News, trends and change

Last week the local radio station in Addis Ababa broadcast a report about how life in the city has changed over the past five years. According to the report, the number of small shops that accept mobile payments has risen sharply: in the beginning almost no traders used their phones to take money, but today more than half of the shops in the main market do. At the same time, the price of basic foods such as teff and oil has increased steadily, which has made many families worried about their monthly budget. One trader, Sara, told the reporter that the cost of a sack of teff had gone up from nine hundred birr to well over one thousand four hundred birr in just three years. Not all the news, however, was bad. The report also explained that the number of children finishing school had grown, and that the time families spent waiting for water had fallen, because new pipes had been built in several areas. Experts interviewed on the programme said that some of these trends would probably continue, while others might slow down or even reverse. They warned that prices could rise again if the rains failed, but they also expected the use of technology to keep increasing. By the end of the programme, the presenter reminded listeners that behind every number there are real people, and that understanding the trends helps families and the city plan better for the future.