Jimma, Ethiopia, New Year 2007 (11th September 2014)

New Year in Ethiopia and it’s a public holiday. Jimma is a regional town of around 120,000 people in the south west of the country. A generally poor town with unfinished buildings, unpaved streets and many people living in shacks. It nevertheless has a bustling local economy and a vibrant social life.

The Central Hotel is the prime accommodation and venue in the town, and the only Jimma location listed on TripAdvisor. It is a walled compound with a block of accommodation overlooking a junction of two busy main roads and the main bus station. On the far side of the compound are guest lodges (4 to a block), a swimming pool, small children’s play area and a poolside café / restaurant.

Its 4.00pm and there is a large middle class crowd in for the New Year. Children are at play in the pool. From the dress styles you would guess it is mainly a Christian crowd, although the town is roughly a 50/50 Christian / Muslim split. There are groups of men drinking. Families sit together, men drinking beer or wine, women mostly have soft drinks. The beer is mostly local (Bedele, Meta, St George) the soft drinks Sprite, Coke, Mirinda, etc.  Plenty of local food. People are dressed up, especially young women and girls in a mixture of traditional and western clothes. Many smartphones on display. There is loud Ethiopian music being pumped out and the DJ is setting up, although the hectic music sits at odds with the laid back crowd. Later some young women start dancing. As the event draws to a close young men with plenty of alcohol dominate the dance floor as the families drift away.

This is a secure space isolated from the life of the majority of residents going on around it. It’s a hybrid scene of Ethiopia  (dress, food, music) and western influence (dress, drink) and aspiration. A symbolic event of a country in the process of change, although this change in Jimma at least is limited to a small percentage of the population.

Central Cafe

Facing out onto the street opposite the bus station is the Central Café, a semi restricted space where people with apparently lower disposable income enjoy a similar New Year event. Many more children in their best clothes milling around. Different food, no DJ or pool, but still a desirable place to be for Jimma residents.