A giant Chinese shoe manufacturer is lacing up for the long run. Will others follow in its footsteps? Treading a new path By Elissa Jobson At 6.45am the first bus halts outside the main gates of the Eastern Industry Zone. The doors clang open. Bleary-eyed young men and women begin to emerge and brace against the chill morning air. A second, then a third and fourth bus arrives from the nearby dormitories, disgorging more and more workers dressed in the turquoise polo shirts that employees are required to wear on the shop floor at Huajian, one of China’s largest…
Elissa Jobson
Burundi: world’s highest rate of food and nutrition insecurity Too little land to feed a burgeoning population by Elissa Jobson Pascasie Miburo stands in the middle of a small clearing, seeking refuge from the sun under the meagre shade provided by a spindly tree. “This is my plot,” says the 30-year-old woman, stretching her arm to describe a ten-square-metre patch of parched earth in north-eastern Burundi smaller than a parking bay. “It’s the share we had from the family. It is all the land we have. It’s very small—can’t you see that?” she asks, well aware that this is painfully…
Demonising homosexuality in Ethiopia Young gay men are taking refuge online as their lives become increasingly difficult in this deeply conservative country Beki and his friends sit around a table on the deserted terrace of the Sally café on Addis Ababa’s bustling Bole road. The sun is beginning to set and the cool evening air has driven the other patrons inside. The half-dozen young men, all in their 20s, remain outdoors, sipping macchiatos and fruit juices and discussing the day’s news—a seem- ingly quintessential group of guys revelling in the Ethiopian capital’s early evening café culture. Except that Beki and…
Life and death on the River Nile by Elissa Jobson Strong emotions rise to the surface when discussions turn to the Nile, the world’s longest river. Most debate swirls around control of its basin which is shared by 11 African nations. Politicians and others have pondered the chances of a war over its life-giving waters: slim but increasing given the escalating tensions over Ethiopia’s plan to build a massive hydropower dam on the river. “For Egypt the Nile equals life,” affirms Mohamed Edrees, Egypt’s ambassador to Ethiopia. “It is almost the only source of water for Egypt and that means…
Ethiopia’s university revolution by Elissa Jobson Graduation day in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, and the traffic has come to a standstill on, one of the city’s main arterial roads. Proud students and their beaming parents are spilling out of the cavernous Millennium Hall convention centre. Restaurants across town are packed with young men and women dressed in mortarboards and academic gowns celebrating the fruits of three or four years of hard work. And this year there are more than ever before. These students are the latest graduates of a massive campaign to keep pace with the flood of high school…
Ethiopia: new workshop of the world? A giant Chinese shoe manufacturer is lacing up for the long run. Will others follow in its footsteps? At 6.45am the first bus halts outside the main gates of the Eastern Industry Zone. The doors clang open. Bleary-eyed young men and women begin to emerge and brace against the chill morning air. A second, then a third and fourth bus arrives from the nearby dormitories, disgorging more and more workers dressed in the turquoise polo shirts that employees are required to wear on the shop floor at Huajian, one of China’s largest footwear manufacturers.…
Ethiopia’s university revolution by Elissa Jobson Graduation day in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, and the traffic has come to a standstill on, one of the city’s main arterial roads. Proud students and their beaming parents are spilling out of the cavernous Millennium Hall convention centre. Restaurants across town are packed with young men and women dressed in mortarboards and academic gowns celebrating the fruits of three or four years of hard work. And this year there are more than ever before. These students are the latest graduates of a massive campaign to keep pace with the flood of high school…
