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| ashley's Diary |
| Date |
Saturday, 25 Mar 2006 |
| Country |
Etiopia/Kenya Border |
| Weather |
Sunny |
| Diary |
Southern Ethiopia/Northern Kenya
Our last night in Ethiopia was spent in Moyale where on seeing the toilets in the hotel Nye exclaimed “Mum, this is a Vogon toilet!!” (See Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy) We have now got to get stickers made with an official looking “Vogon toilet award” logo that can be displayed prominently at reception of hotels awarded this new internationally recognised symbol of excellence in filth….It would at least save people a lot of wasted time inspecting rooms etc.
As you have probably heard there is a severe drought in Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya. Perhaps the main difference in how each country is coping is the amount of humanitarian attention each country is getting. Southern Ethiopia (where in my less than professional opinion the drought seems a lot less severe) is crawling with brand new expensive UN Toyota Land Cruisers parked mainly outside brothels and expensive hotels whereas Northern Kenya where the roadside as far as the eye can see from the roof of a Land Rover is strewn with dead cattle, goats and sheep and where sad pathetic temporary villages made out of black plastic bin bags are unfortunately very common seems to have been totally ignored and forgotten. The only living things that are finding life easy are the vultures and the hyenas. The Kenyan government has had the money at least twice (from different doners) to tarmac the road from Moyale to Marsabit. Needless to say it hasn’t been done and although marked as a main road on the map the Land Rover has classed it as “Shit:1st class” How governments can make money magically “disappear” without anything to show for it is an amazing trick….although the same thing used to happen to my bank account in Bath, just on a much, much, much smaller scale.
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