The plague of children in Ethiopia …
What is the problem?
Although it is not only the children … they do make up the majority of the “Faranji Hysteria”. As we traveled thru Ethiopia they merely appear from everywhere – they run towards and along with us, they scream, shout, touch, nick anything loose on your bike (while you are cycling), spit at us, whip us, hit us with sticks, slap us and most commonly throw stones at us.
Although the violent acts are not too severe and too regular (besides possibly some stone throwing) the screaming and constant questions become a real righteous pain in the neck. The problem with the comments/questions is that the majority of the children have learned certain phrases in English and have no idea what they are asking or what our responses are … so they repeat the same thing over and over again – even after we have answered them.
The continuous comments are:
You, you, you, you
Where are you go?
How are you?
Where are you from?
Give me money/Bir!
Give me pen/bicycle/t-shirt …
Now I can hear many of you say … well that is not so bad – why is everyone complaining??? Imagine cycling off every day and every five seconds you get the same comment/question … no structured exchange of conversation or real need to hear an answer … just the same comment over and over again … yes, every five seconds for the whole six to eight hours of cycling!!!
The situation is the worsened by the regular stones that are thrown and the occasional more severe acts of aggression.
What is interesting though, is the fact that they will never attack you – verbally or physically – once you get off you bike and stand, interact or sit around. They will though, ALL come over stand and stare for hours on end. They will also try stealing anything removable off your bike. The second you are back on your bike – they will start with the comments all over again.
The situation with the children has been very controversial around the camp. Some in our group openly and vehemently hate the country and its people. These people are openly racist in their comments and attitudes – which has led to interesting debates and some unhappy conversations and accusations within the group.
I personally find it very sad that certain people look at Ethiopia so narrow-mindedly. I love the country and feel that the problem with the tourists and our treatment is to some degree associated with our lack of communication and their frustrations in not being able to interact with us. Here we are racing thru their villages on fancy, colourful bikes – we are something real special and unique … which they would love to meet a little closer and understand.
Besides the treatment on the bikes … we were never treated badly, never felt threatened in any way and everyone was very hospitable and giving/caring.
