On a sunlit Addis Abeba sidewalk, pedestrians move with practiced urgency while a minibus carries passengers to their next destination, engines humming impatiently hinting there is a somewhere else better to be. Just a few steps away, the scene takes a quieter turn. Draped over carefully trimmed shrubs in the median, washed sheets and cloths sit on the outdoor plants in the hot sun to dry.  It is a city doing two things at once: accelerating into modern infrastructure and innovation, while also carrying the visible reminders that not everyone gets to ride in the same lane. The greenery is neatly maintained. The reality layered over it is not.  Addis, in this frame, looks like it is trying very hard to impress the future, while the present quietly asks for a bit more room on the sidewalk.

[ssba-buttons]