Facts

To remove some of the preconcieved notions of Addis Ababa and Ethipia in general, I thought I might share some facts with you.

The following information is from an introductory booklet compiled by a parent volunteer from ICS.

Official Name: The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Ancient Name: Abyssinia
Capital: Addis Ababa
Boundaries" Eritrea in the North and North-East, Djbouti and Somalia in the east, Kenya in the Sounth, and Sudan in the west.

Official Language: Amharic
Population: 71 million
Unit of Currency: Birr
Exchange Rate: USD 1- ETB 8.68 (May 2006)

Addis Ababa is the 3rd highest city in the world at an altitude of 2,500 meters. The city is set against the backdrop of the Entoto mountain range and is home to 5.8 million people.

The rainy season is from mid-June until the end of September. It has been raining everyday here. I finally saw the sun for the first time in 5 days. Even in the warmer months the evenings can become extremely cold. That is one of the features of living in a high altitude climate.

Ethiopiea's economy is based on subsistence agriculture, which accounts for more thatn three-quarters of its GNP and is the livelihood of most of the population. Coffee is the most important cash crop, constituting 65% of exports. Recent drops in coffee prices have devastated this sector of the economy. Other major crops include corn, sugar, wheat, sorghum, oilseeds, and pulses. Livestock-raising figures heavily in the economy, and livestock products are the second most important source of export revenue. Ethiopia's livestock population is the largest in Africa. The International Livestock Research Institute is a few miles from the city of Addis Ababa; it is not uncommon to see animals grazing all over the city limits. A small industrial sector centers on agricultural processing and the production of cotton goods, cigarettes, liqueurs, soft drinks, and plywood.

Religion primarily consists of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, Muslim and animist. The Islam faith serves 50% of the population but is practiced in a far less rigid way than in the Middle East, although the number of adherents to the more strict Wahabi sects appears to be on the rise. Groups holding animist beliefs have influenced both Christian and Muslim religions in Ethiopia. There are also significant Evangelical Prodestant and Roman Catholic communities. The Israeli government evacuated most of the small Jewish (Falasha) community in May 1991, though some of its members have begun returning to Ethiopia.

The calendar is pretty significant. Ethiopia follows the Julian Calenday, which consists of 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days. The Ethiopian Calendar is seven years and 8 months behind the Gregorian calendar. Therefore the year 2006 corresponds to the year 1999 in Ethiopia. New Year's Day is celebrated on September 11

Each day begins at 6am and not midnight. For an Ethiopian, 6am is midnight and they begin counting from there. In other words, 8am is 2 to an ethiopian. 11am is 5 to an Ethiopian. Ethiopia doesn"t use am or pm but rather talk in terms of day (ken) or night (leyleet)

Last thing, Names; Names are given differntly here. It is very difficult to name famlies of people (like the Cameron family or the Williams Family). Everyone has their first name, their last name is the name of their father. My name is Christopher Cameron. If I use the Ethiopian method my name would be Christopher Ezra because my father's first name is Ezra.

Yeah man, lots of info. I hope this helps clear up some myths of Ethiopia.