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America
is a huge country. Not as big as Mother Russia perhaps, with
its eleven time zones but immense regardless.
From
the beginning, the first settlers of America made sure that
size alone would not hinder development.
Robber
barons, such as the Vanderbilts, made a lot of money by
ensuring that railroads would span the country. Phone lines,
using Morse Code enabled groundbreaking communication.
The
innovative aircraft built by Howard Hughes, enabled pioneers
to travel great distances. In the process, he (Hughes)
developed Transworld Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines, an
entity that would later become the flagship of not just the
country, but the whole continent.
Ethiopia, in many ways went through a similar expansion to
the United States. The people who led the expansion saw it
as a duty to also get to the areas outside of the then
Abyssinia before outside forces set up shop. These outsiders
brought baggage, like disease and unsolicited variants of
the same religion.
The
western United States is discussed as if it existed on
another planet. The phrase 'West Coast' can be used to
disparage - things Californian, such as the fondness for
crazy behaviour.
There
are similarities to this behaviour in eastern Ethiopia,
known still as Hararghe. People from that region are known
for their extremely open attitude which is different from
the rest of the country
It
could all be described as that of attitude. If someone is
known to hail from Hararghe, excuses are made for him or
her. 'Don't mind him or her: he or she is from Hararghe. It
is as if this was enough to explain their "atypical" manners
and ways of self expression to people in the other parts,
and as seen through the Easterners' eyes.
In the
United States, an otherwise jovial traffic policeman, told
me sternly to move my car, at once, from the curb.
"We do
it differently here in the East," he told me as his smile
slowly withered.
I
didn't argue with him. I moved it.
Californians are known for their wild style of dress-"gaudy"
colours, similarly, only a person from Hararghe would dare
do or say certain things. People from Hararghe are very
explicit. They do not couch their thoughts in ambiguous
phrases. What they mean, they say out loud, despite the
consequences
When
you drive along the road from Los Angeles to San Francisco,
and continue north, through the massive state, you begin to
understand why, the state of California is estimated to have
the seventh largest GDP in the world. That is just one
state, mind you.
Driving
from Addis along the, now non-existent, railway line to Dire
Dawa, demonstrates potential thwarted by the previous
revolution.
Dire
Dawa, once Ethiopia's San Francisco, is hardly standing now,
after the decline of markets for goods and services. It was
continental and cosmopolitan. Its restaurants were second to
none. Eating out, and along the pedestrian sidewalk was an
adventure. Watching films at the open air cinemas were de
rigueur, after which, walking with the family along the
boulevards was common.
But, as
one agitated man born in Jijiga and living in Los Angeles,
explained to me, “many contraband items fall off trucks in
the Silicon Valley … and look what heights they have
reached".
I did
not have the heart to add: and look where they are now.
Having
lunch at one of the Ethiopian eateries in Los Angeles was
very much like having a meal in Dire Dawa. The only
difference was in watching with fascination as a Japanese
man cut up raw meat for his friends to taste. He did not
exude finesse when he was cutting up chunks of meat to
little pieces but then again, you have not seen me use chop
sticks, either. However, he savoured every morsel he bit
into.
The
talk was loud and merry. No hang-ups, no self absorption.
The food was what mattered to the ring of friends around the
messob.
The
strange thing was that none of the Ethiopians were from
Harar or Dire Dawa. The people I met told me that living in
California had changed them because times were hard.
It was
slightly different in the East… in New York and in Boston.
In the
East, good weather allowed families to come outside instead
of going to the cinema - you do that in the winter. On the
West Coast, it is almost always nice. If you did not go to
restaurants, you went to the beach with the family in tow.
What you might have spent in a cafe, you spent on hotel
rooms, modestly available up and down the whole length and
breadth of the Pacific coastline.
This
time of the year, one can quite easily discern who has been
in the United States a long time. There are a whole batch of
proud Ethiopian parents celebrating their offspring's
finishing of high school or graduating from college.
If the
children are seventeen they will have attained entry to the
first year of university. This will mean that those parents
have been in America for at least that length of time.
Those that have been here longer will have seen their sons
and daughters get their first university degrees.
Whatever the event being celebrated, it is done so with much
fanfare and ceremony a lot of “hoopla” and “bunting” and
shrieking all by the deliriously happy parents.
I
attended a celebration the other day, where the boy, all six
feet six inches of him, with a shoe size one and a half
times mine, was only twelve years old. The festivities and
merriment were, on the other hand, fit for when he does
finally graduate from high school in 8 years time.
Did
anyone notice or mind? You know they did not in the
slightest. |
