The Plight of Young Girls in Ethiopia

            These days it has become common to see girls as young as 13 or 14 serving as waitresses in a restaurant, a hotel or a café owing to the over-whelming poverty in the country.

          These girls were supposed to be in schools. But, unfortunately, they are doomed to be there, earning very little money. Their employers are paying them a maximum of 100 birr per month. They don’t want them only to serve but also expect them to do room cleaning as well.

          Besides, the girls are destined to work for more than eight hours. As some to whom I spoke to, told me it is their duty to arrive at dawn to do the cleaning work. For all this service, some places supply them free breakfast. A bit kinder ones may include lunch, other than their small wages.

         What is worse about these girls is the experience they are facing in the process of serving their customers. Most of their customers are young and elderly males. It seems that most of these guests, if not all, lust after them sexually. It is disgusting to see a man old enough to be their father trying to entice them. These girls may sometimes not yield to every attempt made to approach them. It all depends on the environment they grew up, and the family they came from.

         Yet, guests who try to flirt with them usually expect these girls to be pliable. It is naïve to go mad when they ignore an attempt made to approach them. The very thing one needs to understand is that they all cannot be coquettes. After all, these girls are not sex workers; this should be born in mind. Their upbringing counts a lot. Some of them come from regional towns and remote villages. Thus, they are rather inexperienced for city life. They may insult any person who tries to flirt with them. This shouldn’t annoy anyone.

             For instance, I knew Mekdes, whose unfriendly approach to such guests costs her a job. She used to serve in Meqdela Hotel around Saint George’s Cathedral on the road to ‘sidist’ ‘killo’.   As Mekdes told me, she came from ‘Finoteselam’. She complained that most guests always try to molest her. This may have something to do with her upbringing but; she is incapable of treating cunningly her guests who try to molest her. Anybody who tries to do that will be insulted.