Ethiopia’s ‘cupcake divide’ in Addis Ababa
Yet another bar seemed to cater for large European men, squeezed up against delicate local girls young enough to be their daughters.
In the small hours of the morning, I was driven home in a battered blue and white taxi.
Even at this hour, women with babies clamped to their sides tapped on the windows begging for money. People in tattered robes crouched in long lines outside government buildings, waiting for I know not what.
This new Africa I saw in Addis Ababa – and have also seen in Nairobi, Dakar, Abuja and elsewhere – is exciting and hopeful, but it is not the whole story.
Yes, the Chinese, the Saudis, the Indians are all rushing in.
Yes, there is a growing middle class that frequents shopping malls, coffee bars and pizza restaurants – much like the middle classes of Europe and the US. But scratch the surface and another world exists.
There are between 85 and 90 million people living in Ethiopia – and most of them cannot even dream of cupcakes, let alone decide which one to choose in that charming cafe I visited in Addis Ababa.
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