The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

m 10 economist suntribune world issues thursday may 16 2002 people breaking the pattern of poverty this message brought to you as a community service of the economist suntribune call 1 8005656 usc to pledge your support today j 56 sparks street ottawa on kip 501 wvwusccqnadabrg residences lestled in the heart of richmond hill brookside hilltop retirement residences boast the tranquility of a rural oasis yet are located near all the amenities of a large urban centre our care levels are geared to meet specific needs in a gracious environment variety of accommodations respite and convalescent care friendly caring attentive staff secure unit for the memory impaired 980 elgin mills road east richmond hjll l4s 1m4 9058849248 w ethiopia experience unreal for every jutns someone said disabled means yolt can lead a full life wed have the abilit to help thousanf more disabled aduffi live independently york durhass regionaaoij 853030 thivmessa brought to yot as a comrr service c the economist surttrjfiffl it smells like camping i learned later why its the wood people burn for cooking and heating their homes as only the rich living in cities have the luxury of electricity in ethiopia to me the scent of firewood was a lasting even comforting first impres sion of a land so outside my realm of experience it was hard at times to believe i was actually there we are in africa repeated kyra hoggan a reporter from alberta and my twoweek travel companion at least five times that first day i know how she felt it was the same for me unreal but when we were swarmed by chil dren in rags and disabled beggars only steps away from the hotel in a sponta neous but soon aborted tour around the block we faced reality we were in a land far away in a culture we didnt under stand our blonde hair and gap khakis screaming rich westerner the capital city addis ababa is chaotic teeming with people and their animals oldmodel cars from the 1950s and 60s compete for space on the few mk markham stouffville q hospital cc m q cc uj cc hwy7 h markham l x t- weallcullen markham 6597 hwy7 w of 9th line 9052948000 qm0nfri9am 9 pm store hours sat 9 am 6 pm sun 8 hol 9 am 6 pm sse i 200 off the regular pnceoftlimbing garden vines choose from clematis trumpet honeysuckle wisteria bittersweet 8c more limit one coupon per family per day 1 coupon valid only until tuesday may 28 2002 at our markham location only i kathleen griffin newly paved roads with herds of goats and cattle farmers walking to and from the markets with goods piled on don keys begging women carrying their babies on their backs and occasionally welldressed office or hotel workers there are no marked lanes speed limits or cross walks few stop signs and even fewer traffic lights control only the busiest intersections they joke that if the horn on your vehicle is broken its time to throw out the car ramshackle huts with corrugated tin roofs sit next to debilitated and dirty office buildings and stores women line the roadside hunkering close to the ground where they sell what they can grass for animal feed or hut roofs fire wood for cooking and warmth and the indispensable plastic water jugs those selling brightlycoloured plas tic bowls seem better off the many more selling thin sticks of wood from their tiny depleted plots of land often located dozens of kilometres away are not we are told to ignore the beggars but women in ripped and mudstained clothes hands gesturing desperately towards a babys open mouth are hard to resist we hand over a few coins we know it means little maybe that one baby wont be hungry today the women are stunning but their dark exotic beauty is toooften marred by dirt and exhaustion or worse by the chronic malnutrition endemic across the secondpoorest country in the world the squeals of children playing soccer sound the same as they do at home only the ball is made of grass or rags and most play in bare feet because they dont have shoes sometimes they make shoes from old tires we heard about a primary school in a nearby village which required all children to have footwear several showed up in donated winter boots likely from canada i think to myself we brought bags of canadiana with us pins flags pens keychains after we were overwhelmed a couple of times we stopped trying to hand them out to village children the bigger ones would grab items away from the smaller kids who would then cry it was clear our visits were already disruptive the last thing we wanted was to create more problems we left the gifts with the canadian international development agency office in addis the staff there will put them to good use while most people we met had at least a few words of english especially the children money money sister or hi hi we required translators most places we visited some were very good others were not at an elementary school in rift valley south of addis we tried talking to a few of the children i asked an eightyearold boy what he liked most about school the translator replied he likes learning about hygiene please he did not say that the kids eight and a boy many times we faced this kind of sce nario a villager responding to a question about what changes a project has made in his life and for those in his village would seem to think seriously for a few moments and respond with several sen see no page 13