Addis Ababa in transit

Blog: Sitting in transit in the Addis Ababa airport

It’s a cool 14 degrees outside and the scene outside is green with tall blue gums all over the place. I do not want to got through to the departure lounge and lose this view of Addis Ababa. In all my travels in Africa this is the closest I have ever come to the fabled city with the melodic name. The place is central to much of African history and even the destinations on the departure board range from Douala, Ougadougou to Zimbabwe, Lilongwe and Lumbumbashi. The plane I am taking is en route to Lumbumbashi and the waiting passengers in the terminal reflect the multitude of different cultures and societies. I have always wanted to visit and absorb everything about the country.

The airport reminds me of the defunct Mirabel north of Montreal. It’s a huge long marbled floored and glass walled space, very different than the small narrow corridors of Nairobi. There are the usual duty free shops, lounges and internet café. The people waiting in-transit reflect the names or the destinations for their diversity. The Chinese guy is using sign language to bum a light from a white robed African. This is the first public building I have been in anywhere in a long time where smoking is permitted. It is such a large place that it is easy to avoid, but I note that where I once smoked and then worked for several years in a small office with chain smokers without really minding, I now find that even a trace of cigarette smoke in the air disturbs me.

The glass wall I am facing looks out on Addis. I have no idea what I am seeing but it is very exciting for me. I can see an elevated highway which looks like the highway near my house in Montreal. Near it is a very busy bus station. It is probably rush hour, accounting for the apparent hustle bustle. There does not seem to be any grand city plan like so many new capitals like Lilongwe

Addis is home to many international organisations like the African Unity as well as UN regional agencies. Many Malawians spent the years of Kamuzu’s repressive regime in exile their working for these organisations. It was convenient for the regime to have them out of the country when they were released from the political prisons and safer for them.

I must spend some time here and learn more about the rich history, and the people with their Nilotic features which make me think of the Queen of Sheeba. I have known many Ethiopians over the years and have become familiar with some of their history and the way they speak English. But they are isolated individuals in Montreal and now I am looking out on a country containing millions of people who look and talk like the friends I have known.

It’s recent history has played a large role in shaping the course of events around the horn of Africa and down the East coast. The poet Rimbaud exiled himself to one of the country’s remote and exotic city states for 7 years before his untimely death. The imperial kingdom of Ras Tafar and the tragic ending of Haile Selassie provided the material for a rich mythology and the root of the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica. The socialist revolution of the army colonels led to the brutal years of Mengistu, the destructive wars of secession and the infamous man-made famines. Since the separation of Eritrea and the installation of the new president with the blessings of the United States things have not gotten better. Secessionist movements continue to eat away at the country’s unity; democracy has been thwarted and the opposition oppressed; wasteful and destructive war lingers on with Eritrea; a failed invasion of Somalia has cost the country dearly; famine still looms and yet Ethiopia remains a presence and an influential force at so many levels.

I will be back and will take the time to stop and see and learn.

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A small footnote:

I was standing in line for the toilet on the plane as the northern part of Lake Malawi came into view. There below me was the north western shore that I had paddled with Guy and Monica. I could see the point of land where we camped at Usisya on the abandoned lodge. The line of houses along the peninsula leading out to the point are clearly visible. North of that is the bulls horns of the bay where Ruarwe is located and the hidden Zulunkhuni Lodge. It was in beautiful relief and far more graphic than the maps indicate.