African fashion, food items and history was at display in Addis Ababa as the city hosted a festival as part for the continental Africa Day celebrations.
“Ethiopia has supported the independence struggle of many African countries so Ethiopia has a special place in Africa in terms of its contributions to African Development,” said Getu Woyesse, Festival Organiser.
For many it was an opportunity to get firsthand information about culture in countries they had never been to.
“If we are able to come together and display what we do as a country I think we shall be able to identify with each other more, it will bring out the similarities rather than the differences,” said Joan Crabbe, Ghanaian visitor.
“To be honest we Africans usually don’t connect as we are supposed to and we don’t know One another’s culture very well so festivals like this make us connect more,” said Edomias Lemma, Ethiopian visitor.
“To have such kind of events for our African people to get together, to collaborate and exchange cultures, it is wonderful,” said Wondessen Teklesadik, representative, Tunisian Embassy.
Later at night there were live performances from famous African artiste from South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
“This is Africa for Africans and I’m happy to be part of this, and I’m preforming tonight yeeeeh!” said Patoranking, Nigerian artist.
The festival though seemed to have attracted lesser participation from African embassies and visitors than expected.
This is the first time this kind of event is happening and the organizers want to keep improving it so that it becomes one of the biggest festivals in Africa that Africans will be looking forward to every year.
