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Jun 29 , 2025 . By RUTH BERHANU

As School Fees Soar in Addis, Families Choose Between Education, Survival

Late June in Addis Abeba brings its first curtain of rain, a grey veil that slows the minibuses and muffles the usual din of the capital. It is the season when schools close, children tumble into the streets, and families cheer another grade completed. For Mihiret Yohannes, a mother of three rentin...

Jun 21 , 2025 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER and AMANUEL BEKELE

Addis Abeba's Messy Taxi Overhaul Leaves Riders Waiting, Veterans Sidelined

Around 5:00pm, a time when most civil servants spill out of office towers and scramble for rides home, Mexico Square was oddly hushed. On Mozambique Street, in the Genet Hotel area, only a few battered blue-and-white minivans nosed into the curb, leaving long queues of commuters staring at the empty road and the lowering sun. A man in fresh orange-and-blue uniform, a facilitator, and two transport officers, strolled past the waiting crowd, offering little comfort to fraying tempers. Adnan Arfano, in his early 20s and juggling school with a sales job, stood at the head of the line bound f...


Jun 15 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE

A Promise Signed, A Silence Kept

Mekdes Nebro remembers the moment silence crept into her life. Raised in Merhabete, a hill town in North Shewa of the Amhara Regional State, she imagined university as a bright step forward, crowded lecture rooms, busy cafes, and the chatter of ambition. By the time she reached Addis Abeba University (AAU) to study journalism, a nerve illness had destroyed all hearing in her left ear and much of it in her right. Conversations became half-heard murmurs, lecturers' jokes slipped by, and her confidence shrank. She tried to lip-read and kept her worry hidden. “I wanted to appear healthy so m...


Jun 8 , 2025 . By RUTH BERHANU

A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight

Meseret Mulle rises before dawn in the crowded quarter around Golagol Tower, waking her two sons, aged 13 and eight, in the single “kebele” house they share. At 35, she cleans homes in Gerji, a two-hour walk each way when she cannot spare the fare. Her monthly wage is about 4,000 birr, or roughly 30 dollars at last week's exchange rate by the Central Bank, and 450 Br a month of that vanishes on transport, even though she often makes the boys walk beside her and pays only for the taxi ride home. The hidden cost is invisible. Meseret bleeds heavily regularly, sometimes going through four...

Agenda

May 31 , 2025

Elite Schools Raise Fees Sharply as Parents Cry Foul Over Legal Wrangling

Parents at Flipper International School received a jolt on May 23, 2025, when a letter confirmed that next year's “Category 1” tuition will increase to 178,558 Br, a 76,525 Br leap equivalent to r...

May 24 , 2025

When the Rains Come for the Poor

Yohannes Geta spent two years watching the Wyen Amba River trickle past his home in Bole District, Wereda 11, on the southeastern outskirts of the capital. The river sometimes carried soil and constru...

May 17 , 2025

Milk Prices Soar as Dairy Chain Buckles Under Strain

Azeb Asamen sat in the modest living room of her small home near Haile Garment Square, in the southern outskirts of Addis Abeba, her brow furrowed as she stared at the empty milk container beside her...

May 11 , 2025

Debt Deadlines Test the Promise of Addis Abeba's Makeover

Tsiriha Biru, 45, had never imagined that her rhythm of life in Adissu Gebeya, a northern Addis Abeba market hub she had known for three decades, could be broken in a single July afternoon. The mother...

May 4 , 2025

They Worked for Decades, Now They Struggle to Survive

In Addis Abeba's crowded southern quarter, the hum of traffic fades behind SarisAboChurch, where a narrow alley leads to a mud-plastered compound. Inside, 68-year-old Welesh Gessese tucks her belongin...

Apr 27 , 2025

In the Shadows of Renewal, a Generation Struggles to Find Its Place

Hana Melaku, a mother of two, had never imagined life outside Cazanchis. One of the historic neighbourhoods of Addis Abeba, it had been her world from birth, a place stitched together by familiar face...

Apr 19 , 2025

A Holiday of Uneasy Choices

As dawn broke over Addis Abeba mid last week, a convoy of rumbling trucks swung into a market in Qera neighbourhood, each vehicle stacked high with restless oxen. Men in bright jackets dart among the...

Apr 13 , 2025

Trenches of Tax Turmoil

In Merkato, a troubling quietness dominated the usually lively market last week. Shoppers stroll slowly, pausing briefly to inquire about prices but rarely making purchases. Merchants, once busy atten...

Apr 6 , 2025

FLUSHED WITH TROUBLE

Residents gathered anxiously two weeks ago in a parking lot nestled within Noah Real Estate's community, in the rapidly expanding Bole Beshale neighbourhood on the northern outskirts of Addis Abeba. U...

Mar 30 , 2025

CHASED FOR A LIVING

At dusk, Haile Garment Square in the southern outskirts of Addis Abeba transforms from a quiet street into a lively market. Vendors quickly spread their merchandise — clothes, shoes, vegetables, hou...

Mar 23 , 2025

"No Child Should Die Waiting"

Five neatly arranged children's beds lie in a small, dimly lit room inside Tikur Anbesa Teaching Hospital, on Yared St. Each was occupied by young patients undergoing long-term recovery following comp...

Mar 16 , 2025

Coffee Bean's Rebellious Price Surge Leaves Local Market Parched

Addis Abeba's coffee culture is under siege as soaring prices ripple through every level of the market, from humble street vendors to bustling market stalls. Fantu Welde, a traditional coffee pot v...

Mar 9 , 2025

Industries Under Fire from Sheger City's Tax Blitz

A long-standing operator in the water bottling industry, SBG Industry Plc., bottlers of 'Arki' water,has faced operational difficulties recently. A dispute with Sheger City Administration officials, l...

Mar 2 , 2025

False Overseas Job Promises Leave Seekers Bankrupt

Masresha Alebel, 37, hoped to improve his family's circumstances by seeking employment in Romania. He encountered a company that presented an opportunity he found appealing. The initial connection...

Egg Prices Soar, Families Struggle, Bakeries Bleed as Market Swings

Endalk Eshetu stood arguing with a street egg vendor on Russian Street, near Anbessa Gibi Park in Amist Kilo. It was Thursday at 5:30 PM, the peak of rush hour, with long taxi queues as employees left...

Feb 25 , 2025

Farmers Struggle with Fertiliser Price Hikes as Soil Acidity Affects Productivity

In the Southern Gonder Zone of Amhara Regional State, skyrocketing fertiliser prices have thrown farmers into crisis, threatening both their livelihoods and the region's agricultural output. Mulatu...


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Soaring Taxes Fail to Plug Holes as Audit Reveals Enduring Waste

Meseret Damtie, the assertive auditor general, has never been shy about naming names, and...

Editorial | Jun 28 , 2025

Addis Abeba's Street Photographers Craft Futures Through the Lens

On a luminous Sunday afternoon at Mesqel Square, the chatter of conversation merges with t...

Featured | Jun 29 , 2025 . By YITBAREK GETACHEW

As School Fees Soar in Addis, Families Choose Between Education, Survival

Late June in Addis Abeba brings its first curtain of rain, a grey veil that slows the mini...

Agenda | Jun 29 , 2025 . By RUTH BERHANU

PRIVATE EDUCATION COSTS CLIMB FAST

Addis Abeba's first rains have coincided with a sweeping rise in private school tuition, p...

Fortune News | Jun 29 , 2025