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Elfenesh Negusse, a single mother of 40, lives in
Arat Kilo, Kebele 13/17, in Arada District in a room
that can hardly fit three people. The area where the
house is located, Basha Wolde Chelot, behind the
Ministry of Education, is set for demolition for
redevelopment.
Elfenesh has lived in the house with her three
daughters for 30 years, ever since her husband died
in the civil war between the Derg and TPLF.
At around 9:00pm on Wednesday night, July 14, 2010,
the residents of Arat Kilo are going about their
usual activities. Although it is night, for the
people here it seems as if the day has just begun.
Loud music and constant chatter flows from the bars,
butcheries, and the street markets with people
walking about as if it is still day time.
Despite the reality, which is that the whole area is
to be demolished in a few months’ time, the way in
which the residents go about their business could
make one think that they were unaware of the fact.
Elfenesh makes a living selling makeshift charcoal
which she manufactures from a mixture of ash,
powdered charcoal, and water. The money goes towards
supporting her family and to pay the 6.50 Br rent
for her kebele house.
She makes an average of 10 Br by selling the
charcoal at one Birr for three pieces. She also
makes additional money by renting her bed out to
people who get drunk in the bars around the area and
are too inebriated to go home, while she and her
daughters sleep in another bed. She earns another 10
to 20 Br from this.
Elfenesh first heard the news about the demolition
in 2005. Back then she did not believe that it would
happen. However, it seems all too real now that she
and the other residents in the area have been told
that they will be relocated in a few months’ time,
once alternative kebele housing becomes available.
The thought of relocating is a dilemma for Elfenesh,
whose livelihood is closely knit with the area she
lives in now.
“My children [and I] are going to starve to death
when I leave. . . because my survival depends on
this place,” she said, wiping the tears from her
face with her long dress.
She believes the business she is engaged in now will
not be as fruitful when she leaves, as most of her
loyal customers, who rent houses from other people,
will not be relocating with her.
The Arada District had asked the people who are to
be relocated whether they preferred kebele or
condominium housing.
“I chose kebele housing as I cannot afford to pay
the down payment required for the condominium
houses,” Elfenesh said.
The district administration will demolish the houses
in the area where Elfenesh lives to clear 25ht of
land for the construction of new buildings based on
the local development plan.
The residents will be relocated from Arat Kilo,
Kebele 13/17, and will resettle on 42ht of plots in
Bole Ayat; in condominiums or plots on 16ht around
Ayat Village; and condominiums on 4.9ht in CMC and
Jemu Gofa, Anteneh Assefa, land development bank and
city renewal project director of Arada District,
told Fortune.
These places were originally meant for people to be
relocated for the Sheraton Addis expansion project,
but due to the large size of the land it will also
serve as relocation site for those displaced from
Basha Wolde Chelot, and from the area in front of
the Parliament building, according to Anteneh.
The relocation project, which was meant to happen in
2005, has been delayed, something the district
blames on a shift in administration and budget. The
delay has been a cause of confusion for the
residents.
There are 917 kebele houses, 299 private houses, and
35 houses which belong to Rented Houses
Administrative Company, in the Basha Wolde Chelot
area.
Residents who own their own houses are to be
compensated, the amount of which depends on the type
of houses they own while those who are living in
kebele houses have an option between a condominium
or a replacement kebele house.
“So far, 800 of the residents have registered for
the condominium houses,” Kedir Arebo, manager of
Arada District, told Fortune.
Some of them have already received the condominiums
after paying the 20pc down payment, he said.
Mulu Mekebib, 55, who earns her living selling
boiled potatoes, wants to live in a condominium
house if she has to move, in spite of not being able
to afford the down payment. She has lived in Basha
Wolde Chelot since Emperor Haileselassie’s regime.
“I feel like dying because I will have nothing to do
once I leave this place,” she said, trying to shield
her face from the flame she used to boil potatoes.
Mulu’s customers are shoeshine boys, commercial sex
workers, and people who come to the bars for drinks.
She believes she will lose her customers because the
place where she will be relocated to is very far.
Despite her feelings about leaving the place she has
lived in for so long, she registered for the
condominium houses offered by the district, without
knowing how she would be able to pay for it.
“This is an inevitable reality, sooner or later many
kebele houses will be demolished,” a district
official, who did not want to be named, said.
“Around 140,000 kebele houses from all around the
city will be demolished, according to the city
development plan.”
The relocation project has not taken people like
Mulu, whose livelihood depends on the activities she
performs in the area she lives in, into
consideration, she said.
“I have tried to voice this concern to officials of
the district many times,” she said.
“The district is always open to address the problems
of the residents who are going to be relocated,”
Anteneh said. “We will not just leave those who
would like to live in condominium houses but cannot
afford them; we will provide them with other kebele
houses.”
“However, the kebele houses will [only] be given to
them once [they] become available and the residents
will get to stay in their current homes until such
[a time],” Anteneh said. “We are trying our best but
it is impossible to please everybody and there may
be some who will be disadvantaged due the relocation
process.”
For instance, people who used to have two or three
bedrooms may not get what they used to have because
they will be given random kebele houses without
consideration for what they lost, since it might be
difficult to find them a similar house, he said.
Aynalem Ayele, 25, who works as a commercial sex
worker, agrees with most of her neighbours. She
rents a bed with a curtain partition from another
person who sublets the makeshift bedroom in a kebele
house. Aynalem pays 20 Br a day to rent the bed.
“On most days, my only daughter [and I] go without
eating just to make the daily rent,” she said. “I
cannot afford the rent in other places; the district
should at least provide us with kebele housing.”
However, the district cannot do anything for people
like Aynalem as they do not rent the kebele houses
directly, according to Anteneh.
“We are having a hard time finding houses for those
who rent directly, let alone for those who sublet,”
he said.
The Addis Abeba City Administration has relocated
residents who were compensated and cleared from 26ht
of land in 2009 for its redevelopment projects in
the Lideta area.
“Although there were some complaints about the
amount of compensation, the district’s relocation
was said to be one of the most peaceful relocation
processes done so far,” Anteneh Enchalew, general
manager of the Lideta District, told Fortune.
Although many residents complain about the
relocation process, Amarech Amelawi, 35, who has
lived in Basha Wolde Chelot with her two children
for more than two decades, has a different opinion.
She feels the area is not suitable to raise children
in and blames the circumstances, as well as peer
pressure, for her 16-year old to have become
HIV-positive.
Amarech sells boiled potatoes with mitmita (crushed
red chilli) at 1.50 Br. It has been her only source
of income since her husband left her. As a single
mother who is HIV-positive herself, everyday comes
with its own challenges to survive and to provide
for her daughter.
Amarech stays out until the small hours of the
morning selling her potatoes.
“I make as much as 50 Br a day over the weekends,
but it is lower on weekdays,” she said. “I am
looking forward to a better life. My children [and
I] are going to live a comfortable life.”
Despite her low income, she has taken loans from
relatives and neighbours to make the 20pc down
payment on a condominium house.
“I know I am not going to continue this business
when I move from here, but I am planning to start
baking injera and preparing spices,” she said.
“As part of the redevelopment plan, we were told
that we can form an association and construct a
building to continue our businesses,” said a bar
owner and butcher who wanted to remain anonymous.
“We are required to come up with 10,000 Br, within
three months, to be a shareholder in the association
but we do not have that kind of money.”
Even if they had that kind of money, they feel that
it would be risky to give it to an association which
is not a legal entity at the moment.
The Addis Abeba city administration investment law
gives priority to occupants of any urban plot to
develop the site according to the master plan. Other
investors get access to already occupied plots only
in situations where the occupant failed to develop
the site.
“If they establish the association, they will be
provided with an opportunity to lease the same
plot,” said Anteneh from Arada District. “However,
the district will strictly follow the law and force
them to leave the place they occupy within 60 days
if they are not able to lease the land through an
association.”
All of the residents have to wait with their
conflicting views until the actual demolition comes
into effect in the coming months forcing them to
leave the place where many of them have spent almost
half their lives.
The very anticipation for this move leaves them
wondering what to do next and how to make a
living. |
