“Enlightenment of Africa” is an exhibition that has been on display since December 2017, at the African Union. The exhibition referred to “Lumieres d’Afriques” in French is conceived by African Artists for Development, an initiative created in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals, features well known artists such as Aida Muluneh, Mann Youssouf Ahmed, Epaphrodite Binamungu and Mustafa Sawwd as well as young emerging contemporary artists presenting original works and share the conviction that Africa is the continent of tomorrow.
The exhibition was first presented at COP21, a major conference on climate change from November 30 till December 11, 2015 in Paris, France. The exhibition was also presented in Abidjan from April 27 to June 6, 2016, then in Dakar beginning of 2017.
The project includes 45 painters, sculptors, videographers and photographers, all who have accepted the challenge to create an original work of art on a unique theme and to reveal their own personal source of inner light by participating in a monumental video installation. The power of the video work expresses both the vitality of contemporary Africa art and the critical challenges that Africa must face over the next century.
The paintings, sculptures, photographs or performances illustrate the diversity, vitality and singularity of contemporary African art of which opulence is still unfamiliar. It is also stated that the 54 artworks encourage a reflection on the challenges of the ongoing continental development.
The exhibition at the African Union will be on show throughout February, 2018.
African Artist for Development (AAD) is an endowment fund that was set up in 2009 by Gervanne and Matthias Leridon in response to the UN Millennium Development Goals and backs community development projects associated with works by African artists.
The goals of AAD projects are to spur sustainable economic and social development, increase well-being, boost living standards and bring about changes through patters by relying on the effects of levers more than the earmarked budget size.
Africa’s enlightenment as seen through 54 artists
Society is failing women
In Ethiopia we hear of stories of women being abused and oppressed socially and economically in many other countries; women not being allowed to work out side of the home, forced not to leave the house, not being able to go out without a male companion, not being able to marry who they want not being able to make political decisions, on top of so many other abuses. Of course these things don’t just exist in some countries, in one form or another, it exists everywhere.
On the other hand, there are some stories that we hear and that makes us think “boy am I glad I don’t live in that environment” because what we hear makes us think we are a little better off than some. Still, there is so much wrong with Ethiopian society when it comes to how it views women and how it says they should exist.
We live in a country that openly advertizes the rhetoric that women belong in the kitchen cooking the meal for the family, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, changing the baby’s diaper, while the mighty man brings home the bread, rewards the women with a fancy dinner, wires money from abroad for the holidays and so on.
Turn on TV and all these forms of gender divisions are splashed on the viewers face through advertisements for dish washing soap, laundry detergents and cooking oils. We know advertisements work; they are effective in instilling ideas in people’s heads. This means, with the kind of advertisements we are splashing on TV, we are inevitably teaching boys and girls, men and women what their positions in society must be.
While browsing social media this week, getting my daily dose of updates on what is going on in different parts of the world, I came across a post by someone who was speaking about outrage over what was written on Addis Ababa University’s facebook page.
On the University’s facebook page, a woman puts forward a comment on a post announcing the list of candidates running for the position of the President at AAU. The woman was pointing out that all the candidates where male and there was no point in specifying their gender, in a way criticizing that women were not encouraged to run for the position.
What caused the outrage was the response of whoever is managing AAU’s page which basically was “U can take the horse to river, but cannot force it to drink”, exactly written like this. The comment comes after another facebook user who stated that the reason for the lack of female candidates is because generally women preferred to stay back in the kitchen.
While nobody really cared about the young idiot that made the comment on women preferring the kitchen over the University’s presidential seat, many including myself were upset by the University’s own response. This puts into question the capacity of the very person who is currently leading the university.
Since the post got some shares and responses, it was removed. But I highly doubt the person behind the comment faced any kind of consequence from the University. I highly doubt that those in a leadership position at the university care that supposedly one of the best universities in our country openly insulted women. I feel so bad for the female students and workers there, the women who are not able to run the vacant positions even though they are more than qualified, for the women that will not get a chance because the system is not blind to gender and actively promotes inequality. I feel saddened for all of us.
As a graduate of Addis Ababa University, I have never felt that my time spent there was really worthwhile. Except for very few exceptions; the teachers were mostly incapable of actually teaching. As a female student, I have been in situations where male teachers have made unwanted advances, forwarded inappropriate comments and uncomfortable stares, which was all tolerated because of fears of getting a failing grade. This is the story of every female student I know, that has gone through that system.
It is very hard to change people’s behaviors; it can be done, but it will take a long time. I just don’t understand why people who are in responsibile positions are not held accountable when they do not do their job. Why isn’t the government interested in changing narratives for women and girls?
Currently the all male candidates for the position of president at Addis Ababa University are putting on a show about why each person is qualified and should hold the position. I hope who ever will be selected will make an effort to understand what women and girls face in Universities and work towards a more inclusive system. If not that, at least be efficient and capable enough to monitor and take seriously whatever is posted on social media in the name of the institution.
Teddy Afro scheduled to hold a concert in Bahir Dar next Saturday
Teddy Afro is set to hold his first concert after his fifth album was released, next week on Saturday. The concert that is scheduled to be held in Bahir Dar is expected to attract thousands of people.
Previous concert plans by the artist were canceled due to some issues with the government and what authorities state were permit issues. The scheduled concert that is set to be held in the stadium has been given the green light by the Amhara Regional Government.
The musician was previously unable to host an album release party for his fifth album entitled “Ethiopia” again due to claims of permit, which outraged many fans. With the album Ethiopia, Teddy Afro was able to reach the top for world music chart.
Tickets are to be sold for 300 birr and 1000 birr for VIP section.
Egypt and Ethiopia’s aviation cooperation
Egyptair is one of the top airways in Africa along with South Africa and Ethiopian airlines. It is one of Africa’s largest and oldest airlines, and carried over nine million passengers in 2017, compared to 8 million a year ago. Adding more destinations, promoting tourism are top priorities for the company that was established 85 years ago. The airline is based at Cairo International Airport, its main hub, operating scheduled passenger and freight services to more than 70 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Hesham Abdel Fattah Hanafy is Area Manager of Egyptair in Addis Ababa. He has a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration and a Masters Degree in Aviation. He joined Egyptair in 1999 as a sales agent then he helped start the Egyptair Frequent Flyer program in 2004. After that he joined the charter flights department for almost 10 years. His work in Addis Ababa is the first post outside Egypt as Area and Sales Manager. Capital’s Tesfaye Getnet sat down with Hesham Abdel Fattah to explore more about Egyptair. Excerpts;
Capital: Tell us about the many changes Egyptair has gone through lately.
Hesham Abdel Fattah: Egyptair was founded in 1932. Egypt air is the oldest airline in the Middle East and Africa. It provides flights to 70 destinations. Egyptair is the world-renowned national airline of Egypt based in the cosmopolitan city of Cairo. It is more than 85 years old. Egyptair has experienced extraordinary growth and taken the lead in becoming the first airline in the Middle East and Africa, and the seventh in the world to join IATA. Egyptair joined Star Alliance in July, 2008. Egyptair operates from the new, state-of-the-art Terminal 3 at Cairo International Airport, which has been opened in 2009 for Star Alliance Carriers where customers can enjoy exclusive services inside the Star Alliance lounges owned and operated by Egyptair.
Egyptair transported about eight million passengers in 2016 with 81% regular rates. As you know the airline industry is very fragile. It is affected by different circumnutates especially in neighboring countries. As a result, Egyptair has re structured its network. Starting in 2016, our CEO Safwat Musllam developed a strategy and expanded our fleet. Egyptair contracted the purchase of 45 new aircraft for a long lease as part of our fleet modernization policy, which will take place over the next two years. This includes six Boeing 787-9 (Dreamliner) aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce engines, as well as 15 Airbus A320 Neo aircraft powered by CFM56 engines and 24 Bombardier aircraft and CS-300 aircraft.
Capital: What are the main challenges facing Egyptair and the airline industry?
Hesham Abdel Fattah: Maximizing revenue which is the top priority for any business. This means maximizing customer satisfaction, and minimizing costs. Modernizing our fleet will provide a better product. This means that the service offered to passengers on the plane determines the extent to which they prefer our company, hence, an increase in demand for our flights and an increased market share and lower operating expenses like maintenance and fuel consumption. I would like Egyptair to be a recognizable brand not just in Africa, but also in the entire world. Competition, threats of over-capacity and fluctuation of fuel prices are other challenges.
Capital: What are the main strategies Egyptair has adopted?
Hesham Abdel Fattah: We have enhanced our relationship with our permanent partners like Ethiopian travel agents and international organizations in Ethiopia such as the African Union and the UNECA. Egyptair shares and supports many diplomatic and fund raising events held here in Addis Ababa. Egyptair flys to 19 cities in Europe plus New York and Toronto in North America and Guangzhou , Beijing , Bangkok and Bombay in the far east and 15 points in Africa which connect to most cities in the Middle East and Gulf Area. We also offer promotional fares, as we have now, a 35 % discount on business class and 25 % on economy class. We still need to do more marketing through media, especially online, billboards, digital, magazines and newspapers.
Capital: What kind of relationship do you have with Ethiopian Airlines?
Hesham Abdel Fattah: As a star alliance member Egyptair cooperates greatly with Ethiopian airlines. We have code share flights on many destinations and routes beyond Addis and Cairo and passengers can travel from many destinations in Africa to Europe and back through these two airlines. Passengers on both airlines are entitled to the same privileges such as Star Alliance lounges, priority check-in and frequent flyer cards. We also have a beneficial agreement for handling and maintenance on each other’s flights. We are also looking to increase cooperation as more than 80 percent of traffic into Africa is serviced by non-African airlines
Capital: How is the performance of the Egypt Air office in Addis and who mainly comes to your office?
Hesham Abdel Fattah: Egyptair has two offices in Addis Ababa the main one on Churchill road which has been opened since 1998 and the other one in the African Union to facilitate and service all African Union employees and members. We deal with most segments of travelers businesspeople, tourists, students and families, groups and religious travelers but our offices can’t support the service for all our travelers so we rely on our partners like Ethiopian travel agencies our website and mobile application. Egyptair operates now 5 flights per week from Cairo to Addis plus our code share flights with Ethiopian Airlines. We intend to increase flights to daily as we see many destinations in Africa and especially Addis Ababa are very promising.
Capital: What are the biggest opportunities in the future?
Hesham Abdel Fattah: Egyptair is working through its hub Cairo airport to connect passengers from Addis to Europe, New York and North Africa with a minimum connection time of two hours. We want to benefit from increasing travel to China so we are now operating to Guangzhou and Beijing and we are on our way to add Shanghai. People benefit from our modernized fleet with very competitive prices but our connection time is long so we offer a free night in 4 and 5 star hotels in Cairo during the connecting period offering our customer privilege to see and enjoy Cairo’s attractions without any additional costs.
Capital: Egypt has many tourist destinations, how is your airline working to promote Egyptian tourism?
Hesham Abdel Fattah: Egyptair focuses on promoting Egypt’s destinations in the Ethiopian market due to the short flight time between Addis and Cairo which is about 3 hours. Also Egypt is distinguished by its beaches and sunny weather which is good for relaxing the entire year and a variety of luxurious hotels with affordable prices. Egypt received 4.3 million tourists in the first seven months of 2017. Karnak is a well-known travel agent in Egypt who has 60 years of experience in tourist products. We have begun offering tourism packages to many destinations in Egypt especially Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh, Luxor and Aswan with very competitive prices especially on holidays and special occasions. Also we do religious trips in cooperation with Ethiopian travel agents and we intend to expand especially after the Vatican approved the Pilgrim Trail from Cairo up the Nile to Asyut. Corniche Maadi’s Virgin Mary Church, Matarya’s Virgin Mary’s tree, and Minya’s Muharraq Monastery are all included in the itinerary for the journey as places where the holy family landed.
