Ethiopia…Keeping the Faith

                “The Book of Eli” and “Legion” are two amazing movies. Watch them back to back and you are thrown into deep self-scrutiny.  It’s almost 4 hours of staring at the screen, but never are you let to wander away from the story. If one really watches the movie with all senses opened, never are you far from the guilt. It is the audience, each and every one of us that is the cause today of what the stories tell us will happen tomorrow. They are stories of how man loses faith and succumbs to greed. Or keeps faith and is saved.

                In “The Book of Eli” it is faith that keeps the story going from one end to the other, literally. And in “Legion” it is the lack of faith and the eventual discovery of it that is at the heart of the story. The first is of a man named Eli trying to restore the old civilization and re-introduce faith into a world that has been forsaken and destroyed. And in the second it is because of faith that the world is saved from total annihilation. Anymore said, and this article becomes a spoiler.

 Critics have said that the movies looked like computer games or that it was all too surreal to be capturing and were actually turn-offs. And it’s certain that there will be some religious people that will be offended by one or another part of the movies.But let us look at some quotes from the movies:

•        From “The Book of Eli”

o   “People had more than they needed. We had no idea what was precious and what wasn’t. “

•           From “Legion”

o   Gabriel: “I would not have shown you such mercy.”

o   Michael: “That is why you failed.”

That being said, the main question remains, is it true? Have we all lost the faith? Is faith dead? Are we getting too greedy? Will the lack of our faith be the end of us? Are we becoming too proud? Can we ignore the fact that whether theologically or scientifically we are paying dearly for our sins? Can we ignore the floods and the earthquakes? …  Or are there people that still keep the faith?

The faith is still strong in one country. There are still people who fear God in this country. They still mention God at least once a day when they answer the question “How did you spend the night?” or “Good morning.” The answer is more than likely to be “Egziabher Yimesgen!” which means “May God be Praised!” This land has people that thank God for the needs they have had fulfilled and not for the wants that remain unanswered. These people have absolute faith that they sometimes follow the rules without even understanding it. This type of faith is of the purest one, for it is blind. This land is Ethiopia and the people, Ethiopians.

While there is no evidence that Atheists exist in Ethiopia, the power of faith is abundant everywhere and can be seen without too much scrutiny. From the people who though poorer than dirt, yet give to an even less fortunate soul, to the passerby, upon seeing a church doesn’t pass without obeisance and paying respect. It is in the knowledge that man will be paid back in a hundred fold for each and every favor he does on earth. It’s in the love and brotherhood, in a country where Muslims and Christians live side by side in peace and respect. It’s in a land where religion is a big issue, but not the difference of one’s religion from another’s. It’s the faith one has in his religion that makes it all right about the others’. It is in the tears of millions that are shed at the loss of a few.

Like Eli said: “He just led me there…” Ethiopia is being led out into the light. We need to keep the faith. We must know that it is the faith that has helped us survive. And the day we lose the faith is the day we will fall.

We can all learn a lesson from these two movies, and they are worth an investment of both time and money. It’s the simple things that restore faith, and it’s the simple things that show us whether we have, or not, lost our way.

We need to keep the faith.

Copyright in Ethiopia…the pauper or the king?

(Please note that the author does not condone or support copyright infringement in any form.)

One of the hottest issues around Addis Ababa is the problem of solving the rampant copyright infringements that can be seen all over the city. Hawkers walk around the city in broad daylight selling CD, VCD and DVD copies of music and movies (both local and foreign.)

Prices range from 5 ETB for a VCD, 4 or less ETB if buying more, to 25 ETB for the latest movie that was released a week ago on DVD. Meanwhile, the same in original would cost around 25 ETB for the former and 50 ETB for the latter. The mean difference here is 22 ETB. It is this mean difference that is being fought for.

The four main actors in this drama are: the artist(s), the authorized dealers, the illegal distributors, the illegal retailers and finally the purchaser/consumer. Of these the one that makes the most profit in these dealings is the illegal distributor. While the artist loses 25 ETB on every illegal CD sold, the illegal distributor can buy one original work and duplicate it on hundreds, if not thousands, of CDs. He just can’t lose.

Now when it comes to the consumer, there are two options that are available: go legal or otherwise. And from what can be seen in actuality most go for the illegal works. Let’s look at some mistakes that are being done by all sides:

·         PRICE: this is the most obvious one. The consumer saves 22 ETB. And that is one reason too many for most consumers, for the simple fact that they cannot afford otherwise. Whereas the artists do not want to budge on the price saying they too can not afford it. The Ethiopian mentality on doing business is ‘going for the highest price possible.’ Every merchant, including the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) have forgotten that or lazily ignore that in the long run and with customer retention and satisfaction:

HIGH PRICE X LESS CUSTOMER  
is less profitable than
  LOW PRICE X MORE CUSTOMERS

They do not want to put any effort into sales, advertising and marketing. They just do not want to put an effort into covering a higher consumer base and providing their services at an optimal price. The same applies to the artists, they do not want to hear of a price knock off, but expect the consumer to bear the brunt. When asked why not, an answer was given that maybe if the consumer stopped buying the illegal works, they would then consider reducing their prices. Yeah, right!

·         AVAILABILTY: walking in any major city in the world you will find salesmen and women trying to sell you products and services ranging from cosmetics, to edibles, to mobile phone services. In Addis Ababa,   while there are some products and services being touted, there are no sales persons selling the legal works of the artists. Au contraire, the illegal ones are everywhere! Why would a consumer even bother going all the way to a legal distributor when he can get it right where he is? If they don’t bother, why should the consumer?

·         Quality: the main argument that the artists and publishers have, when defending their high prices, is that they provide quality products.  There is no question that one must pay a higher price for a superior product. But let’s stop for a minute and ask how many times a consumer is going to watch a movie or drama. And then again let’s ask how badly the quality of a movie or drama would deteriorate when it has been being copied from an original medium. Unless the artist is of a high caliber or a popular veteran in his field, most people will stop listening to a CD in a matter of days, or at the most a couple of weeks. A movie or drama will be seen no more than a handful of times. The quality would not even be taken into factor when the price is considered.

The only option that can solve this issue is to think of the consumer first and then the artist. Not the other way round. The principle of making the customer happy has taken a back seat in Ethiopia. The norm is wresting the money out of the helpless customer by making sure there is no other option available to them.

Maybe it’s time that service providers, of which artists are a part of, understood that the customer really is king and that an unsatisfied king will never be generous.