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There's a crisis right now in Ziway. Well, wait a sec. There are a lot of crises right now in Ethiopia, so I'm not sure if this one qualifies. In fact, I don't think it does. Living here definitely has changed my view of what constitutes an emergency.
Anyway, the crisis is about fuel. Gasoline, petrol, or benzine, depending on where you come from. Diesel fuel is available... no problem. The government-controlled fuel depots seem to have plenty of diesel fuel. On my last three trips to Ziway, not one of the three fuel stations in Ziway had any fuel that would work in my motorcycle. Each time I ride into a Total or NOC (National Oil Company) station, the attendants look at me, wag their fingers and say "benzine yelem." Normally, that's not a big issue... I would have already filled up in Butajira on the way down. But Butajira hasn't had petrol either.
As someone with some resources and a bit of foresight, I've managed to get home to Addis each time this has happened... usually by taking the less-desired route back to Addis via a town called Mojo on the main arterial highway of Ethiopia, where I've so far always been able to fill up. So, crisis averted.
But is it a crisis? I haven't heard of anyone dying because of the lack of fuel. I haven't even heard of any black-market activity or price gouging because of it (though I'm sure it's happening). I'm on a mailing list for a news aggregator for the Horn of Afica, and it's there that I read about true crises: 13.7 million in Ethiopia are at risk of hunger, according to Oxfam; fighting in Somalia has killed 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes; OCHA predicts that flooding in the Horn of Africa will be worse than usual this year due to El Nino and the loss of vegetation from the drought that's happening right now.
If you pay attention to the news, you can read about these issues back in the States or in Europe as well, but living here tends to focus your attention a bit more. Even something like healthcare reform, which has many people extremely passionate on all sides of the issue, and which will greatly affect many peoples' lives, doesn't seem like a crisis to me. The financial 'crisis'? Somehow, here in Ethiopia, it doesn't seem to register on the 'crisis scale', except indirectly via the cost of food for hungry people. Perhaps that's why Ethiopians seem so unfazed when meetings don't happen, or when people run late. It's all relative, and compared to the situation outside your back door, a few hours of idle time really doesn't mean much. And neither does a lack of benzine.
Photos coming soon... can't find my SD card reader at the moment.
For more updates go here.
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