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Hussien is a 35-year-old economist who talks a lot about
the socio-economic problems of developing countries.
One afternoon last month I met him at a café and we
had a chat about subjects of his interest.
"We have been told that when farmers get surplus yields
from their farms due to applying new technology,
better inputs or expanded plots of land or any other
reason, they tend to hoard their yields instead of
selling it in the market. There is also a
possibility that they increase their food
consumption. This consumption, however, is
manifested in terms of all sorts of partying. We
consumers are being penalised by paying high prices
while others enjoy the fruits of their labour,"
explained Hussein.
He also talked a lot about establishing a consumers
association, a subject that is often talked about in
vain.
The other day I met a young farmer-cum trader of 20 years
of age by the name Dadi vending butter. He came to
Addis that day because it was a holiday.
His main preoccupation is cultivating land. But he augments
his income by vending butter and cheese. He buys
fresh butter from Aleltu on market days and sells it
for 30 Br per kilograme here in Addis, which
incidentally is a good bargain price in the capital
under the circumstances; butter is sold at no less
than 40 Br per kilo if it is relatively fresh and
genuine.
I used this word 'genuine' intentionally. These days there
are a number of so-called traders who are cheating
people by selling assortments under the guise of
'butter.' The banana remixes with some element of
genuine butter or the residues of this or that nut
are some of the old discoveries that have sent many
a trader to rest behind bars while causing consumers
to visit doctors.
I kept on asking Dadi if there is any way we could assert
the quality of his merchandise. He pledged that he
would not take any money from us until the butter is
proven genuine after any kind of testing we could
undertake with one kilo of the stuff. We did exactly
that and struck a deal. The butter was found to be
of an acceptable quality, the transaction was
concluded and I saved his cell phone number. I did
not mention Dadi here without any reason.
Dadi lives a five-hour walk from Aleltu town in a community
where there is no road, electricity or landline
telephone service, not to speak of clean water. He
tills half a hectare of land to which he is
entitled. He says there is a great deal of hunger
for land. The steep slopes of fragile and vulnerable
sides of mountains and hills are merciless and are
being ploughed by able bodied young farmers using
oxen as pulling power. Many of them deal with oldies
and till wider plots.
Dadi says that all trees in the vicinity are cut down to
make way for cultivation. Women and girls walk for
hours to fetch fuel wood and water. They want to run
away to Addis and other towns in search of a better
and easier life and escape early marriage.
An interesting story I heard from Dadi about a small girl
who suffered the consequences of early marriage
physically led me to the only fistula hospital in
the country, if not in Africa.
She had a serious injury after childbirth, surplus
production of food has become a good cause to force
girls to runaway from the rural areas to escape
untimely marriage. Married couples have a better
chance to have a wider plot of land for cultivation.
Greedy fathers, or perhaps far-sighted fathers, try to
marry their children even before the couples reach
puberty for two reasons. The first is to tie knots
with well-to-do families and ensure the security of
cultivable land by hook or crook through marriage.
These are sheer nepotism and corrupting deeds in a
different form. The other reason is a recent
development that of scrambling for virgin girls who
are less likely to have contracted sexually
transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Runaway
girls are also victims of theft and abduction. That
is a different version I beg to deal with some other
time.
More and above the usual conspicuous consumption in which
some of the prospering farmers indulge in, throwing
exuberant parties for one reason or another,
including wedding parties, is becoming a driving
force for population explosion, thereby causing
greater pressure on the given land.
Should surplus production lead the farmer into the vicious
circle of poverty?
Premature marriage or sexual contacts for that matter is
risky. The frequent problem deals with injuries
sustained after child birth which is often referred
to as fistula. In plain language I take it that some
kind of a physical superimposition is created
between two organs that have different roles and
functions so that proper functioning is prevented.
These injuries could lead to lifelong or chronic
problems on women unless they are addressed in good
time and restored.
It is a pity that most Ethiopians do not know much about
the disease or the services rendered by the only
special hospital established in 1974 by foreign
doctors whose good deeds and passion for humanity
transcends any boundary.
Whenever the continent of Australia is mentioned, what
comes into my mind is the unique kangaroo and
Ethiopia's participation in the Melbourne Olympics.
As an Ethiopian, I owe a lot not only to the
Australian obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Catherine
Hamlin and her New Zealand born hubby, Dr. Reginald
of the same profession, who founded the Addis Abeba
Fistula Hospital in 1974. This unique hospital is
the first of its kind in Ethiopia if not Africa. It
is sometimes referred to as the 'oasis of healing’.
The problem with fistula patients is both psychological and
physical. The Hospital has so far restored lives and
hopes of over 32,000 women and treats a number of
patients that suffer from lifelong ailment. The
Fistula Hospital trains doctors from all over the
world and serves as a model for all the developing
countries as far as fistula treatment is concerned.
Dadi says that running away from home is not a girl's
indulgence only. Small boys are also migrating to
urban places as they find themselves redundant in
their families. They have nothing to do on the farm.
Cattle rearing has become a scarcity as there is
little or no land for grazing herds. The carrying
capacity of urban areas, particularly Addis Abeba,
is being tested.
What is to be done?
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