July 6, 2003

The ‘Green Revolution’?By Fitsum Getachew

Millions of people across the world make habitual use of various drugs, just as routine. Some are irreversibly addicted and would see no light, no alternative to the labyrinth they are immersed in, while others would appear more moderately in control and less assiduous in the use of intoxicant substances. They would take them only on intervals or occasions. The use/abuse of drugs, seems specially spread among ‘disillusioned’ youths, bored to death with their lives, or more appropriately, without a compass in their social lives, without prospects. They find it convenient to resort to drugs to ‘unload’ their frustrations. Forgetting reality and getting skyrocketed to fantasy, to clouds of ephemeral dreams! But the list does not exclude even ‘adults’, well established in their lives, accomplished, successful. Perhaps they too would resort to similar devices in their quest for momentary solace, avoidance of pain, tension or stress.

I am no expert in pharmaceuticals or narcotics and would not venture in the scientific analysis, composition/chemistry and effects of narcotics or stimulants, as many would prefer to call them, perhaps to rid them of the inherent negative connotation or stigma attached to it. Some would even dare to classify tea and coffee in such category, alleging that they are ‘stimulants’ containing ‘teina’, and ‘caffeina’. For these people, cigarettes would follow very naturally, as a prelude to the more addictive ones such as cannabis, marijuana, opium, and cocaine, heroine, and LSD. The comparison is evidently out of line, a bit overstretched, forced!

Now, the market of drugs in the Western world is vast and extremely lucrative, involving billions of dollars. And since the open sale of drugs is officially forbidden by the laws of most world states, (unless specifically prescribed by a legally accredited physician), they are produced, prepared and exchanged through clandestine, criminal organizations, most notably the ‘mafia’. The mafia is, by the way, not only Italian, (as many would assume) but a world wide and spreading criminal phenomenon with various ‘blends’ and ‘ramifications’. Let’s leave this for Interpol to worry about as the mafia risks to even destabilize the more or less clean and market-driven economic order through criminal earnings and similar investments with unnatural flow of cash!

Drugs and criminality are often entrenched one with the other. Often, where there is addiction to drugs, criminality almost naturally follows. It is a simple equation because those who can afford the high costs of drugs would be precious few, (well to do and prominent entrepreneurs in Europe would inhale such stimulants as cocaine, in its purest and least dangerous version as they would not be bothered by the costs, and they would allegedly compensate them with more concentration and longer hours of effective work). However, so cannot be said of common mortals! Likewise, those in the music and arts industry are said to be more prone to be customers of such ‘service’. Rock stars are said to be performing on stages for hours, exhibiting exceptional stamina and ‘fiato’, also thanks to the endurance that they acquire from such substances. Many reggae artists are fond of cannabis and would not hesitate to openly advocate its consumption. Similar trend is developing amongst Ethiopians with ‘chat’, the notorious green leaves with ‘mild narcotic effects’. ‘Chat’ grows in our midst and is therefore very close to us, and such proximity could result a health hazard! A potential threat.

Doubtless, doctors have established that the use of drugs/narcotics is in any case dangerous to one’s health. Naturally, it is more so when such use is protracted in time and considerable in quantity. We have seen that excessive use of drugs has often led to premature death, beyond the serious impairment on one’s mental faculties. I have seen young people dying of overdose of heroine or the injection of the badly mixed (‘cut’) dosage of the same. In certain European parks, you would find young people lying lifeless due to drug abuse! Many hospitals admit youths in trouble and in need of dis-intoxication, just as alcoholics in the thousands of rehab centres spread around the West, especially in the US. These are very difficult social issues that are on the agenda of these governments. How do we relate this with our local ‘green grass’?

The trend that we are undergoing here, with the excessively spreading use of ‘chat’, is heading towards the unknown! Just go about various quarters in Addis, and see what youths are doing in the afternoons. Youths gather in smoke-filled rooms, with a bundle of ‘chat’ in front, lying on the mattress. Tea, coffee or even soft drinks accompany the ‘rite’ as these idle youths continue with their routine. They would not go to work or school. They are obsessed with leisure, with forgetting reality! At such pace, it won’t be long before the entire society is engulfed in a ‘crisis of identity’. To add insult to injury, the spread of HIV/AIDS continues unabated and the whole picture becomes even more dismal. In this regard, I have heard of a ‘joke’ about the little worries of a mother who, when told the sad news that the price of ‘teff’ (our staple cereal) had skyrocketed, she was reported to have remarked: “Oh really! Why should I bother? My children have now taken up the comfortable habit of chewing ‘chat’ and as long as the price of ‘chat’ was not inflated, no worries!” This incidence, told as a joke might appear farfetched and amuse people. But as it is true of the essence of jokes, it has a grain of truth in it. It is now becoming increasingly normal, and even well accepted, to fix appointments of friends in a gathering, with a bouquet of ‘chat’ to chew in ‘community’, the whole afternoon or evening! No scandals!

Once a very limited and shy phenomenon, today, if I said I never chew ‘chat’, people would almost frown at me, taking me for some sort of fool or naive person! I personally abstain from thinking that chewing ‘chat’ would be a symbol or sign of maturity, rationality or intellect or whatever. I classify it among those vices that one has to guard against, lest one opts to be completely addicted and dependent for one’s good moods. I know I will easily buy the adversity and criticism of many, when I talk critically about ‘chat’. But I am convinced that, in as much as we choose to be prisoners of certain vices, we are complicating our already arduous lives! And this I intend, as a nation, as a people getting addicted to ‘chat’, or even alcoholism for that matter! I don’t refer to the exceptions who can first control it, and then manage all the repercussions.

Some would say, ‘but you are exaggerating! ‘Chat’ is something that belongs to ‘our culture’, it does not come from overseas, and we have not replaced it with an imported ‘culture’. I know that doing without ‘chat’ would look absurd to people who were born and brought up in areas where ‘chat’ is the primary commodity they have seen, and it has always been part of their lives, beginning from infancy. A young girl was telling me the other day that she was so fond of ‘chat’ as she used to chew it with her very parents! But I would find it difficult to understand when we refer to inhabitants of other localities, (for example Addis), who begin to get addicted to ‘chat’ in high schools and end up by dropping out. The grim reality is that ‘chat’ has the tendency to give way to sequels of sessions of alcoholic consumption and promiscuity in sex! It can lead to juvenile delinquency, and if we consider the fact that more than fifty per cent of our population is constituted of youths, you can get a more concrete idea of what I am talking about. We might find it easy to be the first ones to criticize citizens of other nations for the use of drugs such as heroine, or cannabis, but we fail to realize that we are absolving ourselves from ‘chat’ addiction! Many present various pretexts to join the army of chewers.( I have exams and I have to study; I am bored and let me pass some hours in solace; I have nothing to do, let me read a novel with ‘chat’; it is my vacation, let me enjoy myself etc.)

The origins and spread of ‘chat’ in our society would need sociological/scientific research in its own right, but what one cannot fail to note is that it is now ‘dangerously’ expanding to each and every quarter, every house hold, becoming nowadays an exception for any young person, not to indulge in ‘chat’.

During my high school days, very few people used to chew ‘chat’. Normally, it was shopkeepers (traders were preeminently of Muslim faith, and as kids, we thought ‘chat’ was their exclusive domain!). They used to take ‘chat’, understandably to stay awake and continue with their tedious work of hours and hours of shop keeping. Boredom would be defeated! But as the effects became known, students began to use it as a ‘stimulant’, to avoid drowsiness and engage in vigilant study sessions, while the spectre of exams approached. Gradually but relentlessly, the phenomenon began to spread and now after two, three decades, I see that ‘chat’ is becoming part and parcel of the life of almost any student, from high schools to colleges, to government institutions and private bodies, to young girls as to adult ladies. Virtually to every one. And the market is thriving. Kiosks of ‘chat’ where you can buy it or rooms where you can sit and chew in ‘good company’ are now ready every where. Various discourses are made in these ‘chat houses’. Politics, society, mores, literature, music etc. You may also be entertained by some video, a Hollywood movie, DVD or even some pornography! I remember years back, in my quarter around Bole Road, there was not one single kiosk that peddled ‘chat’. ‘Merkato’, the central market area, was the only place where customers went to have some fresh leaves that came either from around Welkite, 150 km to the south or Harar in the east. Today, ‘chat’ is readily available at every corner! And it is cultivated every where because it has become a ‘cash crop’! Even kids can go out and right adjacent to their homes, find and buy the various sorts of ‘chat’ with denominations such as ‘beleche’, ‘gelemsso’, ‘wendo’, ‘awedai’ etc. No restrictions! I know that under aged people would not be allowed to buy liquors, in the US for instance. Here, it is ‘free market’! You would encounter large signboards on which the ‘leaves’ are advertised. May be, one day, consumers would fancy seeing the advertisement of their favourite type of ‘chat’ on TV spots, showing the best leaves and the best places where to chew in comfort! (To be continued)

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The ‘Green Revolution’?

By Fitsum Getachew

(continued from last week)

I know that in the daily provision of ‘chat’ to clients outside Ethiopia, the first or fastest delivery of ‘chat’ by vehicles, (minibus pick ups) to Assab or Djibouti for instance, used to be lavishly awarded by earnest consumers. Clients there are at the mercy of prompt ‘chat’ delivery from Ethiopia, more than any thing else! I have heard people saying that business and all other activities would halt in Djibouti if ‘chat’ was banned! Pretty soon, a similar condition could afflict towns such as Dire Dawa and Harar, where the social and economic incidence of ‘chat’ is growing by leaps and bounds.

When I last went to Dire Dawa and Harar two years ago, I was astounded by the kind of business that involved ‘chat’. In Dire Dawa itself, there are several open markets where ‘chat’ was peddled . The main market area in the centre is huge and the evening is brightened by luminous lanterns (‘masho’) showing the glittering quality of the ‘chat’ to buyers. The hustle and bustle is simply amazing.

I was once travelling from Dire Dawa to Harar and there is a locality called Awedai, just past Alemaya, a famous but tiny centre renowned for the cultivation of the celebrated leaves of the highest quality, itself called ‘Awedai’. In the morning, when I was passing by with my friends, I saw that the whole town was turned into a market/bazaar of ‘chat’. People, I was told, are very rich there, as they have this precious economic commodity. A sociologist told me that Awedai is the smallest unit of population with the highest exchange of money in the world in the shortest time possible! A few people exchanged so much money in so few hours that there would be no such phenomenon through out the world! It was as if Awedai was a huge banking centre! Exaggerated though it may sound, I think the point is well taken. People literally ‘burn’ the product in a few hours, and then go back home with the cash. These inhabitants of the environs are so rich, (unlike the vast majority of poor Ethiopian peasants who hardly manage to make ends meet through rain-fed agriculture), that they own minibuses and can exhibit in their homes fancy electronic gadgets such as TV dishes and DVDs, CDs and various makes of computers. Besides, these gadgets arrive very easily through the nearby ports (Djibouti, Berbera, Hargeisa) and the nomadic people of the vicinity would transport them on the back of their camels!

Dire Dawa and Harar, we can say are two completely ‘chat’-dependent or ‘chat’-influenced cities. During my stay there, I have not met one individual, either male or female, who had no familiarity with chewing ‘chat’. Some have done it for a while before doctors forbade them the use owing to health hazards; others have stopped just because fed up or could not afford it, while still others might use chewing only casually, at selected occasions. But the majority use ‘chat’ on a frequent basis, from the moderate, (once a week), to the very addicted extreme of twice a day! As the heat of Dire Dawa begins to burn, (around one o’clock), people would rush finishing with their lunches and take a quick shower to then sit in front of a ‘jebena’ (pot) coffee and begin with the rite of ‘chat’ chewing! They have special clothing for the ceremony, (a piece of long-broad tissue to put around one’s waist, instead of the usual attire such as trousers and dresses). And it is comfortable to sit relaxed on mattresses along with pillows under your elbows, all over the floor. Incense would be lighted and fill the air giving it a special scent! Such ceremony has become customary even in homes in Addis!

Millions are now booking their weekends in the weekly program of ‘chat’ chewing. Intellectuals I hear are using it for long pondering; discussions are tabled around a ‘chat’ ceremony; authors write new novels; journalists finish their pieces/reports and song writers are inspired in their creativity. Likewise, tailors, mechanics, drivers are among the professions more prone to the aid of ‘chat’. I remember once at the AAU, we had to schedule a make up class with our instructor for the missed classes due to various reasons. When we suggested ‘Thursday’ to fill the gap, the instructor said emphatically, “no! leave alone Thursday, it is ‘chat chewing day’”, rejecting our proposal! Some students found amusement in the statement, but I was taken aback, mixed with irritation. I did not think proper for a university lecturer to postpone a make up class due to his personal weakness, his appointment with a ‘chat’ rite! And I think it would just be self-deceiving to think otherwise. ‘Chat’ is a dangerous, addictive drug! ‘But no, you are exaggerating, it is because you never acquainted yourself with it. You know, it is great to chew. You don’t realize the wonderful taste, the warm atmosphere bla bla bla,’ people often yell at me! Specially friends who believe that they can come over it as they make use of it only for specific purposes and on certain occasions. But I remain fixed with my position at the cost of being labelled ‘unsympathetic’. I argue that ‘chat’ is dangerous, not only per se, but for the consequences it can have in the long run on our youths’ mind, on our youths’ habits, on their capacity to control it, and decision making. I think once you get addicted to any drug, you fall under its spell, and coming out of the cocoon would be a nightmare! For many, even quitting to smoke has become ‘impossible’ due to its addictive nature. A good friend of mine has stopped smoking at least five times a year, but in vain! And I believe ‘chat’ has even more addictive power/substance than the nicotine in cigarettes. Besides, its cost is another handicap. ‘Chat’ is not at all cheap. Specially the ‘nice quality’ of ‘chat’ is very expensive, and the more you consume, the more your body would need to reach the same climax as it would acquire some time earlier. As addiction increases, dependency continues, the dosage needs an increase and the limits would be unknown! Where do we head then, if we fail to control it!?

I think, in so much as it is the youths who are the first ‘victims’ of such addiction, the first consequence is that we are having a generation of people dependent on drugs, just to go about their normal routine lives. With evident consequences on their personality first, and then their health, beyond and above the economic consequences I mentioned earlier. People would refuse to work on a routine basis, unless stimulated by ‘chat’. We see that even well educated people, doctors, high ranking government officials and others would make habitual use of ‘chat’. This is particularly so with people who come from areas where ‘chat’ is widely grown, such as the east and south Ethiopia, and addiction begins at an early age. For them it is simply natural to be associated with it.

Now, the dangerous state of affairs is that ‘chat’ is replacing even coffee as a cash crop, as a national hard currency earner! This is risky because we are becoming ‘agents of drugs’ even if such word is officially shunned. Around 20 per cent of our foreign exchange is now earned through the export of ‘chat’, notably to the Middle East and Africa, not excluding some European countries. People are now planning to export ‘chat’ leaves, dried and powdered, so that users can boil it and take it as tea and coffee!

I know this will create annoyance on many of my friends who would not easily renounce to the delight of occasional ‘chat’ in the company of one another in a lively and warm atmosphere, characteristic of the rite. I remember during my university days I was among the fewest of the few who never indulged in the ‘chat’ ceremonies, and some friends used to resent it as I insisted with my negative opinion about its persistent consumption, and of liquors and other drugs for that matter, even when I used to have ‘a love affair with cigarettes’. I would have thought that as a fad, vogue or fashion, one would be understood to use ‘any drug’ for a while, for a test, out of sheer curiosity. But to persist with it throughout one’s life or worse still to make it a constant fixture of one’s daily routine would be, to say the least, inappropriate, even ignoring the other social implications.

The toll that ‘chat’ is having on our society is hence imaginable. Students drop out of schools and engage themselves in other activities such as frequenting alcohol pubs where to booze after the ‘chat’, or go to video houses where cheap and perverse pornographic films are screened. Teachers are not spared from such lot as some do chew with their pupils! Education is undermined, ‘poisoned’ or halted and the chances for the spread of HIV/AIDS are great. ‘Chat’ is after all a drug (albeit mild) that has peculiar effects on the psyche of the addict. It alters one’s mental predisposition, its faculties. Reality and fantasy intermingle and the demarcation lines are often blurred! I don’t know how any government would feign not to note such reality and remain without a clear cut policy and implementation. This is not a personal problem of individuals. Many may be in a position to control it and manage through it, where as our point of focus should rather be the generality of the Ethiopian youths, completely under the spell of the intoxicant, making it their principal raison d’etre!

I remember that a few years ago, the Tigray Regional Administration had officially banned the sale and usage of ‘chat’ through out the region, associating with its consumption the scarce will of residents to be diligent in their daily activities! It appeared a good example, but apparently vain, as it happened to be short lived. Today, people tell me that ‘chat’ is a very widespread phenomenon even in Tigray. The phenomenon has spread even in traditionally ‘chat’ hostile areas such as Gondar and Gojjam.

What kind of generation are we prospected to have in, say twenty years? Who will replace the present generation of leaders and intellectuals if today’s youths are busy running after ‘chat’ and its sequels? Who will manage the fate of our challenges with growth and development, if all of our current youths fall in love with deeply entrenched habits of ‘chat’, resort to alcohol; and what will be the kind of children that they will beget? I think beyond the economic returns that ‘chat’ may produce for the cultivators and for the country in general, we need to ponder seriously about the long term socio-economic implications of such a peculiarly Ethiopian phenomenon! The ‘Green Revolution’. I think first of all doctors should sit down and take the time to study the case and tell us exactly what it is all about. Then economists should brief us about the extent of ‘chat’s’ economic implications. And finally politicians should come up with their plans to cope with the case as family associations, parents groups, religious leaders, social gatherings, civic organizations would need to debate openly, candidly, passionately and rationally on the pros (if any) and cons of ‘chat’. We need a clear sense of direction before it is too late! I think the stakes are slowly but dangerously increasing! The time to act must be today! Our ‘Green Revolution’ must focus on how to produce cereals (our staple food) not on ‘narcotics’ of any sort!