By Sarah Grimsley (Supporter Services Officer)
04 Mar 2010

I recently returned from a two-week holiday to Ethiopia, and wow, what a place it is. The popular perception of Ethiopia is of barren landscapes, starvation and Live Aid, but there is so much more to it than that. In fact, the majority of the places I visited were green and the scenery is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. There is also so much history and culture to be discovered, the sunken churches of Lalibela certainly being on a par with the Pyramids in Egypt.

Sadly, the malnourished children are not a myth, and nothing prepared me for seeing that level of absolute poverty. Despite this, the Ethiopians are warm, friendly and inviting people who are always excited to meet a ‘foreigngee’ (a term I came to understand to mean foreigner) and despite their obvious struggles, always went the extra mile to accommodate me.

As an employee and avid supporter of the Brooke, I was delighted to spend 3 days out in the field with the mobile time. On our 440km drive south from Addis Ababa, my first thought about the working animals in this country is the sheer number of them. The roads in rural areas seldom see motorised vehicles; instead, they are dominated by the hooves of thousands of horses, donkeys, mules and livestock and the often bare feet of their owners, on their way to market or to collect water. Secondly it becomes instantly apparent what an essential service these hard working animals provide to these communities. As well as carrying grain and water, I also saw donkeys pulling an ‘ambulance’, giving rides to children and the elderly and even being used to transport corrugated iron which was wrapped around the donkey’s body.

As a horse owner and animal lover, these sights were sometimes upsetting, especially when the animals were severely overloaded (sometimes with weight in excess of 120kg). Even colleagues' photos of the place did not accurately portray the desperation I would see of the mules in Hosana grain market. Walking up to 20 miles over 6 hours, burdened with their heavy loads, the mules arrive exhausted and thirsty. However they are not given water or shelter, and most remain loaded until the grain is sold (owners fear buyers will not come to them if the sacks are not still strapped to the animal as it will be assumed that it's not from its original source or of good quality). Several animals had collapsed under the strain and simply lay on the floor lacking even the energy to blink away flies from their eyes.

Shocking as this was, I couldn’t help but remember the owners, who are undoubtedly some of the poorest people in the world. They also make the same backbreaking journey, only to make perhaps a $1 profit when they are supporting a family of 6 or 7. The market is only open three times per week, which helps you appreciate the desperation behind everything these people do. They simply do not realise that the mules are in pain; they think they are just resting. Until the Brooke arrived in this area the concept of the term 'animal welfare' was non existent. In fact in Amharic there is no direct translation of it and the owners had been unaware of the suffering their animals endure.

Now that the Brooke is working with owners and local authorities to encourage good animal welfare, attitudes are slowly changing. Promoting practices such as unloading the mules on arrival and making sure they are allowed to graze and rest in the shade when not working is key. The Brooke teams have seen these positive changes in the nearby timber market over the last four years and I am confident they will see the same results in the grain market in the near future.

Seeing the Brooke’s work in Ethiopia for the first time was definitely eye opening, sad on occasions, but also wonderful and tear jerking when witnessing success stories and meeting owners who were genuinely interested in taking better care of these amazingly resilient and loyal animals who provide them with a means to a livelihood.

If you are looking for somewhere different on your next holiday; Ethiopia is the place to go!