Ethiopia Celebrates Obama Win
By LUCINDA ACQUAYE
Reporting from Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
When I initially arrived in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, I will admit, I did expect to get the usual attention Americans attract in African countries. I have traveled throughout the continent before, and know that somehow, people can identify us from a yard away. But this trip has been like none other I have experienced before: Locals literally yell out “Hello Obama” as I walk through the streets.
Upon arrival, I discovered that the fanatic-like sensation was not only limited to the States. As most news outlets have reported, this phenomenon has shaken up the world, and Ethiopia is not exempt. Ethiopians love Barack Obama. In fact, they adore their “African Brother” so much someone named a restaurant/bar after him.
The Obama Restaurant Bar & Café opened early this year and has been one of the most popular local and tourist attractions ever since. Specializing in pizza with their most popular being “The Obama Pizza,” a sort of “everything pie,” wait staff dressed in t-shirts with our President-elect’s face plastered on the front are happy to meet anyone from the now deemed “Land of Obama.”
Despite Obama’s heritage, hailing from neighboring country Kenya, Ethiopians are just as happy that one of them will lead our country. It is their hope that with him as president, he will help Africa.
On election night, the café hosted a viewing party where they projected CNN on a big screen all night. My friends, a few volunteers who flew from their various posts in Ethiopia to Bahir Dar to watch celebration, opted not to stay till the wee hours of the morning and chose to watch it in the comfort of my living room. Nonetheless, we did stay for dinner. I do not think patrons really fully understood what they were watching, predictions of Electoral College votes and such, but they did break out in applause each time projections reported Obama in the lead.
After a long night full of coffee and anxiously pacing my living room floor, winner was announced by 7a.m. ET time. From that point, and throughout the day, I received a series of phone calls and text messages from locals who wanted to congratulate me on the win as if I had been the one campaigning. One txt read: “Hello Lucinda, Everything will be alright with OBAMA.”
I smiled and silently prayed that he was right.
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