When I was about seven years old Addis Ababa went through a major change: the construction of the city’s ring roads. I only have vague memories of feeling inconvenienced while my friends and I navigated the muddy streets on our way to school. The work was finally completed eight years later, in 2006.
While the project caused serious displacement at the time, a few decades on people have accepted the ring roads as just another part of the city. Its human cost is no longer mentioned. Now, as Addis goes through another monumental change – the Corridor Development Project – l wonder how long it will take for the current disruption to fade into distant memory.
