If you walked through the Ethiopian town of Hagere Selam tomorrow, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s not a very remarkable place. Mud-brick houses with steel roofing, some shops, a school, a medical centre. People going to and from work, school, or the shops. Once you’d gotten something to eat, had a bottle of water, and walked around a few blocks of the place, you might even be bored.
But thirty years ago, you wouldn’t have felt bored
When a BBC journalist came through Hagere Selam in 1984, he described it as “the closest thing to hell on earth”. Like plenty of Ethiopia at the time, the town was in the grip of a famine so severe that the local people were being buried in pits in large groups, having starved to death. The situation sparked an international response that included Bob Geldof and the famous Live Aid concerts, and the world sat up and took notice.
And then...
Shipments of food and medical supplies from the international community helped to address the immediate crisis, but there’s a bigger reason why Hagere Selam is no longer swinging in and out of disaster any time there’s a dry year.
The international development community, along with the Ethiopian Government, started to make longer term plans. Irrigation was improved, so that 600% more of the local land could be reliably farmed. The Government now provides training to help farmers to get the most out of their land. Clean drinking water facilities were installed, meaning that people got sick less often. The local medical centre was constructed in 1998, and meant that people who did get sick could have a better chance of getting the care they needed, and getting back to work or school. And yep, the school. There’s primary and secondary schooling available, and 93% of the kids are in it. Getting a basic education allows kids to go on to get better jobs, and make better decisions.
There’s not an emergency food delivery in sight, just some girls selling fresh local fruit, and some farm animals wandering down the street, doing whatever it is that farm animals like to do.
Local wheat farmer Gebreslsie Hadera. Image: David Smith for The Guardian
But what all of this means is aid isn’t just an emergency solution. Aid and development is a way to change the whole story, and put in the fundamental building blocks that allow people to build lives for themselves and for their families. To have dignity, pride in their work, and a sense of hope. It’s what everyone deserves, wherever they are.
Local grandfather Gebreslsie Hadera summed it up when interviewed by a Guardian journalist recently. “It’s difficult to speak about that time. I saw people dying. So many people, so many animals were dead. There was nothing to eat, so people had to eat bones. There was no peace, but now there is peace. Now you can work and eat.”
Sensible words from an everyday guy. It makes me proud of the way that the world worked together with Ethiopia to turn hell on earth into a place that’s just... so... normal.
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Michael Wilson
