In modern day Ethiopia, I can still see how Africa must have looked during Jesus’ era. Nothing much has changed if you compare it to paintings of olden days. It always feels like I’ve been transported in time. Only the main roads have been paved. Most streets and even major roads are still red or brown.
A big part of Ethiopia is in the Rift Valley, so they have a lot of these red volcanic rocks which they grind into smaller stones that they then spread over the streets and roads. They say it does not absorb water, instead allowing the water to go straight to the soil. So, it keeps the roads/streets from turning into mud during rainy season and peoples’ feet drier. And it actually works!
The regional capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State (SNNPRS) is Awassa. It is not that far from the capital and it is along the “best” highway in all of Ethiopia. It only takes 4 hours ride by minibus or car and 7 hours by big bus (because the big bus stops so often for food!) from the national capital, Addis Ababa. It is the second largest “city” in Ethiopia, but still looks like a small town in all aspects compared to other cities in developing countries.
For transportation, they have the autorickshaws which they call Bajaj since it is the name of the company that exports them to Ethiopia from India. It is like a motorized pedicab in Asia but much bigger wherein the passengers are behind the driver. They also have the horse-drawn carriage. Those are the main modes of transportation around the town.
For out-of-town trips, you will have to take the vans which they call the minibus or the bigger buses. You will also find donkey-drawn carts used for moving wares, water, firewood, hay, etc.
There are horses, donkeys, goats, sheep and cows everywhere. You may not know this but Ethiopia has the most number of livestock in Africa. You’ll find horses and donkey being left by their owners to fend for themselves when they are too sick to work – I mean the animals.
They don’t eat horse or donkey meat and since it would take a lot of energy to bury them when they die, dead horses and donkeys, or whatever dead livestock are left on the side of the streets as hyena meal. You’ll be amazed at how fast these hyenas can finish off a horse. A dead horse may be left in the evening and by morning you’ll only see the bones.
In Ethiopia, you’ll see the rich and the poor in the same villages which must have been the case during biblical times. They have no “rich” or “poor” villages as we know in most countries today.
The secret is that Ethiopia was a former monarchy that gives out land titles to everyone who applies for land. It is not real land ownership as we know it. Rather, it is only a transfer of land rights. And these patches of land used to be of the same size for everyone that is actually big by many developing countries’ standards.
Many compounds are separated from other houses with tall concrete walls, probably to keep off both thieves and hyenas. Others only have bamboo fences or GI sheets which I doubt would keep off neither the hyena nor the thief.
They also don’t designate areas for the poor or the rich. I think the government gives land titles depending on the area assigned to be distributed and according to whoever is applying for land by that time. When the federal government took over after the monarchy was overthrown, they did not change the system (well, I think only until recently).
So, whether you can afford to build a concrete house or only a mud hut, you’ll have the same lot size with everyone else. You own the house though, which you can sell along with the land rights.