Addis Ababa: Shanghai of Africa?

Addis Ababa, at 8,000 plus feet above sea level, is the third highest capital in the world, but because it sits in a bowl, at times of thermal inversion it will be a city increasingly hard to see from the hills, just as Mexico City and Los Angeles are on some days now. The pollution of progress will wash over the city, and what one will see will be the peaks of buildings that have yet to be built. Addis Ababa will be a very different city than even the hub of activity and perceived chaos it is today, a mix of old and new, just as Shanghai was thirty years ago.

There are several similarities to China of 1987 in the Ethiopia of 2013, though it seems difficult for Americans to comprehend. The standard of living for the people is rising and there is slowly, cautiously, a creeping openness in public discussions. By American standards, political control is too heavy-handed, but one must realize what the country’s recent past has meant. China had the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath into the early 80s, and Ethiopia had its own horrific oppression in the 70s and 80s. Both countries took a giant leap backwards before beginning to come out of the abyss.

It is difficult to have perspective if you haven’t ever been through these type of experiences. We can look at how our own Civil War affected our nation and see some of those wounds still affecting us more than 150 years later.

In ten years, Ethiopia may be the most changed nation on the continent. Its investment in building a national power grid is greater than any other nation in Africa. This alone presents major opportunities for American power companies large and small. China, and to a lesser extent Japan, are building its road and rail infrastructure. The Ethiopian Government is investing $5 billion in the light railroad project between Djibouti and Addis Ababa, as Djibouti serves as the major port for landlocked Ethiopia. Of its total annual budget, Ethiopia is allotting ten percent to infrastructure development, the highest such percentage in Africa. A $1.2 billion dollar power line to Kenya is also in planning.

Ethiopia is challenged by a population of 90 million people, and as a country with one of the highest population growth rates in the world, there will be a younger and growing population, a potential reservoir of discontent without jobs. This was not so different from Shanghai and the surrounding area in the 1980s.

Telecom and IT investors such as Samsung are also entering Ethiopia, and as noted in a previous blog, dialogue and debate will slowly open up in the country, just as it did in Shanghai and throughout China in the 1990s. Ethiopia, just as China, will see that they have no choice but to ease communication restrictions if they want even more investors and a supportive nation.

Not all changes will be improvements, of course. Pollution will likely increase significantly, and global warming may be accelerated because of all that we call progress. We can only hope that greater investment in clean energy and a careful examination of our transportation schemes worldwide will also be considered carefully. The great cities of the future, of which Addis Ababa could easily become one, depend on forward thinking. These are also great opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs.

Source

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Easter: Fixed and Moveable Christian Feasts

I remember some years ago, during a flight from Amsterdam to England, two ladies sitting next to me were talking about “how wonderful it would be if there was some snow on Christmas day”, and I was jokingly telling them as the plane started ascending into the clouds, “yes! we do have a white Christmas, can’t you see the beautiful clouds below the plane?” It was around 15° Celsius! People in Europe permanently wish for a white Christmas, but, they don’t get it. Lately, snow during Christmas has become a very rare phenomena. This season, we have no white Christmas, instead white Easter, no Easter Bunny, but Easter Bear.

The Ethiopian calendar (and other Orthodox Churches) differs from that of Europe and the countries that Europeans influenced through colonization or occupation and so on

While the Catholic and Protestant world celebrates Easter this weekend, almost all Orthodox Churches continue to celebrate Easter/Pascha/Fasika according to the Julian Calendar

The Old Calendarists and the Orthodox Churches of Jerusalem, Ethiopia, Egypt, India, Russia, Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine continue to use the Julian Calendar.

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar that is used nearly everywhere in the world. A modification of the Julian calendar, it was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, for whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 via the papal bull Inter gravissimas. Its years are numbered per the perceived birth year of Jesus Christ, which is labeled the “anno Domini” era. This era was created in the 6th century by Roman monk Dionysius Exiguus.

The motivation of the Catholic Church in adjusting the calendar was to have Easter celebrated at the time that they thought had been agreed to at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Although a canon of the council implies that all churches used the same Easter, they did not.

The dates “5 October 1582” to “14 October 1582” (inclusive) are still valid in virtually all countries because even most Roman Catholic countries did not adopt the new calendar on the date specified by the bull, but months or even years later (the last in 1587)

Both Eastern and Western Christianity use the same calculation. However, they use different calendars! Western Christianity uses the Gregorian Calendar (circa 1582). All of Eastern Christianity continues to use the older Julian Calendar for the determination of the paschal date even though some Orthodox jurisdictions use the newer calendar for the celebration of their fixed feasts (e.g., the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America uses the “new” calendar for fixed feasts, but the “old” calendar for the determination of Pascha).

The difference between March 20/21 on the Julian Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar is around 13 days.

In essence, Orthodox Easter (Pascha) will always occur on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox after Passover. This can lead to a divergence of celebration that may see both East and West celebrating the Lord’s Resurrection on the same date, to as many as five weeks difference, like this year.

During the Middle Ages 1 January was given the name New Year’s Day (or an equivalent name) in all Western European countries (those with predominantly Catholic populations), even while most of those countries began their numbered year on 25 December (the Nativity of Jesus), then 25 March (the Incarnation of Jesus), and even Easter, as in France.

This name was the result of always displaying the months of the medieval calendar from January to December (in twelve columns containing 28 to 31 days each), just like the Romans did. Furthermore, all Western European countries (except for a few Italian states) shifted the first day of their numbered year to 1 January while they were still using the Julian calendar, before they adopted the Gregorian calendar, many during the sixteenth century.

Eastern European countries (most of them with populations showing allegiance to the Orthodox Church) began their numbered year on 1 September (since about 988) just like in the Ethiopian calendar that begins New Year on Meskerem/September 1/11(12)

In 2014, the moon will be “ecumenical”. Therefore, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will celebrate Easter together on April 20th.

Concerning Easter 2015 and following, a decree will be submitted by the AOCTS to the Holy See for approval. It should establish the final adoption of the Julian calendar for the celebration of Easter, by all the Catholic Churches of the Holy Land, “resulting in the adapting of the liturgical calendar for the beginning of Lent and the Feast of Pentecost.” This is what we read in the Directives of the AOCTS, which states, “This decision will be accepted, respected and implemented by all Catholics of Eastern and Latin rites, as well as by all the foreigners living in our diocese.

Now, some curios stuff:

English Month	Ethiopic Month	Ethiopic Meaning	English Meaning
September	Meskerem	ማስታወሻ	Remembrance
October	Teqemt	ጥቅም	Benefit/Usefulness/Value
November	Hidar	ማደሪያ	Habitation/Lodging Time
December	Tahisas	መፈለጊያ	Searching/Seeking/Needing Time
January	Tir	መሰብሰቢያ	Gathering/Collecting Time
February	Yekatit	ጐተራ	Granary/Crib/Storehouse
March	Megabit	ግብዣ	Invitation/Reception/Feast
April	Miazia	መዓዛ ሺት	Fragrance/Odor/Aroma
May	Ginbot	ግንብ	Stone Wall/Tower/Castle
June	Sene	ያማረ	Beautiful/Handsome/Pleasant
July	Hamle	ልምላሜ	Fertility/Exuberant Vegetation
August	Nehassie	ሥራ	Work/Building/Performance

A lot of languages, including English, use month names based on Latin. Their meaning is listed below. However, some languages (Czech and Polish, for example) use quite different

names. Month	Latin	Origin
January	Januarius	Named after the god Janus.
February	Februarius	Named after Februa, the purification festival.
March	Martius	Named after the god Mars.
April	Aprilis	Named either after the goddess Aphrodite or the Latin word aperire, to open.
May	Maius	Probably named after the goddess Maia.
June	Junius	Probably named after the goddess Juno.
July	Julius	Named after Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E. Prior to that time its name was Quintilis from the word quintus, fifth, because it was the 5th month in the old Roman calendar.
August	Augustus	Named after emperor Augustus in 8 B.C.E. Prior to that time the name was Sextilis from the word sextus, sixth, because it was the 6th month in the old Roman calendar.
September	September	From the word septem, seven, because it was the 7th month in the old Roman calendar.
October	October	From the word octo, eight, because it was the 8th month in the old Roman calendar.
November	November	From the word novem, nine, because it was the 9th month in the old Roman calendar.
December	December	From the word decem, ten, because it was the 10th month in the old Roman calendar.

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