 900 994 980 980 908
COURRIER SERVICE DHL EMS(Ethiopia) Federal Express TNT Skypok UPS Trans Express Ethiopia
011 662 16 00 011 515 20 72 011 618 63 83 011 551 41 54 011 662 13 09 011 551 41 54
UN United Nations Development Program United Nations Children Education Fund United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
011 663 35 82 011 518 40 00 011 551 72 00
BANK Abay Bank Addis International Bank Awash International Bank Bank of Abyssina Berhan International Bank Buna International Bank Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) Construction and Business Bank Cooperative Bank of Oromia Dashen Bank Debub Global Bank Development Bank of Ethiopia Enat Bank Lion International Bank Nib International Bank Oromia International Bank United Bank Wegagen Bank Zemen Bank
011 552 88 51 011 557 0502 011 557 00 00 011 551 41 30 011 618 57 32 011 158 08 67 011 122 87 55 011 551 23 00 011 552 27 59 011 467 18 03 011 467 40 87 011 551 11 88 011 550 49 48 011 662 60 00 011 550 32 88 011 557 21 13 011 465 52 22 011 552 38 00 011 550 11 11
AIRLINES British Midland (BMI) Egypt Air Ethiopian Airlines Emirates Kenya Airways K.L.M Royal Dutch Lufthansa Saudi Airline Yemen Airways
011 665 04 94 011 156 44 93 011 665 66 66 011 518 18 18 011 551 42 58 011 552 55 41 011 551 56 66 011 663 81 37 011 551 50 76
FIRE BRIGADE Station Menilik II square Station Addisu Kera Station Mekanisa Station Nifas Silk Station Akaki Station Megenagna Station Bole
011 156 70 40 011 466 34 20 011 276 91 46 011 442 55 63 011 434 00 96 011 663 03 73 011 664 85 80
POLICE STATION Police Information Federal Police Commission AA Police Commission
Addis Cardiac Hospital Addis Hiwot Hospital Bete Zata Hospital Landmark Hospital Hayat Hospital Kadisco Hospital Broad Band Customer Service PSTN Service Voice Mail
011 663 47 20 011 618 04 49 011 551 41 41 011 552 62 29 011 662 44 88 011 629 89 04 980 980 908
COURRIER SERVICE DHL EMS(Ethiopia) Federal Express TNT Skypok UPS Trans Express Ethiopia
011 662 16 00 011 515 20 72 011 618 63 83 011 551 41 54 011 662 13 09 011 551 41 54
PUBLIC HOSPITALS Black Lion (Tikur Anbessa) Hospital Menilik II Hospital Ras Desta Hospital
011 551 12 11 011 123 42 72 011 155 33 99
LIBRARY Academy of Ethiopian Languages Addis Ababa Municipality Library Alliance Ethio-Française British Council Economic Commission for Africa library German Cultural Institute Italian Cultural Institute J.F Kennedy (A.A.U) National Libraries & Archives
011 551 59 26 011 155 01 11 011 155 02 13 011 155 00 22 011 551 72 00 011 155 28 88 011 111 34 27 011 111 04 33 011 551 62 47
ART GALLERY Asni Gallery Ersas Art Studio Goshu Art Gallery Gigi’s Afro Asian Design& Fine Interiors Makush Gallery
011 123 32 44 0913 66 02 30 011 661 03 97 0912 20 43 37 011 552 68 48
Sudoku Answer
TOUR AND TRAVEL Eminence Social Entrepreneurs Koreb Tour Operators Kibran Tours Plc Rainbow Car Rental and Tour Services
011 823 71 82 011 662 3179 011 662 62 14 011 371 79 40
PHARMACY Abader Pharmacy Bata Pharmacy Ethio German Pharmacy
011 662 43 97 011 655 21 34 0911 20 94 88
ONLINE CLASSIFIED 2 Merkato Latest Ethiopian Tenders and Bids Buy and Sell ( Ethiopia) Gulit Online Market Mekina Online Car Market Kaymu Whats Out Addis?
www.2merkatos/ tenders buysellethio.com wwww.gulit.com www.mekina.ney et.kaymu.com Whatsoutaddis.com
991 916 011 157 21 21
Issue 24 - Oct/Nov 2016 - The Eminence | 41