Sensory Attack

What is that ……….stench!!?

By Tesfu Telahoun

Sensory Attack is a series which began with ‘Waves of Irritation’, when I shouted myself hoarse trying desperately to be heard over the din of Addis sound pollution. This installment of Sensory Attack aims to sniff out the main sources of Olfactory Pollution.
Many would say that of the five sense organs, the nostrils or nose, are almost completely helpless and unfairly targeted, suffering more than say, our eyes or ears. The nose is virtually defenseless because it is almost impossible to keep it closed or covered effectively, except for the briefest of moments- herwise, you risk smothering yourself to death.
Addis Ababa, unlike many capital cities of more than 3 million residents, is thankfully free of smog. In fact, so unusual is smog in our city that few have any idea what it is.
However, Addis Ababa would much better prefer L.A. kind of smog you could cut with a knife instead of the following: Addis is the largest capital city in the world not to have a central or (any other kind) of sewerage system (Schaums Atlas-Africa- 2003)
This planning disaster of failing to provide for the efficient subterranean disposal of liquid waste – was inevitable it seems, given the haphazard manner of settlement which began 130 odd years ago and is still going strong in dissymmetry. By far the greatest contributing factor to the city’s pollution and related health problems are the thousands of kilometers of exposed ditches, overflowing gutters and of course, backed up toilets constructed so as to drain out of compounds of residents who really don’t mean any harm. They just don’t know better.
As this article was being written, we met sanitation engineers from a certain sub-city while they were on the job, going from house to house and inspecting toilets. It was apparent to all that they were meeting stiff resistance from households who couldn’t be bothered to dig a proper septic tank but routinely build outhouses by a front or street facing wall, employing gravity to do the rest.
Lets face it, Addis Ababa may be a relatively new city but it sure doesn’t smell like a flower. And it will continue to resemble a pigsty if many residents do not become more responsible citizens and put a stop to deceiving the relevant authorities. What do I mean by ‘deceiving’. Well, the sub city sanitation engineers I mentioned disclosed to me the existence of several types of deception by otherwise law abiding citizens.
“For instance, home owners, especially those who also rent out rooms and therefore have many people living (up to 15) in their compounds find themselves calling the sewerage disposal people too frequently. What they do is to build a toilet minus a septic tank very near the adjoining street’s gutters. When we come to inspect the toilets, they lead us to the previous, now disused toilet and claim they use that one. They promise to demolish the improperly and illegally built toilet but they don’t. Warnings and ultimatums have not worked.”
The nose is the primary inhaler of airborne particle matter with impacts ranging from the harmless to highly lethal. Most of the bad smells and pungent odors one frequently encounters in Addis – Ethiopia in general, is of the household type and not industrial, with the exception of the Debre Zeit Road – Kality – Akaki cluster. This means that making the city truly deserve its name (new flower) will not be an impossible task as it only takes the proper implementation of a standardized municipal sanitation policy. A new thinking in urban sanitation and general tidiness must be instilled in the collective mind. Schools should play their proper role as the forefront of ensuring that the next generation does not carry on with the slothful character of past and present ones.
As mentioned earlier, improperly and illegally built toilets are the number one culprit. In this regard, I have confirmed that at least two sub-cities are actively engaging their respective residents to co-operate in demolishing illegal toilets and building or rebuilding proper lavatories. There is also some information about several NGO’s having expressed interest to fund communal toilet and shower facilities.
There is no reason why our children should walk to school across pools of raw sewage and decaying garbage. These are not problems that result from poverty but rather from what I call CRD-Communal Responsibility Deficit.
Addis Ababa may be an unplanned explosion of a city but for all that, and especially of late, it is not actually as terrible as we would think engineering wise, that is. The city’s avenues and streets and side roads really do have (or had when first built) drainage systems. The problem is CRD – a lethal virus that compels its victims to wait for rain, then sneak outside with the household trash, glance furtively left and right and drop the garbage in the flowing ditches.
In several cases, the public routinely contravenes the simplest rules as long as authority figures are out of sight. Even in areas where the municipal engineers have done world class jobs; nicely contoured roads, water run off systems with solid waste blocker grids etc, its just all in vain as long as CRD forces us to live only for and around our immediate selves. It seems the rationale is:
“As long as my compound is clean, who gives a …!”
The vaccine for Communal Responsibility Deficit is not money, nor is it enforcement. (although that often does have some effect on Ethiopians – sort of) Life skills education is the answer. We stress Life skills over regular education because we have observed learned individuals display their ignorance of urban sanitation. Preparing notes for this article, I witnessed for example, very cosmopolitan looking gents and their dates discard candy wrappers over their shoulders while standing around a squeaky clean rubbish bin installed by Make Ethiopia Beautiful, opposite Ambassador Theatre.

Top 10 Nose Busters in Addis

1. Raw sewage from broken, overflowing toilets
2. Dead animal carcasses
3. Women with Ethiopian butter melting on hair
4. A busy bank’s interior
5. A line of beggars/ tramps
6. Smells coming out from drinking houses
7. Bad breath
8. Bad feet
9. Shared minibus 12 seater taxi with all windows closed. ‘(Berd Ye’metanal)

Spreading wings to Addis

More and more international carriers are being attracted to the burgeoning Ethiopia market. bmi is the latest entrant and it has arrived with considerable attention to strengthening the Ethiopian flyer's options to the U.K, with five flights weekly between Addis Ababa's Bole International and Londons Heathrow airports.
Capital's Tesfu Telahuon conducted an on -line interview with Colin Carter bmi Division Sales Manager, Middle East and Africa, and discussed the new Addis Ababa route. Excerpts:

Capital: What factors initiated bmi to launch an Addis-UK route, how frequent will this route be?
Mr. Colin Carter's: For some time, bmi have been interested in expanding its route network. Earlier this year the opportunity presented itself and bmi successfully acquired BMED, a British Airways partner airline which operated 17 routes across Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As a result of this, bmi officially launched the route to Addis Ababa on 28th October and is currently operating 5 flights a week to London Heathrow.
Capital: How competitive do you expect bmi to be in an increasingly crowded Ethiopian aviation market?
Mr. Colin: Whilst Ethiopia is already a well-served market, it is also a growing market which makes for increased competition. bmi’s entrance into Ethiopia is also good news for the passenger as it further increases the choice available to them. bmi offers competitive fares in both business and economy cabins, a great product and award winning service that for thirty years has been the business traveller’s favourite.
Capital: What are the characteristics of bmi that differentiate it from other carriers and also from other Star Alliance members?
Mr. Colin: bmi has many unique and advantageous characteristics that differentiate it from other airlines. The Ethiopian traveller can now experience the award-winning bmi service and access a far greater set of easy onward connections through Heathrow as it arrives into Terminal 1, allowing passengers to simply connect to many other destinations. By working closely with its Star Alliance partners, customers can benefit from more than 17,000 daily flights to 897 destinations in 160 countries. bmi is also recognised for its punctuality, so passengers can be confident of not only getting there but getting there on time. bmi also has one of the most generous frequent flyer programmes, known as Diamond Club. With this membership travellers can earn destinations and status miles on flights allowing them to earn free flights much faster than with any other airline and there is currently a promotion doubling the amount of miles that are awarded on flights.
Capital: You have appointed Addis Express plc as your GSA on both passenger and Cargo service. What were the criteria Addis Express met in order to be selected?
Mr. Colin: Addis Express met all the requirements that we need our GSA to meet. They are very committed to providing the highest levels of service to the customer and have a great affinity to the Ethiopian market. We are very excited that they are representing bmi and look forward to building on the success of this partnership in 2008.
Capital: What other new routes does bmi have in the pipeline – especially to African cities?
Mr. Colin: bmi is keen to develop its route network further and is constantly evaluating new opportunities in all regions including Africa. Two new route launches have recently been announced for early 2008 which are Dammam in Saudia Arabia and Tel Aviv in Israel.
Capital: Do you intend to utilise Addis Ababa as bmi’s regional hub?
Mr. Colin: bmi does not have regional hubs and so will continue to use London Heathrow as its main operational base.