Many people think that Ethiopia is a Christian country. But there live many Muslims as well. Over one third according to the last census. Because many Muslims are pastoralist, and therefore difficult to include in a census, some people think that their number is larger. In many places in the country, such as here in Harar, one sees mosques and shrines. Compared with the rest of Northeast Africa, Muslims and Christians in Ethiopia live together fairly peacefully.

This photograph was made on the outskirts of Gondar, near the palace of the 18th century Empress Mintweab. The girl has picked flowers from the field behind her, and mixed them with some red ones (dalia?) into a bouquet. The yellow flower is called Meskel flower, Meskel being the festival of the discovery of the true cross by St. Helena. When I came here for the first time, in the late 1980s, everything was barren and dry, there was famine. This time superfluous rains have given the country a new look.

Picture of the Month in the Armchair Traveller of the widely read Lonely Planet Magazine

Ethiopia has many undiscovered archaeological sites. Possibly only ten percent of these have been excavated. All the time new discoveries are made. During a recent visit to Axum I learnt that these ruins are not part of the castle of Queen Makeda of Sheba. Ethiopian and German archaeologists expect that they were part of the castle of the 16th century AD King Khaleb. They hope to find those of the Queen of Sheba underneath these ruins.

Many books about Ethiopia either start about its problems or they hide them and show only nice pictures. Arjan and I did per se not want to portray Ethiopia as a problem-country, and Ethiopians as people with whom one should have pity. That is why we have asked many Ethiopians about their dream: What is your dream for your life? By asking this question, they play to their strength and it becomes visible what Ethiopians want and are able to. Without letting difficult matters underexposed.